Produce from the Heritage Garden
Nature Seychelles has completed the 3rd edition of its book that encourages backyard organic gardening to provide nourishment for people’s homes. Grow and Eat Your Own Food, Seychelles is now in print and will hit the shelves soon.
Like the other two popular editions, this book draws inspiration from the Heritage Garden project, which was launched to revive interest in traditional plants, organic gardening, and healthy living. The garden, which covers a small area around the NGOs office, illustrates how small spaces can be productive, and that landscaping can be both beautiful and edible. It is divided into sections covering food plants, herbs and spices, medicinal plants, and vegetables.
The book follows the same arrangement. The first section addresses herbs and spices and their various culinary and medicinal uses. These plants add zest to our dishes, making them more flavourful, aromatic, and delicious. Dozens of pages bring several aromatic plants such as All spice (Katrepis), Basil (Basilik), Curry leaf (Kari pile), and Cinammon (Kannel) to life. Many herbs and spices can be made into teas or infusions that improve health or relieve symptoms of conditions such as colds, coughs, flu, or fever. Included are popular herbal remedies for some of these plants such as Chamomile (Kamomil) tea for sleep, and Lemongrass (Sitronnel) for a soothing aromatherapy experience.
The next chapters are on the beloved fruits of Seychelles. Fruits feeds the senses with scent and colour, and nourish the body with vitamins. This part describes different types of fruits and their uses such as the popular Papaya (Papay), Banana (Banann), Golden Apple (Frisiter), and the all-purpose Coconut (Koko). Additionally, the book provides suggestions for juicing, making jams and jellies, and crystallizing fruits for home consumption or for a longer shelf life.
Sweet potato are among the are among the “gro manze” included
No meal is complete without vegetables either cooked or in a salad, and the next chapters cover a variety of locally available vegetables. These include Amaranthus (Bred Payater), Aubergine (Brenzel) and Pumpkin (Zironmon). The “big food” (gro manze), which had previously fallen out of favour but have now made a return to our plates, follow in the next chapters. The Arrowroot (Larourout), Bread fruit (Friyapen) and Cassava (Mayok) are among the foods included. The final section is on common medicinal plants such as Aloe Vera, Black nightshade (Bred marten), and Madagascar periwinkle (Roz Anmer). Some localestablishments also provide recipes for easy-to-make local dishes that use locally sourced produce after each section. The book ends with a detailed plan on how to start one’s own garden with tips on activities such as composting.
Both previous editions of the book were highly popular and quickly sold out. The 2nd edition won an award from Gourmand magazine and was featured at the Frankfurt and Paris book fairs. Backyard gardening’s resurgence due to the Covid-19 pandemic is expected to make this edition even more useful. The production of this third edition was made possible by a grant to Nature Seychelles from the US Embassy Self-Help Program.