Sunday, January 6, 2013

Dried beans and 'Winter tea' // Suszone nasiona fasoli i 'Zimowa herbatka'

During the last gardening season I've collected a few varieties of dried beans to sow them this year's spring.

I love to sow beans because they're so satisfying. Sow a few seeds and harvest hundreds :)

Last spring I prepared a teepee-like support made of dried wooden stalks of a Japanese knotweed (fallopia japonica; Pl: rdestowiec japoński/ostrokończysty). Japanese knotweed is an invasive plant in Poland so there was no trouble in getting it, in fact the stalks resemble bamboo stalks so I thought these teepees would be perfect. Unfortunately, knotweed stalks turned out to be too brittle for the heavy crop of beans and they all fell apart. I had to tie the plant to the wire fence.

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W ostatnim sezonie udało mi się zebrać nasiona kilku odmian fasoli na suche nasiona, aby posiać je w tym roku.

Uwielbiam siać fasolę, bo jest to bardzo wdzięczne zajęcie! Posiej kilka nasion, by potem zebrać setki :)

Rok temu przygotowałam podpórki pod fasolę w kształcie indiańskiego tipi. Użyłam do tego wysuszonych łodyg rdestowca japońskiego/ostrokończystego (fallopia japonica). Ten rdestowiec jest inwazyjną rośliną w Polsce więc nie miałam problemu ze znalezieniem dużej ilości łodyg; łodygi te bardzo przypominają tyczki bambusowe więc myślałam, że będą idealne pod fasolę. Niestety, okazało się, że suche łodygi są za kruche, połamały się pod ciężarem fasoli, musiałam więc na szybko podwiązywać co się dało do siatki.


more//więcej:

Apart from the failure of these supports I had some dwarf beans which turned out to be a success! Look at my collection of dried beans, I think I'm going to sow most of these and I'll eat the rest :)

 On the left there is a white beans variety of a regular climbing bean called 'Jaś' in Polish, in English it means 'John' :) This variety is characterized by very big beans, bigger than the regular ones.

In the middle, there are borlotti beans. I love them, they have a nut-like tasty flavor and lots of spots and flecks :)

On the right, a red bean variety, very tasty, but they tend to ripe long.
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Pomimo porażki z podpórkami, miałam w ogrodzie jeszcze fasolę karłową, która okazała się sukcesem. Zobaczcie moją małą kolekcję fasolek. Myślę, że większość zostawię do posiania za rok a co zostanie, to zjem :)

Białe fasolki po lewej stronie to fasola tyczna  Jaś. Ta odmiana charakteryzuje się bardzo dużymi nasionami, większymi niż zwykle.

Po środku, fasolki bortlotto. Uwielbiam je, bo mają lekko orzechowy smak i mnóstwo kropek i plamek :)

Po prawej, odmiana czerwonej fasoli, bardzo smaczna, ale dosyć sługo dojrzewa.

 


___ Winter tea ___
Zimowa herbatka



 I made a very tasty and healthy winter tea of summer and autumn fruits. The tea is rich in vitamin C that's why I call it a 'winter tea'. It contains pectins, which are a good source of soluble dietary fiber and are helpful in the digestive process.
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To moja zdrowa, zimowa herbatka, którą zrobiłam z wysuszonych letnich owoców. Herbatka jest bogata w witaminę C, dlatego nazwałam ją 'zimową'. Zawiera pektyny, które są źródłem rozpuszczalnego błonnika pokarmowego i usprawniają przewód pokarmowy.



Winter tea:

- Dried dog rose hips (rosa canina; Pl: dzika róża)
- Dried apple pieces
- Dried hawthorn fruits (crataegus; Pl: głóg)
- Dried hibiscus petals (hibiscus; Pl: hibiskus)  the only ingredient that I bought
- Dried barberries (berberis vulgaris)
- Dried blackberries (rubus; Pl: jeżyna)
- Dried pieces of Japanese quince (chaenomeles japonica; Pl: pigwowiec japoński)
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W dowolnych ilościach i proporcjach:
- suszone owoce dzikiej róży
- suszone jabłka ze skórką
- suszone owoce głogu
- suszone płatki hibiskusa (to jedyny składnik, który musiałam kupić)
- suszone owoce berberysu
- suszone owoce jeżyny
- suszone kawałki owoców pigwowca japońskiego

15 comments:

  1. YuM! looks amazing and so healthy - I love Hawthorne berries!

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  2. it looks and it definitely is :) Thank you for your comment! Best regards.

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  3. oh, and thank you for becoming my follower :)

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  4. Knotweed is over here too and also very invasive. I need to look it up again to be sure, but i think the spring shoots are edible.

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    1. If it's edible I will definitely try it. I like trying new green things. When I read some old books on plants or herbs, I read that many of the plants used to be eaten in the past but now are completely forgotten.

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  5. Here Japanese knotweed is a notifiable weed and has to be disposed of in a particular way.

    I love the look of the beans - I like the smooth feel of them too

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    1. In Poland a notifiable plant is a sosnowskyi hogweed (heracleum sosnowskyi; barszcz sosnowskiego. When you come across the sosnowskyi hogweed you have to report it because if you touch it, it can cause even the 2nd degree burn on your skin. Last year it was on the news that someone saw this plant, reported it and the soldiers came and destroyed it.

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    2. We have giant hogweed which is maybe the same plant which is also notifiable. I heard of a house where Japnese knotweed actually grew through the floor of the house and up into the living room,

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    3. Knotweed grew through the floor? This is kind of scary :)

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  6. Hi, nice to meet you. What a variety of beans! I would love to grow beans too, but my yard is so tiny, there is hardly any space for everything I want to grow.
    Your tea looks fantastic. When I used to live in Ukraine, I collected wild rose hips. That was a lot of fun, and later during cold winter months it was great to sip delicious rose hips tea.

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    1. Olga, thank you for visiting my blog and becoming my follower! I'm very grateful. I love your crocheted works. I will show my works soon :)

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  7. Hi Dewberry :) Thank you very much for your visit to my blog. I'm happy.
    You have very interesting blog and you take beautiful photos.
    Winter tea looks very interesting. In think in winter days it tastes great. I like very much red tea.
    Greetings from Poland ;)

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    1. Cześć Marille :) Dziękuję za komentarz i za odwiedzenie mnie :) Pozdrawiam serdecznie!

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  8. I love the look of your tea! My mum used to give me something similar, it was a commercial 'health drink' that came as a powder. I loved it but had to take it with sugar! It was made with rosehips and haws and a few other things if I remember the packaging correctly. I might try making something like yours this year.

    Lovely blog BTW :)

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    1. Thank you!

      I recommend you doing such tea, the great thing is that you can add fruits you like in any combination.

      Thanks for visiting and commenting!

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