The days are getting sunnier and drier and so we are able to get up at 4am and finish all our work by 10am.  Gnome has been cleaning up the coconuts and brush-mowing all the tall grass and small trees in that area.  We have managed to use up all the fallen coconuts so presently, we are unable to process any coconuts until Gnome procures a big stick (20 feet or 6 metres) to knock them down.  Gnomes do not possess the character trait of scaling heights (unless in emergency situations) so anyone waiting for our coconut products needs to wait for the big stick.  He would rather have his feet firmly planted on the ground…Gnomes are kinda earthy creatures.

During the midday heat, we are (romantically) reading the Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica textbook together (thank-you Ted Berlin for your generosity in sharing such wonderful works).  I read out loud whilst Gnome makes occasional comments on the specific herbal monographs that we read about.  Interestingly enough, it takes him less time to understand the Traditional Chinese Medicine model.  I still have my feet firmly (somewhat) entrenched in “anglo-thinking”  whilst Gnome understands Chinese concepts better since he grew up in Asia.  To put it in his terms:  I am a “banana”; yellow on the outside and white on the inside and he is an “egg”; white on the outside and yellow on the inside.  It is so funny because he thinks he is more Chinese than I am and I am Chinese but happen to have been brought up in Scotland.

Yes, you have guessed it…we are closet encyclopaedia readers and we are “coming out” with it.  Well, I suppose that is how we became doctors…by reading copiously.

Anyway, enough about us.  I am sure that you just wanted to know about the Passion fruit melomel!  Well today, I sieved out the pulp and juice of 10 passion fruit:

I added water to the pulp (an extra 2 litres or 2 quarts).  We then added about 750mls (3 cups) of honey to get a specific gravity of about 1.09 to 1.1 which translates to a 12.5% alcohol content.  I then sterilised the solution by boiling it up.  Next, I poured it all into a 1 gallon carboy and sealed it with an air-lock.

The last step is to “pitch the yeast” which just means adding the yeast once the mead has cooled down.  And then you wait for the bubbling (fermentation) to commence…Blub Blub Blub!!  Wait a while, wait a little longer and when you can not possibly wait any longer, you drink it!  How easy is that? Munckin Magical Melomel!!  Try to wait out at least 3 months!!

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