Growing season in the DR

[Pib]

Hihihi

Guan?bana is a fruit used to make champola.

If you are flummoxed by all those big words don't despair, here comes the explanation. _{^{Introduce Underdog's tune here.}}

Ok, that green fruit that suarezn posted is a guan?bana. It is about the size of a large melon and the inside is white, chunky, firm and sort of stringy and the seeds are mixed with the edible part. I have absolutely no idea what its name is in English, or whether it's trully original from the DR. It is one of the lesser children of the Fruits God, a fruit of no significance. The only use I know its for making a yummy juice when you blend it with milk, sugar and ice. That juice is called champola, at least in my town.

Most fruits don't grow throughout the country, and being that I was born in a semi-desertic (sort of) area I am not familiar with a lot of fruits that grow here. But jobos I remember. There was a jobo tree at my grandmas and I would sit underneath and eat them. My grandma said it was pig's food, she might have been up to something there.

Another of my favorites is uva de playa. As a kid I would eat them untill my teeth and tongue turned purple. Or how about manzanas de oro. Those you can find sometimes in the supermarket. It is smaller than an apple, with a harder, non-edible skin and the seed reminds of a porcupine. Oh boy, I am getting tingly inside...

Hungry Pib

 

[mondongo]

guanabana....

that was by far my favorite fruit....if I recall, its not as sweet as a mango..each seed is cacooned by white flesh,which you could almost pry loose individually...to enjoy it by itself, you have to eat when its ripe...if the fruit is hard to the touch, then its not ready...I aboslutely loved eating it just plain like that..

and then of course...nothing beats limoncillo...and many other fruits that only a campesino would recognize

 

[Hillbilly]

Guan?bana: A tree in my back yard.
Guan?bana: Nickname of a golfer in Puerto Plata. Why? Because not even a pig will eat it! Loses something in translation.

HB

 

[suarezn]

Limoncillos and others

Oh yes...champola, morir sonando, batidas...mmmmmmmmmm getting hungry.

PIB: My mom used to say the same thing about jobos...our neighbor's farm had a row of jobos all around it and I used to eat them too.
One more thing PIB, I just happened to notice that in the media gallery you have a pic of a ship being loaded with "organic" bananas, which you wondered where they were being shipped to. Well...let me tell you a while back I bought some "organic" bananas, here in Detroit, that were produced in the DR. I'm not one of those people who usually pays more fo these things, but I saw they were grown in the DR, found it a bit curious, thus bought them...Who knows maybe they were on that ship...Talk about six degrees of separation.
Do you know if they're grown somewhere around Montecristi?

Mondongo: I had forgotten about limoncillos, that's another one of my favorites...We had a tree in my school's backyard...
I'm really warming up to this idea of a site about all THINGS dominican. Maybe I will take it up as a hobby...god knows I need one.
I was thinking about dominican animals and the first one that came to mind was the dominican tiguere...lol

 

[AnnaC]

Does the Dr have a fruit that in Canada is called prickly pear. They grow on cactus type plants. I remember them being very good as a kid back in Sicily but here in Canada they arrive too green and they just don't taste the same.

 

[Jane J.]

TOP SECRET

Limoncillo: one is never enough, but why do you have to eat so many that you're left with the insides of your cheeks raw and weird? And can you say you're *eating* limoncillo, when really you're just sucking this funny, fleshy, gelatinous goo and spitting out a very large, slimy stone? They're only cute because of the way they *pop* open when you put your teeth into them...

Lechoza: Best. batida. ever. But I can't eat it as a fruit, just like that. Me don't like.

Best thing: to come home and find that someone has made jugo de cereza.

Best combo juice: melon & pi?a.

Suarezn said:
I was thinking about dominican animals and the first one that came to mind was the dominican tiguere

Don't forget to include el famoso chivo loco.

 

[Tony C]

Here in Miami I use to have one of the biggest sea grape trees I ever saw. Every summer I would collect buckets of that tasty fruit and what I couldn't eat I would give to my friends. One friend would then make some of the most delicious Sea grape Jelly. Alas Hurricane Andrew took it away along with most of my earthly possesions.
Sea grape is called Uva de playa in the DR and Uva de mar by us Cubans. Lechoza is best know as Papaya. Cubans also call it Fruita Bomba(I love that name) Limonsillo I kno as Mamonsillo. I have no Idea what it is called in English But I planted one last year in my back yard.
I also have Bannas, Mango, and Tamarind. The State took my Lime trees.
One of my Fav is my Guava Tree. Did you guys know that the wood from the Guava tree is one of the best woods to use in BBQ. A lot better than Mesquite!
And of course 14 Coconut trees!

Tony C.

 

[jsizemore]

Canning

Realizing this in an old thread but I was re reading stuff on gardening. Think of the logistics for canning that are required. Storage space jars and so forth. We caned in tempurate areas because for two too three months a year there was nothing if we did not can, freeze or store a root cellar. In the tropics there is always soemthing fresh. Maybe not what you want but it is there.
The cellar we used was bigger than most Dominican houses. Fuel. What about it. Ok maybe if they put down the el presidentes for a few months then it could be worked out. But the realities is the amount of logistics required to start hoem canning is beoyound what a dominicano woudl be able to fathom. The people that need it most are the ones least likely to do it.
John

 

[Escott]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life. I have tomatos that keep putting out for 8 months now, peppers for same. It takes 8 months to harvest Yucca and it is over unless you leave some root in.

