KAFFIR LIME (Citrus hystrix)

Kaffir Lime is a citrus tree native to tropical S.E. Asia.  Unfortunately, its common name is also used as an ethnic slur in South Africa although the name is thought to originate in Ceylon... deriving from the Arabic word kafir meaning infidel. There is a gradual PC movement to have the lime go by its Thai name which is Makrut Lime although I have used the old name up top because most of the world still knows the plant by that.

Kaffir Lime leaves are synonymous with that flavor of Thai curry that we all love.  Thai restaurants seem to be in every city of the world these days, so we have got used to this exotic leaf.  I realized how much it had conquered the world when I saw fresh Kaffir Lime leaves being sold in a supermarket in Iceland.  I am not much of a cook but have always fancied being able to try my hand at Thai cooking.  I even took a cooking class once in Thailand where I realized it was a rather complex task to prepare the spice base.  Thankfully now I can buy Thai curry paste already prepared at my supermarket and make up an easy Thai meal in 20 minutes or so.  Just cook together the paste, vegetables, canned coconut cream, and some cooked meat together in a pan. Then of course you can add a few Kaffir Lime leaves to the mix, and you really have that authentic taste and appearance.

I have a small Kaffir Lime tree growing in a pot.  It is several years old, but it is still small and bonsai like, because of keeping it root bound in a small pot.  Some years ago, I spied a Kaffir lime fruit on the ground at a botanical park and took it home with me to see if I could get some seeds growing from it.   This gave me my first tree which I planted out in the garden.  However, it became such a gangly, sprawling tree with big sharp thorns that I decided I did not want it in my yard.  That is why I now keep my Kaffir Lime as a small tree in a pot.  It is not as if I am using the leaves on a daily basis, so this small tree is just a nice addition to my herb garden.  I could see it doing well on a patio if you live in an apartment.  If it grows too big it is an easy matter of pruning it down to size and then you can freeze the removed leaves for later use.

The rind of the small bumpy fruit can be used for flavoring as well as the leaves.  The actual inside of the fruit is rather fibrous and sour with lots of seeds so not usually used.  When making your Thai curry you can add whole leaves to flavor it, or you can cut up the leaves in thin strips after removing the midrib.

Healthy leaf on the right while the two on
the left have leaf miner problem.

The Kaffir Lime has a different looking double wing leaf appearance.  I believe I am right in saying that this shows it to be of ancient citrus origin.  There are a few other citrus trees that show similar leaves like my Jambhiri Lemon. (June, 2013 )  The Kaffir Lime flowers in spring to produce its fruit in the summer.  I am still waiting for that to happen on my tiny tree.  Trees can be propagated from seed or cuttings or even from a single leaf.  Like all citrus trees, it likes water and extra feeding at least a few times a year.  I do have a problem with citrus leaf miner on the leaves sometimes. At first you see the silvery trails of the leaf miner in the leaves and then the leaves curl up.  I usually just pull off the old, affected leaves and the plant will grow healthy new ones.

Aloha

SEEN IN KERALA, INDIA

  Recently I spent four weeks traveling slowly around the state of Kerala in the south of India.  It is very tropical there and maybe not what you think of for India.  I moved from coastal towns with waterways and rice paddies up to forested hills and then mountains covered with tea gardens.  A wonderful trip and finally I got to India.

One evening in Fort Kochi I shared a restaurant table with a young Irish backpacker who had been traveling for several months and was feeling a bit jaded about the vagabond life.  He asked me if traveling lost its appeal even more when you are older. After thinking about it my answer was no.  In fact, as we grow older, we pick up so many interests in things that we just passed over when we were young.  When I was young, I was just traveling to see the sights.  When you are older you are exploring things that now interest you like history or arts or religion.  My acquired interest in plants and how people in other countries grow and use them gives extra depth to my travel experience.  I enjoy learning from gardeners out in their yards and cooks in their kitchens.  I also enjoy taking a few photos that I can share here with you.  Click on any one of the photos to see them enlarged.

 A house near my homestay in Fort Kochi/Cochin

A vegetable store in Mattancherry

These walls covered in small pot plants were very popular
 in crowded commercial areas and gave some green relief.

Krishna playing on a flute in the public waterfront park at Ernakulam.

Street view in Mattancherry

A vegetable seed seller and his stall by the road.  
Alleppey/Alappuzha

Flowers being sold for temple puja.
Alleppey/Alappuzha

Container garden at my homestay.
Alleppey/Alappuzha

A quiet home garden in the back lanes of Alleppey/Alappuzha

Cardamom and using some old forest trees to give shade.
These cardamom plantations could be seen for miles along the road
 through the hills near Kumily.

A modern looking house and garden in Kumily.

A fruit stall in the hill country town of Munnar.  
Passion fruit and tamarillos hanging in front.

Tea gardens covered the hills around Munnar.

Aloha

GARDENS IN NEGOMBO, SRI LANKA

 Negombo is a coastal town a few miles north of the international Colombo airport.  It was a good place to spend a few quiet days to adjust to a new country on arrival.  I was eager to explore the reminders of Sri Lankas colonial past as the Portuguese, Dutch and English all used Negombo as a trading port for Cinnamon harvested from a tree that is native to Sri Lanka.  What I did not expect was the amount of fishing going on in the town.  Hundreds of small boats bring in fish to be sold at the markets or cleaned and dried on acres of coconut mats spread over the sandy beaches.  It was an amazing and fascinating sight.  As always, I also enjoyed walking around town exploring the quieter residential lanes and looking at family homes and gardens.  Here are a few photos from that to share with you.  You will see them much clearer if you click on one and get the slide show.

