Tuesday, September 7, 2010

somethings about Martinique

I have some Martinique cuphea planted in a bed with some Christmas palms . I noticed that the cuphea started circling the palm tree. I really liked how it looked, it is very attractive  so now I will be using this plant as a ground cover around palms.

Here I am using the cuphea as a filler/cover for this large bed where I have three Singapore plumeria  trees growing.

Golden apples, pommecythere, june plum, (spondias cythera, spondias dulcis) are now in season. Many years ago  (about 30 yrs) I was a regular visitor to Martinique where I discovered a green drink served in many of the  restaurants and cafes. I asked about it and was told it was called prune. Being adventurous, I ordered a glass and recognized a familiar taste. I was hooked! Now at that time in Barbados, I had never seen nor tasted this juice. We only ate the fruit green or when ripe. But this was heavenly! Years later it was introduced to the island and now it has become a favourite drink with the locals. I have been thinking of Martinique lately and have caught up with some old  Martiniquan friends recently. This has made me nostalgique.

So I decided to make some juice. I picked about a dozen apples, and washed them. I cut them down the middle with my chef's knife and continued cutting them into smaller pieces. It was hard work banging on the cutting board to split them open and  of course I chose a more difficult method.



I removed the spiny seed and started juicing the pieces of fruit in the juicer. This can also be done in a blender with some water and strained. I got approximately four cups of  pure juice.


I added eight cups of water, the juice of two limes and some sugar to taste. Wow it was deeeelicious! The only thing I hate about making this juice is the cleaning up afterwards. The juicer is a pain in the neck to clean, but I conclude that it is worth it.

P.S. I have recently started another blog my fashionista years

7 comments:

  1. Hello
    I just discovered your blog
    Your garden looks great
    and those drinks look delicious

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  2. I have not come across June Plum here. The juice looks so delicious.

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  3. What an interesting fruit! Somehow it looks so familiar, I wonder whether I know it by some other name?
    That juice looks so delicious! Is it sweet or sour?

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  4. Delcasmx.....welcome to my blog and thank you. Yes the drink is scrumptious!


    Lotusleaf and Sunita......... I am sure that have this fruit in India. The juice is neither sweet nor sour and it is refreshingly delicious. It also makes a great chutney and jam. The seed is spiky and can draw blood at times.

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  5. June Plum is an interesting fruit - I have never seen one before.

    You have a great blog.

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  6. This fruit is Spondias dulcis? We call it umbra fruit in Malayisa. I like it and used to eat it sliced and with a little salt added. We use it to make a fruit salad. The restaurants here also serve umbra juice. Many people plant the umbra tree in the countryside.

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  7. Helen Lewis....welcome to my blog. The june plum or golden apple should be also available in the Philippines where you are originally from.


    Autumn Belle.... thanks for the info, I love this fruit when it is ripe sprinkled with a little salt.

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