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Roselle

Posted in food, photo, recipe, tagged , on December 10, 2010| 2 Comments »

A bin full of roselle at farmers market.

One of the more unusual things in the last CSA box was roselle, grown by Cliff Middleton of Three Sisters Farm. Roselle, also known as Jamaican sorrel, is a species of hibiscus used to make cranberry-tasting beverages. You might also know the drink as “jamaica” (pronounced ha-MAI-ka), popular in Latin countries.

This is what to do:

1. Remove the buds from the stems using a sharp paring knife.
2. Carefully trim the fleshy red calyx away from each inner seed pod.
3. Boil the calyxes with some ginger root  in a pot of water and let them steep for a good long time, 12 hours to overnight. The longer they steep, the stronger the flavor.
4. Sweeten with honey, or not, and enjoy the tart drink. Typically, you drink it chilled, but I suppose you could try it warm on a cold day.

Pictures of boiling calyxes and the final drink are over on Farmer Muriel’s Little River Market Garden blog.

Throw away the seed pods. They are immature and will not grow. You can’t eat them, either. The buds or calyxes will keep for a while in the refrigerator, but make sure the plastic bag they’re in is unzipped so they can breathe (or use those new zipper plastic bags with little holes in them for keeping produce). Fresh roselle was available at the Liberty City, South Miami farmers markets last week, and Overtown Roots in the City farmers market this week. Dried sorrel is available at Jamaican markets.

Download last year’s CSA newsletter with a similar recipe and a bit more info on roselle.

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Baby chicks: day 9

Posted in animals, farm, photo, tagged on December 9, 2010|

Leghorn chicks checking out the camera

These little birds were hatched on Nov. 10th, and are 9 days old in these pictures. At this stage they are little balls of fluff. The yellow ones will grow up to be Leghorn hens (hopefully), and there are a couple brown ones in the mix too. One is a Rhode Island Red, and the other is a mystery breed selected by the hatchery.

At 9 days, chicks are already pecking and scratching.

They live in a modified half chicken tractor set in the carport of the farmhouse. Their bedding is wood chips, newspaper and old carpet. They get fresh feed and water every day. At night, Farmer Margie tucks them into a cardboard box, where they keep each other warm through the night. She brings the box with chicks inside the house at night, to keep them from getting chilled from the cold.

Peep peep peep peep!

What you don’t hear in these pictures is the constant peeping as they talk to each other. Wonder what a baby chick has to say to the others? And so much peeping, too!

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Persimmons

Posted in fruits, photo, tagged on December 4, 2010| 7 Comments »

Triumph persimmons. Note the ripe one, it's much darker.

One of the less common fruits that you’ll find at the Redland Organics tent is the Triumph persimmon, the variety that grows well here. It’s a bit smaller than the Fuyu variety you’ll find at the grocery, the kind that’s shaped like a flattened ball.

The unripe persimmon is a light shade of orange, but its color darkens to a deep orange as it ripens. Patience is required with this fruit. Unripe, it has a very astringent taste. And, it takes several days to a week for it to ripen.

A couple weeks ago I got two persimmons to try out. One ripened in four days, the other took over a week. The orange color grew deeper, and the flesh became quite soft. “Just let it sit on the counter until it turns translucent and looks like orange jello,” Farmer Margie advised. Translucent? Lets light through? Never heard of fruit doing such a thing. Split open a super ripe one, then held it up to the light. Sure enough, light shone through its jelly-like flesh. When ripe, the skin slides right off. Little sacs contain a small seed, which is a bit more translucent and chewy. The persimmon was very sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. Wish I had gotten more!

Persimmons are a great snack, and would make a great pudding or mousse, maybe even a pie, along the lines of lemon pie. Bill, over at Tinkering with Dinner, made a persimmon honey ice cream that’s worth trying out.

Persimmon season is very short in this area, and is almost over. If you want to experience this interesting fruit, hurry down to the Pinecrest market this Sunday before they’re all gone.

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CSA share: week 2

Posted in csa, food, photo, tagged on December 3, 2010|

CSA share: week 2

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Dinner with the Crunchy Bunch

Posted in agritourism, chef, farm, farmer/grower, food, people, photo, tagged , on November 24, 2010|

Robert just loves some jakfruit.

Last week was the start of a new CSA season, and to kick things off, The Cantankerous Chef AKA Robert Barnum invited Farmer Margie and her crew of interns, apprentices and volunteers to come over for dinner at his Possum Trot Tropical Fruit Nursery. Every CSA season, Margie has a different group of people picking and packing all the goodies you get in your share box. This year’s helpers are Jane, Liberty, Helene, Tomas, Eric and Lauren. They have come from as near as Florida and as far as Michigan and Europe to work at Bee Heaven for the season.

The group arrived at Possum Trot just as the sun was starting to set. Robert offered an abbreviated tour of his 40-acre grove before dinner. We strolled down a grassy path and paused from time to time as he pointed out various trees. (This is by no means a complete list of what grows at Possum Trot.) He has: osceola tangerine, macadamia (squirrels pillage the nuts), grumichama (which has a cherry-like fruit), jaboticaba, pithacyillobium (its sawdust will stain your skin blue, really!), a giant brassus palm killed by last winter’s freeze and still standing, mamoncillo, Central American walnut, several jakfruit loaded with fruit, sugar palm, oil palm, and Orinoco banana. Over in the lychee section, golden orb weaver spiders had spun their webs overhead, and appeared to float against the darkening sky. As we walked and listened to Robert’s spiel about his trees, the twilight grew deeper and an almost-full moon rose over the tree tops. It was getting too dark to see, so we headed back to the farm house where we were greeted by the mouthwatering aroma of bread baking.

The Crunchy Bunch: Liberty, Helene, Robert, David, Eric, Lauren, Jane, Tomas. Not seen: Margie, Marian.

The menu was curried pork with local organic green beans (which were still crisp and crunchy), white rice, avocado salad, a mixed organic greens salad made by Margie’s crew, and bread still warm from the oven. We had a lively discussion on how we liked our beans cooked. It was determined that that there are two kinds of people when it comes to beans — those who like them crunchy, and those who prefer them soft. Everyone at the table agreed that they preferred crunchy green beans, then somebody suggested that we were the Crunchy Bunch…

Mamey-pineapple-banana ice cream, with a dab of cas guava ice cream at the bottom.

I didn’t realize how hungry I was until I started eating, and forgot to photograph my plate before it was devoured. I guess that means it was good! Robert scooped up homemade mamey-pineapple-banana ice cream, which was outrageously smooth and creamy. Banana mellowed mamey, but pineapple was a bit shy.

After dinner, we broke out the wine. Robert’s friend David Weingast, who had joined us for dinner, brought a California organic petite sirah. (David’s Organic Company ships Robert’s fruit.) Robert produced two bottles of his home brewed bignay wine. One tasted much like a merlot, and the other was a sweet dessert wine made with champagne yeast. The Crunchy Bunch sipped and sampled and picked their favorites. The dessert bignay got a lot of votes. It was a pleasant end to a delicious meal, and the Bunch enjoyed their last easy night before the frenzy of the CSA season began.

For lunch or dinner reservations, trees, fruit and/or a tour of Possum Trot, contact Robert Barnum at 305-235-1768 or possumplentious@yahoo.com.

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