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...

Yummy Stuff - Calabaza and Sofrito

This is one of the huge calabazas growing on one vine from one seed! It kept growing and growing and I kept asking my neighbor if it was ready to pick. Things here aren't what they seem - you pick oranges (chinas) green, limes turn yellow when ready, so how is one supposed to know? Anyway, I had to wait until it started to get little streaks of orange and the skin looked a certain way and then I picked it.


The rind is very very thin and the pumpkin is rock solid. I don't think it is latex, but something odd is emitted when you cut into it and it beads up almost like wax or silicone or something. These things are difficult to cut because of the size and hardness! They are not pithy like the pumpkins I know. My neighbor made sure I saved the seeds. She said something about the bottom of the pumpkin - if it is large and round the seeds will germinate and make pumpkins but if it is a small circle it is male and you won't get fruit. I'd never heard of that before but since this is a supposed "good one" I saved a load of seeds. The rind is almost like plastic or the heavy wax you find on some cheeses. Odd indeed!


So one day a while back my neighbor comes over with a bowl of stuff. I guess it is sofrito making day! I had watched her make the stewed red beans before and discovered the secret of sofrito. It is a lot of basic ingredients that are simple and not spicy...and a little bit of magic since it makes everything taste more rich and complex (when it doesn't seem like it should).


We've got aji dulce (I have a small tree of these peppers), garlic, culantro, cilantro, oregano, cebolla, green cooking peppers, a red pepper (for color) and that is it. Maybe salt. No aceite! Hooray! We whirl it all together in the blender and it turns into a frothy green soup.

This mixture is then put into ice cube trays so it is in nice portions for cooking! Ice cube trays are great for orange juice, sofrito, purees of all kinds. You can dump the cubes into baggies and pull out what you need easily. Great for making marinades, smoothies (a chunk of pureed mango, a cube of guineo, a cube of china) or main meals.

Tonight I was trying to process some of the calabaza (doesn't freeze real well). I made habicuelas with sofrito (2 cubes), red beans (canned since I was feeling lazy), olives, capers, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and calabaza! The pumpkin gave a nice sweetness and thickness to the mix and it was very yummy. I think I could eat that every day. So two good things. I really like the pumpkin - it doesn't have fibers and purees really well. The color is very orange which is nice since most everything else is white. The meat is really firm and surprisingly sweet and good!

Oh, Sorry...

I was driving home from diving Saturday morning. I was near the airport in Aguadilla. I was stopped behind two cars at a stop sign waiting to make a left hand turn. I picked up my phone and started to make a call. A motor cycle Cop is coming in the other direction and he sees me put the phone to my ear. He stops right next to my truck and he bleeps the siren. I put the phone down and rolled down my window. He says something in Spanish. I look at him and say "un poco habla Espanol".  He pauses then says "Oh, Sorry" and he drives off.  Too funny.

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)