Category Archives: Plants

We Have a Big Baby!

July 2, 2015 Munchkin

We have our first big baby weighing in at a formidable 28lbs (14 kgs).

We have had our eyes on this little one for quite a few months and have affectionately called them our jackfruit “babies” because they resemble giant pods that look like they will burst open at any moment and something alive will pop out of them!

This is the first year that our jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus) trees have produced so we are very pleased. Jackfruit can weigh up to about 40 kgs so they give you a lot to eat. We picked this one when it started emitting its characteristic musky fragrance and when the outer shell was pressed, the flesh behind it felt softer.

A word of warning…if you ever get a hold one of these babies, be prepared to spend at least one hour preparing it. Use plenty of newspaper and coat your knives in oil to stop the latex from sticking onto the utensils. Also, wearing rubber gloves (and goggles!) helps so that you are not too immersed in goo and latex. Don’t let any of this worry you…it is definitely worth it!

To prepare, cut the jackfruit into quarters lengthwise. Then cut out the mid-line pith, like so:

The jackfruit is mostly eaten for its delectable arils. Take these out and pop out the seeds. All parts of the jackfruit are edible so do not throw anything out except for the shell. So this is what you get:

The Fruit:

The fruit can be eaten fresh. Our variety is a firm type which we prefer. There are softer varieties which tend to be moist and sweet and have the consistency of snot (still good, though). You can freeze the fruit and eat in the frozen form. They can be used to make desserts such as ice-cream or fruit pie. I really like my fruit savoury, so I am going to stuff some of these with minced pork. Yum! There are plenty of recipes to be found on the Internet; just look up Malaysian, Indian, Ethiopian and Cambodian cuisine to name but a few.

The Seeds:

These can be boiled and eaten as a snack or used as a carbohydrate accompaniment to a meal. They taste like breadnut (also Artocarpus sp.) or chestnuts (if you are from the temperate region). The seeds just need to be boiled for about 20 to 30 minutes until tender and the shell comes off easily.

The Rest:

Don’t throw out the rest of the fruit! A great deal of it is composed of unformed arils which are edible. They tend to be less mature and may have more latex on them. I use this part for cooking in stews, stir-frys and curries. You can also dip them in batter and fry them in oil (like onion rings). Again, this part of the fruit can be stored in the freezer.

We are going to be eating mostly jackfruit…

Belize, Food, Medical Related, Plants, Saving Money

Get Bizzy With the Kola Nut.

June 22, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone. Happy Solstice to y’all!! I want to show you some pictures of the fresh kola nut…here in Belize, they call it the “bizzy nut” because it keeps you busy. The tree is of the Cola sp. and it is originally from West Africa. It really gets you moving (and buzzing) as it contains 2 to 3.5% Caffeine, 1 to 2.5% theobromine and theophylline. All of these are known stimulants and theophylline is of particular medical importance because it is used therapeutically for chronic obstructive airways disease, asthma and infant apnoea.

It is used in West African cultures in social gatherings, spiritual practice and to prevent hunger pangs. From our own observations, it is mostly the Garifuna (originally from West Africa) who chew on the bizzy nut here in Belize. They have been known to consume this nut during all night drumming sessions especially around National Garifana Day.

From our personal experience, one nut is equal to a triple espresso and it really gets you talking. It is good for social events and as a substitute for coffee or mate. It is very good for people with asthma and definitely a good drug for “where there is no doctor.” It is also a good natural diuretic. Gnome says: It is good if you like to entertain (but, are also cheap) because it gets everybody talking and at the same time, nobody eats any food because it is an appetite suppressant and so you save money! Our place is Boca-free!!

This kola nut was the original ingredient for Coca-cola although, now in present times it has apparently been omitted from this popular drink.

The dried nuts are available in Punta Gorda; I have mostly seen it stored in a jar at the local pharmacy priced at 25cents (one shilling) each. Cheaper than a coffee ($2 to 3) and twice the potency of coffee!! The other thing is to befriend someone with a kola nut tree because the trees are prolific producers and you can get bags and bags of it (to eat like a busy little squirrel). They are usually taken in the dried form and in this state, they are really hard in consistency…hard enough to break your teeth.

This is the fresh pod:

There are between 6 to 12 nuts (seeds) in each pod. We have eaten the aril around the fresh seeds and found it pleasant tasting…it is a bit like the mace in nutmeg but a bit more substantial in texture with a bland, sweet taste.

Fresh Kola Nut:

Get Bizzy tonight (or not…since there is nothing to do living in the middle of nowhere!).

