Solar Dehydrator Meets Guineos

Well it is guineo time again, just when you think it is over! Guineo ninos, manos, Monte Cristo. I don't know which ones these are, but a whole bunch were ripe all at once (as always). They are up pretty high so we can't sneak them 10 at a time - we have to wait until the banana falls or leans. But here they are sliced fairly thin.

This is the tray that slides into the solar dehydrator that Jeff made. He made it awhile ago but I think he's tired of blogging and just never got around to posting anything about it. I didn't dip the bananas in lemon juice or anything. Just sliced them and laid them out.

Here they are with the tray in position inside the device. Plexiglas from Home Depot is on top, there is some tin painted black under the tray and some space around all the sides for circulation. The pipe gets the convection going and it has a little hat to keep rain out. For these guineos it took a couple days because we are getting rainy afternoons. So far Jeff hasn't died eating any so it appears things are drying out enough. He does have some desiccant inside a zip lock for storage and he enjoys his evening TV and dried guineo snacks!

Mas Guineos ( and more in the pipeline)

We have been watching this really large raceme of guineos for a while. It takes guineos a long time to ripen, and there are so many it is best to swipe some while they are green. Finally we got a little rain and some wind and the banana came crashing down. Jeff is very pleased with himself here - he can't wait to go hang them off the Maria Tree!

"So take the picture already, these are heavy," he says. I point out that he can rest the group on the driveway and not strain himself. He turns into a regular tarzan when it comes to guineos and catching lobster!


Here they are in the wheel barrow.

They are easier to move up to the hanging spot this way. What are we supposed to do with this many? Amparo will get some but she will bring them back to us as food probably. Iwilda will get some. Angel if he is home and let's see, that leaves around 80 bananas for us? All the recipes I've got involve only 2 or 3 bananas. Smoothies will use some more but hey, I've still got another 5 pounds of calabaza to deal with. And did I mention that I dug up all the yucca? Two big ziplocks in the freezer... And quenepas - LOVE them, munch them all day when I'm in the yard but we can't make a dent in what is on that tree. Processing and picking food is exhausting...

Fruit and a New Table to Eat it On! Guineos Anyone?

Jeff likes to hang the racemes of guineos from the front tree because it looks cool to see them ripen there. Occasionally we see interested birds pecking at the top ones and know we need to bring them in. The roaming chickens get the pecked ones. So what does one do with this many bananas? Banana bread, banana cake (I have a really good recipe), on top of cereal, if we had a food dryer we'd do that, tostones for green ones, smoothies, the pickled banana thing, banana pancakes, and neighbors. Anyone know what else to do?

These are parcha -- yes, already the size of my hand...from the blossoms I photographed on 5/23! I don't know how big they are gonna get, but they are bigger than any parcha we've eaten already.

Here's our new table and our Washington cat - Dakota - out for a stroll. Chicken Little had a discussion with our fat cat and it offering him protection in exchange for tolerance. They actually kind of like each other. Anyway, the table gives us a way to enjoy the back part of the property. Sometimes there is a bigger breeze there. It is nice to have options of where to be...in front looking at the ridge line, on the balcony looking into the palm and mango, on the bench near "coqui alley" or here...looking at the area-of-possibilities. We still have to adjust the location of one of the benches, but under the Corazone tree is where it will stay. It is cement (and difficult to get in and out of the truck with just two people - one of whom is smallish). Since it is cement we don't have to worry about it flying around, rusting, mildewing, rotting etc. It is totally solid and we love it! I am happy with how they painted it as well.