Tag Archives: Wax-Apple

Still Going…

July 4, 2017 Munchkin 4 Comments

It’s the Wet Season and the puddles have coalesced into ponds and we are ankle-deep in water. I am not exaggerating!! Nevertheless, the work still needs to be done. It’s all day rains right now so you basically have to run out during the breaks to get things done. Yes, I wish right now that I could hole myself up in a cave (with a full pantry) and ignore the whole farm! But alas, the animals need to be tended to, the farm still needs maintenance and can’t be ignored (otherwise it will turn into one horrible mess) and I still need to harvest and preserve the fruits of the season.

Gnome, despite his hand injury, is trying to help me out and is doing “light work” right now. He’s helping me collect vegetables and fruit and generally trying to keep the level of the humour up by reading to me…he could pick something like a light novel…but this is Gnome humour…

Here are some pictures from the farm; we have been harvesting wax apple….have to get them before the birdies…

The craboo are flowering…really quite beautiful:

Oh and on Sunday we had a few casualties from the torrential rain. We have a very old grey goose (we reckon she is ancient…like about 30 years old… because she has cataracts) got caught in the rain. I found her all sodden in the mud and she was too weak to move. She’s now been placed in emergency wheel barrow 1 with water and food. The other casualty was the Overlord (aka male turkey) who had been sitting on turkey eggs for 7 whole days without taking any breaks. Alas, he was found with his face down in the grass…for a minute I thought he had carked it but he let out an enormous whimper. I quickly dried him up and carried him to emergency wheelbarrow 2; he seems okay now but is really crabbit (I think this is a Scottish word that means crabby) and feeling very sorry for himself.

Right now our mini medical unit is under the house. I hope that we don’t get any more sick animals because we have used up all the wheel-barrows!

Anyway, the Duchess (aka female turkey) is still sitting on the eggs…what a champion. Let’s hope that we get some hatchlings out of this one…about one more week to go.

Amusing, Belize, Farming, Food

Blowing Hot And Cold!

June 13, 2016 Munchkin

Munchkin.Another.Funny.Shot

What a weird day for weather…one minute it was dull and grey and then the next minute it was hot and sunny. And it was so blustery. Make up your mind!! To add to all this, the power was going on and off. As soon as it switched on, I would get up to try to get something done and when it went off, I had to sit down again. It was like musical chairs!! Arrrghhhh!!!

Gnome had a better attitude; well, at least he was in a better mood by the end of day even although we both had an unproductive day.

“I am going to sit here and not move.”

Glowing.Gnome

Well, I guess we are not all as spiritually enlightened as the Gnome!! Despite the ups and downs, the farm is our constancy…still producing lots of lovely stuff;

Hope the weather makes up its mind tomorrow!!

Belize, Farming, Food

Summer Fruits.

May 31, 2016 Munchkin

Together.Eating Here is a gallery of fruits in season. We are so fortunate that even with the extended dry season, the fruit trees still continue to bear. Mangoes are my definite favourite; I remember buying them in the supermarket in Scotland and they were as hard as rocks. Sometimes they wouldn’t even ripen at all! It’s wonderful that I don’t need to buy these from the supermarket anymore…I have them in my own backyard.

This is the season for mamey sapote; when you cut them in half, the flesh is orange-brown with a thick consistency like avocado. They have a very intense caramel flavour and are best eaten chilled.

The wax apples are starting on our trees; however with the drought, they look very small. The upside of this is that due to the reduced water content in them, they are very sweet.

Belize, Farming, Food

Baked Wax Apples Stuffed with Chilli Beef.

June 16, 2015 Munchkin 2 Comments

We have so many wax apples on our farm this year…we have even been giving them away to our piggies.

We have been eating a lot of them raw. Because they have the crispy texture of an apple, I thought that they would do well baked. And, then I thought of chilli beef and hey presto, I came up with this recipe: Wax Apples Stuffed with Chilli Beef.

To stuff the wax apples, you just need to cut a wedge into the bottom. Like so:

Stuffed wax apples:

I slow-baked the stuffed wax apples with onions so that the onions could form a nice gravy.

We ate it with a side of green vegetables:

We really enjoyed this dish and this is also a great way of cooking other fruits in the Syzygium family, notably the Malay (Molly) Apple.

Enjoy your evening!! It has been raining all day.

Belize, Farming, Food, Plants

Farm Fruit and Toasted Passionfruit Seeds.

May 31, 2015 Munchkin 1 Comment

Happy Sunday to you all!! We have some more fruit on our farm; luckily this time, there is an abundance so we can share with the birdies, pacas, dogs and guinea-pigs.

The mulberries are giving plenty of fruit. There is one particular tree which is half hidden in the shade of a huge African oil palm so the birdies have not spotted this one. This year, we will be able to make mulberry Elixir (liqueur).

This is wax-apple; we are into the second year of fruiting and it is producing so much. They are related to the Molly (Malay) apple but these fruits are crunchy in texture like apples. The guinea-pigs really love these ones!

The passionfruit are just starting to bear. I like to combine the pulp of this with the Mayan passionfruit (Kun Batz) to make juice. I find the Mayan variety is sweeter so that it helps to balance the acidity of this type.

With all the passionfruit juice making, I have ended up with a whole lot of seeds. As an experiment, I tried toasting them on a skillet in a similar manner to pumpkin seeds. They actually turned out to be a very tasty snack/condiment; as you toast them, the residual passionfruit pulp around the seeds caramelises to add a unique sweetness. I used the toasted seeds as a condiment on soup which worked a treat. The crunchy texture gives an extra bite to a meal:

Also, we had some as an accompaniment to cassava hash browns and steamed young pumpkin. They added an extra “sweet and sour” flavour to the dish.

Toasted Passiflora Seeds with Cassava Hash Browns.

I would definitely recommend the toasting of passionfruit seeds. It just requires 10 to 15 minutes on medium heat on a skillet. Make sure to stir it around to stop it from initially sticking. You will know when it is done when the pulp caramelises around the seeds. It is so versatile that you can choose to eat it with sweet or savoury foods.

Hope everyone is having a relaxing Sunday night!

Casa Mascia Apothecary