The table bearing the fruits of the Amazon.
Javier gave a “cooking show” with examples of rainforest produce that included tastings as appropriate. The meals aboard have included many of these. I took copious pictures and notes (which will be used to compose the captions for the photos). Lunch had a cocona theme going and was the most distinguished meal yet – fish with vegetables wrapped in leaves with cocona sauce. The dessert was mixed fruit pieces also wrapped in leaves with syrup served on the side and was very tasty.
The table bearing the fruits of the Amazon.
The other half of the table of Amazonian fruits.
Brazilian guava (Psidium guineense) - peach-like fuzz, very sour, astringent taste.
Sectioning a zapote (Quararibea cordata) - there are five large seeds that he's cut around.
Zapote section - there's a seed in the soft flesh.
Brazil nuts - those sections inside are what I remember from the mixed nut selections around the holidays.
Taperiba (Spondias mombin) - sort of like a cross between a plum and a mango.
Peeling the taperiba.
Pijuayo (Bactris gasipaes) or peach palm.
Pijuayo must be boiled and peeled to be edible. It has a potato-like texture.
Aguje (Mauritia flexuosa) - also fruit of a palm.
Aguje - used for ice cream, juices, and sauces.
Ivory palm
Ivory palm (Phytelephas macrocarpa); the jello-like sections are translucent with not much flavor. When dried, the section is hard, white, and used to make handicrafts. Jonathan used ivory palm as the eyes of the ladybug box for Harris.
The white flesh is very citrus-y, but it's the seed that are used to make chocolate.
Cacao seed/bean.
Mocambo (Theobroma bicolor) - tastes like banana and pineable, fragrant.
Mocombo - the seeds are edible.
Copoasu (Theobroma grandiflorum) - looks like mocombo, but seeds are not edible.
The oblong green objects are the pacay.
Camucamu (Myrciaria dubia) - grows in the flooded forest, very sour, high in vitamin C.
Like red grapes, the skin provides a pink color to the juice; used to make a Pisco sour variant - a camucamu sour.
Cocona - used to make juices and sauces, also high in vitamin C.
Passionfruit - the black seed and yellow pulp are the edible portion.
Granadilla (Passiflora ligularis) - a smaller passionfruit relative.
Granadilla.
The lunch table setting.
Terry modeling the napkin.
Evidence, appetizer: basket of purple potato with fish eggs over cocona sauce.
Evidence, entrée: Doncella fish wrapped in bijao leaf served with fried cassava.
Dessert came in a decorated hollowed out gourd.
Inside it was wrapped in a leaf.
Patarascha of fruit with sugar syrup.
