Welcome to Saturday Snippets where I indulge my whimsy and my passions… maybe a tune or two…something which has caught my eye this last week…just anything out of the ordinary or extraordinary…One of my rare plants arrived 2 days ago a Thai Long Pepper which has some fruits on it and it looks like more are peeking out at the world…I can’t wait to see it grow and produce more peppers and then I can try them…exciting…

In my world this week ..a daughter had her 50th Birthday …Aston’s new bike was delivered all bright and shiny and now the worry begins that he will drive carefully, use his mirrors and wear his crash helmet at all times…we received another crop of goodies from the farm…some lovely big pumpkins, watermelons, bananas, morning glory, herbs, cucumbers, chillies galore, eggplants and mangoes…which meant roasted pumpkin was on the menu for starters …my jackfruit is looking good lots of tiny ones a bumper crop methinks…

 

I am guessing that the tree will be laden with Jackfruits this year so it will be Jackfruit all round…

Today is also National Chicken Noodle Soup Day…

Chicken Noodle Soup is sold and made everywhere here…a very popular Asian dish…Chicken noodle always comes close to the top when a list of top 10 or 20 soups worldwide is derived it also varies my mother made it from a chicken carcass and added vegetables/noodles and I guess if I asked all of my readers they would vary slightly…What is your favourite soup?

Climate Change Corner:

Tiny Urban Forests are springing up on Brownfield sites across the world and in inner cities…

Did you know?

More people speak Mandarin than any other language…

With around 950 million native speakers and an additional 200 million people speaking Mandarin Chinese as a second language, it’s the most popular language in the world.

Let’s have a tune…

Over the years March has been a great month for music…On March 13th 1933, the songwriter Mike Stoller was born in Long Island, New York his resume of great songs written with his buddy Jerry Leiber include Jailhouse Rock, Yakkety Yak, Stand By Me, Houndog and Pearls a Singer far too many to mention but all great songs.

March 1961  we had Ricky Nelson with Travelin Man which charted @ #2 in the UK and #1 in the US… In 1965 The Beatles land their seventh #1 hit in America with “Eight Days A Week.”…1976 #1 Billboard Album: Eagles’ Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975)…at this point I was playing Eagles tracks non-stop…

Fast forward to 2004 and a change of pace…one of my favourite tenors…Luciano Pavarotti makes his 379th and last performance at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, playing the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca. He receives a 12-minute standing ovation…

One of my favourites is Nessum Dorma…

So effortless…wonderful…

The Toddy Fruit

Was a discovery when we dropped in at a fairly local market on our way home from the farm…I spied this fruit a new one for me, had a look and walked past thinking other stalls may have them when I realised only one stall had very few and they were going like hotcakes…literally.

Luckily as you can see I managed to grab some wondering how I was going to get into them as they have every hard shell…and at the time I hadn’t clue what I had just brought.

Toddy Palm or as it is also known Palmyra palm, Doub palm, Tala palm or wine palm.

The fruit or palm sugar is also used to make a variety of sweet desserts.

Thati Manjula has a sweet taste and gelatin texture which is ideal for a number of sweet dishes such as milkshake by blending with nut milk and adding vanilla and other flavours like cinnamon, cardamom or rose-water and can also be enjoyed chilled.

Make payasam by heating nut milk, coconut milk and palm sugar. Add coconut powder and almond flour to thicken the mixture. Finally,  pour into a mould here a folded banana leaf would be used and allow it to cool. Add chopped tropical fruits like pineapple or mango, shredded coconut and or nuts it is now ready to eat.

More interesting facts about the Toddy Palm.

It is a huge palm that can reach 30 metres in height and is native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia.

The fruit which grows in clusters is hard-shelled and needs to be opened by someone who has a sharp machete. This lady looks very adept with her knife unlike me who is quite liable to lose a few fingers.

Traditionally the sap is collected by tapping the top shoots and hanging and collecting the dripping sap in earthenware pots. The juice which is collected in the mornings is refreshing and light with a sweet sugary taste.

This fruit ferments very quickly and juice collected in the evening after fermentation is a  sour fermented beverage.

Toddy sap fermented is called arrack or when concentrated to a crude sugar called Jaggery.

What is Jaggery?

Jaggery is sometimes called non-centrifugal sugar because it is not spun during processing thus removing the nutritious molasses. Jaggery is found all over Asia but called by different names.

Namtam tanode here in Thailand, Gur in India, Panela in Columbia, Gula Melaka in Malaysia.

Is it more nutritious than sugar?

Jaggery contains more nutrients than refined sugar due to its molasses content.

Medical benefits.  

The tree sap is also a laxative and believed to have medicinal properties.

It is purely organic and a natural coolant for the body. It is known to contain Vitamins A, B-complex and C. It is also known to contain essential minerals like zinc, potassium, iron and calcium. It is known to have anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties.

It can be used to treat nausea and vomiting and also worm infestation.

The sap is used as a tonic, laxative, for treating ulcers and liver problems. The pulp of the fruit is known to cure a number of inflammatory conditions of the skin.

Did you know?

Why is the letter w in English called double-u? Should it not be called double v?

The word “swims” upside-down is still “swims”.

Not something which happens here in Thailand but March 14 (tomorrow) is the start of Daylight Saving Time, which begins at 2:00 A.M. that day. If your area observes it, don’t forget to “spring forward” and set the clocks one hour ahead, or you may find yourself an hour late to everything!

That’s all for today thank you for dropping in I hope you enjoyed my whimsy… I would love to hear from you in comments as you know how I love to chat…Love Carol xx