The positive thing with having to be indoors resting any given body part, is that I have time to blog more, as you might be able to tell by the three posts that I currently make each day. The bad thing is that one gets very restless and a tad bored, so today I took an opportunity to get out and limp my way to the fruit and vegetable market for some inspiration, and fresh fruits and vegetables of course.
One would imagine the Caribbean to offer an abundance of wonderful fruits and vegetables in every color imaginable but that's unfortunately not the case. You will find a wider and greater selection in any normal sized super market back home in Europe or in the States, and what's good here, are obviously only the fruits and vegetables that are regional and of the current season. Sure there are local oranges, but they are pretty dry all year long, nothing close to what you can get in Florida or Valencia for example. There are tomatoes, but they too are not typically as good as the ones you get back home in Europe. Also the Caribbean cucumber is far from as juicy and delicious as the Swedish or European version. What about the bananas? Nope, not even on Martinique where half of the island is covered by banana plantations, you are sure to find a decent cluster of fruit as almost all goes straight for export. What you can always count on though, are the coconuts. As well as the mangoes when the season is right (not now), grapefruits (wonderful between march-june), pineapple (most of the year), avocados (season just finished), plantain and chili fruits which seem to be available all year long and the lettuce isn't too bad either.
The good thing though is that most of the local produce that you get here in the local markets, are ecological, but I'm still wondering if there are no better ways to cultivate even greater fruits and veggies, with the good climate here is? I understand that certain vegetables grow better in a tad colder climate, but from what I remember, the overall selection was much wider in for example South East Asia, and that area of the world should be pretty close to the temperature and climate of the West Indies? Also wondering how it is in the South Pacific, what fruits and veggies are available and attractive over there?
3 comments:
I'm no agriculturalist but apart from weather you must also consider soil conditions and water/irrigation facilities. ON a small island i doubt they have good irrigation infrastucture. There may also be a whole lot of vegetables that you do not "see" because you are not sure what they are. I'm sure if you came to a market in India you wouldn't recognise the bitter gourds, the ash gourds, Louki,Tindla all of which are acutally part of the cucumber family but grown only in India. We have 3 vegetables that are variations of the potato family. Hundreds of leaves that look like spinach but taste totally different, some are spicy, tangy,some like lemongrass. I'd ask around for what the locals eat.
Hey at least the coconuts are reliable because that fruit seems to give a person sooo many health benefits right? Sorry to hear you may get restless from time to time, but just know we definitely enjoy reading your posts!
Cathy Trails
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Pineapples, golden apples, soursop,raspberries, finger rose, seagrapes,tamarind,guava, grapefruits,passion fruit,star fruit,guineppe,sugar apples,tangerines,mandarin,dumbs,custard apples,plums,papaya,melon,Mangoes,love apples (amazing)Bajan Cherries..most fruits of the Caribbean are much more nutritious than many from northern climates to.....and as for locally grown tomatoes in Antigua, they are just amazing...
But indeed as you point out much is for export and misses the local markets, which is why you get them in Europe and the BIG supermarkets.
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