Plants, Fruits & Herbs at our farm (A - I)

Name	Uses	Availability
Aloe Vera	Aloe supplements can be used for peptic ulcers and for gastro-intestinal health. Aloe has a moisturizing effect on the skin and is a common remedy for sunburn and skin irritation. Often used direct form the flowerpot in the treatment of minor burns and wounds.
Basil	Fresh leaves use with fish, meat, vegetable, dessert and sauces. The infusion of the leave is used for insect bite.
Bottle Gourd	The fruits in the green stage are used as vegetables and eaten with curry by Malays. The hard wooden shell of the dried gourd serves many purposes from water-bottles, ladles, cups to musical instruments and floats from buoying fish nets and rafts. One variety with fruit deeply constricted near the centre and divided into 2 unequal globules is largely ornamental.
Brinjal	The long white variety us popular among the Chinese and eaten cooked as a vegetable or stuffed with minced meat. The egg-shaped dark purple variety is mainly consumed by Indians.
Cabbage	Leaves are eaten cooked or rawin salads and sometimes fermented in brine to make sauerkraut (sour cabbage). Cabbages contain 91% water, vitamins A, B1, B2 and C, minerals essential to health and some proteins, starch and sugar.
Capsicum	Capsicum species are used fresh or dried, whole or ground, and alone. The bell-shaped, mild thick fleshed types are cooked together with peas, meat, prawns and cauliflowers or broccoli in dishes.
Chinese Flowering Cabbage	A variety of bai cai that is grown for its thick-stemmed flowering shoots which are cut for the markets as the yellow flowers begin to open. This vegetable must not be overcooked to retain its crispiness.
Chinese Parsley	The leaves, known as Chinese parsley are used in Mexican salsas and Chinese dishes. Dried leaves lose their fragrance.
Chinese Small White Cabbage (Xiao Pai Cai)	The leaves are eaten cooked or can be pickled in salt for 3 days and dried and stored for weeks as salted cabbage.
Chinese Spinach	A very ancient pot herb in South East Asia, many of the more than fifty species in both tropical and temperate regions are eaten as greens. It contains substantial amounts of vitamins A, B, C and double the amount of iron found in spinaches.
Chinese White Cabbage(Bai Cai)	Very popular in Chinese cooking, excellent for steaming or stir fry. A good source of vitamin C, dietary fiber and folic acid.
Chinese White Cabbage(Nai Bai)	It can be used cooked or raw in dishes from corned beef and cabbage, soups & stews, to cold dishes such as coleslaw. Cabbage leaves are also used as a wrap for other foods.
Coriander	The whole plant is used for seasoning and garnishing in Chinese cooking. The leaves are used to impart a pleasant taste to soups, meat dishes and especially to fish dishes. Indians also use the leaves for flavouring. Seeds are used as a condiment, an ingredient of curry powder and chewed with betel nut or as an ingredient in mixed spice and in potpourri.
Corn	Several varieties can be found in the market. They are mostly sweet corns (var. rugosa). The entire cob with the husk is either boiled or steamed. As a vegetable, the grains are used in soups and many cooked dishes. In recent years, “baby corn” are becoming increasingly common. It is still not clear whether they are harvested from a dwarf variety or a new variety with crowded side “ears”.
Cosmos	Grown for the flowers.
Curry Leaf	Curry leaves form an indispensable part of most Indian cuisine. They enhance the flavor of food, are generally shallow fried with mustard seeds and chopped onion and pawed over the dish or fried along with other spices like mustard, cumin, green chilli, ginger, garlic etc. and added the main ingredients.Curry leaves are used to stimulate appetite,for liver diseases. It enhances digestive power and is efficient in expelling poisons struck in the alimentary system. It heals wounds, swelling, fever, and skin diseases, dysentery and diarrhea.
Dill	Fresh leaves chopped and used for garnish, and sauces, in fish dishes, yoghurt, cream, seed for vinegars, with pickles, cucumbers, cakes and pastry.
Grape	Fruit are made into wine or eaten as fruit.
Indian Borage	Leaves are mainly used in stuffing and for flavouring meat, also as a substitute for sage. Its strong smelling aromatic leaves are used medicinally by Indians as a cure for coughs.