New tree/plants for cooking

14 years ago

This week-end we finally made the trek to get a kaffir lime tree, and went to San Gabriel Nursery (32 miles from here) to get it. They didn't have very many, but I found one that I liked that is also a dwarf, and so I bought that along with a semi-dwarf blood orange tree that will only get to 10' high with a 12' diameters. I am going to keep both in pots for a while, and I'm planning to put the orange tree into a wine barrel planter when I can find one.

Kevin found a pitaya cactus plant that is similar to our night blooming Queen of the Night, except that the pitaya will make fruit, also know as Dragon Fruit in Asian countries that have imported it from Mexico and Central America. I wasn't looking for this plant, but since we found it, I wanted to buy it - more for the flowers than the fruit, but I do also like the fruit.

I am very happy that now I should have a steady supply of kaffir lime leaves. I don't know what to do with the limes, if it makes any, but I mainly wanted the leaves.

If you have suggestions for pitaya fruit or for kaffir lime leaves, I will appreciate them!

Lars

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Comments (5)

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m
14 years ago
Pitaya plant is beautiful in the garden, and the fruits are very dramaticlly pretty. Unfortunately they are nothing much taste-wise. Kind of like kiwi fruit without kiwi's good flavor.

I am looking for a Yuzu tree. It a Japanese citrus fruit with many Culinary uses.

I have a small orange tree that bears a lot of very sour fruits, but the rind is very fragrant. I use it in many of my recipes.

dcarch
Gina_W
14 years ago
Congratulations on the kaffir lime, Lars. We picked one up at the Leucadia farmer's market last year when visiting friends. One leaf goes a long way, it's all you need for a Thai-style curry. I haven't used them for anything else. The fruit are so strange - don't taste one, the oil in them is very volatile. I felt like my tongue was on fire or I just tasted kerosene. Very strong.

I also got a buddha's hand, which is delightful. Haven't taken any of those off the little tree yet.

I have a Calamondin that I harvested and made jam out of last year. Very tart and unique.

I love citrus trees, they are my favorite fruit tree.

Sorry I don't have any suggestions for the kaffir leaves.
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Lars
Original Author
14 years ago
According to this review on Yelp, the nursery has Yuzu trees as well as Buddha's hand, but I didn't know what to do with them. If they are small enough, I might go back to get some of those. I have coupons now for the nursery, but they do not amount to enough to pay for the gas to get there. I don't know whether they have Calamondin, but then I also do not know what that is! Thanks for the warning about the fruit, Gina!

Evidently, Walmart wanted to build a store where this nursery is located, but the community rose up in protest and prevented it from happening. The nursery does take up a huge amount of space, but it was also very busy.

We stopped at a very nice Vietnamese restaurant down the street from the nursery and had a late lunch there. They had really good summer rolls, and I also got a beef Pho, most of which I took home with me.

Lars
westsider40
14 years ago
kaffir lime leaves for Thai, but you knew that, I bet;) sounds wonderful, Lars.

So cal and it's plants are wonderful to this midwesterner.
eahamel
14 years ago
That's a good find! I have a lot of citrus but not a kaffir lime, they're harder to find.

If you want dwarfed citrus, get plants that are grafted. They're grafted onto a dwarf citrus rootstock that keeps the trees from growing to their un-grafted size.

New tree/plants for cooking

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dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

Gina_W

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New tree/plants for cooking

Comments (5)

dcarch7 d c f l a s h 7 @ y a h o o . c o m

Gina_W

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