Kenikir in KAIL Garden

Have you ever eaten urap? Urap is a salad dish of steamed vegetables mixed with seasoned and spiced grated coconut for dressing. Well, one of the best vegetables for delicious urap is kenikir leaves. Kenikir, known as Cosmos caudatus, is a tropical plant originally from Latin America, grows wild and easily found in Indonesia too. The leaf for urap is not just any kenikir leaf. It is the one with tiny flowers with a crown of pink on the outside and white in the middle, and its stigmas are amber.

In addition to the salad, kenikirs also have other functions. These plants are also often planted as an insect repellent because the smell is particular. The types of kenikir that are commonly found are the one with yellow and orange flowers. The leaves of these kenikir are not to be eaten.

How to plant kenikir is very easy. The old flowers will produce seeds. Dry seeds will fall on the ground and grow into new kenikir trees. In KAIL gardens, there are many new kenikir-growing from seeds that fall from the first kenikir tree.