Growing and Cooking the West Indian Gherkin

What was the name of the flour you used?

This dish was delicious!

I’m currently growing them here in NC and they have pumped out so much!!! Love the crunch! Great video, can’t wait to try this dish!

Maxixe ❤️

This is and will most likely always be one of my favorite creators and there's no way I could do justice to the quality of content, topics, and how amazing it is to explore it with someone as curious and intelligent as Siloe

Hi Siloe, you could try Cucamelons. (Mexican Sour Gerkhin) Melothria scabra. Native to Mexico down to Venezuela. I've grown them for three years and they do not have pests. They are in the Cucurbitaceae family, but cucumber beetles are absolutely not attracted to them. Six vines usually cover a 20 by 6 feet of fence by the end of summer. They produce hundreds of fruit. At the end of season, I rip all the vines down and use them as mulch.
At the beginning, the plants are scrawny little things. Then all of a sudden they take off and in no time at all they climb all over the fence. Saving seeds is easy because nothing cross pollinates with them. The bees love the flowers.
gabi

thanks, how does the taste compare to normal cucumbers?

Very interesting. Perhaps tiny low doses of poison are even good for us. This is what some of the metabolic path to longevity people say. No one should take cyanide as an experiment though. I read that some people in Uganda processing their own cassava from wild varieties with a very high cyanogenic content have had poisonings. The article said they didn't cook it at a high enough temperature for long enough, as it was in the form of steamed cassava balls. So for eliminating cyanide the type of processing is crucial. I'm concerned because I'm cultivating Chaya Mansa which is a cousin of cassava, and I don't want to overcook the greens, and often steam mine, but they say 5 minutes in boiling water is enough, so boiling will probably be a better option. Cassava isn't common in our area, so we don't know how to produce it safely and are a bit nervous. Thank you Sileo. Congratulations on your channel's growth. I hope it means you'll be able to continue making videos without suffering financially.

Interesting the dusting of raw manic flour. I see you take the warnings about cyanide with a pinch of salt. Another instructive video.

Thank you for this video! This is a staple veggie in Curaçao, Dutch West Indies. We make a stew with it adding salt meats. And we do call them “komkomber chikitu”, little cucumber. I just found your channel and I like it very much!!

0:09 Yes, I have grown several packets of seeds from Bakers Rare/Heirloom seeds also. So far they are 7 inch tall and wide cabbage, cauliflower and broccoliis. near 100% germination. I shall have news later as to how well they do. I am somewhat concerned when I plant heirloom, old varieties because of possible lack of disease resistance. They certainly can do no worse than the variety of cauliflower that I grew last summer named "Amazing". The only amazing thing was that despite being planted early, I started all 30 of them from seeds, large transplants in large plastic cups, the plants grew big, not one single head of cauliflower, the OTHER variety of cauliflower that I planted from seeds named "Cheddar" gave me 3 heads of cauliflower.
2:55 Oh! You also wear linen in hot summer weather as do I , most people don't even know what linen is. The slightest summer breeze goes through it, it even feels cool going on. I recognize that pure linen "jiggle" like jello. No other fabric like it. I love it for summer, wrinkles and limpness and everything about it.
4:04 I have been gardening 50+ years, if the weeds will not grow well, neither will our crops. Either because of fertility or insufficient daylight.
6:34 Looks like ratatoille. looks good, Thanks for the Brazilian vegetable idea!

They grow in the wild South Texas and North México. I ate those all life in my ranch grow everywhere.

Thanks for your sharing, I did not know manioc flour can be eaten raw on top of cooked bean like this.

Do they say "in lock step" alot in Brazil? 🤣

💕these videos are great. I learn something new every time.

These are interesting!! Thank you for sharing, I love discovering new edibles.

Curious how prickly these were. I just picked some wild here in Saint Lucia – at least I'm fairly sure it's these- but the whole vine was very prickly

That dish looked amazing. We just moved to Maryland near Antietam battlefield in an old pre civil war house. Is there a way to email you for some ideas on plants because we have very little knowledge.

Just stumbled upon your channel. That dish looks absolutely yummy! In my opinion, as a Caribbean person, food recipes born of adversity amid diversity can be superbly creative and delicious.

Recipe or name so I can find the recipe please?

This is easily the best channel on youtube.

I wold love to see cooking videos. I'm vegetarian and would love unusual ideas.

Excellent video for some reason I did not see your videos coming up but would you grow those Indian gherkins again and may I ask what type of tomatoes that those were they look really good thank you for putting an awesome video out Siloe beautiful paintings🤩🤩🤩🥰

Such a beautiful garden. I always enjoy your artful videos. Thank you for teaching me about the gherkin!

Thank you!! That's awesome. Can I find chuchu to grow here in the USA?

Hope garden season went well. The only thing I had grow well was my tomatillos to this year.

Eu ia comentar que fica uma delícia com feijão, aí vc colocou no prato ♥. Aqui no Centro Oeste do Brasil tbm comemos muito, até como salada.
Um abraço Siloe, adoro seus vídeos

Finalmente achei vc de novo 😍 eu amava seus vídeos, mas pq parou de fazer vídeos em português??

I also would love to see a home tour! I don't know whether you filmed some of your rehabbing of the house, but it would be fun to see that process, as well. You have a lovely and eclectic interior decorating style.

I am so glad I came back to this video, the music really brought this to the next level for me. Who's playing the recorder? They make it sound so playful. I listen a bit to native american flute music but this is nice too.

Woohoo. I added this video to my watch later as soon as it came out but could watch it only now. Glad you went back to cooking!

Do you have a cookbook for sale?

It IS maxixe. Only the smallest are good raw. We cook them sliced in coconut milk, sometimes with curry. They are really best when cooked to be very soft. Delicious! They can be cooked whole with beans or meat or any other dish which is slow-cooked. They are super-resistant to drought. No one plants them here (Sertão) They come up in manure. They produce best in rain spells during the dry season. We only eat those whose seeds are still white. If they have gone yellow, they are too old and hard to enjoy. If they are very young, they are delicious sliced and"pickled 3-4 days in kombucha . We like them this way direct from the fridge during the hot season. Crunchy. (They are rich in zinc- very important!)

Siloe you have an amazing channel.. my two cents is you should do more Vegan recipes.. buuutttt… you should cook more familiar dishes.. there’s nothing wrong with the Indian Gherkin but unfortunately you won’t get the views other more known veggies that are more popular.. I love your channel .. God bless..

They are surprisingly seedy.

Sounds like a good combination to make a pie out of.
I just finished making some jars of green tomato salsa which was a first for me.