Robert Barnum, the owner of Possum Trot Tropical Fruit Nursery, was testing and fine-tuning his recipes for weeks before The End of Summer Brunch. He’s a self-taught chef who has developed a long list of interesting dishes with unique tastes and texture combinations, using tropical fruits that grow in his nursery. He’s also created The Possum Experience, which includes dinner and tour of the grove. The Brunch was similar to the Experience, in case you were wondering.
Robert Barnum, The Cantankerous Chef
Robert was up at 3:30 in the morning the day of the brunch, making last minute preparations along with his assistants. Farmer Margie and her crew came over at 7:30 to help. The oven in the main kitchen gave out, so roasting mixed root vegetables was moved to the wood burning oven and smoker outside. It was puffing merrily when I arrived at 9:30. Cheesemaker Hani Khouri also came by, and that was his goat cheese and labneh that you ate. A long table with chairs was placed under the trees, set with centerpieces of basil, carambola and red ginger aka shampoo ginger. Nearby was the tent with beverages — a blend of cas, passion and carambola juices, lemongrass tea, a pitcher of honey-water to sweeten the tea, and water for the timid.
On the porch, a buffet was set up with all the dishes, and guests lined up to be served. The menu has been blogged elsewhere. The guests enjoyed themselves, and the scene under the trees looked like something from a French film. My favorite dishes were the broiled avocado with scrambled eggs, allspice muffins with honeyed labneh, and the fruit salad. That salad had a happy jumble of ingredients — carambola, longan, banana, red grapefruit, mango and jakfruit. (Have been getting the smoked eggs all summer, and they are great for egg salad with celery and sweet onion.) For nibbles, there were boiled jakfruit seeds that tasted like chestnut. Robert simmered them four times at 45 minutes each time, which made them quite edible, the result of another happy accident in the kitchen.
Halfway through the meal, Robert realized he needed to set out his homemade wine. He dusted off several jugs of bignay (or antidesma) fruit wine he made himself. It tasted like a fruity merlot, and later I combined it with cass juice for and incredible taste of deep sweet and bright tart. The bignay tree is native to Africa (according to Robert) and grows well here. The wine was made from its berries, which grow in clusters and is one of the few fruits that starts green, turns white, then bright red to purple-black as they ripen.
Tour of Possum Trot
After the meal came the tour of Possum Trot. Most of the guests took a lap around the 40 acre property with Robert pointing out various kinds of trees growing there, and other interesting things. (I couldn’t help but notice that he was walking around in bare feet!) He has several macadamia nut trees (a favorite of squirrels), carambola, canistel, mango, avocado, citrus (now dying from greening disease) and plenty others. When I walk through his grove I think this is what the Garden of Eden might have been like… maybe. A tropical vine has infested a section of the grove and covered trees. Robert sure could use volunteers to pull the vines out. If you want to come and help — and most likely get fed a fabulous lunch– let him know!
So I waddled home with a full belly and a sack full of basil recycled from the centerpieces. There was plenty left, and I’m surprised that people didn’t ask to take it with them. Whipped up a big batch of pesto, and it’s going on the smoked eggs and other things I’m eating this week.
Reservations for The Possum Experience:
Robert Barnum
The Cantankerous Chef
Possum Trot Tropical Fruit Nursery
14955 S.W. 214 St.
Miami FL 33187-4602
305-235-1768
