the friday forager

this one is easy at this time of year.  and that is the whole point.  make it easy (but NOT convenient).  convenient implies no effort to me, and that's not what we're after.  effort is good in the search for food.  

these little jewels are simple to find right now.  i'm pretty sure that all you have to do is take a good look around.  if you aren't nursing a plant or two, i'll wager that you know someone who is.  the tall man has been growing a tomato jungle on his side porch for months now.  

when you find a plant, take your time to choose the reddest fruits, pop them off into your hand (it's a good idea to thank the plant...particularly  if it isn't one that you have been caring for), and take them to your kitchen.  of course, you can just use these as a snack right then and there.

i use them as a fantastic base for just about anything.  sauteed with red onions and garlic in a little coconut oil, they make a very quick "relish".  the possibilities are abundant.

if you want to be really zen about the whole thing which in cave girl terms is just being aware and explorative, notice the little stem and its star base.  

the friday forager-caribbean edition

every friday i will be posting some pictures of something that i've foraged.  cave girls know their surroundings and the plenty that can be found.  eating something that you worked to find, pluck, pick, rip up, hunt down, or pummel brings you closer to understanding how precious food is.  i find that it is fostering in me a deep respect for the plants and animals that die so we can live.  it also shatters the myth of the stupid, bumbling cave man.  (a shout out to geico's marketing people...they've got our cave brother's backs!  but, little gecko, talk to your peeps about the cave GIRL.  she was pretty important, y'know?)  our ancestors had skills that we've lost.  but we can totally get them back. 

 i hit the jackpot today.  here are the pictures of what i foraged:

not skilled enough to climb the tree so the cave girl uses what she can to get the job done, in this case, some bamboo, and shakes the coconut free

drinking the coconut water from an expertly placed hole by someone who has used a machete for far more than the last five minutes

THAT is how to wield a machete people!  a coconut or a tiger....it will be helpless before me!  roar!

once the coconut is impaled, smack the machete and coconut against something hard

and you can split it open to get to the meat...or as it's known here, the nan-nan

Cocos nucifera: the coconut

other than tasting fantabulous, the coconut is fantastic for helping with dehydration, the water was used in the place of plasma for transfusions, the meat is an excellent source of fat and vitamin D, as well as glucose, levulose, and dextrose, the oil is both anti-viral and anti-fungal, the husk can be used to make an alcohol tincture to help reinvigorate the elderly and a tea from the husk is helpful in stopping diarrhea, the shells can be used as gas masks and make awesome luau tops.

this info is from "les plantes et les legumes d'haiti qui guerissent, volume II" by brutus and pierre-noel

*thanks to the awesome kid with the big hair who calls me mom for the pics

 

**note to the chicken running around the yard:  you are SO lucky that i've just started sprinting.