Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Burnet Saxifrage

By Charlotte Zander

The coastal region in south-west India known as the Malabar Coast was originally called Malichabar. The name is derived from the Sanskrit word `malicha', meaning pepper and the Arabian word 'bar', meaning land, hence pepper land. This relatively narrow coastal belt is the original home of the pepper plant, a climbing shrub growing to a height of 6 m (20 ft).

Pepper is a typical plant of the tropics that thrives only in a very humid and warm climate. Originally a forest plant grown by the natives to climb among trees at the edge of the forest, it is now widely cultivated throughout the tropics.

It is raised on plantations from offshoots that climb up poles up to 4 m (13 ft) high. Newly planted plants do not begin to bear fruit until the third year and produce their maximum yields (up to 3.5 kg [8 lb] of berries on a single plant) at the age of 7 to 9 years.

They are used only fresh to flavour salads, vegetable soups and sauces. They may also be used as a garnish for cold-dishes. They are particularly good as an ingredient of fine herb mixtures, for flavouring mayonnaises, boiled vegetables and fish. They may be used together with chervil, tarragon, parsley, chives and the like.

The unripe berries are dried in the sun, which can then be easily removed. The during which process they become black and cleaned, husked, ripe seeds yield the white wrinkled, and then graded according to pepper of commerce, which is more size; this is the black pepper of commerce which is aromatic but not as pungent. Unripe green.

Saxifrage can be plant in any free space in your garden. You can grow saxifrage in your kitchen garden and use it as a spice in your cooking. All it needs is a sunny location and not too much moisture. It may be propagated by means of seeds (achenes), or by the division of older clumps. - 16035

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