41 Farrell street, Yandina
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New Guinea Bean (aka bottle gourd, succubi or Cucuzza)
Lagenaria siceraria
Origin: Dry Tropics
Plant: Sept – Dec
Harvest: Dec – May
A good substitute for zucchini. Pick fruit when no larger than 30cm-45cm, peel, then slice diagonally (remove seeds). Shallow fry the slices in hot oil and serve with freshly milled black pepper for a treat. Mature gourds can grow to many kilos, but will only be useful for seed saving or decoration.
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Madagascar Bean (aka seven year bean)
Phaseolus lunatus syn. P.limensis
Origin: Tropical and sub-Tropical regions
Plant: in Spring
Harvest: When pods have dried on vine
This bean is a vigorous climbing tropical lima bean, which will give many years of production after the initial first year. It is a perennial vine well suited to the wet humid conditions of the Sunshine Coast and it will keep producing large fat beans for most of the year. Madagascar beans need a trellis for support.
The beans (not the pods) can be eaten fresh, while still white before any colour shows; or dried – they dry well on the vine with a beautiful speckled red and white bean that can be stored for winter soups and casseroles or turned into bean patties and also used to make tempeh – dried beans need to be soaked overnight before cooking. If weevils get into the dried beans, put them in the freezer for a while and this will kill off the weevils.
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Malu Khia (aka mulukhiyya, Egyptian spinach or salad mallow)
Corchorus olitorius
Origin: Dry, tropical India
Plant: Nov – Dec only
Harvest: Feb – May
Propagate: will self-seed.
Tropical green. Annual bush. Leaves are nutrient rich in potassium and protein but have a light mucilage taste. Young leaves can be used in salads, cook older leaves like spinach. Dried leaves are a very nutritious food for livestock.
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Lemongrass (aka Melissa Grass, Sweet Rush)
Cymbopogon citratus
Origin: India and Sri Lanka
Plant: Spring, summer and autumn
Harvest: The more it is cut for use, the thicker it will grow.
Propagation: is by the division of the bulbous base with roots.
Lemongrass is a perennial clumping grass to 100cm. It is enjoyed as a herbal tea and the base stem is used in Asian cooking.
Set out plants in rows as part of a weed-barrier. Use leaves as a’chop n drop’ mulch. Plants have a thick matting root system so can be used for erosion control.
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Jerusalem Artichoke (aka sunchokes)
Helianthus tuberose
Origin: dry tropics of North America
Plant: Sept – Dec
Harvest: May, when the plants have totally died down.
Can be left in the ground or harvested and stored in moist sawdust in styrene boxes with lids. Jerusalem artichokes can be eaten raw, grated into salads or roasted along with other vegetables; takes no time to cook and should not be overdone. Safe food for diabetics (it contains inulin). Prebiotic – stimulates the lower bowel to produce the bacteria bifidus. Keep a small portion of the best tubers for replanting.