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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] Kunu - millet, sorghum, maize, rice, grain legumes & Digitalis

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  • From: Robyn Williamson <rz.williamson@optusnet.com.au>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] Kunu - millet, sorghum, maize, rice, grain legumes & Digitalis
  • Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2004 00:01:47 +1000

On Monday, September 20, 2004, at 03:38 am, Steve Diver wrote:

I don't have a copy of Mollison's book on fermentation, maybe
it has some of this stuff in their already.

Hi Steve, I have it here:

MILLET, SORGHUM, MAIZE & RICE (all grass seeds)
Chapter Three, The Grains of Mollison's "The Permaculture Book of Ferment & Human Nutrition" [pp 43-59] includes the minor grains (+millet but it's a different species, Eragrostis tef). It contains extensive information and recipes for processing grains (you can make beer with all of them), also Chapter 4 The Legumes (eg. BEANS - bean/pea/wattle seeds) esp 4.6 The Sprouting of Grains and Grain Legumes (Page 80) contains detail of methods and recipe for a nutritious high-protein flour made from a combination of sprouted grains and grain legumes.


Another item in my archives, somewhere, is an ethnological
study of Korean villagers and how they make kimchee in
crock pots that you bury in the earth and dig up months
and months later.

p 117 has recipes and method for Kim Chee, another version on p 157 uses Gracilaria seaweed instead of cabbage leaf and is "ripened" a few days in the refrigerator.

A related grain topic on my mind is the production and use
of edible sorghum. It is a staple cereal grain in many African
countries. Sorghum is used in the kunu recipe.

On p 57-58 are some uses for sorghum incl. porridge. "Sorghum lacks gluten and is not suited to yeast breads. Use soda for breads made from sorghum flour."

DIGITALIS

Yes Lawrence, D. exilis is related to foxglove D. purpurea, same family and genus. Theoretically, they could be cross-pollinated to produce another variety or a "new" hybrid or species, that is over time, if they are not made sterile in the process and if they don't revert in the next generation(s).

Digitalis is a bisexual flowering plant (pollinated by bees) and all the other ingredients above are grass seeds (pollinated by wind). Are the seeds of Digitalis used in the recipe for Kunu? or the leaves?

There is nothing in Bill Mollison's book about Digitalis. There's undoubtedly more recent advances, but my reference here (William A.R. Thomson's "Healing Plants" 1974) says that Digitalis is the only medicinal molecule that can't be synthesised and it is still widely grown in industrialised countries for its leaves which are used in heart medicines. Different species such as woolly foxglove, Digitalis lanata are grown in the Mediterranean for climatic reasons. I don't have any information on D. exilis but I am guessing it is the Nigerian (?) equivalent of the foxglove. The active principles of Digitalis are found in the leaves, not the flowers or seeds.

Hope this helps, Robyn

CONTACT DETAILS:

Robyn Williamson
PDC, Urban Horticulturist
Hon Sec, Fagan Park Community Eco Garden Committee
Local Seed Network Coordinator
NORTH WESTERN SYDNEY COMMUNITY SEED SAVERS
ph/fx: (612) 9629 3560
email: rz.williamson@optusnet.com.au
http://www.communityfoods.com.au
http://www.au.gardenweb.com/directory/fpceg
http://www.seedsavers.net




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