Belize, Food, Plants

Glazed Cashew Fruit and Ham with Basmati Rice.

June 13, 2015 Munchkin

We have discovered the wonders of cooked cashew fruit because they absorb flavours really well and they have the texture of chicken breast. Cashew fruit can be eaten raw but tends to have tannins in them which stops you from eating too much of them. Cooking this fruit in sugar helps to off-set the tannin taste.

We had some left over roast ham so I came up with this recipe: Glazed Cashew Fruit and Ham with Basmati Rice.

After eating this, we both agreed that the cashew fruit was worth eating. In previous years, we have just let this fruit drop to the ground and rot…what a waste! The only problem is that there seems to be a health community of pacas (gibnuts) feasting on the fruit as soon as they drop to the ground. This means that we have to get up at the crack of dawn to collect the fruit before all the critters (including doggie) get them!!

Belize, Food, Plants

Whirlwind Belcampo Foraging Tour.

June 12, 2015 Munchkin

A couple of weeks ago we were asked by Belcampo Lodge (an eco-lodge in Toledo) to assess their foraging tour. We were accompanied by their guide, Jose Vellos and we went on a two hour trek around Belcampo grounds. We would like to share with you some of the plants and trees that we came across…we probably saw up to about sixty plants mostly noted for their edibility, medicinal or useful purposes. All in all, the tour reinforced the diversity of plants in the rainforest and it was very educational for everyone involved. I will probably write about this tour in wee instalments since I have so many pictures to show you.

This is a picture of a Strangler Fig of the Ficus sp.; the seeds end up dropping in crevices of other trees and as they grow, they form roots which bind around the host tree, eventually killing it.

This one is the Central American Rubber Tree, also known as Castilla elastica and Panama Rubber Tree. Here is a picture; if you look carefully, you can see some latex dripping out from the multiple scores on the bark. During the heyday of the rubber industry in Central America, these trees were tapped for their valuable latex. As an historical aside, the rubber from this tree was used to make the ball used for the famous Mesoamerican ballgame Ollamaliztli.

Close-up picture of the foliage:

These are the fruit of the rubber tree; Gnome took some home to start a rubber plantation…he wants to make his own thigh high rubber boots one day (for walking about the farm in the wet season). NOT a cosplay fetish!

This one has many names…we have heard of the following: Bull’s Eye, Deer’s Eye and Horse’s Eye. Gnome suggested re-naming it ” Some Sort of Ruminant’s Eye” as a catch-all term. I don’t know…mmmm…not a very catchy name?!

Picture of the seed with the dried pod:

Deer's Eye/ Bull's Eye/ Horse's Eye. — Deer’s Eye/ Bull’s Eye/ Horse’s Eye.

The locals tell us that this seed is used in childrens’ games where it is rubbed very quickly against the pod and then transferred onto somebody else’s skin to cause a scalding effect. This is done for fun and laughs in the bush! It happens less now that everyone has Galaxy phones 😉

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Farm Fruit and Toasted Passionfruit Seeds.

May 31, 2015 Munchkin 1 Comment

Happy Sunday to you all!! We have some more fruit on our farm; luckily this time, there is an abundance so we can share with the birdies, pacas, dogs and guinea-pigs.

The mulberries are giving plenty of fruit. There is one particular tree which is half hidden in the shade of a huge African oil palm so the birdies have not spotted this one. This year, we will be able to make mulberry Elixir (liqueur).

This is wax-apple; we are into the second year of fruiting and it is producing so much. They are related to the Molly (Malay) apple but these fruits are crunchy in texture like apples. The guinea-pigs really love these ones!

The passionfruit are just starting to bear. I like to combine the pulp of this with the Mayan passionfruit (Kun Batz) to make juice. I find the Mayan variety is sweeter so that it helps to balance the acidity of this type.

With all the passionfruit juice making, I have ended up with a whole lot of seeds. As an experiment, I tried toasting them on a skillet in a similar manner to pumpkin seeds. They actually turned out to be a very tasty snack/condiment; as you toast them, the residual passionfruit pulp around the seeds caramelises to add a unique sweetness. I used the toasted seeds as a condiment on soup which worked a treat. The crunchy texture gives an extra bite to a meal:

Also, we had some as an accompaniment to cassava hash browns and steamed young pumpkin. They added an extra “sweet and sour” flavour to the dish.

Toasted Passiflora Seeds with Cassava Hash Browns.

I would definitely recommend the toasting of passionfruit seeds. It just requires 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat on a skillet. Make sure to stir it around to stop it from initially sticking. You will know when it is done when the pulp caramelises around the seeds. It is so versatile that you can choose to eat it with sweet or savoury foods.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday night!

