Natural Energy Drink
Monday, December 31, 2007
Coconut water or as we call it here in Bocas del Toro
Panama - Agua de pipa is the liquid inside young
coconuts. As the green coconut matures into the brown
coconut one eats, this liquid is partially absorbed
into the flesh.
Agua de pipa has long been a popular drink here in Panama. Coconut water is naturally fat-free and low calorie (46 calories per 8 ounces).
You can buy agua de pipa that has been freshly packaged in many places here in Panama. Outside of the tropical environs you can buy coconut water in cans or tetra paks. Coconut water is often marketed as a sports drink because of its high potassium and mineral content.
In Bocas del Toro Panama you can get coconut water in the most sustainable packaging there is – the coconut. Once you let us know you are interested we will have one of our employees get you a fresh coconut and you can watch how the indigenous people prepare a coconut for drinking and eating.
In emergency situations coconut water has been used as a liquid in intravenous therapy due to its sterility, pH, mineral, and sugar content.
Doctors here in Panama often recommend it for dehydration therapy as it is a natural form of electrolyte replacement.
Agua de pipa has long been a popular drink here in Panama. Coconut water is naturally fat-free and low calorie (46 calories per 8 ounces).
You can buy agua de pipa that has been freshly packaged in many places here in Panama. Outside of the tropical environs you can buy coconut water in cans or tetra paks. Coconut water is often marketed as a sports drink because of its high potassium and mineral content.
In Bocas del Toro Panama you can get coconut water in the most sustainable packaging there is – the coconut. Once you let us know you are interested we will have one of our employees get you a fresh coconut and you can watch how the indigenous people prepare a coconut for drinking and eating.
In emergency situations coconut water has been used as a liquid in intravenous therapy due to its sterility, pH, mineral, and sugar content.
Doctors here in Panama often recommend it for dehydration therapy as it is a natural form of electrolyte replacement.
Pineapple Country
Friday, December 21, 2007
Bocas de Toro Panama is pineapple country. There are
over 35 different varieties of pineapple. Listed below
are some of the more popular types from around the
world.
Smooth Cayenne
5 – 6 pounds, pale yellow to yellow flesh. Cylindrical in shape. High sugar and acid content. Well adapted to canning and processing. Its leaves do not have spines. This is the variety most often grown in Hawaii and is the most easily obtainable in the United States.
Hilo
Compact 2 – 3 pound plant. This is a small variation on the Smooth Cayenne. Grown mostly in Hawaii.
Red Spanish
2 – 4 pound plants. Pale yellow flesh with a pleasant aroma. It is semi square in shape. It is well adapted to shipping to distant markets.
Natal Queen
2 – 3 pound plant with a golden yellow flesh, crisp texture and a delicately mild flavor. It is best for fresh consumption and keeps well after ripening.
Kona Sugarloaf
5 – 6 pound plants with a white flesh and no woodiness in the center. It has a cylindrical shape. This plant has a high sugar content with little acid. This is an incredibly delicious fruit.
St. Michael
This is another strain of the Smooth Cayenne. It is generally grown in the Azores. It can be very sweet.
MD2
This is a variation on the Smooth Cayenne which is grown here in Panama.
Smooth Cayenne
5 – 6 pounds, pale yellow to yellow flesh. Cylindrical in shape. High sugar and acid content. Well adapted to canning and processing. Its leaves do not have spines. This is the variety most often grown in Hawaii and is the most easily obtainable in the United States.
Hilo
Compact 2 – 3 pound plant. This is a small variation on the Smooth Cayenne. Grown mostly in Hawaii.
Red Spanish
2 – 4 pound plants. Pale yellow flesh with a pleasant aroma. It is semi square in shape. It is well adapted to shipping to distant markets.
Natal Queen
2 – 3 pound plant with a golden yellow flesh, crisp texture and a delicately mild flavor. It is best for fresh consumption and keeps well after ripening.
Kona Sugarloaf
5 – 6 pound plants with a white flesh and no woodiness in the center. It has a cylindrical shape. This plant has a high sugar content with little acid. This is an incredibly delicious fruit.
St. Michael
This is another strain of the Smooth Cayenne. It is generally grown in the Azores. It can be very sweet.
MD2
This is a variation on the Smooth Cayenne which is grown here in Panama.
