Sunday, August 14, 2011

Homemade Grass Jelly (Suong sam )

I am so happy and excited because my plant grass jelly finally had enough leaves for me to make some fresh jelly. Yes, this grass jelly is not made from powder but from a plant. The grass jelly is also called suong sam in Vietnam . It is a vine with heart shaped leaves. The leaves are extracted with water using both hands rubbing on leaves back and forth until all the green part in the leaves are out in the water. Strain and collect the green liquid water. Then put a little of the cuttlebone powder to make into jelly. This jelly is very different than any jelly from the store. It is very refreshing, chewy, and it have a cooling effect on the body. The botanical name of this plant is called tiliacora triandra. This is such a natural and yummy dessert!!!





19 comments:

Pauline said...

Wow, that is so cool that you made your own suong sam straight from the plant! I think it's so awesome that you have all of the tropical plants originating from around Vietnam. You are so lucky to have such fresh produce in your backyard, and you are so amazing to make all these things from scratch!

Kristy said...

Thank you Pauline. The tropical fruit trees bring me joy when I'm stress out or bored. It's a great hobby! :)

Anonymous said...

Kristy - This is sooo great. Where did you guy the plant? I would like to buy one too.

~T

Kristy said...

I got the seedling from my friend last year. Her Aunt got the seeds from Vietnam but they're out of it. I'm trying to see if I can get some seeds from my plant. It has flowers but very hard to collect the seeds because they are so small.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Kristy. Let me know when you have the seeds...I wonder if we can cut a piece of the plant and grow it that way.

How's Ethan by the way?

~T

terri@adailyobsession said...

wow, no kidding! this is prolly the same ingredient forgrass jelly. always wondered about tt bc the texrue is diff from agar n jello. you go girl!

terri@adailyobsession said...

and i like tt dimple:D

Kristy said...

This is grass jelly is really great. I can eat a lot without being tired of it. I wish my plant can grow bigger so I can get more jelly out of it....yum yum.

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

this is my 1st time seeing grass jelly plant, so nice to eat homemade jelly.

Anonymous said...

I love those grass jelly. Wonder if you have some seed, can you share with us.

Kristy said...

There are flowers on the vines but the seeds are so tiny I do not see them. I was not able to collect any seeds yet. When I do I will have to try to germinate them to see if they grow or not.

Anonymous said...

If you able to do it please keep us update. I would love to have just a few seeds. BTW, my name is Amy and I live in Kansas.

Anonymous said...

what is cuttlebone powder? where do you get it?

Kristy said...

The cuttlebone is the bone of the cuttlefish. After I cut up my cuttlefish to cook, I saved the cuttlebone and dry it. Google cuttlebone and you can see how it look like.

Anonymous said...

I never knew that grass jelly was made from these type of plant. I saw some of the Asian store carried just the leaf, but not the whole plant. Lao and Thai peoples buy to make bamboo soup.
You can search for the plant online. Here is also the address of one of the online shop. http://www.floraexotica.ca/Vegie.htm

Anonymous said...

hi chi., Em have 2 seeds as gift from an online friend . How do you seedling the suong sam plant from seed? Thanks.

Kristy said...

Put some soil in a small pot or cup and plant the seeds. Sprinkle some water on it and keep the soil moist. Best if you use potting soil. Or you can plant it in the ground when the weather is warm. Since the weather is cold now then leave the cup at the windowsill so it can get some sun. Good luck.

Anonymous said...

Hi ch3rri,

A person sold me tiliacora seeds, the seeds are black and a little bit bigger than mung bean, is that the right seeds? You mentioned that the seeds are tiny.

Did you do something special to the seeds before you planted them? I planted the seeds directly inside the soil but they didn't germinate at all.

Thanks,

presa1200 said...

Why would you need cuttlebone powder? Doesn't this plant contain mucus that will turn into jelly?