Making "Instant Cuppa Cassava" Meal Takes Three Days.

November 3, 2015 Munchkin

We spent the day processing cassava since we had received a big burlap sack of this “ground food” as a gift. We also added our own cassava to this…our type is the esteemed yellow variety which has the hearty taste of wholesome potatoes. Altogether we probably had about 10kgs (22lbs) of fresh vegetable.

As soon as you harvest cassava, it should really be eaten or processed within 24 hours. Otherwise, they start going bad quickly and become discoloured. When freshly dug up from the ground, the outer part peels off easily.

After peeling and washing, we cut the root into inch size pieces and steamed them in bamboo steamers placed in our mega-sized pressure cooker.

Next, we put these cooked cassava pieces through the meat grinder to get them into a soft pellet-like consistency. We put this out to sun-dry this afternoon and will probably continue this for about three days until they get bone dry. We will end up with about 1kg (2lbs) of dried material. After that, we are going to experiment with the dried ingredient. We are hoping that the dried cassava can be re-hydrated instantly with hot water to give an instant “cuppa cassava” meal (like instant ramen noodles)! Great for packed lunches and On-The-Go!! Wow…it takes three days to make an instant meal…too funny!!

Belize, Food

Goodies From Singapore.

November 2, 2015 Munchkin

We have just received a gift package from Singapore crammed with wonderful goodies. Gnome and I don’t miss much of our old life but we do miss real Chinese food and snacks. So this is really special and in actual fact, Gnome was one who introduced me to Straits Chinese food (He is after all a Straits Chinese Gnome and I am a Scottish Munchkin).

Confusing or What?

This Asian region extends from Penang through the Straits of Malacca to Java and Singapore is located in the middle of this area. Because of the diversity of culture, there are influences from Chinese, Malay and Thai cuisine which makes the food very interesting, spicy and delicious.

Here are some pictures of our yummies:

When you bite into one of these wasabi green peas, there is a wasabi explosion inside your nose which is kinda exhilirating.

The Belizean Post Office guy opened this box up for inspection thinking that it would have something very expensive in it. He was rather shocked to see that this plush looking box had cakes in it!

This one is actually called Yamaguchi Peanut Snack…the caption below is just our own generic term.

This is creamy, foamy tea which is famous in Singapore. This one is our all time favourite tea:

And last but not least. 5kgs (10lbs) of lotus seed paste to make our own mooncakes for the rest of the year. We love big catering packs!!

A Big Thankyou to our Singapore connection!! We are really delighted with the generous gift of yummies!!

Belize, Our Products

Pictures From The SHI Fair.

November 1, 2015 Munchkin

Straight after the SHI Fair, we had to run up to Independence and did not get home until late. I was hoping to get these pictures up earlier but such is life!

Our table: pretty messy after rummaging through bargain boxes! Copal Medicinal Soaps in the middle and bargain tooth-powder to the left.

Vendor selling Plantains, Cho Cho and the roots, in the middle are Cocoyam.

Jars of yellow ginger (tumeric):

Toledo based business marketing and promoting a new BBQ sauce. Good Luck to them:

Overall, there was a moderate turn out and we received a lot of good responses to our products. This year, there were not so many visitors from other districts of Belize.

Amusing, Belize, Food, Our Products, Saving Money, Soap

See You At The SHI Fair Today!

October 31, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! Sustainable Harvest International (SHI) will be holding their annual organic fair at PG park today (31st October 2015). We will be there armed with our Casa Mascia Goodies.

This one is always a favourite at fairs: Cheap Sale (or Runaway Sale or Explosive-One-Time-Only Sale or Everything-Must-Go-Sale!!

Come and rummage through our bargain box: there will be all sorts of exciting things (exclusive once off) like Cacao and Lemongrass Insect Repellent, Lavender balm, Grapefruit Balm, Tooth-powder or Tooth-whitener with lovely essential oils and lots more. You can’t beat a bargain!

We will also be selling fresh Balam (Mayan White Cacao) fruit for all you organic gardeners out there.

We will have our usual favourite stuff including Copal Soap, Medicinal Oils and Ointments. Oh, and two buckets of Chocolate Artisan Soap going at a Run-away Price of $5.00 (Best Price, as they say here in Belize)!!

Hope to see y’all there. Otherwise, if you are not in Belize, we’ll have lots of fun photos for laterz.

Amusing, Belize, Food, Pets

Paradise Piggies Update: Let Them Eat Cake!

October 30, 2015 Munchkin

This is an MGNews update on the Paradise Piggies. Mayor Gnome has just declared budget cuts for Paradise Pastures which means that the piggies will no longer be receiving their daily ration of cachorros (bite-size puppy food). In an effort to quell any possible riots or uprising, Mayor Gnome has adopted the aristocratic attitude of,

“Let them eat cake!”

