Bac ha

From: "Greg Ruckert" <uasonyero at ezinet.com.au> on 1997.04.07 at 17:40:36(580) With a growing Asian community we are being exposed to more Asian culinary delights. At a local market I bought a plant, labelled only as Bac Ha (both a have accents which I can't replicate here), which is clearly a dwarf aroid under our conditions. Can anyone suggest a proper name please. Greg Ruckert +More 47 Allinga Avenue Glenside 5065 South Australia, Australia Telephone 61 8 83795123 Fax 61 8 83642003

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 1997.04.08 at 01:36:26(583) ---------- Sent: Monday, April 07, 1997 1:40 PM To: Julius Boos +More Subject: Bac ha With a growing Asian community we are being exposed to more Asian culinary delights. At a local market I bought a plant, labelled only as Bac Ha (both a have accents which I can't replicate here), which is clearly a dwarf aroid under our conditions. Can anyone suggest a proper name please. Greg Ruckert 47 Allinga Avenue Glenside 5065 South Australia, Australia Telephone 61 8 83795123 Fax 61 8 83642003 Dear Greg, Quite a few years[6?] ago here in Florida I came across an Aroid at a friends that I thought was a small variety of Alocasia, probably macrorrhiza,in a local plant shop. the owner said he`d been given it by Thai friends who cultivated it for it`s leaves, and they said it was called "bok ha" [ being from Trinidad, W.I. that`s how it sounded to me; an American probably would write it "bAk ha". I kept it for a while before giving it to a "friend" who quickly killed it. I was interested in it, because in Trinidad we cultivate dasheen [taro] leaves to prepare one of our national dishes, a soup in the gumbo family [African] called "calaloo" which originally included okra, plantain balls made in a huge mortar and pestle,and land crabs which were trapped alive and at first fed chili leaves to purge them, then soft maize to fatten them over a period of two weeks, before the were killed, cleaned and added to the soup! In Bown`s book on Aroids she also mentions A. cucllata and A. fornicata as also being used as food. There are also special cultivars of Xanthosoma in S. America that are grown especially for their leaves, but the ones that I`m familiar with itch too badly to be used! Hope this is of help. Sincerely, Julius. ju-bo@ msn.c om

From: eduardo gomes goncalves <eggon at guarany.cpd.unb.br> on 1997.04.09 at 20:57:28(593) Dear Julius, In Southeastern and Central Brazil we eat the leaves of Xanthosoma sagittifolium (people call it "Taioba") and it is delicious (I liked it even when I wasn't an aroid specialist!). Eduardo. +More On Mon, 7 Apr 1997, Julius Boos wrote: > There are also special cultivars of Xanthosoma in > S. America that are grown especially for their leaves, but the ones that I`m > familiar with itch too badly to be used! > Hope this is of help. > Sincerely, > Julius. ju-bo@ msn.c > om > >

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 1997.04.10 at 00:30:56(594) ---------- Sent: Wednesday, April 09, 1997 4:57 PM To: Julius Boos +More Subject: RE: Bac ha Dear Julius, In Southeastern and Central Brazil we eat the leaves of Xanthosoma sagittifolium (people call it "Taioba") and it is delicious (I liked it even when I wasn't an aroid specialist!). Eduardo. On Mon, 7 Apr 1997, Julius Boos wrote: > There are also special cultivars of Xanthosoma in > S. America that are grown especially for their leaves, but the ones that I`m > familiar with itch too badly to be used! > Hope this is of help. > Sincerely, > Julius. ju-bo@ msn.c > om > > Dear Eduardo! Good to hear from you! Please send me your E-mail address, as I sent you a long letter a week ago but it was returned to me yesterday as "address unknown". I sent it to --eggon@guarany.cpd.und.br , and like I said, it came back. I will re-send it as soon as I hear from you. I hope that you enjoyed my discription of the Trinidadian dish, "calaloo", but wonder what our Australian friend must think! Come visit me sometime and I`ll prepare some for you, I promise that you`ll love it!! I look forward to hearing from you--- Julius. ju-bo@ msn.com

From: "Greg Ruckert" <uasonyero at ezinet.com.au> on 1997.04.10 at 14:15:07(596) Julius, Am enjoying the exchanges but still don't know that I am any closer to naming the Aroid. Would love to have the courage to try eating some. Hope the offer to visit applies to me as well. Greg Ruckert +More 47 Allinga Avenue Glenside 5065 South Australia, Australia Telephone 61 8 83795123 Fax 61 8 83642003

From: "Julius Boos" <ju-bo at msn.com> on 1997.04.10 at 19:46:32(600) ---------- Sent: Thursday, April 10, 1997 10:15 AM To: Julius Boos +More Subject: Re: Bac ha Julius, Am enjoying the exchanges but still don't know that I am any closer to naming the Aroid. Would love to have the courage to try eating some. Hope the offer to visit applies to me as well. Greg Ruckert 47 Allinga Avenue Glenside 5065 South Australia, Australia Telephone 61 8 83795123 Fax 61 8 83642003 Dear Greg, The offer applies to you as well! Did`nt you receive my original reply where I I.D.`d your plant as an ALOCASIA, probably the species "macrorrhiza",and my discription of the soup we make with taro leaves,okra, and land crabs in Trinidad, W.I.? Let me know and I`ll re-send it. Cheers Mate, Julius.

From: golfstra at cyvox.net.au on 1997.04.15 at 13:53:21(619) Greg Ruckert wrote: > > With a growing Asian community we are being exposed to more Asian culinary > delights. +More > At a local market I bought a plant, labelled only as Bac Ha (both a have > accents which I can't replicate here), which is clearly a dwarf aroid under > our conditions. > > Can anyone suggest a proper name please. > > Greg Ruckert > 47 Allinga Avenue > Glenside 5065 > South Australia, Australia > Telephone 61 8 83795123 > Fax 61 8 83642003 Hi Greg My name is Neil Crafter and I work on Glen Osmond Road at Fullarton.... nearly next door neighbours in terms of Aroid-L !! I am a member of the IAS and have been a keen hobby grower and collector of philodendrons for many years now. I can't shed much light on bac ha but I do know of a chinese green vegetable called bok choi - I guess the bac/bok part may be a standard prefix for leafy greens. Anyway if you have an interest in aroids ,especially philodendrons I"d be pleased to hear from you kind regards Neil Crafter

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