Garden Blog - Top Tropicals

🕺 "Take life with a pinch of salt, a shot of tequila, and a wedge of lime so nothing at all but take your time." - John Walter Bratton

🍾 How to make a Classic Margarita:

2 oz tequila

1. oz lime juice
   1 oz triple sec

Salt for rimming the glass
Lime wedge for garnish
Shake the tequila, lime juice, and triple sec with ice, then strain into a salt-rimmed glass filled with ice. Garnish with a lime wedge and enjoy!

Do you have a favorite drink or a go-to way to unwind?

Share in comments!
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When you are in the mood for something special - you need a Loquat Liquor. This is what you do with so many loquat fruit.

🍑 Loquat tree is an excellent choice for any garden, as it is quite cold hardy, drought-, poor soil- and salt tolerant. The delicious fruit look and taste similar to apricots, but there is only one problem: there are too many of them! Make Loquat the perfect fruit for an easy home winery...

🍹 Loquat Liquor recipe

Wash loquat fruit and slit in 4-5 places. You may leave seeds in for Apricot-nutty flavor similar to Amaretto. Combine fruit with vodka and sugar in a wide mouth jar and cover. Stir fruit once a day until sugar is dissolved. Then stir once a week for 4 weeks. Drain liquid and strain through fine cheesecloth. Enjoy!

You can dispose the used fruit but we usually give it a second life: add water, bring to boil, let sit, chill, and it will make another (almost non-alcoholic) drink!

• 
  ✔️ 3 quarts of loquat fruit
• ✔️ 1 quart vodka
• ✔️ 3 cups sugar
• ✔️ vanilla to taste (optional)

📚 From previous posts:

• • Golden Loquat – the Symbol of Prosperity
• • Learn more about Loquats

🎥 YouTube video about Loquat
📁 Overlooked fruit: tasty Loquat recipes (PDF)

🛒 Shop Loquat varieties

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🍒 How to make a jam with Surinam Cherry

Surinam Cherry (Eugenia uniflora), often used as a hedge in Southern landscapes, also has a tasty fruit with a unique flavore. The black-fruit variety Lolita is especially valuable - the fruit is large, dark red to almost black, very juicy and sweet. It fruits profusely and there will be enough fruit for preserves too!

🎀 Surinam Cherry Jam

• 
  ✔️ 4 cups seeded Surinam Cherries
• ✔️ 2 cups sugar
• ✔️ 1 cup water

🍷Combine the sugar and water, bring to boil and add cherries. Cook slowly for 20 to 25 min until the mixture thickens slightly. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

🛒 Plant your own Surinam Cherry

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🍒 How to make an exotic treat: Barbados Cherry Jelly

Barbados Cherry is a vigorous grower that starts producing right away, and by the second year you have so much fruit that you don't know what to do with it - you can eat only so much fruit out of hand! Earlier we shared a recipe of delicious Barbados Cherry Juice drink. The juice tastes very similar to Guava juice: it is very aromatic and tasty, and has a beautiful Baby-pink color. The Jelly recipe is even more exotic teat!

🎀 Barbados Cherry Jelly

• 
  ✔️ 4 cups cherry juice
• ✔️ 5 cups sugar
• ✔️ 1 package dry pectin
• ✔️ 2 tbsp lemon juice

• 🍷To fully ripen cherries, place them in plastic container, cover and leave overnight. Cherries will be dark, rich red color the next day.
• 
  🍷To make juice: Place cherries in a pan, cover with water, bring to boil. Crush cherries and simmer for a few minutes. Strain.
• 
  🍷Add pectin and bring to a boil again. Add sugar and lemon juice and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and skim off foam. Pour into sterilized glass and seal.

📚 From previous posts:

• • Cherry juice recipe
• • 65 times more of vitamin C than an orange - in Barbados Cherry
• • Barbados Cherry Mini Version
• • Learn more about Barbados Cherry

🛒 Order Barbados Cherry Tree

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How to make an improved Avocado sandwich.

• 
  💚 Ingredients:

• · 1 ripe avocado
• · 2 slices of your favorite bread (whole grain, sourdough, etc.)
• · 1 small tomato, sliced
• · 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
• · A handful of fresh spinach or arugula
• · 1-2 tablespoons of hummus or mayonnaise
• · Salt and pepper to taste
• · Optional: A squeeze of lemon juice, red pepper flakes, or a fried egg

💚 Instructions:

• 
  · Toast the slices of bread until they're golden and crispy.
• · Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, and scoop the flesh into a bowl. You can either slice it or mash it with a fork until smooth, then season with salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice if desired.
• · Spread hummus or mayonnaise on one slice of the toasted bread.
• · Layer the avocado, sliced tomato, red onion, and fresh spinach or arugula.
• · Top with the second slice of bread (optional).
• · Cut the sandwich in half and serve immediately.

