fruiting cocoa tree

One of the most exciting plants at Meijer Gardens in Grand Rapids, MI is the cocoa tree. It is strikingly tall and skinny. This tree grows in the understorey of the taller trees.

I probably wouldn't have noticed it at all if it weren't for the cocoa tree's peculiar habit of sprouting flowers from its trunk. (If you look closely at the photo, you can see many little flowers hanging down from all heights of the tree trunk.)

A volunteer at Meijer Gardens pointed out the green pod forming where a flower had formerly been, high up on the trunk. (Half-hidden by the right-hand half of the "y" shaped branching.) It is the first cocoa tree fruit/pod at Meijer Gardens! When ripe, it will be about the size of a football.

More facts about the cocoa tree's growth, uses, and history can be found at the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii. Good photos of the cocoa tree are at this site, too.


According to the National Confectioners Association, US chocolate manufacturers use 3.5 million pounds of whole milk every day to make chocolate. Visit the National Confectioners Association website to learn more about the history of manufacturing chocolate goods from cocoa seeds.

u pick Michigan blueberries

These are the all-time best blueberries ever! Too bad we don't live in Michigan to pick them throughout the season . . .

I was surprised to learn that blueberries are native to North America -- but now grow throughout the world.

We picked quite a few pounds of blueberries at Earls Farm Market in Fennville, Michigan.
Earls Farm was easy to find, not too far from the highway. The farm is beautifully maintained. Berries ready for picking are easily reached. The whole u pick experience was very well-coordinated and satisfying. Pricing for the berries we picked was reasonable, measured on a scale by the pound.

Also impressive is how easily the blueberries were to transport. We picked them on day 1 and refrigerated them days 2 and 3. Then transported them home day 4. The blueberries arrived in good shape. We are freezing some, eating others fresh, and baking a blueberry pie.

The Blueberry People TM is a producer owned blueberry cooperative that started in 1936 in Michigan. Today they represent over 300 growers in multiple US states, and British Columbia with total sales in excess of $130 million.

The Blueberry People TM market their members' entire fresh blueberry production under the label Naturipe Farms. Naturipe Farms has two equal partners: Chilean associate Hortifruit, SA and Naturipe Berry Growers Cooperative in Watsonville, CA. Naturipe Farms is the marketing arm of all three groups and aims to provide the produce trade with a supply of fresh berries 365 days a year.

chocolate sundae

A summertime classic --

In a cute dish, scoop out some ice cream.

• Cover with Hersheys chocolate syrup.
  

(Click the Hersheys link to learn about the school benefiting needy children which is the biggest shareholder of Hersheys.)

• Sprinkle with granola or graham cracker crumbs or nuts, if you wish.

• Serve the ice cream sundaes to your famished diners immediately!

cucumber wrap

Hooray for Boo!

She prepared this easy summer entree for us

the afternoon our air conditioning quit.

For each serving:

• Put large flour tortilla on plate.

• Cover with fresh spinach leaves.

• Layer a slice of chicken deli meat on top of spinach leaves. (Omit if preparing vegetarian version.)

• Cover chicken sliced meat with thick layer of diced cucumber.

• Season with Ranch salad dressing and Parmesan cheese

Guten Appetit!

***

Review

3.5 forks for presentation
3.5 forks for flavor

Sir Joseph Banks

Further scientific information connected to the breadfruit . . .

Sir Joseph Banks (1743-1820) was an important English naturalist and president of the Royal Society for 42 years, a tenure longer than any other.

He raised the expedition which financed the building and equipage of HMS Bounty. Although his goal was to transport breadfruit trees, and the voyage of HMS Bounty failed due to mutiny, Sir Joseph Banks breadfuit goal was successful in a second voyage.

A beautiful breadfruit tree

Last week we visited the Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Among the many and varied gardens was an enormous indoor tropical conservatory stocked with a huge variety of living tropical plants from around the world.

I couldn't take enough digital images -- there was so much color and variety! The experience of walking through the tropical garden is with me forever. Wandering in the presence of so many thriving tropical plants was exhilarating, soothing, and refreshing.



One tree in particular was irresistibly huggable: the breadfruit tree. There was something about the way it leaned over the path we were walking along . . . High up among the leaves we could see breadfruit.

Of course, as soon as we got home, I had to learn all about this tree:

• The cargo carried on the ill-fated 1787 trip of Captain William Bligh in the HMS Bounty was breadfruit trees. (The trees were all thrown overboard by the mutineers.)

• Latex is derived from numerous parts of the tree.

• Each breadfruit tree can produce about 200 large fruits per year.

• It is called breadfruit, because when roasted, the fruit smells something like bread.

Breadfruit tree bark is smooth-ish.

• Breadfruit replaces potatoes or pasta or bread in meals.

(These and many other fascinating facts about breadfruit can be found at the website for the National Tropical Botanical Garden in Hawaii.)

High above the floor of the Frederik Meijer tropical garden we could see a ripening breadfruit. (About the size of a cantaloupe melon.)

vanilla cultivation

Do you ever wonder why vanilla is so expensive? According to wikipedia.com, vanilla is the second-most expensive spice in the world: saffron being the most expensive.

Vanilla is only pollinated by the Melipona bee. The Melipona bee is native to Mexico, and all efforts to relocate the species to other locations have failed. As a result, under cultivation, the vanilla orchid is largely hand-pollinated. The flowers are open for only one hour for pollination. A hand-pollinator can pollinate about 1000 flowers per day. Each flower produces one fruit. After harvesting the fruit, the vanilla beans are subject to months of elaborate care before they are ready for commercial use.

Per the New World Encyclopedia, there are three main commercial preparations of natural vanilla:

• Whole pod
• Powder (ground pods, kept pure or blended with sugar, starch or other ingredients) The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires at least 12.5 percent of pure vanilla (ground pods or oleoresin) in the mixture (FDA 1993).
• Extract (in alcoholic solution). The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires at least 35 percent vol. of alcohol and 13.35 ounces of pod per gallon (FDA 2007).

The New World Encyclopedia article about vanilla contains rich details about vanilla cultivation and fascinating photos of the vanilla orchid vines under cultivation.