Jacinta's tea: the harvesting and drying part

     A previous post introduced Jacinta, a critical part of my False Bluff family, and of the "nuevo negocio," or new business, that I have encouraged her to begin building with False Bluff as its base. 
     As critical as her part in this new endeavor is, so too is the part played by other members of her family, especially that of her husband Jose who is shown below with their daughter.

     And the other two who are critical to this part of bringing Jacinta's tea to the public.

     Jose and his son and a brother are processing a day's worth of flowers that they've just collected. Somewhere in the world there's a machine that does all of this work, but right now things are pretty labor intensive.

     After harvesting the flowers they are separated from the seed pods, one at a time. 

     You can see in the picture below how stiff the calyx is. As the drying progresses, the last remnant of green (such as the occasional leaf and what looks like a little crown partially surrounding the calyx below in Jose's hand) falls off. One of the additional chores involved in the process of bringing the raw ingredients of Jacinta's tea from bush to brew is picking out leaves and other greenery from the important, tea-making, red parts of the flowers that are drying.

     And the next crop, in the form of seeds, is carefully put aside.

     Then the flowers are put to dry in the very hot, very bright, Caribbean sun - a process that takes about five days. 

Day one of five

Day two of five

    

Jacinta's tea: the growing part

     Although it seemed to me that the crop of hibiscus sabdariffa that was planted at False Bluff for 2015 was plenty, as I wrote in the previous post the 2015 crop is being harvested primarily for the seeds...and the next planting will be much, much larger. 
     Nonetheless, there has been some dried hibiscus flower tea packaged and sold - the "waste not, want not" result, of course, of harvesting the seeds. Currently in Bluefields the tea is used mostly during the Christmas season when the tea, usually served hot and infused with fresh ginger root, is an important part of local holiday tradition. But the stuff's so good, either hot or cold, that when it's available during non-Christmas times, it's snapped up pretty quick.
     The picture below shows part of the 2015 crop awaiting harvest. Turns out the right-of-way that the electric company cut is perfect for this stuff which is grown anew from seed after each harvest and never gets tall enough to threaten the wires that run overhead.

     An earlier post showed a hibiscus sabdariffa plant at False Bluff not yet in bloom - none of them was in bloom at the time I took that picture. So I pulled a picture off the internet for that post to show what the stuff looked like at harvest time.  Actually what gets harvested are the calyces, or sepals, of the flowers: they wrap around the seed pod and are tough and leathery feeling.

     The part that's harvested, the part that makes the delicious drink, the calyx or sepal, is what the flower - which is small and totally insignificant - becomes. (Yes, that small white thing in the center of the picture below is the actual flower of the hibiscus sabdariffa... ho hum.)

Jacinta's tea: the retail part

     The label on a bag of hibiscus tea that I brought back from Managua a year ago has lots of information, first and foremost the title "Jamaica Tea." The tea's well known in Buefields as "Jamaica Tea" though the plant that produces the flowers that make the tea is certainly not grown only in Jamaica. In fact the tea's enjoyed all over the world and although it goes by many names, most people in this part of the world know it as "Jamaica Tea."  I have no idea how this great drink got stuck with that name.
     Whatever!
     Hibiscus sabdariffa - the hibiscus variety that provides the calyx that makes the tea - grows like a weed at False Bluff and I've encouraged one of my staff to take full advantage of that fact and go into business.  And so the mom in my False Bluff family, Jacinta, with my full support, has begun growing, drying, packaging, and selling hibiscus sabdariffa.

     It's actually turned into a family endeavor, with dad Jose, and Jose and Jacinta's son, and a brother of Jose's doing the harvesting and drying (see a post to follow). 
     Jacinta, however, is in charge of the retail part of the process. 
     My friend Silvia Fox found two sizes of clear sealable bags for us in Managua and so far Jacinta has sold her tea to friends and family about as fast she's bagged it...certainly before the label goes on (I bought an unlabeled half-pound bag to give as a gift to a friend in Bluefields). I haven't even seen the label but I know it will say that what's in the bag was organically grown and sun-dried at False Bluff; and I know what it won't say - that the stuff inside the bag is Jamaica Tea. 
     I thought the number of plants at False Bluff was huge, but I've been told the 2015 crop, while providing some tea to dry and sell, was primarily to provide seeds for the next crop!


