This recipe is designed to entice our local readers to whet their appetite…and to buy our freshly squeezed coconut cream! For all our readers outside Punta Gorda, you can used canned coconut cream for this recipe…it is still delicious. We are coming up against stiff competition with the packeted dehydrated coconut powder. At this point in time, it looks like convenience is winning through. Arrrrghhh!!! What happened to all you organic farm-fresh lot out there?! 😉
Our Lovely Coconuts.
Our coconut cream is manually squeezed by yours truly on our farm. They come in 4oz bags for only a $1 each. We can deliver this fresh to anyone in Punta Gorda every Wednesday of every week.
Coconut Cream.
You definitely have to try this Coconut Cream Brownie Recipe. The coconut adds extra creaminess and decadence to the whole experience! Yum…
Hello Everyone!! Happy Cyber Monday to you all!! To commemorate this day of spectacular e-commerce shopping, I am offering 10% off ALL Apothecary items today. Sale ends Midnight tonight. Every buyer also gets a Free Collectors’ Edition Vintage Jonas Gift Bag!!
Mmmmm…deep fried cassava is one of our favourites…it is really hearty and warming for colder days in Belize.
Fried Cassava with Miso Dip.
And since we are moving into winter time in Belize when the temperature can drop down to 18C (64F), this dish is perfect.
To prepare the cassava, peel and wash:
Dug Up Cassava.Peeled Cassava.
Boil the cassava in a stockpot. You will know when they are ready when they start to split length-wise. Drain the roots and once they have cooled down, slice them into 1/2 inch circular pieces. Heat up oil (I use a wok) until smoking. Fry about 10 pieces at a time, until golden brown, and drain on kitchen towel.
To make Peach Palm Miso Dip combine the following :
2 tbsp Soya Sauce
2 tbsp Honey
1 tsp Peach Palm Miso (or Shiro Miso)
Peach Palm Miso Dip.
Enjoy!! We deliver Peach Palm Miso in Punta Gorda on Wednesdays. Contact us by email or Facebook if you are interested and we can drop it off for you.
Peach Palm Miso.
We can also send it to you via Tropic Air within Belize. Check out The Apothecary for prices.
We have had a great response with our Peach Palm Miso. A Big Thank-you to all the people who bought it last week. Their support is much appreciated. We even sent one packet on Tropic Air to Placencia. So, yes we can send this food product to anyone within the country via Tropic Air. It is a fermented product so does not need special refrigeration. Once you receive it, it should be refrigerated or stored in cool, dry place. It is best consumed within 6 months but can be kept indefinitely…like all fermented products it actually gets more flavoursome with time.
Peach Palm Miso.
To start with basics, to make a simple miso soup, dissolve one teaspoon of peach palm miso in hot water and simply enjoy! Miso is a healthy pro-biotic food which can aid digestion and helps maintain healthy digestive flora. Moreover, our miso, is made with peach palm and white rice koji only so it is completely gluten-free.
Anyone interested in purchasing Peach Palm Miso, please contact us by email or Facebook. We can deliver within Punta Gorda on Wednesdays (tomorrow) or send by Tropic Air to the destination of your choice within Belize. Check out The Apothecary for prices.
We have just made a delivery of freshly made lip balms to the Cotton Tree Chocolate Factory in Punta Gorda. This is a must-have for all chocolate lovers out there! They are made from real chocolate, cacao butter for extra smoothness and honey! They are available as Chocolate Smoothie Lip Balm or Orange Chocolate Smoothie Lip Balm.
Hello Everyone. We have fresh produce from our farm to sell and will be in Punta Gorda tomorrow (and every Wednesday) to sell our stuff. Email or Facebook us if you are interested and we can drop it off for you in town tomorrow.
We have the Peach Palm Miso for sale. This product is made in the same traditional way as normal miso but we have used Peach Palm (Pejibaye) instead of soya bean.
Peach Palm Miso.
This is a gluten-free, vegan natural flavouring for soups, sauces and marinades. Simply use this as an alternative to a bouillon cube. You only need to use a teaspoon at a time so one bag goes a long way. Check out The Apothecary for prices.
We will also have our coconut cream for sale which can be used for curries, stews, coconut rice and smoothies.
One of the Munchkin jobs on the farm is to collect coconuts which have fallen to the ground and sprouted. If I don’t keep up with this task, the coconuts form deeply embedded roots into the earth and it eventually gets really tough trying to dig them out of the soil.
Coconut Seedlings.
I have to admit that it isn’t one of my favourite jobs so I had been sadly neglecting it for a while!
Wheel-Barrowing Coconuts…What Fun!!
