Jungle Notes.
Field notes from the tropics.
A growing reference for the ingredients we work with — kithul, young jackfruit, cobra chilli, palm sugars — and the techniques to use them. Written for cooks who want to know what they’re cooking with, not just how to cook it.
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Recently added.
Cassava
Cassava is a large, starchy tuber (root) from a woody shrub in the Euphorbiaceae (spurge) family, native to South America.
Cassava
Cassava is a large, starchy tuber (root) from a woody shrub in the Euphorbiaceae (spurge) family, native to South America.
Bitter Melon (Bitter Gourd)
Bitter melon is a tropical and subtropical vine in the Cucurbitaceae (gourd) family, producing one of the most distinctive — and most polarizing — vegetables in the world.
Bitter Melon (Bitter Gourd)
Bitter melon is a tropical and subtropical vine in the Cucurbitaceae (gourd) family, producing one of the most distinctive — and most polarizing — vegetables in the world.
The Glossary
Tropical pantry, explained.
Kohila
Sri Lanka
A jungle vegetable with no English name.
Jackfruit
Sri Lanka
The unripe fruit that cooks like ground meat. Mild, absorbent, high in fibre.
Cobra Chilli
Sri Lanka
Fruity scotch-bonnet-style chilli grown on Sri Lankan smallholdings.
Nutmeg
Indonesia
Volcanic-soil nutmeg from the Banda Islands. Warm, sweet, faintly piney
Aren Palm
Indonesia
Indonesian palm sugar with deep caramel notes. Sister to kithul.
Kelapa Palm
Indonesia
Lighter coconut-palm syrup. Floral. The gateway palm sugar.
Ash Plantain
Sri Lanka
Starchy green plantain — closer to potato than banana. A Sri Lankan kitchen staple.
Moringa
Sri Lanka
The leaf with more iron than spinach. Mild, grassy, cooks like kale.
Pineapple
Malaysia
MD2 and Sarawak varieties — sweet, juicy, peak-season-only sourcing.
Coconut
Sri Lanka
Fresh-scraped, never powdered. The base note of Sri Lankan home cooking.
Lasia
Sri Lanka
Spiny tropical tuber. Crunchy, mild, used in curries. Rare outside South Asia.
Finger Millet
Sri Lanka
High-iron, gluten-free grain. Nutty, earthy. Centuries old, suddenly trendy.
How-to Guides
