Eye of Goat, also known as "Goatbush" or "Doe's Eyes" are a flowering and fruit-bearing shrub native to Central Aresia. Despite their unnerving appearance, the fruits of the Eye of Goat are enjoyed only about a month each year and are a summer delicacy for many.
Description
Goatbushes grow natively in the wild in central Aresia, especially in the Viridian valley of Allinor and the Sedian valley between the God's Cradle mountains and the Mourning Peaks. They are also highly present throughout cooler regions of Osmen and the Skypirros Isles, where they are often considered a weed. In the wild, the plants reproduce through cross-pollination, resulting in many slight regional varieties across different locations and soil types. When cultivated, hand-pollination and cultivation through cuttings means variation and traits can be carefully selected, resulting in many hobby horticulturalists breeding interesting and controlled varieties.
Native to shady forest floors, typically the bushes grow to around 1.5m tall, and tend to trail up trees and rough surfaces where able. The underside of the leaves have small hook-like spines that help grip on rough surfaces or passing animals, breaking off pieces of the plant to propagate elswhere. They require very little light to grow, and many cultivars insist that berries grown in lower light result in sweeter fruit. The plant produces small, pink bell-like flowers that develop into the berries given time. These flowers are also edible and considered a delicacy all on their own, though harvesting the flowers prevents berries from forming. The berries themselves are usually about a cm in diameter, and yellowish-pink in colour. When picked, the base of the berry where the pedicel would attach bears a horizontal, rectangular marking that resembles the horizontal pupil of a goat or other similar grazing animal.
Uses
Culinary
Eye of Goat berries are tart and sweet with a powdery aftertaste. The flowers are very powdery and slightly sweet in flavour, but this flavour can be enhanced greatly by creating a tea, infusion or tincture. The rest of the plant is technically edible, but the leaves and stems are very rough and bitter and the leaf spines make eating the leaves difficult.
Berries are eaten fresh or often preserved as jams, syrups or purees. They can also be stewed with sugar and eaten in pies or alongside fresh cream, a common practice in Virias. The flowers are commonly used in fragrant spirits and alcoholic drinks, and can be used as a garnish for meals. The flowers are delicate and picking them prevents berries from forming, meaning the flowers are much more expensive and difficult to obtain than the berries.
Medicinal
The flowers of Eye of Goat have been used in history to encourage gut movement. The plant contains compounds that act as a mild, natural laxative that promotes regularity. While the use of goatbush for this purpose used to be very common, there are newer and easier-to-grow and obtain ingredients on the market that act similarly, and it has gone out of fashion in recent centuries.
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