Peeking At Pika: La Banane

B is for Banane - Fig* - Banana

When is a tree not a tree....when it is a banana tree, which is in fact a plant, to be more precise the world's largest herb!

*We wondered why the creole chose to call them fig when they are nothing like figs but then discovered that in english they are called fingers so maybe there is a link there...

This has been such a complicated subject for me, I am only just getting my head around it now, after five visits to the West Indies! Bananas back in the UK are very straightforward - the only question for debate is fair trade or not, and now even that is resolved by shopping at Sainsburys. However, here there are many different varieties and names and ways of cooking and eating so it is helpful for me to have it all written down at last.

Firstly a bit on the banana tree itself. Thanks to Mamie and Bertie for taking the time out of their work to explain it to me several times last week!

The banana tree takes about six months to grow from a tiny plant to producing its one and only bunch of bananas. At some point during this period, small banana trees will begin to grow out of the root. These will then grow and produce their own bunches (regime) whilst the original tree will die once the bunch has been cut off and its stem will rot down.

Here are the new shoots coming through

Can you see here the new shoot on the right and the original (mummy) banana tree in the centreThis is what the stem looks like once its bunch has been cut off and it starts to rot awayYou can see here two trees still growing and their mummy trees in the centre which are now rotting away
The tree produces a purple flower, the banana heart, and the bananas begin growing inside. Courtesy of Mum
Courtesy of Mum

Gradually this drops down and the bananas develop at the top. As the bananas reach maturity, they usually have a blue plastic bag placed around them to protect them from hungry birds. Then when it is ready, the bunch is cut off above and below the bananas (the flower may well have dropped off by now) and taken off to sell or eat. They will still be green at this point and will ripen (all at more or less the same time) after several days.

At Pika they now grow four types (they used to grow a red one but not anymore):

We know it as plantain but it is known here as banane plantain or banane jaune or even banane blanc if you are speaking to Mamie! The creole is plantin. It is a larger more starchy fruit. At Pika they grow next to Bertie's bit of land.

You can see a bunch of plantain here growing on the tree then some we had at home that began green before ripening yellow. It looks mouldy but they are perfectly fine to eat! Top centre is a banane jumelle (you can see the split) which contains two bananas.

Cooking plantain - it is NOT eaten green and it is NOT eaten raw! When it is yellow, it is boiled in its skin and eaten as a starch with various dishes here. When it gets to the black yellow colour that you see above, it is much sweeter and great for frying - remember Bertie's delicious dessert of fried plantain and ice cream and chocolate sauce....ummm!

Next is what we would class as bananas (or green cooking bananas) but here they are known as poyo or banane verte when they are green and then figue when they are yellow. These are the bananas grown for exporting. Here they are on the tree (they grow down in the fond next to the stream) and then waiting to be sold at Mamie's.However, if they get to the yellow stage they get passed on to us!
Cooking - these are ONLY cooked when green and NOT in their skins. One of Mamie's special dishes from her home island of Marie-Galante is made with diced poyo. When they turn yellow they are enjoyed as normal eating bananas or put into delicious cakes, tarts etc.

Banane poto are fatter, shorter bananas and much rarer. You can see from the photo how they are almost angular in shape. They have a very sweet taste and like poyo can be eaten cooked when green (remove skins) or as dessert bananas when they are ripe.

Here is a ripe bunch on the right of this picture

Courtesy of Mum

What I found classed as ripe dessert bananas are here referred to as figue-pomme. These are quite fragile and don't travel well so they are not usually imported. They are NOT cooked, but kept until yellow and the skins are beginning to split when they can be enjoyed as a sweet dessert banana.

You can see the bunch of figue pomme growing (very high up!) and how far down its purple flower has gone.

And finally the banana leaf! Apparently in some countries these are eaten but here Bertie said he just knows of one dish with sweetcorn where it is wrapped in the leaf. They are very pretty though, don't you think!

Good for you

Bananas are full of good stuff, including potassium, iron, phosphore, calcium, and vitamins A and B, as well as being rich in fibre. Cooked plantain is higher on the nutritional scale in vitaims but similar in protein and fibre.

Not so good for the environment...

