Dear Chandan,
Glad to read the deviation from all that has been going on on the NET for
the past couple of months. Congrats!
You know, when I was in Nagaland I got used to the small variety of
"kerala" -- they were small and a single bite-size. It was common to see a
bowl of boiled kerala on the table in a Naga family meal and diners taking a
bite of boiled kerala after a mouthful of rice like one takes a bite of
green chilli. I kind of got used to this practice for a while and actually
love it till this day.
Now, in Taiwan, the keralas are about a foot (30 to 40 cms)or more in length
and about 4 to 8 cms diameter at the middle. These are the green bitter
variety. Then there are the not so bitter variety which are almost white
which are around 20 cms in length and about 8 cms in diameter. Makes
wonderful soup along with pork bones and shitake mushrooms.
If you are in for more experimentation, let me know and I'll mail you some
seeds. I guess the Taiwan varieties are already hybrids of sorts as most of
their vegetables and fruits.
Anjan
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chan Mahanta" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Saturday, August 20, 2005 1:33 AM
Subject: [Assam] For Gardeners
Raiz:
I am a part-time khetiyok ( gardener), among other things :-).
I am pleased to announce that I created a hybrid tita kerela, by cross
breeding a variety of semi-wild kerela that I collected seeds of from a
vine from the highlands of Jamaica in 2003 with the long Assamese variety.
This Jamaican variety kerela ( momordica--bitter gourd) fruit is really
tiny, about 1" in diameter and about 2" to 2.5" long, with dainty ( about
3" diameter) leaves. The fruits are so small that they are not useful for
eating. The seeds are black, about 1/4" long X 1/8" wide. I was told by
someone that it is seen in Florida also, growing wild.
Just out of curiosity, I pollinated an Assamese kerela female flower with
a male Jamaican pollen, and vice versa. One did not work, but the other
did; except I was not careful about recording which hybrid fruited, and
don't know the exact mix.
Anyway, I grew a new hybrid plant this spring from the harvested seeds. At
first, the resulting plant did not indicate any conspicuous
characteristic. But soon I began to notice that it is an amazingly
prolific plant, growing like crazy. You can almost see it growing :-).
Soon a very robust and wildly growing vine took over the trellis and
spread all over nearby ground, tomato plants and and overhead trellis that
I built for 'laos' ( gourds) producing lots and lots of mid-sized ( 1.5"
dia X 3" to 4" long), pale green ( more white than green) hybrid fruits.
In fact we have so many fruits, I stopped picking them, and they are
ripening and cracking up like blood red flowers with yellow petals.
The taste is not extremely bitter, like some of our Assamese little kerela
varieties. You can say it is of medium bitterness.
My guess is that it MIGHT become a good garden vegetable for amateur urban
gardeners as well as rural khetiyoks in Assam, because the plant is so
robust and prolific. It can also become a beautiful screening/landscaping
plant at verandas as well as against ugly , blank compound walls, because
it grows so fast. The flowers are mildly fragrant,like all kerela plants.
But since there are so many flowers, the pleasant aroma could be smelled
from a slight distance. That makes me think, it could be a fine urban
landscape plant in warm humid areas.
If anyone wants seeds to try let me know. I will be pleased to share some.
Iti bineet,
sondon kerela-seed mohonto :-)
( With apologies to Johnny Appleseed)
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