Panapen (breadfruit) Carnage - Tostone Making

My sister was visiting and we ate loads of things from the yard including breadfruit tostones. After surveying the allowable transport list I sent her home with avocados and a panapen. She carted that thing through New York and home to California and now needs a refresher on what to do with it! This is the carnage from preparing one that was ripe but not "nueva" and not "maduro." You can make tostones from slightly soft ones but hers is still hard and just leaking a bit of white latex on its skin. Just perfect for doing all kinds of things. (yes I said latex)

I had to have Amparo show me how to do it since cookbooks simply say to cut it into pieces, fry it, smash it, fry it again and whala! Not quite true. First off it is gonna be difficult to cut into quarters. You will be thinking that this can not be right and can't possibly be edible.

Next you have to cut away all the parts with these sponge like little holes - cutting it little by little so you actually get some of the fruit. Keep cutting until the little holes are no more.

Then you want to pare off the skin which is a very thin layer. It has a really cool design on it - kind of honeycombish.



You will be left with some pieces like this! Float them in salted water (helps remove latex and starch) while you clean up and heat the oil. They too have the honeycomb design which is really neat. At this point you can boil the pieces if it is a hard breadfruit (don't if it is maduro and blandito - old and soft). Boiled they kind of taste like artichoke hearts. For tostones you fry them in hot oil until they are kind of golden and cooked all the way through - texture will be like a flaky potato when you stab it with a fork (a few minutes on each side). Blot it off on a paper towel. Then you use a tostonera (smasher used to smash guineos, platanos, panapen) or a meat tenderizing mallet/hammer (flat side) or a rolling pin or can or palm of your hand and smash them flat. Float them in hot oil again until they look right and blot them off, salt them and whip out the mayoketchup (yes this is a real thing - mayonnaise and ketchup and garlic and culantro mixed up and delivered in a ketchup bottle just like salad dressing) or whatever you want to dip them in! And there you go - tostones de panapen. Mi favorito! They kind of are phyllodough-flakey if the breadfruit is maduro (old and soft). Kind of potato-like if they are joven (young). And there you have it...what to do with the 6 pound thing you dragged through the airport! Enjoy! (a web search for panapen or breadfruit will probably reveal more recipes)

Cabo Rojo Lighthouse

Camuy es Mal y Arecibo es Bueno

We knew that part of Camuy cave was still closed (since January) but thought that at least some of it would be open. It took us two hours to get there. At least there were signs to get there from the highway. You drive in and pay $4 a car to park at the gate and each of you get a ticket with a number. Then you park and buy another ticket at the ticket booth for $12. Then you wait. It wasn't crowded at all but we still waited close to an hour to watch the 15 minute video about the cave. It was in Spanish of course. After the video we waited again for the trolley ride through the park. This time there was an English option. It's a beautiful park like setting. The ride through the park was nice. The guide was good and what we saw was nice but it was not a cave. Kris and Katrina as they start the walk down 200 steps to the "cavern".

Steps leading down...


This is it. The end of the tour. At the platform at the bottom you have a view a of a big cavern but that's it. Big disappointment. Camuy is probably one of the biggest tourist attractions in PR. It's been closed for since January's freak accident and isn't going to open til maybe next year. Its a beautiful area and I am sure the cave is really something to see. PR could make some money with this asset but I think even if it gets fully opened again it still won't come close to it full potential. The tour was nice and probably even worth $12 each but it wasn't worth the drive. Fortunately Arecibo Radio telescope was only twenty minutes away so we decided to go there as well. Getting there is part of the fun. Just another day driving in PR.

Kris and Katrina hiking up from the parking lot at Arecibo.

Look at the size of the reflector/receiver. Can you spot the people up there?

I enjoyed this more than Camuy. I didn't expect it to be that big. Again, this attraction wasn't run as nicely as it could have been but it was better than Camuy.

Showing Katrina's Sister Kris Around Ponce

We have our first guest staying with us this week. Katrina's sister Kris. Now Amparo won't know who's name to call out since she continues to call Katrina, Kris. It's nice meeting someone from Katrina's family. We are having a nice visit. Today we explored Ponce and even took a ride on a tour bus for $2 each.

Kris and Katrina in the Plaza in Ponce.


Animals just flock to Katrina.

Kris and Katrina at the top of the tower at the Ponce boardwalk.
Looking down we watched kids feed the huge tarpon and pelicans.