Tag Archives: Sapodilla

The Weather.

January 9, 2020 Munchkin 2 Comments

We are always affected by the weather. The last two weeks of December was so hot that we thought that dry season had come early. We were getting quite worried because our water tanks were half full. The last few days, it has clouded over and it is drizzling a bit. C’mon…if it is going to be so dull and miserable, it should at least be pouring down. We made an attempt to go outside today but ran back in because the sogginess was no fun at all.

It is sapodilla time right now and our trees are loaded. We have been making a serious attempt to pick daily because we have competition from birds and gibnuts. Yes, those gibnuts are prancing around like they own the place! We are hoping to dry our harvest to make a date alternative for cakes.

We have been picking them green since the animals are stealing them all. It usually takes about a week for the fruit to ripen off the tree:

These are some dried sapodilla:

What else is happening? Well, we finally fenced our geese in a separate area. This is definitely a good thing because they had turned our 10 acres of lush grass and perennial peanut into dry, shrubby land. They had eaten up every single fresh blade of grass! The other annoying thing was their enormous piles of poop! Goosies…I love you but Honeymoon is over!! The downside to fencing the geese in is that we have to feed them on a daily basis. This is no mean feat because they eat a lot: we have to collect 4 big buckets of grass, chop banana trees and foliage and crack open twenty coconuts a day! Plus, they use up about 20 gallons of water daily…this is going to be a problem in dry season! Once we have done that, we don’t feel like doing any other farm work! The reality of the situation has set in and we are planning to fatten some of them up to eat. We dislike this part of farming but it seems like it is the only way to complete the cycle efficiently.

Anyway, on a lighter note, we are re-planting our perennial peanut; it will be very pretty when this stuff is covering the ground again:

Wishing you all a pleasant evening and hope that you all had a good start to the year!

Belize, Farming

Let’S Get Crepuscular!

February 17, 2019 Munchkin

Last weekend was cloudy and wet. It was quite funny because I had been wingeing about the weather reports being all wrong and they had predicted “precipitation” last weekend. Of course, it was Sod’s law that they were actually correct for once. We were forced to stay in; here is a picture of the grey clouds with a double rainbow. In the picture, you can only see one distinctly…I assure you that I saw two!! It was not because I had double vision!!

Now, everything has abruptly dried up and it is dry, dry, dry. That means the hot, sunny Real Feel 45C (113F) days will be coming. Gnome says that we better get crepuscular soon. Crepuscular animals are those that are active only during the periods of dawn and dusk. That’s right…this means getting up at 4am and running out at 6am to get work down in the coolest part of the day. By 10am, the heat will be unbearable and we will have to run under the shade of a coconut tree to sleep and rest.

The weather was hot and sunny today so we went “off road” and drove to the back area. We collected some more wood to take to the charcoal area. Oh and we have sapodillas too…not so much this year because the sapodilla orchard was partially destroyed by an accidental fire. This will be a project for later in the year: replant sapodilla orchard. Anyway, we probably have enough to make a bucket of wine.

What else have we been doing? We have been thinning the coconut palms so we have a whole ton of water coconuts. Gnome emptied the water into a 5 gallon bucket…I think it ended up being about 50 coconuts. This is going to be wine…

Oh and I have good news. My Goosie…you know the first goosie that I looked after as Mama Goosie last year? I am such a proud parent and I don’t care that I am bragging about her…she is the most beautiful, voluptuous goosie on the farm! She has chosen a fine looking boyfriend and is laying eggs for us. I would love to see their goosie babies!! My Goosie is the grey one and the white Chiney goosie is her handsome young chap.

Okay, have a nice Sunday!!

Belize, Farming, Fermentation, Food, Plants

Sapodillas In Season!

February 11, 2016 Munchkin

Together.Tank.Top

Sapodillas (Manilkara zapote) are in season again and this year we have a bumper harvest. The fruit has a very sweet caramel-honey taste. We have been picking them every morning. For an inexperienced picker, the ripe fruit forms a taut and shiny appearance. At first it is difficult to spot but after picking hundreds of them you can get the hang of it. Here is a picture of Gnome ready for action on the farm!

This year, we are going to sun-dry some of them. We like to eat them with beef jerky!

Some more sapodilla melomel would go down nicely!

Oooooh, so many to pick and so much to make!! We will of course eat some of them too…

Belize, Fermentation

Vernaccia Tasting.

