Our World in Food

In search of sustainable food systems: back home in Seattle, Washington

Chapeando los Bananos, Clearing Bananas November 28, 2010

Filed under: Costa Rica,Mastatal — Nicole @ 1:45 am

Today I took Jorge’s, the eldest son’s, place out in the fields chopping. He is finishing up university out of town on the weekends, and since we work on Saturdays it was the perfect opportunity for me to go out to the field to work. Even though I have been out many times before and enjoy the work, the family is not used to girls doing this sort of work.

Today, this is what we did…

Hiked down to the banana and plantain field and immediately began sharpening our machetes

 

My machete and clearing stick. You use the stick to prevent brush (or insects!) from getting into your face or hurting your hand

 

My job was to clear off all the browning leaves from the trees, it helps prevent rotting, disease, incorporates organic matter into the soil, increases sun exposure, reduces weight etc...

 

Beautiful bananos (bananas), not quite ready yet...

 

We left at 6:15, had breakfast at 8:30 and finished up at 10:30. This is Juan Luis, he said we finished so fast because I helped. I almost believe him!

 

We harvested some bananas to sell and take back home. When you harvest bananas you cut down the entire tree, no worries there is at least one baby tree growing just beside it to harvest from next time.

 

Thankfully we had a horse to haul the heavy load back! It would have been impossible otherwise, there were just three of us.

 

Juan Luis: "ya sos una campesina!" (now you are a true farmer!) Me: "Mi papa va a estar tan orgulloso!" (My dad will be so proud!)

 

Later that day Juan Luis told me about his childhood here in Mastatal. His family has been farming on this very same land for nearly 50 years. They have grown corn, beans, rice, bananas, plantains, cacao, tempate (for biodiesel) and pineapple, rotating and resting the land in between. Right now they are growing tempate (for the first time through a cooperative), beans (for the family to eat), cacao (to sell), bananas and plantains (for the family).

Right now the bananas are doing really well, so I suggested we sell them to another farm with volunteers (rancho Mastatal), they don’t have any. We’ll see what price we get…a whole bunch of about 80 goes for just $2 or $3!!!! Not worth it… I’m going to try to pull out my sales skills to up the price a bit. At least $5. Now I know the challenges of growing bananas and I will cherish every banana I get to enjoy here at La Iguana. I eat them about 3 times a day! And no they do not make you gain weight (mom!). I suppose if you go out to chop with machetes and eat bananas it’s hard to gain weight anyway… In any case, I’ve never eaten such delicious bananas in my life!

 

Mastering the Art of Chocolate Making, In the Jungle November 23, 2010

Filed under: Costa Rica,Mastatal — Nicole @ 1:21 am

Me and my babies!!

 I successfully made chocolates last week! I made the chocolate, tempered it, molded into turtles, filled them with dulce de leche and wrapped them all up in beautiful gold foil. I was so scared they wouldn’t turn out. Every time I try to make chocolate here it is an experiment, I never follow the same recipe. This time I wrote down a recipe and made myself follow it. It has to be possible for this family to follow the recipe and temper their own chocolate without any problems. So many of our batches failed a few weeks ago that all of us have been too scared to attempt tempered chocolate again, until now!

Dulce de leche filled dark chocolate turtles. YUM!

 The dulce de leche filled turtles are a brand new item that the family is really excited to start selling. They all turned out “sonados” as Lydia says (the mother of the family), dreamlike. They require twice the time to make (it took me all morning to make 54 turtles) and a few extra items, but they will be sold at twice the price of the regular chocolates. Those sell for $0.50 each, the turtles are selling for $1 each. A screaming deal for 22 grams worth of heaven in your mouth!

I was so excited about my turtles that I also whipped up my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies (see thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies). They we killer! Lots of people in town found out and made special requests for them to be sold on chocolate day, Monday, today! They were sold for $2 each. Both my dulce de leche filled turtles and chocolate chip cookies just made their first sales debut and people loved them! The cookies sold out and some volunteers said they were the best chocolate chip cookies they have ever had. I was also surprised that so many ticos bought the chocolate turtles! Usually they don’t buy chocolates from La Iguana, but the gold foil and cute shape tempted them.

I’m so pleased and excited to report back the Lydia!

Update: Lydia says we had record sales for the amount of people who are here volunteering in the community. Woohoo!

Thanks everyone at Theo for teaching me so much about chocolate making, I would not be here without you all!

