Ha-ha…this is a real picture of us at last!! We have been messing around with the computer to see if we can use it to take pictures for the posts. I am sure you would recognise us now if you saw us on the street!!
Phew!! We have been working hard on the farm! Gnome has procured his big stick for knocking down coconuts and so we are back to processing them again.
Freshly Grated Coconut.
We are back to making coconut water and coconut cream for the local market. Also, we grate coconut for Cotton Tree Chocolate for their coconut bars.
Cotton Tree Chocolate Bars.
I really do need to get a camera because I have so many exciting things to show you. I have been preparing bamboo shoots:
Bamboo Shoot.
I want to show you step by step how to prepare, cook and preserve bamboo shoots. It is really quite simple but it just requires time and dedication.
Also, we have had huge bunches of peach palm. So much food on the farm, it’s coming out of our ears!! And the dogs are getting fat. Gnome says that we need a couple of pigs and a gaggle of geese to eat all the food!!
Hi Everyone, since we are selling our farm-fresh Coconut Flour and Rice Flour in The Apothecary, I thought I would post up a recipe for pizza made with these ingredients. There is no wheat flour added so it can be eaten as part of a gluten-free diet. The eggs and the xanthan gum act to bind the flours giving elasticity to the dough. You will find this pizza slightly more crusty and biscuit-like in texture…which gives a delicious nutty “bite” to the eating experience. For the topping, I have put sliced sausage, onions, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese. Oh, and some rosemary and thyme too.
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.
Rice, Nori, Kun Batz and 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):
Wild Passiflora Flowers (Kun Batz).Kun Batz Green Fruit.Kun Batz Halved.
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!!
On our farm, we have a coconut plantation and you would think that it would be quite the thing to sell coconut water with fun and profit in mind. The reality is not the case as we have discovered because there are so many considerations that make you stop and wonder whether it is all worth it or not.
The first thing is cost; here in Belize, people expect to pay between BZD0.50 to 1.00 for a fresh water coconut which gives an average yield of 150 to 200mls (5 to 6.6fl/oz) of coconut water. Belize manufactured coconut water can be bought for 500mls for about BZD2.00 (USD1.00). So, it is rather cheap and affordable as you can see from the prices and making a grand fortune from the sale of water coconuts was never possible but we decided to sell a couple of gallons on a weekly basis just to stimulate our daily maintenance of the coconut plantation.
In doing so, we realised what it actually meant to process coconut water and all of the pit-falls involved from the cutting of fresh coconuts to preservation and selling of the water.
Coconut Palm.
Firstly, coconut trees have to be climbed by Gnome and 20 to 30 coconuts (most of ours are medium sized) give one gallon (3.785litres). The coconuts are cut open by slicing through the husk and the shell with numerous deftly cuts with the machete whilst you hand is holding onto the coconut …you need to watch your fingers… and then, the water is poured into a bucket. The water does get detritus from the coconut shell so it is then filtered through a muslin cloth. At this point, it needs to be freshly frozen as the nutrient-rich liquid is the perfect medium for bacterial multiplication. After de-frosting fresh coconut water, it should be consumed as quickly as possible (2-3 days in the refrigerator); at room temperature, in the Tropics, it will start fermenting within 2 hours.
I am sure that you all know, fresh coconut water has an unrivalled taste of sweetness. This is another one of the challenges that we face in processing our coconut water…we have to freeze it in order to preserve it but freezing it makes it less sweet. At this point, I would like to thank Adriana Guzman for independently noting this fact. We tested her observations and also found that the thawed coconut water tasted as if it had been diluted with water.
It was then that we came to the important realisation that shop-bought coconut water must be one, treated for preservation (probably a combination of pasteurisation and addition of preservatives) and two, sweetened to overcome the loss of sweetness due to the preservation process. This is why it never tastes like the real thing. The only way to get the true, natural taste is to have your own stash of fresh coconuts and be willing to cut them open yourself.
Making Coconut cream and flour involves quite a few steps, a little muscle, time and diligence. When you do everything from scratch, you realise the value of what you are actually making. The making of the cream and flour go hand in hand as you will see from the following steps:
Firstly, Gnome has to climb a coconut tree to harvest and then he de-husks them. Next, he splits them in half and grates the flesh with a shredder attached to a hand-drill.