January 25, 2016 Munchkin

This is our official Vernaccia tasting after polishing off a fair bit (won’t tell how much…Ha-Ha)…Hic!! It was soooo good that during the course of drinking it, the name evolved from Vernaccia to Foccacia (can’t believe I am telling you this!) but I guess it means that it is good stuff. We make it a point not to buy the imported wines in Belize because they don’t travel well and once they get here, they are not stored properly (usually) so it all ends up being rather disappointing. That’s why we make our own and it is a very fortunate thing that we have an Italian Gnome in our midst who grew up with family wine-making.

Anyway, Gnome has called this particular wine Vernaccia because he says it tastes very similar to Sardinian local (Vernacular) wine. This particular wine is slightly “darker” than a typical white wine and has full-bodied sherry-like qualities. We are not growing grapes here (partly because it is too wet and they are rather finicky requiring a lot maintenance). Gnome opted to use sapodillas for this wine. The interesting thing about this fruit is that the PH and Brix tests of this particular fruit fall within the range of grapes.

Here is the tasting after six months:

Colour is amber yellow and very, very clear.

Subtle sweet aroma with mildly floral undertones.

With the first sip, there is a mild honey sweetness, which is full-bodied and coats the tongue with a velvety unctuousness. Has sherry-like qualities without the heaviness.

Great stuff…so much better to make it yourself!! This will get even better with time.

Amusing, Belize, Food

Monster Christmas Chaos Cake.

December 14, 2015 Munchkin

Munchkin.More.Another.Funny.Shot

Oooooh!!! Munchkin was let loose in the kitchen to make a Christmas Cake! If you follow the Blog, you will know that there have been many baking disasters in the past…especially around the Festive Season when she has good intentions in baking but they never turn out! This “Christmas Stollen” was fortunately rescued and morphed into a Monster Christmas Chaos Cake!

Trying to work yeasted dough for baking in a 35C (95F) kitchen is bound to end in disaster. The sticky dough expands within seconds, doubles in bulk within minutes and if you don’t get it into the oven quick smart…it is bound to explode all over the place. Not a pretty sight to see a red-faced, hot Munchkin anxiously trying to mix dough quickly before it all splatters on the walls! Arrrgh!!!

Anyway, the Stollen was rescued and become a gorgeous Christmas Cake decorated with dried sapodilla from the farm:

Enjoyed indulgently with vanilla glaze drizzle. Mmmmm…what a save!!

Christmas Chaos Cake with Vanilla Glaze.

Also something festive for the Duckie Bag!!

Belize, Fermentation

Making Melomel.

April 2, 2015 Munchkin

Another jam-packed day of fermentation!! This is really a Gnome post but I will make a serious attempt to chronicle the day in the same enthused manner as Gnome.

Well, we started the day off by bottling the mead, which never cleared. Gnome gave me a glass to sample and I promptly scoffed it all down and told him that it was very palatable.

Next, Gnome attended to his Rice Koji in between all the bottling and brewing. He is trying to develop a new system of inoculating cooked rice with previously made rice koji. That way he doesn’t need to use up Koji starter and he can feel assured that he can keep on making rice koji without the headache of bringing in the starter from overseas. This experimental batch is going really well and the Aspergillus oryzae seems to have colonised well and formed a lattice network. This new system is called: Special Care Koji Unit (SCKU)…this is a bit of a Doctor joke so please bear with our awful sense of humour! As you can see from the picture, Gnome has fashioned incubators for his koji babies:

And yes, we are making melomel which is mead which contains fruit; in this case sapodilla and carrot were added.

I won’t go into the technical parts of making melomel because this is going to be a Bored-in-Belize project (Gnome: I’ve added the recipe right HERE) so I will just give you a brief run-down of what we did. Firstly, sapodilla fruit was placed in a heated pot of water and allowed to partially breakdown. Next, the mixture was filtered and the pulp was squeezed through muslin.

Straining Sapodilla Pulp. — Straining Sapodilla Pulp (Gnome feet prove that this really happened!)..

This part was a Munchkin job:

After the liquid was procured, Gnome measured the specific gravity and added 6 quarts of honey to make up the alcohol content to about 12%. As we speak, Gnome is re-heating the whole mixture including the added honey; he will allow it to cool down overnight and then add yeast in the morning. More fermenting tomorrow…

Belize, Farming, Food, Saving Money

Dry Season…Time to Dry Fruit.

March 18, 2015 Munchkin

The days are becoming hotter and drier, with rains becoming fewer and far between. This is the time to harvest anything that you can get your hands on and dry it.

