February - Blueberries, Mangos, Jackfruit

Last month, the bees were busy pollinating all of the blueberry flowers. Every single flower seemed to get pollinated. The blueberry bushes are loaded with fruit now. Our favorite blueberry varieties for the Sarasota area are Sunshine Blue, Jewel, Pink Lemonade, and Gulf Coast...with Sunshine blue being our favorite for productivity. 

The mango trees are continuing to bloom and set fruit. We have several 7 gallon Pickering mangos available with fruit set along with one of the Nam Doc Mai mangos.  If you are looking for healthy mango trees to plant in your own yard, check our currently availability in the tab at the top of the page to see if we have the variety you are looking for. We are happy to give recommendations as well. 

Our jackfruit trees have been happily growing. 

This is one of our grafted trees with 3 in-arch seedling grafts to provide additional roots to fuel the growth of the trees. 

What's growing in January

We have had our largest crop of miracle fruit this year. Our plant keeps producing more and more fruit each day. Having one miracle fruit before breakfast is such a treat. Everything tastes sweet without added sugar. 

January has again proved to be a month full of bananas. It seems like most every variety that has been in the ground a year or more is fruiting....everything except the Saba, which keeps growing taller and wider. 

Our honeybees love the banana flowers! Below are some pictures of our bees on dwarf orinoco flowers. Dwarf Orinocos are wonderful cooked as chifles (fried, thinly sliced plantains), sweet plantains (fried when ripe and yellow), or eaten out of hand. They are a favorite of our blue headed pionus parrot. 

Ube - Purple Yams

Ube (Dioscorea alata) - these were a gift from a fellow fruit grower who spent time in the Philippines. Ube is in the same family as the invasive air potato, so we have been growing them in large pots. Pots are a great way to grow yams and potatoes here in Florida. The pots help prevent pest damage and make harvesting very easy.

The key to keeping the deep purple color is boiling the yams with the skin intact. Most of the color is just below the skin.

Yams must be cooked before eating! Boil the ube for 30 minutes. Allow to cool and peel off brown skin with the edge of a knife blade - scraping the skin off.

I use a food processor to pure the ube...isn't the color beautiful? I save some of the deep purple cooking liquid to add to my recipes for extra color.

 Next, I made Ube Halaya. This is a sweet Ube jam used in many recipes. It can be added to smoothies, ice cream, cakes, and cookies.

Easy Ube Halaya Recipe

4-6 cups cooked/pureed Ube
2 cans sweetened condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 cup butter
1 tsp vanilla (optional)

1. Melt Butter
2. Add sweetened condensed milk and mix well over medium heat
3. Add evaporated milk and vanilla if desired. Continue stirring.
4. Reduce heat to low and add Ube a little at a time. Continue stirring. After about 15 minutes, your arm will be very sore, but you must keep stirring for at least 40 minutes until very sticky. 

The Halaya can be stored in the refrigerator to use in recipes, or molded into a buttered dish to enjoy as is. 

Ube Cookie Recipe

1 1/2 cup unbleached flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup ube halaya (see recipe above)

1-2 T ube cooking liquid (strained)

1 cup powdered sugar (for coating)

1. Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar, then add egg. 
3. Mix in halaya and cooking liquid if desired. Mix wet and dry ingredients together.
4. Cover and chill in refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight. 
5. I use a small melon scoop to size cookie dough balls. Roll and coat in powdered sugar.
6. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes

Tropical Vegetables

Katuk - 

Sauropus androgynus

One of the most popular leaf vegetables in Asian countries, katuk is high is vitamins, minerals, and protein. Also known as sweet leaf and star gooseberry, it is often used in stir fry and soups containing seafood. In addition, it is very good cooked with eggs.

Okinawa Spinach -

Gynura bicolor

Rich in iron, potassium, calcium, and vitamin A, okinawa spinach not only makes a gorgeous fresh salad, but also tastes wonderful. In Asia, it is paired with ginger and sesame oil in stir fry

Growing both plants will provide families with year round salad greens in hot climates. 

We sell both plants and leaves of both species.