One of the joys of living on a tropical island is the endless variety of edibles. As I love to cook & entertain and am naturally curious about all things edible, I’m always experimenting with new foods.
Breadfruit & I go back some 48 years, when my then husband & I were running a large sailing charter boat. We had a full crew, including a chef but on weekends when the crew was off, I did the cooking for the 3 of us who remained on board. One day I was preparing a meal when one of the crew members came on board, delivering a treat is wife had cooked. Grenadians are among the most generous people I’ve ever come across, so this was welcome but not entirely a surprise. As he came into the galley, he saw me trying to peal a breadfruit, struggling mightily, as the breadfruit is about the size of a medium cantaloupe & the skin is really hard to get off. The crew member watched & when he couldn’t watch any more, took it from me & showed me how to do it. Cut it in quarters, cut out the soft, seeded middle & then peel the quarters. Nowadays, though I know how to do it, I ask the market vendors to cut up the breadfruit, cut out the soft middle & when at home, ask hubby to peal & cut it up. This amazing vegetable is one of the most versatile edibles there is. We use it cubed & boiled, as we would boil potatoes, we cut it into long thin pieces for breadfruit fries, we mash it, we bake it & for those who have access to charcoal, it can be roasted whole in the ashes. Best of all, unlike potatoes, it freezes well. So now for some facts about this wonderful food. Breadfruit originated in the South Pacific and was brought to the Caribbean in the late 18th century. Not only was the fruit used but also the timber from the tree in ship and house building. The breadfruit tree is one of the highest producing plants with 200 plus fruits per tree per season. It is 71% water, 27% carbohydrate and many essential trace minerals. For more detailed information, please visit www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breadfruit.
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Oil down is the national dish of Grenada with a long, interesting history. The name comes from the oil from the coconut milk and the meat juices that settle on the bottom of the pot when the dish is ready to eat.
The origin of the dish is during slavery when slaves from neighboring estates would get together to share a meal. This was not only a practical way of combining scarce resources but also a way to socialize. Each person would bring what they could salvage from the master’s larder, hence the varied ingredients. By each person contributing, each felt comfortable in sharing in the meal. In modern times, cooking oil down is usually a family or community event, much like our American BBQ. There are as many ways to cook oil down as there are families who cook them, but the basic ingredients are pretty much the same: breadfruit, coconut, salt meat or fish (these were brought by ships from Europe in previous centuries & constituted the main ingredient in the diet of seamen as well as the diet of slaves), dumplings, turmeric and callaloo. The latter is the only ingredient native to Grenada, used by the original Amerindian inhabitants of the island. Since I like to cook & try new recipes, I decided to cook oil down. The result will be recorded in my upcoming book “Caribbean Cooking Disasters”. I put too much water with the grated, fresh coconut, the requisite coconut milk was too thin. I put the callaloo in the bottom, so it became a sticky mess, I didn’t soak the salt pork long enough, well, you get the idea. But I learned & herewith is my own recipe for oil down: INGREDIENTS:
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AuthorHi I'm Maria Davies. On this blog I share my life in the Caribbean as well as my passion for mentoring, food, travel and fitness. Enjoy! Archives
April 2024
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