Banana republic
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Bocas del Toro Panama is in the middle of the Banana
Republic. For many years the area was supported
strictly by its banana production. So, here are a few
facts about bananas that you may now know:
Banana plants are not trees. They are a giant herb of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms. The rhizome is planted and gives a first growth three or four weeks later. After nine or ten months the cluster of flowers from the circle of leaflike cusps can have a diameter of up to seven meters which is the beginning of the fruiting process. Three days later a bud hangs from the plant. On the fifth day following the initiation of the fruiting process, the bud turns red and starts opening. Seven days following the initiation of the fruiting process the leaves which covered the cluster of flowers begin falling down. And then finally two days later you can see the first banana hands. The best way for the bananas to ripen is for them to be cut at about this time and the stem is hung upside down.
Each banana stem has ten to 14 hands. Each hand holds about 18 to 20 bananas. Bananas prepared for export are cut green. There are twenty days from the time they are cut green to the time they will be ripe. In this time period they must be processed and shipped.
We are fortunate here in Bocas del Toro because our bananas are left to ripen at least partially on the plant which allows them to develop a much richer flavor.
Banana plants are not trees. They are a giant herb of the same family as lilies, orchids and palms. The rhizome is planted and gives a first growth three or four weeks later. After nine or ten months the cluster of flowers from the circle of leaflike cusps can have a diameter of up to seven meters which is the beginning of the fruiting process. Three days later a bud hangs from the plant. On the fifth day following the initiation of the fruiting process, the bud turns red and starts opening. Seven days following the initiation of the fruiting process the leaves which covered the cluster of flowers begin falling down. And then finally two days later you can see the first banana hands. The best way for the bananas to ripen is for them to be cut at about this time and the stem is hung upside down.
Each banana stem has ten to 14 hands. Each hand holds about 18 to 20 bananas. Bananas prepared for export are cut green. There are twenty days from the time they are cut green to the time they will be ripe. In this time period they must be processed and shipped.
We are fortunate here in Bocas del Toro because our bananas are left to ripen at least partially on the plant which allows them to develop a much richer flavor.
Bocas del Toro Food
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Breakfast in Paradise. We serve breakfast each day
beginning around 8:00 am until around 10:00 am. We will
start breakfast early for any guests leaving on
excursions early in the morning or for an early flight
departing from Bocas del Toro.
Yummy French toast
Delicious breakfast tacos
Tasty banana pancakes
Fresh baked muffins or cinnamon rolls
Savory vegetable quiche
These are just some of the items we serve for breakfast here at Tranquilo Bay. We offer one breakfast entrée and one breakfast meat each day. We serve Panamanian coffee, a variety of fruit juices, tea and a selection of fresh fruits. You can always get eggs any style with toast or a various flavors of yogurt, cereal, or oatmeal.
Lunch – Home or Away. We prepare lunch for our guests departing on excursions each day and pack it into an igloo for whenever they are ready to eat. Generally our picnic lunches include a sandwich, fresh fruit, freshly baked cookies and a variety of beverages. We also will pack salads and other items as requested by our guests. Lunch on site frequently includes a salad with grilled chicken or a typico lunch with chicken guisada, rice, patacones and a small salad. We always have freshly baked cookies available. All baked items are made fresh daily in our kitchen.
Yummy French toast
Delicious breakfast tacos
Tasty banana pancakes
Fresh baked muffins or cinnamon rolls
Savory vegetable quiche
These are just some of the items we serve for breakfast here at Tranquilo Bay. We offer one breakfast entrée and one breakfast meat each day. We serve Panamanian coffee, a variety of fruit juices, tea and a selection of fresh fruits. You can always get eggs any style with toast or a various flavors of yogurt, cereal, or oatmeal.
Lunch – Home or Away. We prepare lunch for our guests departing on excursions each day and pack it into an igloo for whenever they are ready to eat. Generally our picnic lunches include a sandwich, fresh fruit, freshly baked cookies and a variety of beverages. We also will pack salads and other items as requested by our guests. Lunch on site frequently includes a salad with grilled chicken or a typico lunch with chicken guisada, rice, patacones and a small salad. We always have freshly baked cookies available. All baked items are made fresh daily in our kitchen.
Fish on
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
One of the interesting things about being on an island
is you never know when one of your neighbors is going
to show up on your doorstep with something you might
like to have.
Yesterday, our neighbor showed up with quite a large load of really nice snapper. We were pleased that he had been able to catch such a nice group of fish and purchased all that he offered. It was quite a bit of fish and took my husband and one of our kitchen assistant about 4 hours to clean the fish. Then we made fish stock and prepared the fish for the freezer. All of the cleaning took place in the afternoon and ran right into the dinner service. Fortunately we were able to get it all done and feed our guests dinner.
