Posts Tagged ‘fruit’
If there’s any one West Indian fruit that could use an image makeover or some good PR it’s the much maligned sea grape. It’s not ugly or smelly, or anything like that. The tree upon which it grows isn’t a nuisance either. In fact, when tamed, the tree makes a rather attractive hedge (see photo below).
No, this fruit’s main image problem revolves around a lie long held in some parts of the Caribbean: sea grapes are poisonous.
The fabulousness of the many fine commercially-sold rums we have so much fun telling you about in this space are a given, but for a truly uncommon experience, don’t be afraid to try unmarked bottles like this one.
Even if Bush Rum presents too pronounced a walk on the wild side for you (as it did for Patrick with hilarious consequences), there are many, many other homemade rum infusions you can find seasonally at local markets, or via characters like Kali throughout the region at different times of the year. One of my favorites is known simply as Bilí.
Now, I have no idea where Bilí got his name, but I do know that he’s originally from Vieques, the small Spanish Virgin Island located eight miles off the east coast of Puerto Rico.
On my last trip back home to St. Croix a few weeks ago, I enjoyed the pleasure of getting a taste of something new – tostones!
Wait, didn’t I write about tostones a few months ago? Didn’t I say that tostones are my favorite things to eat made from plantains?
The answers, as you can plainly see here, are yes and yes. So, what gives?
The tostones in question (and pictured above) are actually made with breadfruit. This isn’t really uncommon in the Caribbean, but it was wonderfully new to me. Not really sure how I managed to avoid these treats in all my travels, but I’m sure glad that I did… especially since I love history.
Mango season is in full-swing here at the UC South Florida headquarters! I just picked all these up off the ground surrounding the enormous mango tree that dominates my backyard. I’m guessing that for many of you, the image above presents a majorly mouth-watering sight.
For me, not so much.
As I wrote last year, mango season is not my favorite time of year. My distaste for these super-sweet spheres won’t stop the onslaught of falling fruit forecast over the next few weeks, though, so I’m putting out a call to you, our faithful readers, to see if you can help me make the best of the season.
Next to genips, my deep affection for which we outlined here, my other all-time favorite island fruit has got to be tamarinds. Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around discovering a hidden tamarind tree laden with fruit while trekking through the bush on some imaginary exploration mission with my brothers. Finding tamarinds was akin to finding treasure; a reward for our quest. This is actually quite fitting as the mighty tamarind itself had to undertake quite a mighty quest just to get to the Caribbean at all.
Like the majority of people living in the Caribbean today, tamarind trees are indigenous to Africa and only started appearing in the region in the 16th century.
The other day, our dad came to visit me in Brooklyn and we got to talking about what Stephen and I have been up to with Uncommon Caribbean. He’s a pretty avid reader (hi, dad!), so he’s noticed that I’ve been writing about my favorite West Indian soft drinks like Peardrax, and Mauby Fizz. These posts seemed interesting enough to him, but he had to ask: “Patrick, do you think writing about drinks is really going to get people to travel to the Caribbean?”
The simple answer is “of course not”, but that was never the intention. My real hope is that when any of you good readers are enticed to travel to the region to experience the many hikes, dives, concerts, hotels, and islands we discuss… you won’t quench your thirst with a Diet Coke, but will instead try a Ting.
Of all the yummy things that grow on all the trees in the Caribbean, I’m not sure there’s anything that reflects the region’s broad diversity more than the sweet-’n’sour fruit treats pictured above. Growing up in St. Croix, I knew them as genips, though I could never understand why my Trini parents kept calling them chenets. Turns out these things go by nearly 20 different names depending on where you’re enjoying ‘em. Here’s the rundown according to Wikipedia:
*St. Lucia, Barbados - ackee (very different from the Jamaican version)
*Trinidad & Tobago – chenet
*Jamaica, St. Kitts - guaya, gnep, guinep, skinnip
*Dominica, Guyana, Haiti, Belize, Bahamas, U.S.
|
|
|
Read more...
St. Croix Food & Wine Experience Cookbook
Naparima Girls’ Highschool Cookbook
Original Uncommon Caribbean Logo T-Shirt