A few days ago, I sequestered myself in the kitchen for the whole day (I know…I do that a lot). This is my usual “go-to” response when I can’t face the ongoing pressures of maintaining the farm and I just want “time-out.” I had bought about 50lbs of venison and I set about trying to process about 20lbs of it.
So, the first thing I made was Cantonese BBQ Venison which is really Char Sui made from venison rather than the typical pork. I am not sure what to call it since I do not know the word for venison in Chinese! So, if there are any Real Chinese people out there…how do you say BBQ Venison?
12lbs of the venison turned into this:
Cantonese BBQ Venison.
I coloured it with a Central American spice called Recado since I did not have any Chinese food colouring:
Recado Powder.Sliced.
Yummy…it turned out really well!! You would have thought you were in a Chinese restaurant in Singapore or Hong Kong!
The other 8lbs of venison became a slow-cook curry with lots of spices (cumin, mustard seeds, tumeric, chilli and lots more):
Venison Ready To Cook in Curry.
You will get the Venison Curry Recipe tomorrow. That was delicious too!!
Our friends, Erin and Jim came to visit our farm today and did an impromptu maize beer tasting. It is interesting to see other people’s perspectives and they thought that it was a pleasant tasting sour beer, much akin to “Lambic” with the taste of fermented apples. We were very pleased to hear that it was compared to a well-known traditional beer! We now wish that we didn’t gave away so many bottles of the beer earlier on when we thought that it was a failure. We live and learn…we will hoard every single drop next time…that is the Scottish coming out in me!
Pumpkins Galore!
On another note, we are harvesting pumpkins so, we will mostly be eating pumpkins. Aaaahhhh, what a gloriously uncomplicated life we live!
Gnome brewed a New Year’s Eve Maize Beer and tonight we have decided to do a formal tasting:
Maize Beer.
Colour is dark amber and very effervescent; small sized bubbles with excessive fizz. Clear with good head.
Smells like the first whiff when you open up a can of sweetcorn. Also, reminiscent of fermenting apples and it definitely smells sour.
With the first sip, there is an immediate sweetness then a sourness; it is foamy like champagne. It tastes like a sour beer; unusual tasting and not your typical beer-like taste.
We squeezed the juice of a fresh lemon into it to see if this would improve the taste; we found that it gave it an overall smoother and well-rounded taste. It helped to balance the sweet and sour components. More drinkable with lemon juice.
It feels like it needs a fruity taste to round off the sourness..like pineapple, peach or strawberry. Next time, Gnome will add fruit to the maize beer.
This beer was in fact tasted unofficially at Day 7 and it was a disappointment at this stage as it tasted sour and “vomit-like.” With age, it seems to have mellowed out and even although it has a sharp sourness, it has become palatable and drinkable. We can see that it would benefit from waiting a full 12 months before consuming.
Overall, we are very pleased with this tasting because we did not feel that it was up to our drinking standards at an early stage but there has been considerable improvement over time.
About 3 weeks ago, Gnome bottled some mead. We have had a few sneak tastes since then as part of our ongoing “studies” but here is our official tasting:
Glass of Mead. Look at the bubbles!
Colour is golden yellow and effervescent; medium sized bubbles with good fizz. Clear.
Smells like a lager.
The first sip is thirst-quenching when served at a cold temperature: it gives that “Aaaahhh” quality. It is mild tasting with floral and fruity under-tones. It still tastes young and would be at its optimum in 3 to 6 months time. It foams in the mouth and tastes like lager; however, the fizz tastes like champagne. The bubbles hit your belly at the same time as the alcohol-feeling rushes to your head, giving you a satisfying tingling feeling all-over. The bubbles warm up the belly very well. In short, this beer behaves like a champagne.
Bravo to Gnome!! I really, really love it!! So much so, I want them all to my self.
Just as an aside, we would like to welcome our friends Erin and Jim who have come to re-visit Toledo for a few days. It was lovely to get in touch again and catch up!
We are posting up our first lot of seeds for sale in The Apothecary. This is the season for Sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) and so we are offering these fresh seeds as a once off for the year. until they run out.
Just out of interest, when we first moved to Belize 10 years ago, one of the first things that we did was to buy fence posts to delineate a border around our farm. In Belize, the best wooden posts, which are supposed to last a lifetime are ones cut from the sapodilla tree. We ordered quite a fair amount and we felt that, out of respect for the tree, we would plant an orchard of them on our farm.
Sapodilla Fruit.
We bought a wide variation of this fruit from Punta Gorda market; some were round-shaped, others heart-shaped and some very large like grapefruit. We planted all the seeds from the different morphological varieties and the trees started bearing within 7 years. It was a long time to wait but definitely worth it.
Sapodilla Fruit, Ready To Eat.
As you can see from our projects, it is a very good tasting fruit which is ideal for wine-making and culinary delights like curries and pasta sauces. It can also be used for sweets like fruit tarts, jams and preserves. Sapodilla has a unique sweet flavour of cinnamon and caramel; the texture is that of a grainy peach. It is also a very good timber for fence posts and carpentry. The seeds have medicinal value and can be used crushed up for insomnia and as a natural sedative. The tree is famous for chicle which can be tapped from the trunk.
Sapodilla Seeds.
