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Thursday, June 25, 2020

The breadfruit

prosciutto on breadfruit pancake with spinach and cheese and pickled breadfruit garnish
pan fried snapper on a bed of pickled breadfruit  garnished with a carrot and okra mélange this was deeelicious!
Breadfruit ice cream with breadfruit pudding garnished with caramelized sorrel ( hibiscus sabadariffa). Paula used a ripe breadfruit for this dessert. This was the creme de la creme of desserts!
Earlier this year my friend Paula whom I met a few years ago visiting Barbados. She is an avid gardener in the UK and told me she followed my blog. Her roots are Guyanese and she attended university here in Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. She is a true Caribbean woman! Well we would meet up whenever she is in Barbados. So she invited me to lunch and let me tell you, this was one of the finest meals I have ever had! I cleaned the plate! The meal was centered around the breadfruit. Now Paula mentioned  that she ate it fried or boiled in Guyana, and had never prepared breadfruit like this before. So she scoured the internet and came up with a few recipes and made them her own. Not only is she an excellent cook but an adventurous one as well!

The breadfruit or ulu was brought to the Caribbean by Captain William Bligh who sailed the Pacific in the 1700's. It was first brought to the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in 1793 from Tahiti and has become a staple in most tropical countries. It is being sought as an alternative to wheat flour for those who are gluten sensitive.

The tree is massive and can provide food for many years to families.
There are dwarf ma'afala varieties that are now becoming available and are quickly snapped up by home gardeners.
More about the breadfruit click on the link below

Saturday, February 22, 2020

The recovery

This loquat didn't make it, they do not like wet feet!
Suriname Cherry re sprouting after being underwater for several days.
Dunks tree aka Indian jube jube miraculously re sprouted  after the planting bed was under water.
Breadfruit tree didn't survive.
Plumeria aka Frangipani survived even though some parts rotted. Will prune severely.
My orange bromeliads in this bed died. Luckily I have  some in pots and will replant .
This poor dwarf coconut did not survive.
I was rather surprised that this Cannistel I thought had given up the ghost had started to sprout.
Another one bites the dust!
Mamey sapote didn't survive.
Lemon tree which was water logged seems to weathered the storm well!
The natural suck in the rock that takes the water away, only this time it was too much and will have to be cleared.
Nutmeg tree was covered with water for several days and did not survive.

I have removed many of the dead trees and have replanted new ones. The grass has not grown back where the water settled only time will tell. I may have to re grass those areas. Luckily we have been getting some showers so I expect to see more greenery appearing.  Take care and happy gardening!