So it was with mixed feelings of appreciation and trepidation that I went to the door this morning when I was informed my neighbor was once again downstairs. This morning he brought an even larger load of fish.
We are one of the few Bocas del Toro hotels which are fortunate enough to have great neighbors who still go fishing. Our guests enjoy fresh caught snapper.
Yesterday, our neighbor showed up with quite a large load of really nice snapper. We were pleased that he had been able to catch such a nice group of fish and purchased all that he offered. It was quite a bit of fish and took my husband and one of our kitchen assistant about 4 hours to clean the fish. Then we made fish stock and prepared the fish for the freezer. All of the cleaning took place in the afternoon and ran right into the dinner service. Fortunately we were able to get it all done and feed our guests dinner.
So it was with mixed feelings of appreciation and trepidation that I went to the door this morning when I was informed my neighbor was once again downstairs. This morning he brought an even larger load of fish.
We are one of the few Bocas del Toro hotels which are fortunate enough to have great neighbors who still go fishing. Our guests enjoy fresh caught snapper.
Little known banana facts
Sunday, October 07, 2007
Did you know that the banana might be the world’s first
fruit? Did you know that Malaysia was the first know
banana jungle? Recent archeological evidence in Papua
New Guinea suggests that bananas were grown as far back
as 5000 BC and quite possibly as long ago as 8000 BC.
Did you know that nutritionally the banana is incredibly nourishing and can be eaten at any hour of the day due to its digestive properties? Each banana is full of proteins and the sugar provided within gives a lot of energy for those in need of endurance. Bananas also contain magnesium, selenium, iron, many different vitamins, and are recommended for low salt diets as they are low in sodium.
The banana is America’s number one fruit. Each American consumes an average of 28 pounds of banana a year. The market for bananas is nearly $5 billion per year.
There are nearly 400 varieties of banana plants. Ripe banana plants are sugary and are eaten raw. Plantains are unripe fruits which must be cooked before consumption. Plantains are more like a potato than a ripe banana.
Harvest for bananas begins when the plant is green. A banana that has had the opportunity to ripen on the vine has a much sweeter taste than one which has been harvested green.
Did you know that nutritionally the banana is incredibly nourishing and can be eaten at any hour of the day due to its digestive properties? Each banana is full of proteins and the sugar provided within gives a lot of energy for those in need of endurance. Bananas also contain magnesium, selenium, iron, many different vitamins, and are recommended for low salt diets as they are low in sodium.
The banana is America’s number one fruit. Each American consumes an average of 28 pounds of banana a year. The market for bananas is nearly $5 billion per year.
There are nearly 400 varieties of banana plants. Ripe banana plants are sugary and are eaten raw. Plantains are unripe fruits which must be cooked before consumption. Plantains are more like a potato than a ripe banana.
Harvest for bananas begins when the plant is green. A banana that has had the opportunity to ripen on the vine has a much sweeter taste than one which has been harvested green.
Yummy!
Friday, October 05, 2007
Coconut palms are abundant here in Bocas del Toro
Panama. We have so many coconut trees growing here that
young children learn at a very early age not to walk or
loiter underneath a coconut tree. When asked why you
don’t go under a coconut tree, my son at age two could
tell you “Because coconuts bump you on the head.”
You can take the fruit of the coconut palm, which isn’t a nut at all, and use it for many different purposes. Only one of the usual uses of the coconut is for food. Whenever we have children visiting us, they like to go find a coconut or ask one of our employees to get them one. They love to watch our employees use a machete to get the fruit off the tree and then to open the big husk to get to the inner edible portion. Fresh coconut is not sweet like a pineapple, but does take well to sweet dishes. It is also used for many savory purposes.
One such dish is coconut rice. It is a staple here in Latin America. My younger brother who spent his first years in Louisiana wanted to know where the sauce for the rice was – I told him to taste the rice. Once he tasted it, he had a new appreciation for its flavor and agreed that it was delicious on its own.
We have so many different uses for coconut in our menu that we could almost serve it at every meal.
You can take the fruit of the coconut palm, which isn’t a nut at all, and use it for many different purposes. Only one of the usual uses of the coconut is for food. Whenever we have children visiting us, they like to go find a coconut or ask one of our employees to get them one. They love to watch our employees use a machete to get the fruit off the tree and then to open the big husk to get to the inner edible portion. Fresh coconut is not sweet like a pineapple, but does take well to sweet dishes. It is also used for many savory purposes.