What does this mean. Pray tell us, Mayor Gnome…what are you up to?

Mayor Gnome has recruited the expertise of Chef Munchkin to bake a high protein, delicious cake for the Piggies.

Chef Munchkin has come up with a modification of her famous coconut squares and re-formularised them with less sugar, more fibre and high protein.

And what did the Piggies think of this change in diet? One large coconut square was placed in the middle of Paradise Pastures and the result was total and utter mayhem with three piggie pile-ups and gurgles-a-plenty. The cake was finished in 15.2 seconds flat.

Paradise Piggies gave a resounding Thumbs Up to Yummy freshly baked Coconut Squares everyday!! What Paradise…Weeeeeeee!!!

Mayor Gnome Does It Again!

Belize, Blog

We Are Now On Face Book!

October 29, 2015 Munchkin

Due to popular demand and persistent insistence from everybody, we have bitten the bullet and joined the Facebook bandwagon. Gnome shivers at the thought and has left Munchkin to shoulder the responsibility for this frivolous enterprise.

Good Night Everyone!!

Belize, Food

Coconut and Eggfruit Slices.

October 28, 2015 Munchkin

This recipe is a variation of the coconut squares which I posted a couple of weeks ago…yes the yummy one with the chocolate drizzle! This one incorporates freshly chopped up eggfruit (canistel) with grated coconut.

The ripe canistel tastes like cooked sweet potato and compliments the coconut very well. This is a treat that is hard to beat!

Check out the full recipe for Coconut Eggfruit Slices.

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Mayan Cacao Fruit In Season.

October 27, 2015 Munchkin

The Mayan Cacao Fruit Balam is now in season. We have a few trees on the farm and this year they have been very generous.

This is Theobroma bicolor which is different from the Theobroma cacao in appearance and taste.

The Mayan cacao is also called “Balam” and it produces white beans as opposed to black/purplish beans of the normal variety of cacao. The pulp around the beans taste of sweet musk melon.

We have had such an abundant crop that we have been eating the fruit everyday; it is really nice chilled in the refrigerator for a couple of hours…it really brings out the strong fruity flavour.

We also make a Balam Elixir with the pulp of this fruit. The maturation process brings out the muskiness of the fruit and the end product tastes like a fragrant whisky.

Belize, Farming, Fermentation, Food

Peach Palm Miso Tasting.

October 26, 2015 Munchkin

About two months ago, we had so much peach palm (pejibaye) that we had to think of different preservation methods for it.

We cooked the fruit and the put it through the meat grinder with rice koji to make peach palm miso.

We placed it all in a bucket and put it away for a couple of months:

Just the other day, we opened up the bucket for a tasting:

We both concluded that it was a very nice amber-orange colour. The taste was fruity, hearty and pleasantly sweet.

Gnome: Very good, surprisingly good.

Munchkin: Fruity!! Can double-up as a condiment with french fries!

Peach Palm Miso is a definite winner and the taste will get even better with time.

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

The Fate of the Banana Blossom.

October 25, 2015 Munchkin

Hello Everyone!! For our dedicated followers out there, you may remember that about a week a ago, Gnome gave me two banana blossoms (flowers) to give to the guinea pigs. I promptly refused because I was determined to make yum-yums out of them.

Well, I did some research on preparation of the banana blossom for cooking and this is what I did.

I took off the outer petals (bracts) of the banana flower, layer after layer, until I got to the inner piece which looked like a little cabbage.

While taking off each petal, there was a layer of florets in between the bracts, which are pictured below.

According to my research, you can eat these florets by painstakingly going through each one of these to remove the outer calyx and the pistil. I did one for the picture and then thought to myself that it was extremely tedious and I wasn’t bored and hungry enough to do the rest.

I finally got to the heart of the flower.

I cut it into pieces, as instructed, and placed them in vinegar water to remove the tannic properties.

After, a couple of hours, the tannin was partially removed to leave edible parts that tasted like cabbage. They didn’t taste that great and I didn’t think that it was worth all the trouble of preparation and soaking time to get something so bland and uninteresting.

I decided to give the rest to the piggies after-all.

In conclusion, I am glad that I tried to prepare the banana blossom so that I could make up my own mind as to whether it was worth it or not. Outside the cultural context of eating banana flowers in India and South East Asia, I can only view this as a poor cabbage substitute. For the amount of energy, time and effort required in preparation, I would rather give these flowers to the piggies to enjoy.

Casa Mascia Apothecary