A few weeks ago, I received an order for a couple of hundred coconuts and I was very happy with this because it would kick start me into gathering the seedlings on a more frequent basis. And so I gathered the coconuts for the order (hot sweaty work) and alas, on the appointed day of pick-up, nobody arrived! I had no contact information and after a few more days of waiting, it did not look like the coconuts would be claimed. So I didn’t think more of it until a few days ago when we met an acquaintance in town who said that he would pick up the coconuts on behalf of this other guy. Well, I was so pleased to hear the news and I said enthusiastically,
” Yes, yes…come and get the coconuts. they’re ready and waiting…anytime!”
Famous last words….
Well anyone who reads our Blog on a regular basis will know that we get to bed by 8pm for our 4am early rise. Well, at 9pm that very night, we were all comfortable and snug in bed when we were rudely awoken by the constant honking of a car horn. We got up thinking that it was the inevitable call of duty and someone needed our doctoring. Gnome managed to get out of the house quicker and dashed through the rain. It was one of those nights that you see in movies with dark ominous signs of a storm brewing. There was thunder and lightning, a gusty wind blowing from the north and the pitter-patter of rain was just starting.
Definitely not a night that anyone in the right mind would be out unless it was of utmost importance…
Gnome talked to the guy at the gate and he then ran back to me as I stepped out of the house and said incredulously,
” He’s come to get the coconuts!”
All I could say was,
“What?!”
The storm was coming so there was no time to get angry or perplexed over the bizarre turn of events. The most sensible thing to do was to get the coconuts as quickly onto this guy’s truck and send him on his merry way. We managed in record time…trying to squeeze as many coconuts into the back pan of the truck alongside a wheelbarrow and shovel! Once we got back inside the house, we had to have a hot drink to calm ourselves down. After a period of silent contemplation, Gnome said,
“Do you think he is out there planting his coconuts tonight?”
At this point there was a loud clap of thunder and the rain came pelting down.
We both imagined this guy with a wheel-barrow of coconuts in the rain. What had possessed him to come at such an ungodly hour of the night and worse still, on a stormy night to collect coconuts? Was it whimsy? Boredom?
I just smiled back at Gnome,
” Tales of The Unexpected…in Belize!”
By the way We do have coconut seedlings for sale from our farm. Check out The Apothecary for pricing.
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.
Kun Batz Green Fruit.
They have beautiful flowers so can they also be grown as an ornamental:
Kun Batz Flowers.
The fruit can be eaten green like a vegetable (like cho-cho or zucchini).
Green Kun Batz Steamed.Kun Batz in Miso Soup.
If you let it ripen, you can eat the fruit pulp like a passion fruit.
Ripe Kun Batz.
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:
Kun Batz Seeds and Pulp.
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:
Kun Batz Juice.
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.
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.
Hi Everyone!! Just something short and sweet today because we are both hot and knackered from our town day. It is was our usual frenzied running around seeing patients in between delivering soap orders, opportunistic coconut cream selling and buying supplies. Sometimes it gets so funny…I have a bucket of coconut cream in one hand and a doctor’s bag in the other!
Anyway,”Soft Lilacs For Springtime” is the kind of title that a well established British boutique would use to sell expensive furnishings and perhaps soaps! So, I just wanted to see if I would get more traffic into The Apothecary with a title that promises elegance and panache!
Furnish your bathroom with these delightful soft-lilac soaps:
Stacks of Lilac Soaps: Indulge in Sophistication.
Gentle swirls inspire calmness and serenity:
A must for the discerning; Gentleman’s Shaving Soap:
When the lady of the house hosts her fabulous dinner parties, visitorswill see this remarkable soap in the bathroom and she will be praised for hersoap discernment. Her social standing will surely be raised as a result of this…
Munchkin of the House Knows Her Soaps.
Our new soaps are Clay Artisan Soaps made from the purple clay from Bladen, Toledo area of Belize. They are gently exfoliating and have a lovely and luxurious scent of sandalwood. The Gentleman’s shaving soap is back by popular demand as the clay acts as a good slip which results in an even, smooth shave.
Raw Bladen Clay.
Come on everyone, show that you know good soap…show your discernment. Buy our soap!! 🙂
This recipe is designed to entice our local readers to whet their appetite…and to buy our freshly squeezed coconut cream! For all our readers outside Punta Gorda, you can used canned coconut cream for this recipe…it is still delicious. We are coming up against stiff competition with the packeted dehydrated coconut powder. At this point in time, it looks like convenience is winning through. Arrrrghhh!!! What happened to all you organic farm-fresh lot out there?! 😉