Plants for sale at the street market

Green leafy vegetables that are chopped up and added to a
 rice porridge eaten for breakfast.

Aloha

SHOPHOUSES OF SINGAPORE'S CHINATOWN

 On my recent trip I stayed a few days in a hotel in Chinatown.  I fell in love again with the shophouses there so am sharing a few photos of them here .....along with the small garden ideas they used.  The shophouses are from the late 19th, early 20th century era and were very practical buildings that allowed families to live above their businesses.  These are considered heritage buildings now and since the 1980s there has been a movement to restore them to their former grandeur.  The budget hotel I stayed at was formed from several of them.  New generation restaurants are moving in next to the old school coffee shops and community temples.  Young professionals are buying up old dilapidated shophouses, and moving in after restoration work is done.  Note the old Peranakan style tiles that are part of their beauty.  You will see them better if you click on one of the photos to see an enlarged slide show.

Aloha

FLOWER OFFERINGS AT THE TEMPLE OF THE TOOTH

 I have been off traveling for a few months in Asia and am now back home and going through my travel photos.  I will be posting some of them over the next few weeks as I get myself organized.  Today is just a quick one about my visit to the lovely city of Kandy up in the mountains of central Sri Lanka.  At the center of the city is a royal palace complex next to a man-made lake.  The most important building of the complex is Sri Dalada Maligawa or the Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic.  Buddhists, both local and international, arrive as white clothed pilgrims with floral tributes to offer along with prayers at the home of the Buddha's tooth.  There are many stalls outside the temple gates selling flowers or you could bring your own from home.

Aloha

GOOD GARDEN READS 7

 A Samoan gentleman who is using YouTube to teach other Samoans how to grow vegetables under different conditions when they move to New Zealand.  Good ideas in the article for any gardener.

The 87-year-old YouTuber teaching gardening in Samoan from his Auckland garden | Stuff.co.nz

PERPETUAL SPINACH

 

I have a new favorite green leafy vegetable these days.  In Hawaii and the US, it is called Perpetual Spinach, but I was first introduced to it a few years ago as Perpetual Silver Beet in New Zealand.  It is a member of the Beet family and so it does a have a light Swiss Chard/Silver Beet flavor.  I tried growing the seeds a few years ago but they did not do well but decided recently to give it another go when I bought some young plants from a nursery here.  I am pleased to say that these have done well, and I have become a big fan of this plant.

I only have four Perpetual Spinach plants growing in a large container along with two kale plants.  Enough for one person meals.  I added compost to the container before planting and I do have netting over the top, mainly to keep the white butterflies away from the kale, but also to keep the birds from getting interested in the spinach leaves.  Now that the plants are a few feet high I am harvesting a few leaves at a time to add to salads and stir fries.  I tested the taste of the Perpetual Spinach to see how strong the Chard flavor was by just eating leaves that had been boiled for five minutes.  (This is the way it was eaten in New Zealand in my childhood years.)  Yes, there is a bit of Chard flavor, but it is very light.  I ate it with a grating of cheese on top and decided it made a very nice side dish.  I am trying to eat more leafy greens these days to support my little gray cells.  If you throw the Perpetual Spinach leaves into a stir fry or a quiche you do not notice the Chard flavor at all.  I think this is why it is called Spinach in the US because it is a more familiar green leaf flavor for Americans.  In New Zealand you grow up on the flavor of cooked Chard.  (It was interesting to see the same in coastal Croatia last year although I found out that Chard cooked in lots of olive oil was very different!)  As you would expect of any green leafy vegetable, Perpetual Spinach is high in vitamin A along with lots of other good nutrients including having good amounts of vitamin K.

The best thing about Perpetual Spinach is that it is a tough easy plant to grow.  It is a biennial so you can expect it to live for two years.  I have seen video of a gardener dividing baby plants off a large mature root like you would for taro.  Hopefully my plants will get to the point that I can try doing that.  It has big sized seeds which is helpful in spacing when sowing seeds which is the usual method of propagation.  Space the plants 6-8 inches apart.

In the tropics Perpetual Spinach prefers the cooler time of the year and likes to be in semi-shade.  Hot weather slows down leaf production.  I have mine growing in the sparse shade of a curry leaf tree and it seems to like it there.  The soil needs to have good drainage and a high organic content.  High nitrogen feeding helps push out the lush leaves.  The most important thing is to keep the soil moist, especially in the summer.  Just as well my container is positioned near the hose by the kitchen door.  Mulching is good to help keep the soil moist.  You need to keep an eye out for slugs too.  That means night time inspections around 10pm.

Aloha

Nov. 2024

Below is a photo of my latest Perpetual Spinach that I am especially proud of because I grew these plants from seed.  I need work on my seed growing skills so am always asking master gardeners how they do it. I think if helped to not transfer the seedling out until they were several inches high and had some reserve of strength.  My first lot of Perpetual Spinach in the photos above got overtaken by the powerful kale plant.