tropical delights, pt. 3

Here is the wrap up from the walk about at Tropical Delights.

I guess I assumed that the micros we get grow in green houses.  Wrong.  There are no glass walls or ceilings here... just rows on tables and a brief shading from the sun.  The rest of it grows almost wild... or as Andre pointed out new terminology to us, wild crafted... like the celery growing wild below the micro celery and cilantro.

These are what we call pea tendrils, as Andre also pointed out to us is wrong horticultural terminology.  Chefs and growers have different ideas about what a tendril is.

Bulk organic soil.

White sapote.  Abundant.

Lo quat tree.  This brought back more childhood memories.  We called them Japan plums.

The appropriately named ugly lemon.  Imagine how much zest you could get from this thing.

A super-potent South African pepper.  Can't remember the name.

Cuban long neck avocados... very Salvador Dali.

Sweet little tomatoes.  Some of these came home with us.

Mango tree.

Papaya tree.

A wild black raspberry.

Jack fruit.  Female on the left.  Male on the right.

A long mulberry before ripening.

Andre climbed this tree to pull some wax jambu (or java apple) down for us.  What generosity.

This is supposed to be like the tallest carambola in the whole freakin' world or something... not sure.  I just know it's pretty damn tall.  Check out the hyacinth bean flower vines in the forefront.

And some green carambola from a different tree.

And a palm (or palmetto... is there a relation) that is used to make beer somewhere.  I don't know the name of it, or the type of beer made, or what part of the world this happens but just the beer factor alone warranted a picture.

~fin~

Comments

[chefian]

Thanks for posting all these amazing photos. As chefs I think we forget where I products come from and the pasion that these farmers have. It makes me wish I lived in a warmer climate so I could attempt to grow some of these products. What ingredients inspired you??

[foodplayer]

Thanks for the tour. You Floridians and your tropical fruit... I'm green with envy.