Its 4.14am and thoughts have shifted to…

…Aleurites moluccana (candlenut) which, I realise now, I have really seen growing all over Hong Kong. Unfortunately its Chinese New Year time and no nuts in sight, candle or otherwise. I have tasted these nuts in Bali, but I was eating them raw in which form, it turns out, is mildly toxic. The funny thing is when I was eating them, I had the distinct sense that there was something odd and not particularly healthy about their taste, but rationalised that if an ecovillage in the hills of northern Bali was growing these organically, shelling them and putting them into little baggies to sell to their guests, they really should be OK to eat. Oh the naiveté!

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