I have squash that is all year but in the rainy season just the green grows and not the fruit. Rain knocks off blossoms and too much hard rain kills fruit.

I have so much growing it is incredable. I can feed an army here with lousey soil just planting on the perimeter of 5450 m2 leaving the inside grass to put a home in and for my goats to eat.

Bananas/plantano keeps producing offspring so it is an endless procession. Prune pepper, tomato and other stuff for more and longer plants.

 

[jsizemore]

temperate farming

My experience is with temperate farming. I understand peppers will be a perennial rather than an annual like we treat them her in the North.
How long does it take bananas to grow. Also I know there are many varieties. Are there nurseries that sell them or do we have to go and beg from friends?
If I were going to can tomatoes I would peel and seed them then just cut them in chunks and cold pack them. From there it would be easy to make marinara or picante from the Jar. Quick processing and more options at the end.
John

 

[andrea9k]

Sign me in please.

I have to admit that although I invested lots of time and money on growing herbs and some plants in my little matchbox I failed miserably. The few survivors (a couple of cacti) were rescued by my mom, whose green thumb I didn't inherit. I am thinking on buying plastic plants

My now insignificant other took that as a sign that I wasn't ready for children. I wonder...

You are not alone... I have killed all kind of flower plants... I am trying trinitarias right now, i've been told they are very strong... after that i will try cactus :cross-eye

Jess

 

[andrea9k]

:tired: i just realised this is such an old thread, i better go to bed

 

[jsizemore]

not sure where to put this

I really dont know if this would go in living, envirment or genral so I just decided to hijack this thread and put it here. What type of forest fruits grow in the understory that are really good.
Something similar to the Bramble fruits of the temperate area?
Just curious.
John

 

[Criss Colon]

The Purpose Of "Canning" is to have a Particular Fruit Or Vegetable"Out-Of-Season"

So why "Can" when most things grow year round here?
Dominicans don't grow gardens because the "Payoff" is too far away! I can't believe that they don't all stick a mango or avocado seed in their yard,and have all they want for free in 5 or 6 years! I did! Escott,plant those seeds now so we can harvest from your trees in 6 years!
I bought a bunch of chicks about a year ago for 5 pesos each.I now have all the eggs we can eat.Fertilizer "machines",and fresh meat too!I won't go into the "piglet" I raized except to say I will NEVER do that again! The ducks are ok!
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[Stodgord]

Here in Miami I use to have one of the biggest sea grape trees I ever saw. Every summer I would collect buckets of that tasty fruit and what I couldn't eat I would give to my friends. One friend would then make some of the most delicious Sea grape Jelly. Alas Hurricane Andrew took it away along with most of my earthly possesions.
Sea grape is called Uva de playa in the DR and Uva de mar by us Cubans. Lechoza is best know as Papaya. Cubans also call it Fruita Bomba(I love that name) Limonsillo I kno as Mamonsillo. I have no Idea what it is called in English But I planted one last year in my back yard.
I also have Bannas, Mango, and Tamarind. The State took my Lime trees.
One of my Fav is my Guava Tree. Did you guys know that the wood from the Guava tree is one of the best woods to use in BBQ. A lot better than Mesquite!
And of course 14 Coconut trees!

Tony C.

Why did the state took your lime tree away?

 

[Criss Colon]

The State Of Florida "Took" Away Citrus Trees That were Infected

To prevent the spread of a Disease that afected the trees.That was to save the un-infected trees."Citrus" in abillion dollar cash crop and important to the States economy.Several years ago the had to remove millions of trees to save the others.
(I answered this because Tony C doesn't get on line to much these days)
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[Mr_DR]

Stop it! Your turning me on......ooops did I say that...never mind

Have some respect Anna

You are making me jealous.

 

[Mr_DR]

You are cordially invited to the Hillbilly's house to climb trees and pick your own mangos. then you can go over to a neighbor's roof and pick some from his tree. then we go up to DD's farm and we get more mangos...

there are stringy mangos (Yamagu?) and non-stringy (Banilejo)

HB, PhM.

Mango de libras are the best

 

[carina]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life. I have tomatos that keep putting out for 8 months now, peppers for same. It takes 8 months to harvest Yucca and it is over unless you leave some root in.

I have squash that is all year but in the rainy season just the green grows and not the fruit. Rain knocks off blossoms and too much hard rain kills fruit.

I have so much growing it is incredable. I can feed an army here with lousey soil just planting on the perimeter of 5450 m2 leaving the inside grass to put a home in and for my goats to eat.

Bananas/plantano keeps producing offspring so it is an endless procession. Prune pepper, tomato and other stuff for more and longer plants.

Escott, do you know how long it will take before my baby-lemon tree starts bringing me some fruit? Its about 9 months old now.

 

[sweisser]

Please do! I'll read!

Hmmmm....maybe I should start a site about dominican stuff...dominican fruits, dominican vegetables, dominican birds, dominican grass, etc...

We may be moving over the summer to Santo DOmingo and would love to know what gardening is done in the city.