There was an interesting article on ekopedia about the harm that banana production does to the environment: monoculture means that the land which should be used for growing other produce is not, and therefore requires more basic produce to be imported. It is also accompanied by deforestation and a high use of pesticides, which is not healthy for the land or the worker. Banana production is worker-intensive and often the worker is not treated fairly or paid well. Not to mention the process that bananas go through to reach Europe and North America in optimum condition! At least we don't have to worry about that here!

The solution...go fair trade (and organic if possible)! Or else move over to Guadeloupe and enjoy the abundance of delicious bananas that come out of Pika!

Sources: www.caribfruits.cirad.fr/fruits_des_antilles/banane www.banana.com ekopedia wikipedia Bertie Mamie

Photos: Pika unless otherwise stated

Our Kitchen

I have been meaning to give you a little tour around our house to give you an idea of where we spend our days.

Let's start in the kitchen...This is the first room you see when you come up the stairs and it didn't used to exist, it was just a cubby hole. But Bertie's brother Richard completely rebuilt it into what you see now. The glass cupboards were put in by his nephew recently. There is no gas supply in Guadeloupe so every household has a gas cannister - ours is hidden away from little fingers behind the cooker.

Here is my worktop - as part of Mamie's fondness of recycling, it is someone's old desk!In this cupboard is our glassware from Bertie's sister - our wedding present that we finally took ownership of last summer! Glass is not very good for us though - I shan't tell you how many items we've broken between us...Our very useful cupboard, the left shelves of which are reserved for Master JoJo when he visits the kitchen. Out come all the plastic bowls and lids to provide him endless entertainment. Thanks to my kind husband, I have these helpful hooks all the kitchen. Highly recommended when you are low on storage space.

Told you the freezer was small! Right now it is full of chicken stock and shredded coconut waiting to transformed into....something or another!

Happy Birthday To...

A very Dear Dad!

We are sorry not to be celebrating with you - and to not even have managed a card due to the unforeseen closure of the Post Office for two weeks!! but we hope that you have a marvellous day and that those who are around spoil you rotten!

lots of love Heather & the Gang xxx

PS This photo summed up Dad showing the time, effort and concentration he put into getting my beloved camera (already a sacrificial gift from him!) back to me safe and sound and in one piece! Thanks again Dad!

Standing Ovation Please

We have been having fun getting Baby JoJo onto his feet, letting go, then watching him flop down. However this time was different - he stood there unaided for a good 6 seconds! Can you see the delight and surprise on his face...! Each time he finds himself standing now he looks somewhat bemused and quickly slides down on to his bottom - secure again! He is also much more secure in water. When the paddling pool was out he held his own with the crazy girls around, and enjoyed crawling in and out at his leisure.

Is this another golfer on our hands.... Can you see him chasing after the yellow golf ball with a straw in his hand, presumably his baby sized club!

His new game is pulling everything he can off shelves - books, clothes, paper - it will all do fine. We follow closely at his heels clearing up the mess. Recently he found that beloved occupation of all babes - pulling the toilet paper off the roll. Uh oh!

Too many night wakings for my liking unfortunately. I usually just feed him in bed and fall asleep doing so, leaving him to do the same. However a couple of nights ago, we woke to him grumbling a bit - but he wasn't in the bed! Where had he gone... Bertie went off in the dark to investigate and found him under the bed of all places! We are still wondering how he got there as he wasn't crying so he presumably hadn't fallen off the bed.

Brr At The Beach

For all you poor folk suffering in the snow, here are a few pictures of our trip to the beach yesterday. The water was very chilly (must have been about 22 degrees) so I had every sympathy with you all...! Bertie didn't even make it beyond his knees into the water, chicken!

We haven't been to Ste Anne for ages so it was lovely to be back again. The petrol stations have begun to reopen and there were queues and queues of cars outside them. The beach didn't seem affected by the strike - this is peak tourist season and it felt like it!

Fun in the water

Baby JoJo loves standing splashing in the water and tries to crawl in it too if you let him! LissaLou made a friend and enjoyed playing a fishing game with her.

Fun on the sand

We are looking forward to Master Sandcastle Builder Jason coming at Easter and Bertie got practising to make sure he is on form for when they get building. The girls, especially CassCass, loved helping out (I had to hold Baby JoJo so he didn't give "help" in his own special way..) and several passers-by admired the fruits of his labour.

