Golden Apple (Spondias Dulcis, June Plum, Jew Plum, Dew Plum, Pommecythere)

Spondias Dulcis, or more commonly known as "Golden Apple" in Grenada, is a fruit that grows in clusters of up to a dozen.  It falls from a tropical tree while still green and is characterized by its tangy sweet sour skin and fibrous pit.

The Golden apple is used both in sweet and savory dishes depending on its ripeness.  When green, the fruit is commonly eaten as is (with or without skin just like green mangoes)  with salt and other salty/spicy dips, made into salsas, chutneys, and into juices and smoothies.  When fully ripe, the Golden Apple will be deep yellowish-orange in color.  When yellow, the fruit is eaten just like an apple or stewed with sugar to make an applesauce-like dessert. Sweet and juicy with a light tang, the Golden Apple at this stage is, in my eyes, the best.  Its feel and juiciness resembles that of a mango but with completely different flavor.  

Some people are turned off by the texture of its fibers (characterizing dull spikes of some sort) and I must admit that I was one of these people at first, but the more I ate them (I bought a whole bag), the more I fell in love with its flavor.  At the end, I was willing to work around the fibers to get to the good stuff.  Be sure to try one out first before you buy a whole bag. If you're sensitive to its fibrous pit, you may end up disliking the fruit. 

I'm not fond of the skin. It's too bitter and tangy for me and you can't bite through it easily as you can with a mango, but try it out for yourself.  If you end up liking it, then score!... the skin is packed with vitamins.  If you end up not liking it, peel it off with a paring knife or peeler.  Once you peel the skin of, you will see four major fibers running down on the side. Take them off with your fingers first before eating.

To remove the seed, leave peel on for grip then peel cut it as you would a plum using vertical slices all across the circumference of the fruit.  Pull slices away from seed.  If you take the skin off first, the fruit will be too slippery for you to hold and therefore you will be unable to make slices and take the seed out, unless you eat the fruit like an uncut apple (this is how I eat it).


Links to Recipes:
sweet and spicy pickle
June Plum Juice
June Plum Chow
Chutney

bolognese in a hurry- my new favorite pasta

I visited a restaurant here in Grenada called La Boulangerie and found many types of pastas on their menu.  I wondered to myself, why is it that I only know how to cook traditional Spaghetti and Chicken Alfredo when there are many other different other pastas out there to cook?  I decided to venture out.  I glanced at the restaurant's menu and took a mental note of the name of a pasta that stood out- "Bolognese."  I read the description and was immediately drawn into the idea of adding white wine into a pasta sauce.  Wow, I thought... Just add one more special ingredient and you come up with a completely different type of pasta.  The grape taste from the white wine definitely shines throughout the dish.  The usual recipe calls for carrots and celery, but I didn't have any at the time so I used just garlic and onion instead.  I'm sure they would've made the sauce taste completely different than what I came up with but without them, the dish turned out delicious.  I will definitely try it out with celery and carrot next time and when I do, I'll  be sure to update you guys! 

3-4 servings;15-25min
Ingredients:
11oz spaghetti 
salt

1 1/2 tbs oil
3 cloves garlic finely minced
1 medium onion diced
salt/pepper
1tsp dried parsley flakes or dried basil
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4tsp paprika
1 6oz can tomato paste

3/4 - 1 lb ground beef
salt pepper
3/4 cup white wine (I used a chardonnay)
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp ketchup

Directions:
1. Boil a pot of salted water.
2. Prepare onions and garlic.
3. heat pan of oil. medium high heat. add garlic and onion. add a little salt to draw water out. cook until translucent. Add parsley, red pepper flakes, and paprika. stir and cook for 1 min. cooking spices in oil will bring out flavors.
4. add spaghetti noodles to boiling water. boil until al dente (slightly undercooked). drain but do not rinse. it's okay if there's a little water left. do not cover or water will boil over. stir occasionally. 
4. add tomato paste and stir constantly. cook for 2-3 min until you start to see oil separate.  add white wine. stir and cook for 2 min on high heat to cook out alcohol.
5. add ground beef, chicken broth, and ketchup. stir occasionally. cook meat through and thicken sauce ~5-10min.
6. add in spaghetti noodles and stir to mix until sauce sticks to noodles. it should stick right away but just in case there's excess water from your noodles, cook until water evaporates.

*Click HERE for a cooking dictionary. 

Carib Sushi Menu

*Click on pictures to enlarge them

 

thinly sliced shashimi, onions, and olive oil

thin rolls with wrapper on the outside

*Chirashi- This is a Sushi dish which is made of seafood, mushroom, vegetables and sushi rice.
*Ceviche- Raw fish or seafood pickled and "cooked" in the acidic juice of citrus fruit. Ceviches are often flavored with herbs, chiles and other ingredients.

a piece of raw fish (or other topping) on top of a small oblong brick of sticky white rice.

A Japanese dish of bite-sized pieces of raw fish eaten with soy sauce and horseradish paste: "tuna sashimi".

Rolls that have been created "inside-out" with rice on the exterior, and nori on the interior. Uramaki are typically sized in between futomaki and hosomaki, filled with two or more ingredients, and coated in sesame seeds or small fish roe.

*Temaki- Cones of nori (dried seaweed) filled with sushi rice, as well as fish and/or vegetables. Similar to maki, these are also known as hand rolls.
*Futomaki- Thick, large, oversize rice and seaweed rolls, up to an inch and a half in diameter, filled with fish or vegetables.