Mixed Tropical Fruit Sauce

After our trip up to Pablo's last week, I found we had more fresh fruit than we could eat, so today I decided to make a batch of Tropical Fruit Sauce.

I peeled and chopped some Papaya and Mango.

And then I sliced some starfruit.

I also scooped out the juicy fruit from a couple of Passion Fruit and saved the juice for my sauce.

And juiced a couple of vibrant green limes.

After I finished preparing all my fruit, I dumped it into a pot and brought it to a boil.  Then I added some sugar and reduced the heat and let the mixture simmer until it reached the consistency of a dipping sauce.  The acidic taste of the Passion Fruit, Star Fruit and Lime Juice worked well with the Sweet Papaya, Mango and Sugar.

When the sauce was ready, I poured it into several small bottles.

Most of my delicious sauce went into the freezer except for these bottles which I'll keep in the fridge.  I'm sure they won't last long. 

I sat these three jars on top of the wall at the end of our deck. The Fan Palm growing up behind this wall made a great back drop for the jars of sauce.

My Tropical Fruit Sauce is really tasty and will be good served with Pork Tenderloin, Coconut Prawns, Barbecued Chicken and maybe even over Ice Cream. 

Let's Hope It Works

After we got home from El Tonino on Sunday, I washed all my fruit and the Guanabana and Passion Fruit leaves I'd collected.

The papaya Pablo picked for us was huge.  I had a regular sized papaya ripening on the counter, so I sat them side by side.  What a difference.



I sat Pablo's beautiful papaya in with some mangoes to help the ripening process.

The Star Fruits or Carambolas, as they're know in Spanish, looked so pretty.  What beautiful colours.

It would be a few days before the skins of the Passion Fruits wrinkled, indicating they are ripe enough to eat.

After I pulled all the leaves from the stems of the Guanabana and Passion Fruit, I washed the leaves several times before spreading them out to dry.

Supposedly it's very important to dry the leaves in the shade, so I put them in our dry room overnight and then sat them outside in the shade and will continue to do this over the next few days. 

This morning I took a couple of Guanabana leaves and a Passion Fruit leaf and made some "Special" tea.

I boiled the water as per instructions, added the leaves and let it sit for awhile.

I probably should have let the tea steep overnight, but couldn't wait to try some.

Later in the day, I added some more water and leaves to the jug and after a few hours the tea began turning a pretty amber colour. Hopefully this was caused by all the leaves' healing nutrients being leached from the leaves.

I did do some reading and apparently Guanabana tea contains many nutrients and antioxidants that protect the immune system, boost energy, tackle parasites and suppress inflammation, so it's worth a try.   

Usually I don't fall for Magic Fixes or Gimmicks Relating to Health Issues, but I'm so fed up with my stomach that I'm willing to give this tea a try.  And maybe, just maybe, it'll work and cure everything that ails me.  

I'll let you know if it works.

Vancouver - Now & Then

When I turned on my computer this morning, I found an e-mail from my friend, Maggie.  She had attached some black and white photos of Vancouver as it looked way back when.

Second Beach - 1940

Buffalo in Stanley Park - 1939

Man With Two Bear Cubs Kitsilano - 1911

Casual Sunday at Kits Beach, 1946

Waiting For the Street Car in Mt. Pleasant - 1908

Harry Houdini Hanging Upside Down off The Vancouver Sun Building - 1923.

Traffic at the Corner of Robson and Hornby Streets - 1907

Three Room Stump House Near Where Queen Elizabeth Park is Now - 1910

Monday Morning Crash - 1940's

Kits Beach - 1920

Autumn in Stanley Park - 1890's

Foggy Morning on Granville Street - 1906

Vancouver From the Air (No Lions Gate Bridge) - 1932

Logging English Bay - 1890

Man Leaning on Giant Cedar Tree (50 ft. Circumference) - 1890 

In Search for Guanabana & Passion Fruit Leaves

As some of you know, I had some stomach issues last year while we were here and it's giving me trouble again this year.   Needless to say I'm getting rather tired of it.

Last week while chatting with Jim and Theresa, friends from Summerland, they asked how my stomach was doing and when I told them it wasn't great, they shared a treatment with me.

Jim has been living with Irritable Bowel Syndrome for years and has tried numerous medications both prescribed and over the counter, with no luck. And even though Theresa is a nurse, she couldn't come up with a relief for him, so -  

Last year Jim heard about a concoction recommended by a little old Mexican grandma and decided to give it a try.  He's followed the old gal's advice for a year now and swears he's had no further problems.
  
The concoction consists of these three ingredients:

1 quart of water
2 Guanabana leaves
1 Passion Fruit leaf  

You must bring the water to a boil and added the leaves and then let the mixture steep for several hours or overnight.   

I don't have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, but I do have nausea, tummy aches and lots of rumbling happening down down there, so I was willing to give the potion a try.

Sunday morning we went off we went in search of Guanabana and Passion Fruit leaves.

When we stopped at Eduardo's casa, his family, some friends and his buddy, Pablo, were there.  I asked if they knew where I could find some guanabana and passion fruit leaves and Pablo quickly answered "come with me".  

We went around the corner to where he and his father live and discovered "pay dirt".   There was a fruit orchard staring right at us.

Pablo kindly climbed the ladder and plucked off a great big Papaya for us.

Then he picked up a bunch of Star Fruit.

He also picked up a whole bunch of Passion Fruit.

Pablo also has yucca, but we don't like it and his bananas weren't ripe.

We never expected to get anything from Pablo.  All we'd stopped for was to ask where we could find guanabana and passion fruit leaves.

Finally, just before we left Pablo's, he cut scads of stems and leaves off his Guanabana tree and Passion Fruit vine.  

I was a very happy camper when I left Pablo's and was most grateful for everything he'd shared with us.