Grating Coconuts.
The next step is to squeeze the liquid out of the coconut. I usually add some boiling water to the coconut and I squeeze the shredded coconut through a muslin cloth to get all the milk and cream out. This is done in small portions in order to maximise the quantity and once all the milk/cream has been extracted, the shredded coconut is placed in trays and laid outside to sun-dry.
Coconut Meal Ready For Drying.
Meanwhile, the liquid is placed in the fridge and as it cools down, the milk separates to the bottom and the cream forms a layer a the top. The cream is skimmed off the top, a number of times, and poured into these bags for selling:
Coconut Cream For Sale.
Each bag contains the fresh cream of one coconut. Belizeans like to cook rice with this; a Belizean cook in Punta Gorda told me that he just needed one of these bags to cook a 5lb pot of rice. Another great way to use this cream is to indulge in a pina colada or blend with fruit to make a yummy coconut “shake.” You can even use it in bread making to give a silky texture to a loaf.
Usage and Storage of Coconut Cream:
Our coconut cream is sold in the frozen state. Store in the freezer. When you are ready to use, simply use it in the frozen state. If you only require a small amount, cut off a chunk with a knife and store the remaining cream in the freezer. The shelf life of this product is 6 months if stored properly in the freezer.
Anyway, back to the shredded coconut; it takes about 6 to 8 hours for it to completely dry in the sun. Once dried, the coconut is put through a stone mill to grind it into flour. You end up with a fluffy meal which is perfect for breads, pancakes and muffins and it is has the added bonus of being gluten-free.
Coconut Flour.
The coconut flour has a nutty flavour which adds texture to all kinds of foods. 1lb (454g) of this flour contains the meal of about 6 to 7 coconuts.
Usage and Storage of Coconut Flour:
Coconut flour is highly nutritious so should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer. The coconut flour can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Otherwise, it can be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months. We usually deliver this product in the frozen state; in order to thaw this product, simply place in the fridge for 24 hours.
We are currently selling coconut cream, stone-ground coconut flour and rice flour within Belize. The coconut cream can only be sold within Punta Gorda. However, flours can be transported anywhere within Belize. Please check out The Apothecary for our Health Food prices.
Good Friday to all and a Good Fermentation Friday too! We just got our first active blub from the melomel…this is when it starts bubbling through the air lock. It is a very important milestone in childhood…oh no, I mean fermentation development (another Doctor joke)! With experience, the Blub Blub comes in different pitches and this one is rather tinkling, melodic and rather loquacious. Gnome says it sounds like it wants another sibling…oh no, he means another fermenting bucket for company!
Anyway, let us get give you an update on our fermentation adventures: Firstly, we had to sadly dump the two gallons of coconut shiro miso, which we had so joyfully made up last week. This was on account of the dreaded Bongkrek. Last week, we read an article on Tempeh Bongkrek which is a variety of tempeh prepared with coconut. This food has now been banned because it can get contaminated with Burkholderia gladioli which leads to the release of bongkrek acid which is lethal to humans. Being doctors, we started thinking about this a whole lot and wondered if we had made Bongkrek Miso! And Gnome said that it would be really embarrassing for the demise of two doctors in Belize to be attributed to coconut miso (death by coconut)! After that comment, I decided to use the coconut miso as compost around the farm!
Gnome wants to ask a question to any microbiologist out there: is there any risk of bongkrek with miso (made with coconut) which has already been innoculated with Aspergillus oryzae?
To make up for this unfortunate mishap, we made some shiro miso today…just with regular black beans…nothing too exotic.
Mixing Shiro Miso.Shiro Miso Ready in 8 Weeks!
We had a look at our bucket of soya sauce which was started in July 2014 and gave it a whizz with the paint stirrer:
Paint Stirring Soya Sauce.
We felt that the soya sauce was rather thick and paste-like in texture and therefore we made an executive decision to just use it as miso. It tastes similar to miso, a bit more acidic and fruity but nonetheless palatable. This solves the problem with the miso shortage until the new shiro miso is ready in June.
On this day the Miso Mission has been accomplished. The rice koji was ready and properly colonised and both of us were in the right frame of mind, with only a mild attack of filibustering on Munchkin’s part (she had very specific plans as to what she expected to do this morning), to tackle the mountain of beans and gallons of purple-black bean juice (from boiling said beans) required for the making of our Belizean-Style Black Bean Shinshu Miso.
