Another favorite garden produce coming from mom’s kitchen garden is Lao-Thai chili peppers. Peppers are normally divided into three categories: hot peppers, bell peppers, and sweet peppers.
These are considered hot peppers. It could all ripen as soon as next month.
When these young chili start to turn red, they will be harvested and dried in the sun. Then they will be roasted and turn to chili powder.
Summer time seem to be the best time to cook with chili peppers, whether it’s in soup or salads.
Chili peppers contain capsaicin (the stuff that makes them HOT). Capsaicin help stimulate the region of the brain responsible for cooling the body. You would think the heat would make you feel hotter, but in reality the pepper actually help lower body temperatures.
For those interested in weight loss, researchers coming out of South Korea found that capsaicin triggers proteins that help fight obesity by decreasing calorie intake, shrinking fat tissue and lowering fat levels in the blood.
However, they say, it is not known exactly how capsaicin might trigger such beneficial effects. (United Press International 07-28-10).
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I’ve always loved to eat jell-O (gelatin), actually the Asia jelly made of agar agar is my favorite. Another interesting jelly that is not commonly known in the U.S. is konnyaku. It’s made from the tubers of konnyaku root. The konnyaku potato is native to Asia. The Japanese pronounce it as “cone yuk”. In Indonesia, they call it “iles- iles”. In some countries it is known as voodoo lily or Devils’ Tongues.
They have huge blooms, but it’s the root that is eaten. Photo from University of Connecticut
The Japanese have been eating this stuff for thousands of years. And there are many benefits of eating Konnyaku. They mainly use Konnyaku to make jellies, tofu and noodles. The are low in calories, contains no fat, high in fiber, and rich in trace minerals. The Konnyaku fiber help clean the digestive tract of toxins.
When digested, konnyaku expands about 30-50 times in the digestive system - thus making you feel fuller longer. This would be good for those that want to lose weight. But there is a caution to not just depend on konnyaku for weight loss. As we all know, too much of anything is not good for you!
Konnyaku potatoes, photo from Bromo Agroindustry of Indonesia. They don’t look so appetizing now, but they are suppose to be really healthy stuff.
Konnyaku contains glucomannan, which is a water-soluble dietary fiber. It is very low in carbohydrates. There are research being done that shows that konnyaku helps lower cholesterol, prevents high blood pressure and normalizes blood sugar as well as prevents diabetes.
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