Category: 365 Days
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Neem leaf powder
At Solitude Farm we dry Neem leaves, grind them into a powder and bottle it for sale – ready to use. Having the powder handy makes it easy for people to consume and use Neem on a daily basis. Use Neem powder internally for cleansing and purifying your stomach and intestinal tract, and to help…
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Malabar Spinach
Basella alba Another plant that can get you growing your own food very quickly is the Basella spinach or Malabar spinach. Known as Pasalai Keerai in Tamil, it is a very tasty spinach indeed! Native to the Indian subcontinent, Malabar spinach is a creeper with very big, viscous leaves and a soft stem. We know…
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Black velvet bean cooked
Black Velvet Bean or Mucuna Pruriens is a highly medicinal plant and tasty food. Black velvet bean contains 4-7% Dopamine and helps with libido, Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, etc. As food, the immature beans can be cooked as a vegetable and the mature beans can be used as a coffee substitute. This Bean grows so easily,…
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Kanthari Chili / Bird’s Eye Chili
Capsicum annuum The Kanthari chilli, or Bird’s Eye chilli, is listed as one of the top 10 spiciest chilis in the world. It is highly aromatic, very spicy, and very delicious, and yet it is a weed! We have many plants of this kind on the farm which have emerged on their own, and their…
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Papaya smoothie
We have a lot of Papaya trees at Solitude, that bestow us with beautifully ripe and sweet papayas during the season. This papaya smoothie is yet another simple and alternate way of consuming papayas that are rich in Vitamin A and Vitamin E. Simply, wash, deseed and chop the papayas. Add this to the blender…
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Ragi Adai
The Ragi Adai is basically a spiced, roasted flatbread integrated with Drumstick Spinach, Onion, and Chilli. In the regions surrounding where we live, a fresh, hot Adai is enjoyed, especially as a monsoon delicacy. It was once said jestingly, “The Adai has been so named for the fact that it is made when an “adai…
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Cooking with PlantainBajjis
The Plantain is a versatile vegetable, and useful as an optional staple. It grows locally, and it grows easily. It is high in ascorbic acid and iron, and can be used in several different ways. One easy way to eat Plantain is to remove the skin with a regular peeler, cut the flesh into long…
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Tamarind Leaf
The Tamarind trees at Solitude Farm have grown on their own. And this could be said of the innumerous Tamarind trees present in nearly every part of Tamil Nadu – they could be considered weeds, and yet, their fruit is used extensively in our cooking. What is of special interest though, particularly in connection to…
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Brahmi
Centella asiatica Vallarai Recently in Solitude Farm, we have started to grow Vallarai. It is a plant that flourishes extensively in shady, marshy, damp and wet environments. In the right conditions, it is quite rapidly propagative, while growing thick, circular leaves which grow to about 2 inches in diameter. Besides the cultivated variety there is…
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How to make Palm Fruit Juice
In this short Tamil comedy (in English subtitles), I, collaborated with Hamish from Mediclown to show the forgotten values of the palm fruit. At Solitude in the summer season, we harvest the fallen fruits and make delicious Juice, which we serve at the farm café. There are so many foods and recipes to share along…