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Post by nicolas on Mar 17, 2014 4:52:59 GMT -5
Ok that stretch the breeding notion a bit far, but i have a long term project to assemble a list of hardy substitute, hardy species or cultivars, and indoor growing plants that could feed the "rich" some of crop that puts a lot of burden on "poor" countries, economies and peasants. Bill Mollison writes some very great stuff on that, and there are books and resources on that. Maybe breeding or screening is the last touch to fill the list. See the post of agrorev on viola, or this recent message by Eric Toensmeier on hardy gingers : permaculturenews.org/2014/03/12/hardy-gingers-food-forest-understory/ |
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Post by rowan on Mar 17, 2014 19:37:24 GMT -5
Although most important spices come from the tropic there are quite a few less known ones that are suited to temperate climates. Maybe we need to push these more.
My favourite is a native Australian one that grows around here called 'Mountain pepper' (Tasmannia lanceolata). The common name should be changed in my opinion as the leaves and berries do not taste like the usual pepper but it is hot and spicy and I don't know why it has not taken off. It is used in some top restaurants in Aus but not well known.
I have a couple of female plants in my garden (growing under shadecloth) and have just bought a male so I can get berries. Both the dried, powdered leaf and the berries are used. We don't get the cold that many countries get but this bush can tolerate our frosts and lives in cool rainforest gullies. It loves cool, damp, shady areas.
If you can get seeds it is well worth growing, but warn visitors before they take a nibble of a leaf, lol.
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Post by nicolas on Mar 18, 2014 1:48:19 GMT -5
From PFAF
Interesting, even more if there are cultivars with cinnamon taste. Zone 8, i'm borderline.
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Post by agrorev on Mar 18, 2014 10:25:00 GMT -5
nutmeg thyme? I haven't tried it myself, but someone on gardenweb says they enjoy cooking with it similarly to nutmeg.
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Post by rowan on Mar 18, 2014 20:11:28 GMT -5
I think the person who suggested that the mountain pepper berries taste like cinnamon might have been from another planet, lol.
We have some trees with leaves that taste like cinnamon, lemon and liquorice in Australia - Cinnamon myrtle (Backhousia myrtifolia), Lemon myrtle (backhousia citriodora) and aniseed myrtle (Syzygium anisatum).
They really do taste like their common names and they can be used in teas and for flavourings but they are not frost tolerant.
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Post by orflo on Mar 19, 2014 0:51:18 GMT -5
I have some pepper berries of that drimys lanceolata, and I'm also searching for the cinnamon taste. One plant is growing here, so I will have to find a good partner in order to get some fruits...An other pepper substitute is Zanthoxyllum simulans, there are other zanthoxyllum species that are used as well, but I never tasted these..Vitex agnus-castus is also used as pepper, but there are some disadvantages, it's called the monk's pepper..The plants ar wonderful when they are blooming though. Pepper basil (ocimum selloi) gives something extra to a light pepper taste, there are more but they don't come to my mind right now.
A nutmeg tasting like is sison amomum, although there's a very perfumed extra taste as well. The plants that sow out in late summer stay green in winter, and the leaves can be used as some sort of parsley, the English name is basterd-stone parsley. Ginger-like plants that can be grown in temperate climates include myoga ginger, and asarum species which are very hardy. There seems to be some controversy around the asarum species, whether or not they have some toxic substances, so be a bit cautious about that.
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Post by cesarz on Aug 18, 2014 6:48:43 GMT -5
NewZealand has a pepper tree called horopito (Pseudowintera colorata) that is used as a substitute for black pepper. The part used are the leaves.
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