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Post by Deleted on Dec 30, 2011 13:23:07 GMT
Wow!!! Outrageous!! Do you know the name of the variety of those Bixa? I'm curious as to whether or not they are like the ones we used to have growing here. My very first apartment here in NOLA had a tree in the back that used to produce very similar looking fruit. It died during a particularly hard freeze some years later and I've never seen another quite like it here locally. One of my local garden guides tells me that they can reach up to 60'!!! There is one variety 'Duke' that is purportedly hardy to 20F.
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Post by bixaorellana on Dec 30, 2011 17:31:56 GMT
Tod wrote: about those avocados - does this mean guacamole for some time to come?! They look the hard skin type with a buttery inside flesh?That's exactly how they are, Tod. I've mostly been eating them as-is. They don't even need salt, they're so tasty. I keep giving away the ones that are nice and keeping the ones I suspect have a couple of bad spots for myself. At this point I'm thinking of freezing some for guacamole later in the year, though. Absolutely no idea of the name, Casimira, as it appears not to have a local name. It's been somewhat despised, poor tree. For one thing, its nice big leaves have no flavor, unlike some other varieties. For another, both the landlady & the busybody next door (who trimmed "his side" of the tree WAY too much ) both told me the fruit was no good -- "it's okay on one side, but the rest is rotten". Apparently it never occurred to anyone that a tree whose roots are mostly covered by concrete might like a little WATER occasionally. There is a Japanese plum tree quite close to the avocado. It's in terrible shape, with lots of dead limbs and a huge strip of bark missing most of the way up. My other next door neighbor told me that the woman who lived here before me burnt her garbage next to that tree. The avocado suffered less, but has responded beautifully to just a little care. It's getting lots of flowers again! I measured one of the avocados that's a typical size: 11" around & 5 3/4" from pole to pole.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 0:51:58 GMT
Sounds like an idiot neighbor..... Please keep us posted with what you do with them please! I was so amped to see these strawberries today!!!! From Pontchatoula,LA,just across the lake from us on the North shore. I bought 2 pints of them! I almost got some cauliflower but we have so much stuff in the refrigerator from New Years still,it can wait until next week,they'll still be around.
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Post by mich64 on Jan 4, 2012 2:04:12 GMT
Those all look delicious Casi! I am a little envious of that fresh fruit and produce. For the next 6 months ours is trucked north, arrives not so fresh and sometimes a little frosted!
Enjoy!
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jan 4, 2012 2:09:17 GMT
Avocados and mandarin oranges (tangerines) are dropping in price. Avocados around $20 pesos a kilo; mandarins at 2 kilos for $10 peso, if i recall correctly.
Present price for naranjas dulces para jugo (juice oranges) remain at $20 pesos for 4 kilos, delivered. Those oranges are cosmetically flawed and are not pretty, but they make good juice as good as any fancy ones.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2012 21:41:30 GMT
I bought 2 pints of them! I find it very strange for an irregularly shaped item to be sold by the pint. Okay, here strawberries are often sold by the container (of variable size), but more often they are sold by weight.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 5, 2012 3:44:01 GMT
Essentially it's the same thing as your buying them by the container. The "pint" is a little square basket & usually the strawberries are somewhat mounded in the basket. I have been doing avocado patrol every day in order to pick up any that fall. Almost missed this one!
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 5, 2012 14:55:03 GMT
I was surprised to see my collague eating blackberries at lunchtime today. Checked the box - grown in Mexico!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 20:11:54 GMT
I've never seen an avocado that big!! How big is the pit inside Bixa?
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 5, 2012 20:16:22 GMT
Mountainous country, Mick -- lotsa different climates. I didn't realize that the produce was exported that far afield, though.
That's one of the smaller ones, Casimira. Thank goodness, because it didn't break the little bird bath. The pit is the classic stick-three-toothpicks-in size.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2012 20:29:05 GMT
At first glance I thought that birdbath was a scale! I was looking for the numbers!!!! I said to myself,what an interesting garden feature!! ;D
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Post by Don Cuevas on Jan 5, 2012 21:56:42 GMT
I was surprised to see my collague eating blackberries at lunchtime today. Checked the box - grown in Mexico! We seem to have large blackberries nearly all year, here in Pátzcuaro Michoacán. Of course, they may have been grown elsewhere. A peach tree in our side yard is blossoming, despite near freezing temps at night.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jan 6, 2012 14:33:58 GMT
Mountainous country, Mick -- lotsa different climates. I didn't realize that the produce was exported that far afield, though. That's one of the smaller ones, Casimira. Thank goodness, because it didn't break the little bird bath. The pit is the classic stick-three-toothpicks-in size. I wasn't so surprised that they were grown in Mexico but, as you say, they had travelled so far. It's the first Mexican produce I've seen here.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 10, 2012 6:04:42 GMT
Lots of limes and avocados are imported from Mexico to France, but I'm a bit surprised that something as fragile as blackberries can travel that far.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 10, 2012 6:42:29 GMT
We saw blueberries at the El Llano market on Friday. Where would they have come from? They were being sold alongside blackberries. My friend & I gazed upon them longingly, with a shared thought balloon over our heads: "How to get them home unsmushed?"
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Post by tod2 on Jan 10, 2012 8:15:20 GMT
We used to find imported blueberries on the shelf in Woolworths Food Market(can't remember where from) but now I see they are marked "Packed and produced in South Africa" - well I never!