To germinate, they can be placed 2 inch deep in moist soil; this will take up to 6 weeks. The other option is to carefully remove the shell from the seed (this can be a bit tricky) and then placing it in 2 inch deep soil. The second option allows faster germination …usually within 2 weeks. Keep the plant growing in a pot for a full year and once you are ready to plant, allow 10 metres (30 feet) between each sapodilla tree. They get really big!!
For our international readers, you can grow this plant in a green house or indoors and kept like a bonsai. Check out The Apothecary if you want some seeds.
A couple of months ago, Gnome made Lime Sulphur as a Bored-in-Belize project. One of the many uses of it is a dip for dogs and cats. It can be applied for mange, fleas and ringworm. We tested our formula on the two dogs and the cat today (not the guinea pigs!!). We poured out a quantity of the concentrated lime sulphur and diluted it with water in a bucket:
Measuring Lime Sulphur.2 Gallons of Diluted Lime Sulphur.
A rag was dipped into the bucket of solution and the dogs and cat were soaked with it. Prior to this, they all got a wash with our sulphur soap. There were no complaints from any any animals concerned as we sponged them copiuosly with this bright yellow fluid. They seemed to like the smell of rotten eggs!!
Sulfuring Doggie.
Sorry, no picture of the other doggie because we both had to hold her down because she is the mad one that likes to lick toads.
Sulfuring The Cat.
The cat actually stayed still and did not seem to mind the extremely pungent smell. After all that, we were both smelling of sulphur; Gnome said that he felt spiritually cleansed…I think he was referring to fire and brimstone and all that stuff!!
Just catching up on some recipes that I created over the last few weeks: It is sapodilla season!! This is a sweet tasting fruit with the flavour of caramel and cinnamon. Gnome has got first dibs for making a Melomel (honey and fruit wine) but I have been sneaking some past him to create some tasty dishes..they don’t call me Ninja Munchkin for nothing!
Wheel Barrow of Sapodilla.
Sapodilla fruit makes a great base for a curry especially with its aromatic cinnamon tones. I have complimented this “earthiness” with dried orange peel which I have coarsely ground with a blender:
Dried Orange Peel.
Other spices in the curry include: cumin, mustard seeds, fresh curry leaf and fennel. Venison was cooked in the curry and then the dish was served with basmati rice.
Sapodilla Curry with Venison.
Gnome decided to overlook the fact that I had taken some sapodillas, without his permission…since the curry was so good!!
We have been podding green pigeon (cajanus cajun) peas everyday to eat:
Pigeon Pea Plant with Green Pods.Podded Pigeon Peas.
The plants have been very generous and we have had wonderful meals with this pea. The pea tastes like a “green pea” and maintains its texture very well. It only needs a 5 minute cooking time which makes it a versatile ingredient.
Today, I cooked Pigeon Peas with Green Papaya…all fresh from the farm. Everything had the taste of vitality…something money can’t buy!! Since we started living like this and cooking our own food, we actually find that we dislike eating out because nothing seems to have the freshness and individuality of home-cooked food. Going to a restaurant just means eating something that is displayed nicely on a plate but does not necessarily have the best ingredients (ie. bulk buckets of processed material).
Pigeon Pea and Green Papaya.
Check out my recipe in the Belize Wild Recipes Section. You can have this meal with a carbohydrate like bread or rice, if you like. I am on a non-carbohydrate diet since the Chinese New Year Pig Out…too many mochi balls!! So, we just ate this with by itself. Right now, my diet consists of fresh vegetables as above (one meal a day), no whites (carbs) and plenty of fresh fruit like papaya and oranges. Seems to be working out well for me.
Hi Everyone, just writing to let you know that we have been doing some website administration. All links should be working for About Us, Home, The Apothecary and The Library. If anyone spots any other faults, they should let us know. We are also in the process of removing the “go back” at the bottom of all the pages; they don’t seem to be very helpful.
After last week’s tragic case in which three young guinea pigs were snatched from the gated community, life has not been the same for the citizens of Paradise Pastures.
Mayor Gnome offered his condolences for the two lost babies. A gift of fresh grass was given to the community:
A Gift of Grass For The Piggies.
This was not enough to sweeten the Piggies as all hell broke loose soon after with squabbling, squeaking, squealing and general mis-conduct. Two days ago, the surviving baby guinea pig tragically passed away:
Piggy Chloe.
Mayor Gnome’s attempt at a Filibuster was met by angry Piggie wild fire. The community of Paradise Piggies demanded immediate action and resolution.
Our Mayor Gnome has come good and restored confidence to the Paradise Piggies! He has built 4 new luxury condominiums and one of them is the maternity ward:
Piggie Maternity Ward.Official Piggie Inspection of Condos.
The Piggies are absolutely delighted by this new and hurried construction and they feel that they can “re-build” the community from here. There was a heart-felt gurgle of pleasure when they inspected the facility. And, in addition to this, Mayor Gnome has installed a delinquent “time out” area to house hooligan piggies. This is called Southpointe:
A few days ago, I sequestered myself in the kitchen for the whole day (I know…I do that a lot). This is my usual “go-to” response when I can’t face the ongoing pressures of maintaining the farm and I just want “time-out.” I had bought about 50lbs of venison and I set about trying to process about 20lbs of it.
