Good Morning!! Our products are now available at Punta Gorda Market with Ms. Juanita Bochub. She has a fresh stock of Copal Medicinal Oil and Soap. Thank-you Juanita for supporting locally made natural products!
Tag Archives: Market
Pacaya in Season!
Pacaya is in season right now and is being sold in bunches at Punta Gorda Market. Don’t miss out on this delicacy because it is only harvested for a short time. These are the male inflorescences of the palm Chamaedorea tepejilote and are hand-picked in the wild rainforests of Toledo.
To prepare pacaya simply make a slit lengthwise (see upper picture) to reveal the flowers which are the edible part (lower picture).
The Mayans at the market recommend that I chop the pacaya into pieces and cook it with egg. I haven’t tried this yet. I actually boil the pacaya for about 5 minutes and then I drain the water. You can boil it for up to 20 minutes if you would like to remove the bitterness. I like the bitter taste and I think that it is part of the whole culinary experience.
I’ve been eating the pacaya with a dash of soya sauce served with a bowl of miso soup. This food has a crunchy texture with a pleasant bitterness.
I am sure you will find traditional recipes for pacaya on the Internet but if you are used to reading my Blog, you will be aware that I enjoy creating my own dishes. Next on the list is pacaya tempura…ooooh, can’t wait!!
Eat Your Greens!!
People sometimes ask us what kind of green vegetables we grow on the farm to eat. This is mainly because, as doctors, we are always advising people to eat green, leafy vegetables for their high vitamin and mineral content which helps maintain healthy growth of cells and promotes healing. These people in turn, go to Punta Gorda market to look for them, only to find one common type of leafy vegetable to eat which is calalloo (Amaranth sp.).
This is fine to eat (though they still complain about the lack of variety) but also they are not found in such great abundance that they can be eaten in substantial proportions everyday. We eat about 100 to 200 grams (1/4 to 1/2 lb) of dried leafy green vegetable a day and this is the amount that we recommend to other people to eat.
Here in Belize, there is a plethora of greens that can be easily grown with the minimum of fuss and maintenance. You just need to regularly harvest (cut back) to stimulate growth and you will have them mostly all year round. The only time there might be a problem is the 2 months of dry season but this can be overcome with daily irrigation which should be possible for a small garden.
Malabar spinach is a climbing vine. It grows really well in wet areas. You eat the leafy parts and discard most of the fibrous stem. It can be eaten raw in salads, steamed or stir-fried.
Chaya plants, also known as tree spinach, needs little maintenance and even survive through drought without much irrigation. They are best chopped finely and boiled for about 20 to 30 minutes.
A more familiar green for people from temperate countries is kale. They need a little bit more care and raised bedding; nonetheless, they can still be cultivated in the Tropics.
This one is called Avuvo, apparently a well-known Nigerian green. The seed was given to us by somebody who had plans to grow Nigerian vegetables in Belize for an export market in the States. It grows prolifically.
Ok, guys go forth and start your own garden of fresh green leafy vegetables! You will find that they taste so much better than the bought stuff! As well as providing ingredients for a healthy diet, maintaining a garden will keep you fit (c’mon …don’t hire a gardener!) and you can save money on your grocery bill.
Shopping in Punta Gorda.
We often get used to our surroundings so that we do not even consider that normal, everyday things can be viewed as a unique experience or an opportunity for creativity. I often talk about my Wednesdays in Punta Gorda but I have not realised until now that it is a perfect opportunity to show you our world of Toledo, Belize.
The town market is busiest on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The market stalls are located all the way down Front Street. Most stalls contain the usual stuff like onions, carrots, sweet peppers, cilantro and tomatoes. The usual fruits are papayas, pineapples, limes and whatever is in season. Mamey sapote are in season right now; these two specimens have not ripened yet but I will be sure to post a tasting once they are ready to eat.
There is actually not a whole lot of variety from stall to stall but if you take some time to look, there are some interesting things.
If you care to walk all the way to the end of the stalls, which is about 100 yards, you will come across the smaller vendors. These are usually Mayans from far away villages who bring a couple of pig tail buckets to sell of anything that they can find in their backyard, forest or village. This is where you find more unusual foods.
Here, I found a lady selling young pumpkins. These can be cooked and eaten like zucchini (or courgettes, if you are European).
I also found a jar of ground, toasted pumpkin seeds:
And, this is what we had for lunch. Steamed young pumpkin seasoned with the pumpkin seed condiment. This is an example for taking some very simple ingredients to make something delicious and fresh.
Oh, last but not least. A visit to the ubiquitous Chinese store affords some opportunity for giggles if you take the time to peruse over flayed meat. This is what I found next to the Dak…looking for a Bra?!!!
Bra’s Luncheon Meat comes in Chicken and Pork flavours from Brazil, of course. Check out the serving suggestions…don’t they make you salivate with anticipation?