Belize, Farming, Food, Our Products, Plants

Mayan Passion Fruit Juice.

May 28, 2015 Munchkin

The Mayan Passion Fruit (Ketchi name is Kun Batz) is still in season. It is a vine which voluntarily grows around cultivated trees and it can also exist in the rainforest of Belize.

They have beautiful flowers so can they also be grown as an ornamental:

The fruit can be eaten green like a vegetable (like cho-cho or zucchini).

If you let it ripen, you can eat the fruit pulp like a passion fruit.

The seeds and the pulp are edible and can be eaten alone or mixed with yoghurt or ice-cream. Today, I sifted out the seeds to get the pulp and the juice:

I used a total of eight fruit and towards the end, added a cup of water to the remaining seeds to try to extract the last of the pulp. I was able to make a quart of juice from this method. When I tasted it I felt that it was sweet enough that no sugar was required. Compare this with normal passion fruit which is quite acidic which requires sweetening in order to enhance the taste. This is Kun Batz juice with a sprig of mint:

The Kun Batz juice is divine!! The taste of the juice is a combination of pineapple, banana and canteloupe melon with mild exotic hints of passion fruit. It is unique in that it has a mildly sour taste but it is sweet enough that no sugar is needed.

I have a whole lot of fresh seeds to sell so check out The Apothecary. To my knowledge, nobody is cultivating this bush fruit so if you are into rare and exotic plants, then this a definitely one to add to the list!

Planting Instructions:

Passiflora seeds have a hard shell so pr-treat the seeds before planting; Soak the seeds for 24-48 hours in warm to the touch water, just prior to planting. Once pretreated, plant seeds 1/2-1″ deep in moist, sterile soil. Keep soil temperature consistent at about 70-85F. Cool soils will significantly delay seed germination time.

Estimated germination time under optimal conditions: 6 weeks to 6 months.

Plant spacing for this vine is 10 feet (3 metres) apart and can grow to about 20 feet tall. Will start fruiting in about 12 months.

Belize, Farming, Food, Mushrooms, Plants

Fruits in Season.

May 18, 2015 Munchkin

Hi There! Just something short and sweet…pictures from the farm. We find that the farm just keeps on producing and doing its own thing. Even although we have taken a few days from farm work it doesn’t stop it all from growing up…aagghhh…the bush and the grass are all coming back with the rains! Anyway, here are some things that make us feel that it is all worth it in the end.

Mulberry is in season; you would naturally consider this as a temperate fruit but it actually grows in Belize very well. The yields are very high…the only thing is that you have to pick them early morning before all the birds get them.

The bees are polinating the African oil palm. Again, this is a favourite with wild animals so you have to grab them while you can. The palm nuts are actually really nice boiled in soups and stews. Oh, and another thing, the dog likes them too. So much competition…we don’t mind sharing but the problem is that the rest of the other critters have no concept of leaving a few behind for us!

This is a nice specimen of wild mushroom. They are Lepiota sp. unfortunately, not edible.

These yellow fruit are called abiu. They have a clear, whitish pulp with some similarity to the texture of persimmon. A tasty fruit which can only be picked once there is a tinge of yellow on the outer shell. The birds seem to be able to eat them green so we tend to lose a lot of them to our little friends. Here is a nice picture of two surprisingly intact specimens:

It is mango season and the trees in Toledo are totally loaded. We are lamenting over this because when we initially started planting fruit trees on our farm, ten years ago, we were so excited about planting weird and exotic trees that we completely overlooked the common back-yard mango. So, now we have no mangoes on our farm and they are actually our favourite fruit. We are making up for it this year by planting seedlings but it is going to be quite a wait to have our own farm-fresh mango…about 5 years! Here is a picture of mangoes on a tree (not on our farm).

Oh, and this is an unusual fruit called velvet apple. They are furry red balls with a yellow/orange pulp which we have actually never tasted before. They have a very nice peachy smell to them. This picture was taken from a friend’s farm; they look like Christmas decorations:

Hope you enjoy the pictures. Now is the time to stuff yourself silly with mangoes until July…then it will be avocado season! Lots of wonderful fruit to look forward to.

Belize, Food, Medical Related, Plants

Asafoetida Chilli Sauce Recipe.

May 11, 2015 Munchkin

This recipe which contains asafoetida, doubles up as a home remedy and a tasty condiment.

Asafoetida is a resin obtained from the tap-root of several species of Ferula. It is mostly used in Middle-eastern and Indian cuisine. It contributes a strongly pungent taste to food and can be compared to a combination of garlic and onions. It makes a very unique tasting chilli sauce and asafoetida has the added health benefits:

1) Digestive aid.

