Mustard seed with hot, bitter flavour. One of the ingredients of Colman's mustard. They can be used whole or ground.
Strawberry Blite. A small, red, mulberry-like fruit, this grows on sprawling plants which are primarily grown as greens for salads or used as a herb, though should not be used in quantity. The leaves may also be cooked like spinach but, again, in moderation. The pleasantly sweet but essentially bland berries are small, pulpy and bright red, resembling strawberries. They provide an interesting accent to salads. The is plant prefers cool weather and damp mountain valleys but will tolerate heat. Native Americans used to use it as a dye.
An alcoholic drink brewed from malt and hops produced in England for export to British troops stationed in India. It is a top fermented beer, with a pale to deep amber colour in comparison with brown ale or stout, and a little more bitter than regular pale ale.
Prickly pear. The delicious but risky fruit of a cactus. The sweet, juicy flesh ripens from green to a deep apricot-pink colour. It is sensible to use leather gloves when dealing with these fruit as they are covered in fine, penetrating prickles. They are normally eaten raw but can be cooked, with the edible seeds becoming hard with cooking.
Plantago refers to the husks of the seeds of Plantago ovata, psyllium. They are used as an ingredient of natural laxatives. In India they are used in the long, cool drinks available in India. They absorb the flavours of the drink and take on a jelly-like consistency.
The Indian plum or ber is a plum-like fruit which is a small, sweet, reddish-black berry which fruits during the monsoon. There are sweet versions (narkel kul) and sour versions (topa kul). The latter are used to make pickles and chutneys.
Atlantic rock oyster. A variety of oyster up to 15 cm (6") in length found on the American side of the Atlantic. Unlike many oysters this is usually cooked, served on the half shell. This is because it is quite a fatty oyster, particularly when large, which is improved by cooking. All down the eastern seaboard the Atlantic oyster is called after the area in which it is found, e.g. the Long Island oyster, Chesapeake Bay oysters and so on. The best known is probably the bluepoint.
Roselle. Jamaican sorrel. A 2 meter (6 ft) high plant producing peppery leaves with a flavour similar to sorrel. The small scarlet flowers are used to make jams (US: jellies) and jellies (US: jellos) or dried and used to colour foods.
Indian spinach could be any of a number of greens found across the world. Most likely to be Basella alba, a tropical climbing plant that can grow as high as 2 meters (6 ft), the leaves being harvested as the plant grows and cooked in the same way as spinach or stewed in oil with spices. It is a type of amaranth, which includes many varieties of a sweetish green leafy vegetable known by many different names, including callalloo, elephant’s ear, African/Ceylon/Chinese/Indian spinach, Surinam amaranth, etc.
