Growing Gardens

with Julia Hancock

Spicing up for winter

As the days get shorter and cooler we tend to lust after comfort food - cakes and biscuits made with fragrant spices that taste as good as they smell. But what exactly are spices and where do they come from?

Spices are processed from either the bark, seeds or roots of plants with aromatic properties. In former times spices were highly prized and traded at great price throughout the world.

Cinnamon, so delicious with apples, comes from the inner bark of Cinnamomon zeylandicu, a small, evergreen tree native to Sri Lanka. Ironically while it won't grow here, its close relative the camphor laurel grows only too well. The cinnamon sticks that one buys are pieces of bark that have been dried and rolled up like a cigar.

Cloves are the dried flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum from the Mollucca Islands branch of the lilly pilly family, but again, unlike its Australian native cousins, it won't grow here. Ground clove is intensely flavoursome and so only a small amount should be used in pickles and cakes otherwise it will overpower all other ingredients. Oil of cloves is mildly anaesthetic and is often used to soothe babies who are teething.

Nutmeg is as popular a spice for savoury dishes as sweet, lending a mellow flavour to rice puddings, sausages and mash, baked custards and fruit cake. The nutmeg is the seed of the Indonesian Myristica fragrans whose small yellow flowers develop into a fleshy, scarlet fruit enclosing the meg.

Mace comes from the same tree, but is the outer casing of the seed, which is ground up into a pale brown powder. Mace is used less often than nutmeg because it is milder.

Allspice comes from a Central American tree called Pimenta dioica and it's the seed that is used in cooking. It is referred to as allspice because it tastes like a combination of cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Lismore Garden Club News

The June meeting of the Lismore Garden Club is on today (Thursday, June 3) at the Lismore Workers Club from 1.30pm. Everyone is welcome. Bring a gardener friend and come along. For further information phone Mary on 6621 5293.

Are you one of those busy people that take home plants and say to yourself 'I will plant them as soon as I get a few minutes' only to find them still in the boot of the car, dead, a week later? It's very important when considering planting to ask yourself two questions - 'Do I have the soil prepared?' and 'Do I have time to plant them now'?

Do yourself a favour and leave the plants in the nursery until you can answer yes to both questions.

A useful and hardy fruit to grow in the backyard or small acreage is Kiwi fruit. They thrive in the Lismore district. You will need a strong support to grow them on. Remember, you need to buy both male and female vines and plant them in a sunny location. One male is enough to pollinate several female vines.

Happy gardening
Ron Burns