Natural Remedies From Garden Vegetables & Herbs

As children, our parents have always encouraged us to eat our vegetables so we would grow big and strong. Different vegetables and herbs are beneficial to our body in different ways.

BITTERMELON --rich stores of iron, beta carotene, calcium, potassium and dietary fiber.

The taste is bitter, but the benefits are sweet.
Bitter melon, also known as bitter gourd, definitely remains an acquired taste for most people.
It is an annual vine producing orange-yellow fruits that are used in folk medicine to treat a host of conditions including cough, colds, fever, intestinal disorders and diabetes.
Bitter melons contain compounds chemically similar to insulin, thus it's been nicknamed "herbal insulin".
It's also beneficial for reducing cholesterol levels.
There are numerous ways to cook this melon. My favourite is stuffing it with meat, or stir-fry with shredded meat and garlic and black bean sauce. In the summer months when we pick them fresh off the vines, we regularly make bitter melon juice with apples, cucumber, celery, and green peppers.

Garlic and onions are the best-documented examples of the role of plants in the treatment of disease and the maintenence of good health in general.

GARLIC
Health-promoting benefits of garlic include anti-biotic, anti-fungal, anti-carcinogenic.
Garlic helps to normalize cholesterol levels and preserve healthy blood vessels.
Garlic bulbs enhance the flavours of most dishes. We use them regularly in our stir-fry and stews and garlic tops are delicious in fresh salads.

SPRING ONIONS
Green spring onions are great for salads and cooking and garnishing.

GARLIC CHIVES
We call it "Jiu Cai" in Mandarin.
Great in stir-fry, as an accompaniment in meat stuffing in dumplings, also delicious in omelettes.

EGYPTIAN ONIONS
Can be used just like regular onions.
EGYPTIAN ONION HEADS

Tomato is the best dietary source of lycopene, the ingredient responsible for its anti-cancer properties.

You just can't beat the taste of a tomato picked fresh off the vine. Since tomato is the best dietary source of lycopene, we enjoy them almost everyday during the summer months. We love them raw in our salads, sandwiches and juices. We can get the best benefit by cooking tomatoes in the presence of vegetable fats such as in sauces or soups made with tomato paste and olive oil. We also freeze some for winter use.

The cabbage family of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kale, etc...have been prized by the Greeks and the Romans as a very medicinally important food - the vegetable of a thousand virtues.
This year we experimented with a few brussels sprouts, broccoli and two varieties of cabbages, green and purple, plus two varieties of kale.

Young Broccoli Plants	Mature Broccoli Head	Tall Kale	Kale
The young shoots are very tender, great in stir-fry or steamed.	Broccoli head is so delicious, raw or cooked.		We cook kale in stir-fry or soup but some people like it raw. It tastes sweeter after a frost.
Young Brussels Sprouts Plants	Brussels Sprouts	Cabbage Plant	Red & Green Cabbages
	Brussels sprouts are best steamed,seasoned with olive oil, salt & pepper.	In stir-fry, soup, coleslaw, cabbage rolls or eggrolls, we love them all.

Goji Berries -- For as long as I could remember while growing up in Malaysia, my mother had always urged us to drink up our soups cooked with dried goji berries. She would tell us it was especially good for our eyes.
Fresh goji berries grow well in our climate here. Modern science has shown that this bright red berry not only contains high levels of antioxidants, viamins and minerals, but also contains many unique phytochemicals, polysaccharides and complex compounds that are good for our health. Boy, am I glad I listened to my dear mother!

These fresh goji berries are sweet and delicious in salads and stir-fry.
They are also very good for making juice as well as soups.
Instead of dehydrating them, I simply freeze them for winter use,especially good for soups.

Okra -- commonly called Ladies' Fingers in Asia -- is very high in fiber, minerals and vitamins, especially Vitamin B6 & folic acid. It contains soluble fiber in the form of gums and pectins which can help lower cholesterol, reducing risk of heart disease. Its high insoluble fiber helps to keep the intestinal tract healthy. Above all, it is my favourite vegetable, so tasty and easy to cook, complementing a lot of dishes from stir-fry to curries , or just simply steamed.

OKRA PLANT	LONG AND TENDER LADIES' FINGERS	OKRA ON VINE

Jerusalem Artichoke -- also known as Sunchokes, belonging to the sunflower family. The elongated & knobby tubers resemble ginger roots. These edible tubers are high in inulin starch which is not easily digested and absorbed by our body, thus making them a very good carbohydrate substitute for diabetics. They are also very high in potassium, calcium, iron and other trace minerals.

Jerusalem Artichoke tubers have a delicate sweetness and nutty flavour. They can be used in salads and stir-fry dishes in place of water chestnuts. They are also delicious baked or boiled, with small amount of salt & pepper and olive oil.

Herbs and spices do much more than simply make your food palate pleasing. They offer a host of health benefits. Health-conscious cooks can use many different herbs and spices to perk up flavours in place of salt and fat.

Cilantro, also known as coriander, contains compounds that protect against cell mutations. It has a very strong taste, you either love it or hate it. We love it not just as a garnish but in almost any dish. Chopped up, it goes with everything from salads to salsas to soups or stews, even in stir-fry dishes.
In fact, we grow them in abandunce, making sure they are planted in succession so we have a constant supply all through the growing season! We often use the whole mature plants, seeds, roots and all, to make a tasty soup with bones, good for "thinning the blood".

Basil is a delicious herb containing high amount of antioxidants especially good for artery health. It has also been shown to provide anti-cancer compounds.
A very easy way to enjoy this delightful fresh herb is to chop it finely to add to fresh tomatoes tossed with extra-virgin olive oil. We also make fresh pesto using basil, garlic, olive oil and nuts.

Oregano has anti-microbial and anti-bacterial properties that are beneficial to our health. Since it is a perennial that grows easily, we always have lots for our favourite spaghetti sauces. We also love it chopped up in fresh salads as well as in the meat marinade for barbeques. They dry and freeze well so we keep lots for winter use.

Parsley is an biennial herb which will come back every year once it's established in your garden. It is a good source of vitamins, iron, potassium, calcium and dietary fiber. It also contains limonene which is a phytochemical known to have anti-cancer properties. Chinese herbologists recommend parsley tea (or soup) to help control high blood pressure as it acts as a natural diuretic. Along with other common herbs like rosemary and mint, etc...they enhance the flavours of just about any food we eat. Whether as a garnish or chopped up in salads or in cooking, it is a herb we can't do without.

My mother used to make us "cooling tea" using different herbs and dried flowers like chrysanthemum to sooth our throats when they were sore. If you had an upset stomach, she would know what kind of herbal soup to cook for you to fix the problem. As much as possible, we must try to nourish our bodies through natural foods. Recently I read a book called "Foods That Fight Cancer -- Preventing Cancer Through Diet" written by a Canadian cell biologist named Richard Beliveau. He and his colleague Denis Gingras have put together all those information that we have read before into one book using layman's terms for easy reading and understanding. Ultimately the same message comes across through the generations: Live well, eat healthy everyday to keep the doctor away.

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BOUNTIFUL HARVEST

Natural Remedies From Garden Vegetables & Herbs

Young Broccoli Plants

Mature Broccoli Head

Tall Kale

Kale

Young Brussels Sprouts Plants

Brussels Sprouts

Cabbage Plant

Red & Green Cabbages

OKRA PLANT

LONG AND TENDER LADIES' FINGERS

OKRA ON VINE

Herbs and spices do much more than simply make your food palate pleasing. They offer a host of health benefits. Health-conscious cooks can use many different herbs and spices to perk up flavours in place of salt and fat.