Oooooh!! Arrrghhhh! I don’t do very well when I’m sick. I just get awfully whiny so today, Gnome had to deal with me as a patient. I really hate to be a patient!!
Gnome: “Why are you whining more than normal, Munchkin?”
Munchkin: “Waaaaahhhh!!! Waaahh!!”
Gnome: “Can you communicate in a more coherent way so that I could assist you in some way?”
Munchkin: “Waaahhhh!! I have mouth ulcers and they really hurt…it really hurts even to drink a cup of tea!”
Gnome “Oh dear….”
So, I’m not that sick but sick enough to feel that my energy levels are lower than normal. Doctor Gnome has prescribed serosi (bitter gourd) leaf tea as my treatment, three times a day for the next week. No Munchkin fried yummies and no meat. In Chinese medicine, mouth ulcers are considered an indication of “heatiness”…this is a condition not recognised in western medicine. The remedy is the intake of “cooling” foods and teas. Serosi is considered a cooling plant.
Fresh Serosi.
I’m also eating some of these…ear mushrooms foraged from our farm:
Ear Mushroom.
Oh, and if I can find enough slugs, I’ll have them too. That’s not a joke, by the way, we are talking about raising slugs/snails for meat but no profit!
Here are some new pictures from the farm taken by Gnome! He has made improvements in leaps and bounds in his photography…his former pictures used to be blurry and out of focus. Hmmm…maybe it is because he changed his glasses?!
This is Redhead (Hamelia patens) which is known for its natural medicinal properties; The flowers, leaves and stems are boiled in water and skin conditions such as wounds, sores, rash and insect bites are bathed in the decoction. Furthermore, the oral consumption of the decoction of the flowers and leaves is supposed to relieve menstrual cramps.
Redhead Berries Forming.
The berries from this plant are also edible…get them before the birds!
Red Head Flower Buds.
Ear mushrooms (Auricularia auricular); these wild mushrooms are edible and much loved by Asians. Great in stews and stir-frys.
Ear Mushroom.Ear Mushrooms.
A beautiful ornamental. These produce seedpods that resemble woody roses.
Hi Everyone! More wild mushrooms in Belize and we haven’t even stepped outside our farm! I have called these mushrooms “Chinese” because they are eaten mostly in Asian cuisine and they are commercially cultivated for this reason. The wonderful thing is that I can harvest them fresh in my own backyard rather than buying the dehydrated form from China via container transportation to the little known country of Belize.
This one is known as “snow ear” or “silver ear” fungus in Chinese. Yes, even I know this one because it is so popular in Asian cookery. If you ever find yourself in a Chinese household, you will be sure to find a packet of this dehydrated fungus secreted in their food cupboard. It is usually used in soups (pork soup in my household). Wiki states that it is cooked in sweet dishes…I have never heard of it being cooked in this way. Tremella fuciformis growing on a dead branch on our farm; it is slowly getting bigger day by day:
Snow Ear Fungus.
You can buy this mushroom in the dehydrated form in Asian supermarkets. It looks like this:
Dehydrated Snow Ear Mushroom.
The next one is another very popular Chinese fungus called “wood ear.” This is another “must have” in the Asian kitchen cupboard. Again, this one is used in soups and stews. Both the snow ear and the wood ear fungi have the texture and bite of soft and succulent ligamentous tissue…again, you have to be Asian to appreciate this. This is why we like eating them (Gnome likes them too…that’s because he is a wannabee Chinese). Auricularia auricula fungus growing wild on our farm:
Wood Ear Mushroom.
Shop-bought dehydrated form of wood ear mushroom:
Dehydrated Wood Ear Mushrooms.
There is a spelling error on this packet: “Dride Black Fungus.” Gnome figured that it was a Scottish-Chinese who made the spelling mistake. Ha-Ha!!
And, of course, there is the paddy straw mushroom, which I have mentioned in previous posts, which preferentially grows on cacao trash (which we get from the Chocolate Factory in Toledo for manure). These are the egg-shaped mushrooms that you get in Chinese food and stir frys. Volvariella volvacea on our farm:
Paddy Straw Mushrooms.Paddy Straw Mushroom.
You can buy these mushrooms canned in Asian Supermarkets. But guess what…we have fresh ones to eat…yeah!
What an auspicious three-some to find on our farm. Such delectable wild treats…who needs a restaurant when we have the best food right here at home. Whenever I mention going out to eat, Gnome laments and says: Wah!! Our Food is fresh fresh fresh…what more do you want? Why waste money eating bad food outside?
Sometimes he sounds just like my mum! And so we feast a plenty at home…
Hello Everyone! Hope you are all having a relaxing Sunday. I am sure by now whenever you see my bun-eating avatar, it means that the post is food related! As promised, I have posted up my recipe for Beef Jerky and Wild Mushroom Soup after yesterday’s fungi foraging. This is a warm, hearty meal for winter because it also contains red kidney beans, pasta shells, onions, ginger and leafy greens. If you haven’t been out mushroom foraging, the recipe can still be used with shop bought items (either Wood ear bought from Asian Supermarkets or Button Mushrooms bought from almost anywhere except for Belize).
Anyway, here is a picture of the dish with fried Mayan mushroom used as a garnish.
Beek Jerky and Wild Mushroom Soup Garnished with Fried Mayan Mushrooms.
And, this is a picture of the Wood ear mushroom , sliced before cooking.
It has been pouring down in Toledo so this is the best time to go foraging for mushrooms! Take a look at what we found today…a bountiful treasure for Munchkin and Gnome!
We found oyster mushrooms growing on some peach palms. We identified them as Pleurotus ostreatus which is a smaller type of edible oyster; they are fleshy and full of texture.
Oyster Mushrooms Growing on Palm.
Yay! There are more Oysters coming up!
Lots of Baby Oyster Mushrooms!!
We also found more Wood ear mushrooms which are edible. These mushrooms are well-liked by the Asian population and are usually cooked in soups and stews. Of course, we like them too! Moreover, this little number also has medicinal properties which include anti-cancer, hypoglycaemic, anti-coagulant and cholesterol lowering activities. What a wonderful mushroom!
Wood Ear Mushroom with Two Romantic Snails.
Fungi foraging also revealed more of the Mayan mushroom known as Schizophylum commune. These are rubbery in texture but are edible nonetheless.
Mayan Mushroom on Log.
There was a plethora of Turkey Tail Polypores which came in a spectacular array of different colours. Not only are they nice to look at but they can be made into a medicinal tea. This type of fungus is known to have anti-cancer properties and so a cup of tea now and then won’t do you any harm.
Trametes versicolor on Log.Big Trametes.
You may have gathered that we are really Big on Mushrooms. Gnome has written many essays on this subject. Check out these links:
We were both cleaning up our coconut plantation today. I had to collect the coconuts and pile them all in a specific area. Gnome had to clean up the coconut palms by cutting down the old leaves and mulching them around each tree. We made it a bit more fun by admiring (and taking pictures) of beautiful bush plants and mushrooms as we went along. Here are the pics:
Earth Star Fungus.Orchid on Coconut.Beautiful Pink Flowers on Bush Vine.Wood Ear Mushroom.
Of course, real life is better than the actual pictures but I hope that we have captured the essence of the simplicity of our lives through them.
