Category: Perth Gardening Aug
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Bay Leaf Tree: Grow and Eat
The humble Bay Leaf tree is a must have in a kitchen garden. Once you try fresh or freshly dried bay leaves in your cooking you won’t go back to the store bought version. Like many herbs, they lose their fullest, layer rich aroma and taste as they wait in transport and store shelves.
I normally use one or two small leaves fresh from the tree. I haven’t found them to be overpowering like some websites suggest.
I use them whole in stews, casseroles, curries, the list goes on. I always remove them post cooking (bouquet garni bags make this easier). They give the liquid in said dishes a earthy almost bitter tang. By itself this might not sound tasty but it works with the other ingredients to make a dish tastier than the sum of its parts.
I also recently got into bay leaf tea. It is a refreshing change despite it being reminiscant of a cup of mild green tea. It is like drinking the Aussie bush. 🙂
Dietary Info: Great for vegetarians, vegans and is gluten free.
This particular cooking ingredient is in PK’s Essential Pantry Cupboard Contents.
Enjoy,
PK
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Broad Bean (Fava Bean): Grow and Eat
This tall sturdy flowering annual in the bean family produces a multitude of long pods with 8 large beans (the thick walled pods are unpalatable raw) and edible leaves perfect for salads. The plant has sturdy stems and will grow to almost 6 foot but it is not a climber.
Taste/Aroma:
I love the buttery texture of this bean. You can do lots with it but I like to simply sauté them in some butter. I am the only person in the family that likes them though :).
I am yet to make soup with them but this is also a popular use of this bean.
Heike Motzek pointed me at this recipe as a use for the thick walled pods. Now I don’t have to put them all in my worm farms 🙂
Blanching and Storing:
One minute in boiling water and three minutes in freezing water and then into the freezer.
Flower:
Fruit:
Plant:
Leaves:
Grow It Perth:
I start planting in April, stopping in August/September. The plants will keep cropping into October.
Growing Fava beans is relatively easy but you need to give the mature plants some support as they can grow to 6 foot. I use coils of chicken wire but stakes and twine do just as well.
Use a vegetable tailored NPK fertiliser and you should get multiple crops from each plant.
Enjoy,
PK
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MORE RECIPES USING BEANS
THE FULL GICICI INGREDIENTS LIST
MORE VEGAN , VEGETARIAN , GLUTEN-FREE INGREDIENTS AND MEALS
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