Baby JoJo crawls all over the place and is an unstoppable force now. It is very hard to get there before the sand or rock goes into his mouth! He loves picking handfuls of sand up and letting it slip through his fingers. So do I!

CassCass and LissaLou also enjoyed tree climbing (the elderly french ladies in front of the tree were not so enamoured with their efforts though!)

Beautiful sightsFor all its annoying striking, Guadeloupe is indeed a beautiful place. And in reality it is even bluer and greener! Doesn't that get you excited about coming, Mum and Evs!

My favouritesCan you tell that I love coconut trees...

My two handsome men

Peeking At Pika: Ananas

A is for Ananas - Zannanna -Pineapple

There are several pineapple plants around Pika - be careful as you walk past as their prickly leaves can do some damage! At the moment there are none in flower so they look like this:

However here are some photos from last summer when they were bearing fruit. Look how the pineapple grows out from a centre stem, standing up. This particular variety is called bouteille (presumably from its shape) and is grown exclusively on Guadeloupe. It is high in sugar and therefore very tempting to rats!
Did you know...

* Pineapple plants take 18 months to 2 years after being planted to produce a fruit.

*When the fruit has been picked, you cut the head off and replant it. Baby ones will frow up around it and it will rot away.

*These will take another two years to grow a fruit - and so the cycle continues.

* Fresh ones can't be used in gelatin as they produce an enzyme called bromelain, although it breaks down in canning and so tinned pineapple should work fine. The enzyme makes pineapple juice a good tenderiser and marinade

Good to eat...

*Pineapples are high in vitamin C, vitamin B1, manganese (an essential trace nutrient) and a good source of dietary fiber, thiamin, vitamin B6 and copper
*Pineapples are very low in saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium

They don't last very long in our house; once ripe they go off very quickly so we tend to devour them fresh very quickly!

Sources: wikipedia, www.produceoasis.com, www.lesilesdeguadeloupe.com Bertie Mamie
Photos: from Pika unless otherwise stated

Highlights Of The Week

I am pleased to announce that I got up early (ie before the kids!) three times this week! As a result I got to enjoy the peace and quiet on the balcony, watching the sun rise and the coconut and banana trees sway in the wind, sipping my cup of tea and reading my bible. Ah, it doesn't get any better than this!

Today Baby JoJo got up with me and it was great fun watching him watch the cockerel across the road. Every time he crowed Baby JoJo made a noise too and it turned into quite a conversation. Eventually his Papy came and took him over to visit the cock much to his delight!

We were at Pika again this morning, mainly taking photos for my upcoming series and learning about banana trees....

As so many shops were closed, we were delighted to find one open - a cash and carry place where if you buy in bulk it is a lot cheaper. No organic though! It is good to have some food in the house (not to mention toothpaste and toilet roll!) and the nappies are much cheaper there. In addition, we discovered two of Bertie's pupils mums work there and they got us a discount - cool!

Last night was a crepes, pizza and bokit party at Tatie Nadia's to celebrate our nephew Steeven reaching the grand old age of 15. Delicious! But the girls and Baby JoJo were so tired we went home early and two minutes into the car they were all fast asleep! Ahh.

LissaLou spent Thursday with her copine Jade to keep her company during the strike. They so enjoyed themselves that she ended up having a siesta with her (her favourite part of the day apparently!) as well as lots of playing. Jade's mum said that it was amusing listening to them talk "school" with various references to things and people that she had no idea about! We took advantage of the quiet to play with CassCass - dominoes is her favourite right now or sitting on her bed and pretending we are off on a car ride.

Otherwise there has been lots of playing for the girls, most of it in french which is very sweet to listen to. Whilst they have many disagreements and fights over things (we are working on being kind to one another and sharing, but it hasn't quite sunk in yet!) when they play peacefully it is a pleasure to behold!

The carnival continues to practice and parade around town - our poor little nephew Meddy had a bad experience with it a few weeks back and is now terrified of being here in the evening. I can understand him - the masks are scary! Whilst CassCass doesn't like them, LissaLou does, and is both delighted to see them pass the house and proud of her fearlessness!

Bertie has got quite a taste for disaster movies, and I am very sorry to see London under water right now in Flood. However I notice that Islington seems to be spared so far - Bertie has recommended going on to Parliament Hill to keep safe!