     

At the end of the day.....

     or at the beginning of the day or any time in between!

A dog and his grass

     Lemongrass isn't really a grass.  It's an herb, both culinary and medicinal. We use it for landscaping and for really good hot tea.
     Domesticated dogs are known to eat grass for all sorts of reasons. Dogs in the wild eat fruits and berries.  Our dog at False Bluff gnaws on lemongrass for some reason including maybe that he just likes the taste. I don't think he swallows it.  Lemongrass is really fibrous and it's difficult to eat.  I've tried.

Fresh ginger

     .....and I mean really fresh ginger. Not what just got delivered to Walmart this morning, but what came out of the ground five minutes ago. 
     Ginger is another thing that thrives and grows well at False Bluff and we take full advantage of that.  These two bunches were just dug. Some will be used here, some will go to Bluefields.

Eddie Bauer

      ...and a gaggle of girls.  Actually, not disorderly or loud at all, but having a lot of fun.  We pitched a tent just north of the house and in full sight of the grownups, one of whom I think ended up in the tent.
     These kids are the daughters and nieces of some recent visitors to False Bluff.

     Some of these youngsters were in the previous post welcoming a new day. 

Long shadows

     Early morning at False Bluff....the calm Caribbean draws some young visitors to welcome a new day.

A picnic

   Recently my ten-month old grandson visited Bluefields and False Bluff. For a while he and his parents stayed at Hotel Caribbean Dream which is on the main street of Bluefields in sight of all sorts of goings on. The hotel's been our way-station off and on for a decade.

     There's a restaurant in the hotel but this kid liked picnics on the upstairs porch.

Diplomacy: a Richmonder and a big red truck

     A city of Richmond (Virginia) firefighter recently visited us in Bluefields and at False Bluff - and while in Bluefields he introduced himself to some of that city's firefighters. 
     People can share common ground most anywhere in the world.  And when you share a working knowledge and understanding of big, complicated, bright red trucks that are designed to help save lives and property, the common ground can be pretty easy to locate. 
     The sort of interaction that results is surely the most effective kind of diplomacy there is. 
     Here the Richmonder checks out a fire and rescue unit that was donated by Russia to Bluefields, the small port city on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua just a few miles by water from False Bluff.
     

     On arrival, the big red truck didn't fit into the Bluefields' firehouse as the building was...so some alteration was made to the building front, as you can see below, that enabled the truck to be moved inside.      

     Firefighters from different countries and different cultures joined in common appreciation of a job and its equipment.

     Can you claim "busman's holiday" if there aren't any buses involved? (That's a purely rhetorical question. I know the answer already.)

"...and who knows what the tide will bring in."

     We're on a long stretch of uninterrupted beach at my place...thirty miles, almost totally empty of people.
     And though I am saddened by the trash, mostly plastic, that washes ashore creating a nasty, unsightly, and heavy workload for us - every now and then comes a treasure on the tide, like the dolphin I found years ago (see March 13, 2012 post). 
     We get pieces of coral, odd seeds, lots of pumice, interesting driftwood, hand-carved primitive wooden oars.
     But the dolphin mentioned above has easily been my favorite for years. This hand-sized, hand-carved bird is a close second.

     Thanks to Jose who found this treasure and made it a gift to me. 

     The title quote is from the movie "Castaway" which is how we feel sometimes, even though we're only eight miles by water from a lovely Italian restaurant with linen tableclothes and waiters in tux shirts.

Beach babies

    The number of visitors to False Bluff constantly increases as do the number of people buying property, so far all of them buying to the north of us. The new owners are mostly European and aren't babies - but more about that later.
     The little girl is part of the family that keeps False Bluff going when I'm not there.  The little boy is my grandson.  
     And playing in the sand is everybody's favorite pastime.

FY, FB

     (Front yard, False Bluff)

(pictures from a phone and then cropped -

 but you get the idea -

a great place for kids!)

AI? Do I believe this?