2) Anti-flatulent.

3) Anti-viral and Anti-bacterial.

4) Traditional remedy for asthma and bronchitis. Can also be used for coughs and colds.

5) In Aryuvedic medicine; it is used to balance the Kapha constitution which has a watery/phlegmatic tendency. Also, it can balance the airy qualities of the Vata constitution which requires grounding.

I have put the Asafoetida Chilli Sauce recipe in Belize Wild Recipes and Home Remedies.

The recipe also contains:

Tomatoes:

Habanero Peppers:

Cilantro (Coriander):

For international readers asafoetida can be purchased from health-food stores and Indian supermarkets. For those in Belize, asafoetida can be bought from The Apothecary.

Belize, Blog, Farming, Food, Pets, Plants

Far From The Madding Crowd.

May 5, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! Goosie is recovering very well from his traumatic doggy attack and was released from Farm-ICU today. He made some quiet honks through-out the day and then sounded a loud HONK in the afternoon and drew me his usual dastardly-look to tell me that he was back in action. To top it all off, our missing duckie suddenly reappeared, as if by magic, tonight for feeding time. We had no idea where she had been for the last 24 hours…we tried doing doggy sniffing and patrol all round the farm perimeter today looking for signs of her…and then she just pitched up for food tonight! No questions asked, we quickly ushered her into the coup. Wow…we are so pleased that everything has ended well and all our duckies and goosie are safe.

New things on our farm:

Gnome only uttered one word, “melomel.”

The Kun Batz (Ketchi Mayan name for Belize wild passionfruit) has ripened to an edible fruit and tastes like a cross between a lemon and water-melon…very good!

An unusual wild green pod growing, which we had been watching for 9 months, suddenly exploded. The dried pod looks like a nice ornamental for displaying (soap, maybe?!).

We are going to germinate the seeds because the vessel looks really pretty; it is boat-shaped and could be lacquered to make it last.

We are glad that we can share the highs and lows of our farm life in this Blog!

Belize, Food, Our Products, Plants, Saving Money

Sticky Rice, Nori Flakes, Kun Batz and Stinky Tofu.

April 17, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! I am back in top form and promise that there will be no complaints today! Many thanks to the readers (namely, Erin and Adriana) who wrote back with a positive word and encouragement. Thanks to Gnome’s Mum for looking at 9 pages and the flurry of visitors after last night’s post. We indeed felt that life was worth living again. 😉

In a bid to increase our Stats, Gnome kindly wrote a post earlier on Ballistics…Hmmm…I am sure everyone stopped whatever they were doing to look at this must-read! Gnome reveals all in his mind-blowing revelations on pellets! Just out of interest, I don’t give Gnome any pocket money for his pellets and so he funds his pass-time through coconut products. So, if you have bought any coconut cream, water or flour, you have helped Gnome out.

Gnome says, “Buy more of my coconuts!!”

Because it is a lot hotter, we have not been feeling so hungry hence the reason for less recipe posts. However, I thought it would interesting to let you know what we had for lunch today. In our last trip to Belize City, we stopped by the Taiwanese store to buy some goodies…interesting that when we think of buying yummy treats we always go for Chinese or Japanese food. We found some short grain rice (the kind that you use to make sushi), nori seaweed and stinky tofu.

Today, I boiled the sticky rice in our coconut cream…yes, the one that we sell in little bags! I also added whole black peppercorns to spice it up a bit. I toasted the nori flakes in a skillet and I brought out the stinky tofu.

The vegetable featured on the top right is Kun Batz. This is a wild passiflora vine which grows voluntarily in cleared areas. This plant produces fruit which can be eaten green like a vegetable; here I have cut it into pieces, steamed it and added soya sauce.

With plenty of vitamins and minerals from the sea-weed and B Vitamins from the stinky tofu, there was no need to include meat into the meal today. It was yummy!! Hooray for smelly (sorry, I mean fragrant) Chinese food!

Some pictures of Kun Batz (This is the Ketchi Mayan name):

Here in Belize, the Mayans prize this fruit considerably and like to eat it in its ripe form. Once ripe, the flesh turns yellow, spongy and inedible. The pulp around the seeds is eaten and has a fruity floral taste which is esteemed by the people here. It can eaten out of hand or used to flavour cool drinks. It is very similar to the giant granadilla (Passiflora quadrangularis).

Good Evening everyone!! May all our lives become so simple that Blog Stats become the most important thing!!

Casa Mascia Apothecary