One such dish is coconut rice. It is a staple here in Latin America. My younger brother who spent his first years in Louisiana wanted to know where the sauce for the rice was – I told him to taste the rice. Once he tasted it, he had a new appreciation for its flavor and agreed that it was delicious on its own.
We have so many different uses for coconut in our menu that we could almost serve it at every meal.
Pineapple
Friday, September 21, 2007
Here in Bocas del Toro Panama we have an abundance of
pineapples.
The pineapple is a member of the bromeliad family. It is a short herbaceous perennial with 30 or more trough-shaped and pointed leaves surrounding a thick stem. Its leaves may be all green or striped with red, yellow or off white down the middle of the leaf.
When the fruit blooms, the stem elongates and gets bigger and then blossoms a head of small brightly colored flowers. Each flower is accompanied by a single bract. The stem continues to grow and acquires a “crown” of short stiff leaves at is apex. As individual fruits develop from the flowers, they join together to form a cone shaped, juicy fleshy fruit up to 12 inches or more in height. The stem serves as a fibrous but fairly succulent core. The tough rind made up of hexagonal units may be various shades of green, yellow or reddish when the fruit is ripe. The fruit itself ranges from white to yellow.
The fruit was named pineapple due to is similarity in appearance to pine cones. In Spanish it is referred to as “pina”.
This tropical fruit and plant is native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Apparently the plant was domesticated by indigenous people and carried up from South America into Central America. Christopher Columbus and his crew saw the pineapple for the first time on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493 and then a second time in Panama in 1502.
The pineapple is a member of the bromeliad family. It is a short herbaceous perennial with 30 or more trough-shaped and pointed leaves surrounding a thick stem. Its leaves may be all green or striped with red, yellow or off white down the middle of the leaf.
When the fruit blooms, the stem elongates and gets bigger and then blossoms a head of small brightly colored flowers. Each flower is accompanied by a single bract. The stem continues to grow and acquires a “crown” of short stiff leaves at is apex. As individual fruits develop from the flowers, they join together to form a cone shaped, juicy fleshy fruit up to 12 inches or more in height. The stem serves as a fibrous but fairly succulent core. The tough rind made up of hexagonal units may be various shades of green, yellow or reddish when the fruit is ripe. The fruit itself ranges from white to yellow.
The fruit was named pineapple due to is similarity in appearance to pine cones. In Spanish it is referred to as “pina”.
This tropical fruit and plant is native to Brazil, Bolivia, and Paraguay. Apparently the plant was domesticated by indigenous people and carried up from South America into Central America. Christopher Columbus and his crew saw the pineapple for the first time on the island of Guadeloupe in 1493 and then a second time in Panama in 1502.
Dirty secret v. Nice Surprise
Saturday, September 08, 2007
What is more important about the place you choose for
your vacation? Its dirty little secret or any nice
surprise you might find? I think it depends upon what
the dirty little secret is and what the surprise might
be.
For instance, is the secret that the airport bathrooms leave a bit to be desired? Because really, how much time do you spend in the regional airport when you arrive and before you return home? The bathrooms at the airport in Bocas del Toro do leave something to be desired. However, how different is that from many of the small airports in Latin America?
What if the surprise is that the food is way better than you ever expected it to be? When you go to a small Caribbean town you generally do not expect to find good food. Here we are fortunate in that we do have good food – really good food.
What if the dirty secret is that Bocas is experiencing a major drought? And then what if nice surprise was that your lodge didn’t get its water supply from the municipal water supply? Unfortunately Bocas is having problem with its water right now. The government is doing what it can to correct the problem in the short term as also determine a plan for a long-term correction. However, most of the lodges on the outer islands are self-sufficient so for anyone selecting any of the small personal accommodations on those islands the water supply isn’t a problem.
For instance, is the secret that the airport bathrooms leave a bit to be desired? Because really, how much time do you spend in the regional airport when you arrive and before you return home? The bathrooms at the airport in Bocas del Toro do leave something to be desired. However, how different is that from many of the small airports in Latin America?
What if the surprise is that the food is way better than you ever expected it to be? When you go to a small Caribbean town you generally do not expect to find good food. Here we are fortunate in that we do have good food – really good food.
What if the dirty secret is that Bocas is experiencing a major drought? And then what if nice surprise was that your lodge didn’t get its water supply from the municipal water supply? Unfortunately Bocas is having problem with its water right now. The government is doing what it can to correct the problem in the short term as also determine a plan for a long-term correction. However, most of the lodges on the outer islands are self-sufficient so for anyone selecting any of the small personal accommodations on those islands the water supply isn’t a problem.
