Tropical Harvest

For those of you who think that Mandi and I are castaways living on a deserted tropical island, dining on raw fish and coconuts every day, you are only partially correct (you figure out which part).  You see, there are, in fact, supermarkets on the island.  Lots of them.  We can get pretty much anything here that we could get back in the states.  However, that is not to say that the island doesn't offer its own bounty, of which Mandi and I have partaken freely.  I thought I'd share a little of what we've discovered.

One of my favorites thus far is the soursop.  The ones I've found so far were a little larger than a softball, like the one in this picture that I stole from the interwebs.  My hunting partner, Mike Reyes, pointed it out to me during one of our forays into the jungle.  He said to place it in a paper bag at home for a few days and let it ripen.  I did this, and when I pulled it out of the bag, it was soft to the touch and the skin peeled off easily, revealing a white, slimy flesh.  I think it tastes like juicy Sour Patch Kids, but Mandi's not too fond of it, mostly because of the texture.  Not being sure what to do w/ it, I turned to YouTube, where this Jamaican lady taught me how to make it into a drink using some water, vanilla extract, lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk.  It is AMAZING.  At least I think so.  Like a magical, sour, sweet, milkshake.

Another of my favorites is a cherry that I think, after traveling through  the Land of Google, is a Philippine transplant called, among other things, an aratile.  After a friend pointed the tree out to me, I realized that the entire hill behind our house is covered with them.  They're funny little berries, as they taste like a cross between a cherry, a fig, and a walnut.  This picture to the left is not stolen from the interwebs, but is an actual photo of a bowl full that I picked out back!

We've enjoyed the sweet, firm local bananas.  One experiment which was particularly interesting was making a salad from a banana flower (the flower that blooms below a bunch of bananas, like the picture to the right).  Again, we watched some videos online and learned how to prepare a coleslaw-type salad that Mandi completely loved, but which I thought was kinda just "eh".  The pictures below show some of the process.  I'll admit, though, it was a fun experiment.

And we've tried even more treats; first, of course, are the coconuts.  I absolutely love drinking the coconut water, and they are everywhere.  Some other things we've tried are star fruit, calamansi, tangerines, papaya (pickled and fresh), and sugar cane.  We haven't tried breadfruit, because it's not in season yet.  I'm very excited for mango season, which should be around May or June.  The island is covered in Mango trees.  There are even local mango festivals.  It should be fun!

We haven't limited ourselves to the plant world, but have delved into the animal kingdom as well.  Our freezer and these pictures can attest to the fact that we've been successful!  Last Saturday we went out on the "Lucky Strike" with some friends and Captain John and were lucky enough to catch a cooler full of mahi-mahi. Isn't my wife cute?!




And then on Monday, after more than a month of jungle forays, I finally got an island pig  I may have to modify this post soon because tomorrow I'm going spear fishing for the first time!  Wish me luck!!!