Hi Everyone, I owe Barbados, for my love of the golden apple.
In Guyana, I had seen and eaten a couple of golden apples, but I never got the lure of this fruit with its prickly seed. I didn’t get what the fuss was all about, gimme a mango instead. Fast forward about five years after being in Barbados and being given a large bag of green golden apples by George, one of my colleagues. George encouraged me to make some golden apple juice. I heard another of my colleague’s remark, “I like golden apple juice but it’s a lot of work.” Later, I was to truly understand that statement.
I peeled about three dozen golden apples using a paring knife and then sliced them into small pieces to put into the blender to make the juice. By the time I had finished peeling and slicing, my right hand was hurting and added to that, the next day I saw the blisters on my index finger where the knife rested. It was the kind of blister where the skin puffs up with liquid. The peeling was not that bad, it was the slicing, here’s why. A golden apple has a seed and emanating from that seed are fibrous strands that one has to cut through when slicing and the closer you get to the core, the more difficult it becomes to cut the fruit. It is not as easy as say, slicing a mango so don’t ever think of having perfect slices when it comes to golden apples. But I have to tell you, the juice was worth it, blisters and all, I had never had golden apple juice before and it tasted soooo good. I was hooked. It was fruity, aromatic, refreshing and packed with good vitamins.
I shared the juice among my colleagues, since that was the deal, but I was wise enough not to volunteer to make golden apple juice for everyone again. Let someone else take on the job. Now that is not to say that I foreswore making golden apple juice ever again. No way! The next time I planned to use different methods and they worked. Instead of the paring knife, I used a vegetable peeler, and instead of slicing and then chipping the flesh by hand without a cutting board, I decided to stabilize the golden apple with one hand on my cutting board. With my chef’s knife in the other hand I just cut any which way – slices, chunks, slivers – and I let the blender do the rest of the work.
Here’s another way I owe Barbados for this golden apple love. One fine morning, I went for a swim at the beach. Early, I’m talking about 6 to 6.30 a.m.; around this time, one sees a lot of retirees and other folks getting in their daily exercise. Well, on this particular morning, as I made my way up from the beach, there was a woman (whom I recognized from seeing often at the beach) holding a plastic bag of ripe golden apples in a liquid that looked just like plain water. She smiled in greeting and offered me a golden apple from the bag. Dripping with its watery solution, I bit into it. Oh-my-goodness! My eyes opened wide in amazement and my taste buds were immediately shocked into pleasure. The flesh was soft, sweet and juicy, the salty liquid in which the golden apple marinated had permeated the flesh which resulted in two things happening simultaneously – contrasting with the natural sweetness of the fruit and at the same time, heightening the flavour of the fruit. The woman saw my reaction and smiled knowingly. Without my saying a word she explained that the liquid was the sea water. She brought the peeled golden apples from home and then filled the bag with sea water. Gosh, just writing about this has me salivating. I had never tasted anything like that before and am forever grateful for the introduction.
At the beginning of this week I sat pondering what to write about and then yesterday at our beginning-of-the-semester staff meeting I saw my colleague George and he asked if I wanted some golden apples as they are in season. Well, I think from this column, it is clear what my answer was. George’s tree is laden with golden apples so much so that many have fallen and carpeted the lawn. As I drove home with my two bags of golden apple in the back seat, enveloped in the perfume of the fruit, thoughts began to whirl around my head as to the other things I can make with my golden apples. Earlier in the week, I had made stewed guavas so I was excited to try stewing the golden apples. They were just as good as the guavas in their own right. Meaty, soft and kissed with the flavours of cinnamon, cloves and all spice, this is a dish that can be eaten on its own or with ice cream. I’ve found that the half-ripe golden apple is the best to be stewed, the ripe ones are too soft and I found the green ones just a little too tart. The half-ripe golden apple brings the best of both – sweet from the ripened version and the tart from the green version. The syrup from the stew can also be drizzled over pancakes, over toast with cheese or it can be used in any other creative ways you can dream of.
I’m off now to experiment by making a golden apple crumble. I’m excited at the prospect but am unsure as to how it will turn out. Join me at www.tasteslikehome.org to see the results.
Cynthia
tasteslikehome@gmail.com
www.tasteslikehome.org
