Loquat leaf tea...

We have three loquat trees in our property...

All thanks to the previous owners...

They give very good fruits... sweet, plump, and juicy...

All these, with minimum care...

(See here for photos of loquat fruits from our garden)

Last autumn, decided to trim the plants...

And why not put the leaves into good use, I asked myself...

Such as a herbal tea...

So I had some of them hanging out to dry...

And yes, this is the tea from loquat leaves... 

My missus just put a few of the leaves into a clay pot and let the pot sit for several hours on top of our wood stove each evening...

The taste resembles that of Rooibos tea, I'd say... refreshing and nice...

Apparently, the leaves are a good source of calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium and vitamins A and C.

Loquat tea is supposed to be good for gastrointestinal issues like indigestion and diarrhea.
 

There are claims that loquat tea fights against type 2 diabetes as the leaves contain a compound called tormentic acid, which increases insulin production. 

Furthermore, there are also claims that loquat tea has anti-cancer properties...

Throughout the winter, we have been boiling a pot of loquat tea each evening... 

We use about three quarters of it for our hot bath, and I drink the remaining one quarter the next day...

I like the taste of it and best of all, I like the tea that I can source from my own garden...

'Mountain peach', loquat liqueur, butterflies...

We have what the Japanese folks call a Yama-momo tree in our garden...

Literally, it means 'mountain peach'... 

I prefer this name to that of 'wax myrtle'...

It is a tall shrub, and a beautiful one at that...

Its fruits are small, about one centimeter in diameter...

And they look a bit like raspberries even... 

Except that they have seeds inside...

They taste quite sweet, with a tinge of sourness in them...

The little butterflies visit our herb garden often in this season... 

It is a joy to observe them hopping around the flowers...
This one is sucking nectar from the flowers of the curry plant...

Cathy@home asked about how we made wine out of loquats... 

Well, we don't really make wine out of them, so to say...

Rather, we 'flavor' the wine (with the seeds)...
In Japan, we can easily buy jars specifically designed for this purpose...
They come in 4 liter jars, and the jars are filled with 1.8 liters of 'white' liquor...
With this, we make liqueur out of them...

I am fond of eating the flesh of the loquats...
I keep the seeds, drying them under the sun...

While they dry, they emit a very nice almond-like scent...

My missus put about 800 grams of the dried seeds and about 300 grams of rock sugar into the jars...

And we let it mellow for about a year...

This one has been with us for two years...

I do not consider myself a drinker but I do take a tiny cup of this liqueur once in a while during dinner...

Apparently, the seeds of the loquats have elements that suppress cancer...

I regularly eat about two seeds per day with my meals...

They taste good, anyway, and it would be a waste to throw them away...

Nanking cherry, onions, geranium, loquats... for Theanne

I would like to dedicate this post to Theanne...
who at this moment, is feeling a little down...
thinking about the second year of her beloved husband's passing...
I hope this little post of the red, red cherries in Japan...
would bring over to her in Florida...
a little-little smile....

According to Wikipedia, the Nanking Cherry is also known as...
Korean cherry, Manchu cherry, Downy cherry,
Shanghai cherry, Ando cherry, Mountain cherry,
Chinese Bush cherry, Chinese Dwarf cherry, or Hansen's Bush Cherry....
Hmmm, so many names for just one fruit...

They are native to northern and western China (including Tibet),

Korea, Mongolia, and possibly northern India (Jammu and Kashmir, 

Anyway, it is quite a delicious fruit... tiny though but still, pretty...

A friend gave us 8 onions the other day...

They are big, round, fleshy...

Unlike the ones I grow... under-nourished, tiny, and skinny...

Yet, I'd like to think of my onions as being concentrated, power-packed, and full of flavor... 

I might have mentioned it before...

I just adore the flagrance of the rose geranium...

They are apparently indigenous to various parts of southern Africa,..

We sometimes use the leaves to add flavor to cookies...

This is the season for loquats... wooh hoo...

I love loquats...very much...

Their taste somewhat resemble that of the mango, I think...

We have three plants in our property...

Plus, there are lots of them growing wild in the hills...

The locals do not harvest them...

I do, and we make preserves out of them...

The Loquat is originally from southeastern China...

The fruit is high in vitamin A, dietary fiber, potassium, and manganese...

The seeds and young leaves of the plant are slightly poisonous...

We keep the seeds, dry them in the sun, and then make wine out of them...

Empty heart vegetables, potatoes, loquats

Bought some vegetable seeds from Bangkok last March.
Here is one result of that effort.
'Kangkung' in Malaysian, or 'kuu shin sai' in Japanese (literally, 'empty heart vegetable').
Taste great stir-fried with garlic and anchovies...



Planted one kilogram of seed potatoes early last spring.
Managed to harvest about 6 kilos of it.
Not too bad for a first attempt.
Love it with chicken curry, or as a salad with other vegetables.



Harvested quite a heap of Japanese loquats again this year.
Must say that this fruit is fast becoming one of my favorites, along with figs and persimmon.
And the seeds apparently have high B17(?) content which is supposedly a good anti-cancer element...