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TNAndy, betel is contributing to your meal in hidden ways)) it has tons of medicinal properties and helps with digestion. I think at this time in history, anything that has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties is a gold mine, regardless of taste.
Talking about taste, have you tried houttuynia cordata the fish mint? I got it several years ago from a vietnamese guy (it’s used in Vietnamese cuisine a lot) and it truly smells like fish. An interesting experience.
I saw FlyingFoxFruits (Adam?) mention "air pruning pots," and these came up. They're supposed to work like fabric pots in that they keep the roots developing into a dense root ball instead of circling the perimeter of the pot. The advantage (I think) of these over fabric is that they have less surface area that's open to air, so the soil doesn't completely dry out as easily. Colorado air is not humid at all, so fabric pots can dry out the soil maybe too much. Hopefully they are happy for long enough to fruit! I guess it'll probably take a couple of years for most of those to fruit?
After having grown a Piper betle specimen for several years, I decided to taste a leaf for the first time today.
[shrug] It really didn't taste of pepper...or much of anything else, either. [/shrug] I was unimpressed. Definitely not in any way hot. Frankly, I might as well have chewed a spinach leaf.
P. betle is one of the components of betel quid (along with betel palm nut and lime). I don't see how the betel pepper leaf contributes much to the mix.
Unless this plant is NOT Piper betle--alas, I have been swindled before. Another plant I bought years ago was sold to me as P. nigrum...and it clearly isn't (I still have no idea what species it is).