🍿 Enjoy!

🛒 Grow your own Avocado

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🍈 What to do when you have too much of Jackfruit: make Jackfruit Apple Marmalade!

🍴 Jackfruit is delicious exotic treat, we are waiting so many months for it to ripen, but when when we finally have it - it's more than we can eat! Jackfruit is the biggest fruit grown on a tree, and even with one fruit crop you will have enough for both eating fresh and cooking!

🍎 Jackfruit Apple Marmalade

• 
  ✔️ Ripe jackfruit - 2 cups sliced arils
• ✔️ Apple pulp - 1 cup
• ✔️ Sugar - 3 cups

🍐 Cut the Jackfruit arils and remove the seeds. Finely slice the arils. Mix with apple pulp and cook until mixture thickens and marmalade sets. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

📚 From previous posts:

• • What is the largest tree-borne fruit in the world?
• • How to grow the biggest fruit on Earth.

🛒 Grow your own Jackfruit

#Recipes #Food_Forest

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Healthy breakfast, lunch or snack: Avocado sandwich

Avocado toast is creamy, crisp and so satisfying. It’s a delicious and simple breakfast, snack or light meal!

Ingredients (makes 1 toast):

• ◾️ 1 slice of bread (thick-sliced whole-grain or rye bread is the best)
• ◾️ ½ ripe avocado
• ◾️ Pinch of salt and black pepper

📝 Instructions:

• • Toast your slice of bread until golden and firm.
• • Remove the pit from your avocado. Use a big spoon to scoop out the flesh.
• • Spread avocado on top of your toast.
• • Sprinkle with a pinch of salt and pepper.

🍿 Enjoy!

🛒 Grow your own Avocado

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🍾 How to make exotic Passion Fruit Champagne Slush

• Halve passion fruits crosswise and scoop out pulp with seeds into a bowl.
• Sprinkle sugar over the pulp. Let sit at room temperature for an hour.
• Stir in lime juice and boiling-hot water. Stir until sugar is dissolved.
• Pour through a fine sieve, pressing on solids, then discard the seeds.
• Freeze in ice cube tray.
• Once frozen, add 1 cube per champagne flute, then slowly add the champagne.

Makes 6 cocktails:

• ✔️ 10 passion fruits
• ✔️ 1/2 cup sugar
• ✔️ 1 tbsp lime juice
• ✔️ 1/4 cup boiling hot water
• ✔️ 1 chilled bottle of Champagne or sparkling wine

📚 From previous posts:
• The truth about Passion flower and Passion fruit

🛒 Grow your own Passion fruit

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🍲 How to make a zippy Papaya-Citrus Marinade

🍗 🍖 The Papaya enzyme papain makes this fruit especially suitable for tenderizing meat in marinades. Use this zippy marinade for beef or poultry.

• 
  ✔️ 1 cup papaya puree
• ✔️ 1 tbsp lime zest
• ✔️ 1/3 cup grapefruit juice
• ✔️ 1/2 cup low sodium soy sauce
• ✔️ 1 tbsp honey
• ✔️ 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• ✔️ 1 tbsp coarse black pepper
• ✔️ 1/2 tsp basil leaves
• ✔️ 2 tbsp olive oil

🍊 Combine and mix all ingredients except olive oil, then gradually mix in olive oil. Marinade meat for 2-8 hrs and cook over grill.

📚 From previous posts:

• • How to have fresh Papaya fruit year around
• • Top 3 most wanted Papaya varieties
• • The truth about Papaya

🛒 Get your own Papaya tree

#Recipes #Food_Forest

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🍹 How to make tasty Carambola Banana Whip

• ✔️ 1 ripe Carambola
• ✔️ 3 ripe Bananas
• ✔️ 1 tbsp Honey
• ✔️ 1/2 tsp Cocoa (optional)

Blend ingredients until smooth. Scoop into frosted mugs. Garnish with Carambola and Banana slices.

🍷 Enjoy while cold ❄️

📚 From previous posts:

• • Why Bananas? They are good for you and are fun to grow!
• • How to grow your own Carambola

🛒 Order Carambola and Banana trees

#Recipes #Food_Forest

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