Regions: North-East India

The squash that covers a whole roof in one season across the eastern hills.

The thin-skinned Assam lemon, fragrant enough to scent a whole kitchen.

The loose-skinned orange of the Khasi and Jaintia hills, ripe in December.

A tuberous legume of Meghalaya, eaten raw and crisp with salt and mustard oil.

Hard glossy grain used as food, as beads and as a brewing grain in the hills.

Half the country’s calories — and a bucket of it on a terrace teaches more than any book.

Pale crisp fruit that smells of rose water, on a small spreading evergreen.

The slender betel-nut palm of the wet coasts, grown in dense shaded gardens.

A climbing orchid that must be hand-pollinated flower by flower, at dawn.

The vine that made the Malabar coast; needs a tree to climb and constant humidity.