How’s this for a cool picture! A calaloo plant (edible Amaranth sp.) growing out of a coconut and feeding off the balanced nutients and electrolytes in the coconut water. A great example of natural hydroponics in the working.
This could be a Revolution: Start growing your veggies in coconuts!
Today I harvested 4kg (8lbs) of a little known ground root in Belize called Koorka. They are little tubers about 2.5cm (1 inch) in size. You eat them like you would potatoes.
This year we did an experiment to figure out how best to grow them. We started the vegetable from cuttings and put some in clay, furrowed earth and 2 foot high beds filled with decomposed rice hulls. We got the best crop from the beds and the largest size of tuber. The ones in clay were tiny and took the longest to harvest; it was back-breaking!
This plant is actually from the Mint Family (the leaves resemble mint a lot) and it grows prolifically.
It is an easy crop which requires very little maintenance. It is usually planted as soon as the first rains start (May) and then harvested when the plant dies back (usually December to February). They have the same consistency as potatoes and when cooked, emit a slightly spicy aroma. They are high in Vitamin A and Calcium. Another great thing about these little ‘potatoes’ are that they can contain twice ( 5-13%) the amount of protein compared to a normal potato.
Every-one in Belize should have some of this in their own back yard.
All the animals on the farm love to eat the tuber raw. We give the little bite size ones to the piggies and they gurgle with delight when-ever they spot one of these tasty treats. And goosie…he was in top form today…circling around me menacingly hoping to steal my koorka from my bucket. He was really mean and bossy!
This one is truly farm fresh from digging in the dirt to the dining room table! This morning, Gnome dug up 5kgs (10lbs) of cassava on our farm (about 3 plants only) and afterwards we both set about to wash and peel our freshly acquired roots.
Next, we grated the cassava. This was done by hand and this part took the longest length of time (about 2 hours).
We then washed the grated cassava once with water to remove some of the starch. The washed water was retained so that the starch (tapioca) could be obtained from it.
We reserved some washed cassava to make Cassava Hash Browns Topped with Mozzarella which was a lovely treat after all the digging, washing and grating!
Next, we took the remaining grated root and reserved cassava water and laid them all out in the sun to dry. This is to make dehydrated fufu which is an African/ Caribbean preparation of cassava in which the vegetable is boiled and then pounded with a large wooden mortar and pestle to make a dough-like food. Traditionally fufu is eaten with soups.
So, out of our harvest of 10lbs of cassava, we obtained: 2lbs of sun-dried fufu and 2lbs of tapioca flour. Not to mention a snack of Cassava Hash Browns!
Gnome said that today was a good lesson on realising the time and energy required in processing food from harvest to finished produce.
This one is about eating again! Well, we do have to do it everyday! There is a very common green which can be foraged in Toledo, Belize. Wild Purslane has a sour bite to it when eaten raw in a salad. When cooked, it maintains some slight sourness and still keeps its hard texture. It is full of vitamins and minerals and the best thing is that you can find it in the wild…so, it’s free! Yeah, hooray for foraging fresh greens!
One very interesting thing about this plant is that it concentrates its acidity over-night so that if you pick it in the morning, it tends to be more sour. By the evening time, the acidity goes down so that if you prefer it to be less sour, it can be best picked at this time.
I like Wild Purslane so much I have two recipes for it!
Do you want to read more about this wonderful vegetable? Read my article on Wild Edibles of Belize: Purslane.
It was a lovely, bright and sunny morning today so I took the opportunity to harvest tobacco on the farm.
This is a picture of a young tobacco plant; when they are ready for harvest, they get to about 180cm (6ft) tall. They have lovely smelling pink flowers which are used in the perfume industry.
The tobacco leaves are stored in a cardboard box and everyday, the leaves have to be aired and moved around to prevent mould. This will have to be done for a few weeks until the leaves become brown, soft and velvety.
Gnome likes to make cigars flavoured with chocolate essential oil.
I will post more on the curing process of tobacco as we get to it. Do you want to know more about tobacco? Read my Tobacco Article.
Today’s post is an addition to our Library:
Hamelia patens or Read Head in our Plant and Farm Related Section.
Maybe you have some growing in your garden.
Cheers.
Gnome:
Weather not as labile as yesterday.
General Ambient Mood (GAM): Lunacy at full power, chaos reigns supreme. It is a good day for soap, fermenting, doing repetitive things, mushrooms, plants and essentially staying away from trouble.
Today is good if you like reading about mushrooms and plants, uploaded many of our old published articles…enjoy if you have the time:
From me:
From Munchkin:
The amount of energy it takes is amazing to move this much information. Did not have time to finish How to Die in Belize.
G’day.