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Post by rikita on Jan 18, 2012 12:42:52 GMT
hm i try not to eat things that came from so far away, but i often can't help myself... thing is some of my favourite food just doesn't grow anywhere near here...
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 18, 2012 15:43:56 GMT
One of my trusted vendors told me that peaches for shipping are sometimes held as long as three years after picking! He said that's why they'll rot so quickly once you buy them.
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Post by tod2 on Jan 18, 2012 17:38:36 GMT
Bixa - that sounds incredible! Must mean they are close to frozen then? I bought peaches yesterday and am hoping in a few days they will be sweeter than the last lot I bought. I don't think these would be three years old but definitely picked too green for any real flavour to develope. I find the best fruit comes from farmstalls along the highway right next to the farmer's field. Problem is you have to take a whole box full and be prepared to pig-out for days on fruit......could have consequences
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 18, 2012 18:10:23 GMT
Tod, I don't know if three years is true or not. But I do know tons of produce is picked green, kept in cold storage & then ripened artificially with gas. From Wikipedia: Ripening agents speed up the ripening process. They allow many fruits to be picked prior to full ripening, which is useful, since ripened fruits do not ship well. For example, bananas are picked when green and artificially ripened after shipment by being gassed with ethylene. A similar method used in parts of Asia is to put a plastic cover over a bed of slightly green-harvested mangos and a few small open containers of clumps of calcium carbide. The moisture in the air reacts with the calcium carbide to release the gas acetylene (ethyne), which has the same effect as ethylene. Ethylene is not emitted by the plant naturally, and cannot activate the ripening of nearby fruits, rather, it is used as a hormone within the plant.[citation needed] Calcium carbide is used for ripening fruit artificially in some countries. Since industrial-grade calcium carbide may contain traces of arsenic and phosphorus, the use of this chemical for this purpose is illegal in most countries. Calcium carbide, once dissolved in water, produces acetylene,[2] which acts as an artificial ripening agent. Acetylene is believed to affect the nervous system by reducing the oxygen supply to the brain[citation needed]. Agricultural industry PR claims that acetylene is not sufficiently reactive to affect consumers.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RipeningYou are so right about how good fruit is that has not traveled. You could pig out & think of it as a cleansing process, or you could save some of it in the freezer. coopext.colostate.edu/4DMG/VegFruit/Fruits/freshfrt.htmwww.dummies.com/how-to/content/freezing-fresh-fruit.htmlThere's also drying as an option: anyportinastorm.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=discussion&action=display&thread=3874
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Post by tod2 on Jan 19, 2012 7:33:39 GMT
When I was about 12years old we lived on an orange farm in what was then called the Eastern Transvaal (right up close to Kruger National Park). When the oranges were still hanging on the trees -grass green, my father would drive the tractor up and down the rows spraying them with an 'arsenic' solution. This turned them yellow in a matter of hours/maybe days, I don't remember, then the pickers would start taking them off the trees. The workers were paid by the sack load so you can imagine the scurrying that went on as they ran back and forth.
What was even more fascinating was how fast the woman in the packing plant wrapped the 'waxed' oranges in tissue paper before placing in a carton ready for export. Their hands were just a blur!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 19, 2012 9:01:11 GMT
I am fascinated by the tradition of tissue paper. In France, certain producers still wrap about 1 out of 20 oranges/tangerines/etc. in tissue paper. I have no idea why.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 19, 2012 18:17:48 GMT
Tod, that is fascinating! I always thought tissue-wrapped produce was special in some way -- a rare and delicious variety brought to our store and presented like a jewel. Certainly the tissue-wrapped fruit always seemed to cost more.
Do you suppose the tissue paper was to keep the chemical on the oranges long enough for it to set or something?
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Post by hwinpp on Jan 21, 2012 6:19:16 GMT
Yesterday we went and did our Chinese New Year shopping, shops are closing from today until next week Thursday. We bought oranges and mandarins and pomelos (citrus fruit being good for bringing money into the house ), yellow plums (gold) and peaches (not sure what they do but everybody was buying them so we did too). Then we went to a supermarket and I bought ham, smoked ham, coppa and queso manchego and a camembert. Then we went to a French bakery and got bread, very good there. So now we're ready to tackle the off days.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 21, 2012 6:26:43 GMT
Citrus is good for bringing money into the house? Yay! Although I'd forgotten about Chinese New Year, just yesterday I bought some pomelos. I kept some & gave some to my next-door neighbor, so our end of the street should be prosperous, right?
Aren't the peaches for long life?
Your life during the off days should be very nice indeed.
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Post by hwinpp on Jan 21, 2012 6:33:58 GMT
Could be, I'll ask about the peaches. There were also little hald pound containers of cherries, I refrained, they cost 20USD per box
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2012 1:02:45 GMT
I winced,I cringed,I grit my teeth,I bought a bag... (first time I have had to buy blood oranges in years...f'n opossums got every one of mine.!! ) 'Lorenzo' heirloom tomatoes,they actually had a sweetness about them in the salad I put them in tonight.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jan 25, 2012 18:00:26 GMT
Those pictures are so lush & fresh looking, Casimira. Hope you saved some of the Lorenzo seeds!
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Post by Deleted on Jan 25, 2012 18:57:28 GMT
Well, at least the turnips I bought over the weekend look the same.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 26, 2012 14:45:29 GMT
I did indeed save some of the' Lorenzo' heirloom tomato seeds. !!
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