Sapodillas are still in season:

We have gathered quite a bit to sun-dry.

When dried, they make a very good substitute for dates; they are intensely sweet and would be good for baking. Gnome will be making mead with dried sapodilla…watch this space!

We have also been drying orange peel:

Dried orange peel can be added to savouries like stews, curries and soups to impart a warm, orange flavour. It can also be ground up and used in cakes and breads. It is extremely versatile and uses up something that you would normally throw away. I hate to waste anything, especially when it involves something edible! Look out for my recipes which use orange peel:

You will find this recipe in Belize Wild Recipes; this one is an orange peel curry.

Okay everyone, start sun-drying all your fruits now!!

Belize, Farming, Our Products, Plants

Sapodilla Seeds For Sale.

March 3, 2015 Munchkin

We are posting up our first lot of seeds for sale in The Apothecary. This is the season for Sapodilla (Manilkara zapota) and so we are offering these fresh seeds as a once off for the year. until they run out.

Just out of interest, when we first moved to Belize 10 years ago, one of the first things that we did was to buy fence posts to delineate a border around our farm. In Belize, the best wooden posts, which are supposed to last a lifetime are ones cut from the sapodilla tree. We ordered quite a fair amount and we felt that, out of respect for the tree, we would plant an orchard of them on our farm.

We bought a wide variation of this fruit from Punta Gorda market; some were round-shaped, others heart-shaped and some very large like grapefruit. We planted all the seeds from the different morphological varieties and the trees started bearing within 7 years. It was a long time to wait but definitely worth it.

As you can see from our projects, it is a very good tasting fruit which is ideal for wine-making and culinary delights like curries and pasta sauces. It can also be used for sweets like fruit tarts, jams and preserves. Sapodilla has a unique sweet flavour of cinnamon and caramel; the texture is that of a grainy peach. It is also a very good timber for fence posts and carpentry. The seeds have medicinal value and can be used crushed up for insomnia and as a natural sedative. The tree is famous for chicle which can be tapped from the trunk.

To germinate, they can be placed 2 inch deep in moist soil; this will take up to 6 weeks. The other option is to carefully remove the shell from the seed (this can be a bit tricky) and then placing it in 2 inch deep soil. The second option allows faster germination …usually within 2 weeks. Keep the plant growing in a pot for a full year and once you are ready to plant, allow 10 metres (30 feet) between each sapodilla tree. They get really big!!

For our international readers, you can grow this plant in a green house or indoors and kept like a bonsai. Check out The Apothecary if you want some seeds.

Belize, Food, Plants

Sapodilla and Orange Peel Curry.

March 1, 2015 Munchkin

Just catching up on some recipes that I created over the last few weeks: It is sapodilla season!! This is a sweet tasting fruit with the flavour of caramel and cinnamon. Gnome has got first dibs for making a Melomel (honey and fruit wine) but I have been sneaking some past him to create some tasty dishes..they don’t call me Ninja Munchkin for nothing!

Sapodilla fruit makes a great base for a curry especially with its aromatic cinnamon tones. I have complimented this “earthiness” with dried orange peel which I have coarsely ground with a blender:

Other spices in the curry include: cumin, mustard seeds, fresh curry leaf and fennel. Venison was cooked in the curry and then the dish was served with basmati rice.

Gnome decided to overlook the fact that I had taken some sapodillas, without his permission…since the curry was so good!!

For the full recipe, click on Sapodilla and Orange Peel Curry with Venison.

Belize, Food, Plants

Spicy Sapodilla Sauce.

February 9, 2015 Munchkin

It is the beginning of harvest time for Sapodilla fruit here in Belize. We planted a whole orchard of this delectable fruit so we are expecting a bountiful crop this year.

The Sapodilla tree is widely known for the gummy latex which is obtained from the bark to make chicle. The fruit have the texture of rough peaches and have a distinctive cinnamon taste. Since we have so much of it, I have started to experiment with it. So far, I have found that they have a similar consistency to tomatoes, so I am using them as a substitute. Today I made Spicy Sapodilla Sauce with Pasta:

I used Seed Amaranth as a garnish because I thought that the sauce was a tad pale looking. Don’t worry if you don’t have that…it was just to add a bit of colour.

I spiced up the sweet sauce with chilli peppers, onion and spring onions. The result was a thumbs up from Munchkin and Gnome! Watch out for more Sapodilla recipes…might try pizza next!

Casa Mascia Apothecary