The black beans were defrosted, boiled to tenderness (which thankfully doesn’t take too long with black beans), drained and then mashed. The use of words makes things appear so easy but while doing, it certainly seemed that there was a veritable mountain of beans. I left the temperature probe out of the rice koji and room temperature was 36C, so the mashing built up a bit of a sweat.
Starting to mash the beans.The Never-Ending Beans!
In the mean time, Munchkin, while muttering to herself that she needed to do other stuff, mixed the bean juice with sea salt, cooled it and added some commercial miso to the mix (for extra lots of beneficial microorganisms). Thank you, Adriana Guzman for giving us some for this purpose.
Black Bean Juice, Sea Salt and Old Miso to Make the Liquid Portion.
The rice koji had to be added to the beans and mixed well. Using a spoon did not work and I had to resort to using my hands…you can see the excitement that was gripping me at the time!
Adding the Rice Koji to the Mashed Beans.My hands convulse with excitement as I mix everything together!
After adding the liquid portion and mixing again, it was time to fill the prepared 5 gallon pig-tail bucket. This accomplished, a nice layer of salt was added on the top for protection against undesirable microorganisms.
Bucket-Full-of-Miso Ready for Sealing.Sealed Bucket…only have to wait 12-18 months now!!
What happened next was a total, super bonus for me, though it earned me this look from the Munchkin…
…there was still a whole lot of rice koji left and in the back of my mind I couldn’t help but think of the 28-day Miso Countdown before we run out…the solution…shiro miso. This type of miso is made up mostly of rice koji, only half the salt and a little bit of beans (compared to shinshu). The beauty of it and the reason why it is of critical importance right now, is that it only takes four to eight weeks to mature. Bonsa…we have the answer to our miso shortage!
So, I figured we could make a test gallon of this sweet miso but after measuring out the required koji, realised that we used up all the beans in making the monster bucket; we still had bean juice left-over but no beans. Resolution: fortunately I had already grated the day’s quota of coconuts and Munchkin had already squeezed out the cream from them (for selling in town to people that don’t want to buy cans or powdered coconut cream) and we were left with the meal. We decided to experiment and replace the bean portion of the miso with de-creamed coconut meal. Once the cream is removed, what is left is actually quite high in protein and while not a legume, it might make a good replacement for beans (it also makes things Belizean and exotic!). We still used the left over bean juice though.
Mixing the coconut, rice koji and salt.
The bean juice gave everything a slight purple tinge (pretty cool, actually!)…
Bean Juice Added to the Miso.
Here it is packed into a gallon jar:
Coconut Shiro Miso.
You would think that this was enough…hee…hee…hee…but I got another look shot my way…
…there was still another lot of koji left to make another batch…so we did…
Five gallons of shinshu miso and two gallons of shiro miso…not bad for a day’s work!!
We have had a very busy and productive day on the farm. I have started to pick pigeon pea (Cajanus cajun) which is an edible legume…
Pigeon Pea Plant with Green Pods.
I harvested the brown pods as you can see:
Pigeon Pea in Pods.
This is the time of the year to pick this bean and if I keep up with the harvesting, the plant usually flowers two or three times making it a very prolific producer. Once we have gathered all the brown pods over a succession of weeks, we shell them all at the same time with a gnome-mechanised contraption. The pigeon pea tastes similar to lentils with more of a bite. Watch out for some recipes later on!!
Gnome has been working hard. He is not in a very talkative mood right now so I will tell you what he has been up to today:
He has been cleaning the coconut plantation:
Coconut Plantation Mowed.
He has been grating coconuts:
Grating Coconut.
Gnome attaches a grater onto the end of a hand drill. We use the coconut in cooking and the animals like it too.
He has also been busy making a batch of soap today and right now, as I am writing, he is cutting the soap. No pictures yet…maybe later!!
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.
Coconut Hydroponics.
This could be a Revolution: Start growing your veggies in coconuts!
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.
Wild Purslane of Belize.
I like Wild Purslane so much I have two recipes for it!
Ha-ha…this is a real picture of us at last!! We have been messing around with the computer to see if we can use it to take pictures for the posts. I am sure you would recognise us now if you saw us on the street!!
