Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Hits and misses

Today I ate my yam. Yes, the one I grew in a pot. It wasn't as big and perfect as the store bought ones but it was the best I've ever had. The texture was fluffy and light, every mouthful was such a delight. I wished I had grown more. It took me more than 6 months to grow this now and now it's in my tummy.

The taste took me by surprise. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much. When I pulled it out from the pot, the shape looked a little funny. The mishapen tuber rolled around on my kitchen top for several days, I almost threw it away. Thank goodness I had a change of heart and baked it in the oven today. It tasted amazing with Hawaiian honey.

The yam was so good, I will continue to grow more in my patio. I can't say I've been too successful with other edibles. Some just don't so so well in containers. The bananas from my small plant were too tiny to be eaten. The vegetables usually don't turn up sweet and succulent. My kang kong are mostly skinny and disease prone and the basil mature faster than I can use.

Some of the best edibles to grow in the patio garden must be the pandan leaf, curry and lime plant. They are easy growers and very useful plants.

Then there are other edibles that I don't have the heart to eat. My blue ginger plant is growing so well, I'm reluctant to dig the root out for cooking.

Finally, there are those that I choose not to eat. I'm talking about the sweet mulberries which I leave on the plant for the birds to eat.

4 comments:

  1. You describe yam so well, even the taste. I am waiting for my ubi kemili, ubi badak, ubi itik to grow and develop tubers.... and a few keladis still at early stage.

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  2. Bangchik - I love yam cooked in any way but if I happen to get those that are not fluffy, I just feel so disappointed.

    Wah, you have so many kinds of ubi, I'm envious!

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  3. Wah, I'll love to grow yam too! But i've given up hope to grow edibles due to the lack of sunlight. Can yam survive in low light conditions? ie: indirect sunlight for most of the day, and a max of weak direct sunlight of 2 hours a day?

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  4. Wen ai- I think yam can do well in shady conditions. I always see yam growing in dense jungle like places. You should try.

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