 

Chicha (home brewed beer) November 18, 2010

Filed under: Costa Rica,Mastatal,Travel Recipes — Nicole @ 11:10 pm
Tags:

Looks like an exact science...not always!

At both farms I’ve stayed at here in Mastatal we’ve made ginger beer. In Costa Rica the name for any home brewed beer or fermented beverage is chicha. You can make chicha out of nearly any fruit,  corn, ginger, turmeric etc… I’ve found I really like the spicy flavor ginger beer has. Ginger beer can range from a spicy sweet drink to a powerful alcoholic beverage, depending on how patient you are while preparing it. Ginger chicha is very easy to make but it requires attention daily for at least 2 weeks. Fruit chichas are much quicker to prepare, both are described below:

Ginger Beer or Ginger Chicha

These are more steps to follow rather than a true recipe. The secret is to taste as you go and adjust accordingly! Everything was prepared using a peanut butter jar and a 2.5 liter soda bottle. You can use any size bottle but the bigger it is the more chicha you’ll have!

  1. Fill a small jar 1/4th of the way full of grated fresh ginger and a little lemon juice and lemon zest (for extra zing). Add 4 tablespoons of sugar then fill the jar 3/4th of the way full of water. Stir and cover with a cloth.
  2. Let the jar sit for 3-5 days. You are trying to capture yeast from the air to have a bug from which to make beer from. You’ll know if you bug is ready if bubbles appear upon stirring. Check it every 2 days; it should be ready on the 4th or 5th day.
  3. Split the bug (everything, liquid and ginger) leaving half the bug in its original jar and the other half in a large plastic bottle. Add 1 TB of sugar and a bit more water to the bug in the small jar and this time seal it up with a lid. It should be fine to sit for 1 week before feeding it again with a little sugar and water. Continue feeding this bug weekly so that you can have a bug to take from and make ginger beer whenever you like.
  4. In the plastic bottle with the other half of the bug mix in ¾ cup sugar. Add water to fill the bottle about 90% full. Stir, cover with the lid and let it sit.
  5. Now all that is left to do is to burp the bottle every day. This is very easy to forget but it is essential!! Make it part of your morning routine or nighttime routine, like after brushing your teeth always burp your chicha. Burping means opening the lid little by little to let out the collected carbon dioxide. Continue opening the lid until you can take it off entirely. Close back up and repeat the next morning.
  6. Repeat the burping process for a week and then taste. For a mild non-alcoholic beverage it should be fine to drink after 1 week. Add sugar and water if you desire a more alcoholic beverage and then wait another week, burping every day. This can be repeated for up to 5 weeks for a very strong liquor.
  7. Don’t forget to feed your bug every week! After 2-3 months or when the bug becomes vinegary restart a new batch with fresh ginger.

Fruit Chichas

Instead of using ginger, nearly any fruit can be used to capture yeast and make an alcoholic beverage. Here in the tropics we use pineapple (the peel or the fruit), mango, papaya, star fruit etc… But I imagine back home in the states you can use apples, pears, cherries, plums etc… Here’s what you do:

  1. Cut up the fruit into pieces, enough to fill a large pitcher halfway full.
  2. If the fruit does not have enough sweetness on its own add some sugar. Otherwise it will not be necessary to add sugar unless you desire a more alcoholic beverage.
  3. Cover all the fruit with water. Cover with a dish cloth. Let sit for a few days and taste. Add sugar to make more alcoholic and continue to let sit if desired.
  4. Strain and enjoy!
 

Three New Gringo Foods Ticos Like!

Filed under: Costa Rica,Mastatal — Nicole @ 11:04 pm

Homemade kefir and granola with bananas! Not your typical tico breakfast...they see it more as a snack.

Ticos here in Mastatal are generally reluctant to try very different American recipes. For example, I’ve made chili and curry here because we always have beans and they are a spin on the plain beans served here all the time. The family tried both dishes (except a certain very picky member of the family) but they thought both had too much flavor and were too spicy. But I’ve found three gringo foods that the ticos here like and are actually integrating into their diet. They are bread, yogurt and mayonnaise. Specifically, sourdough and kefir. Each are made weekly or daily at Rancho Mastatal (where I first stayed), but recently the starters and recipes have started spreading to other farms and families in the community. When I get back to the states they will likely become part of my daily diet too! They are money savers, easy to prepare, and delicious. I’ve written a post below for each of the recipes.