       Yes...because I was there when it happened.
     You can buy lots of brand new stuff on the sidewalks in Bluefields: belts and belt buckles, cell phone covers, bowls of fresh cut fruit, mosquito nets, and bright white socks.
     But not all of what's for sale is new, like these barbie dolls.



     Or this little toy that talks when the mirror is pressed. It seemed ideal for the youngest of us with its bright colors and a cord to help prevent its loss.        
     When first purchased it seemed to speak Spanish, although it might have been a different language...it certainly didn't speak English.
     But the toy had a bit of sidewalk dirt and so it got washed.  After that it didn't say anything at all for awhile.  But when it finally dried out it spoke English.  

     Go figure.

A third generation at False Bluff

Posting in absentia (or before absentia)

     When I'm at False Bluff I'm off grid.  
     And when I write "I'm off grid" I'm using those words in the most literal sense - because there's no grid to be on.
     Not having a grid is a temporary situation.  As of a year ago we actually have electric lines running across the property (see previous posts here) and although I've made arrangements to purchase a transformer from ENEL (yeah, you read that right: purchase), I don't have the transformer yet and when I do have it I don't know how much time will pass before the transformer will be installed and after the transformer's been installed I don't know how long before ENEL will install the meter base and after the meter base is installed I don't know how long before the house is even minimally wired (because the wiring just ain't gonna happen unless I'm on site) and once the house is wired I don't know how long it'll be before we get a booster in place so that we have internet service.
     Being the first to 'develop' heretofore 'undeveloped' land, property previously almost inaccessible, has its advantages: privacy, beauty, quiet, clear skies, sand with no footprints.....

     But there are a few obvious disadvantages as well.

      I first posted to this blog on July 16, 2011, and have worked to get a post up about once a week since then.  So prior to making a trip to False Bluff, since I know I'm going to be "off grid" for the duration, I write enough posts to cover my absence and then schedule them to be automatically uploaded at specific times, a service Google offers.
     This blog is a Google blog and Google makes this easy and Google is reliable about posting what I schedule: Google's handled three months' worth of uploads without breaking a sweat.

     Facebook offers the same write-and-schedule-a-post sort of thing that Google offers.  The huge difference is that Google delivers - and Facebook doesn't.  
     Two trips to False Bluff and Facebook blew it both times.  
     I prep for a time off grid the same way with both Google and Facebook: write a post and put it in the queue.
    But Facebook just can't seem to get the job done. Once, Facebook uploaded about four of the sceduled posts and the rest just died in queue. Another time Facebook uploaded a few, intact, but only bits and pieces of the others.
     Next trip I'll just post on Facebook before I go: I'M OFF GRID. MORE LATER.  
     On this Google blog it'll be business as usual.

Hibiscus sabdariffa, the drink

     Now I can drink hibiscus tea in Virginia. It's pricey in local Richmond stores, but I brought a pound back from Managua and that should keep me going until my next trip to False Bluff - where we now grow it.
     There are a lot of recipes and a lot of different ways of making the drink. I take the easiest and quickest route which is simply to boil the flowers about three minutes and then let them steep...fifteen minutes or so.  I often add ginger to either the hot drink or the cold; and sweeten to taste. 

     The drink looks like a good red wine or port. But reading articles, even serious ones, indicate hibiscus tea's good for lots of things. For instance, various studies show hibiscus sabdariffa is very high in antioxidants, that it has slight antibacterial effects and potential as a chemopreventative agent against tumor promotion. 
     In a study presented to the American Heart Association in 2008, researchers found that drinking three cups of hibiscus tea a day lowered blood pressure by as much as 13.2 percent in pre- and mildly hypertensive adults. Researchers have a few possible explanations for this. Hibiscus is a natural diuretic, it opens the arteries, and it may act as a natural angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor, meaning that it slows the release of hormones that constrict blood vessels. 
     Hibiscus tea is not just another pretty face.

Hibiscus sabdariffa

     During my very first trip to Nicaragua I had a beautiful and tasty drink called 'hibiscus tea.' The color of red wine, the 'tea' is good hot or cold, but I couldn't find it again - until recently. Though neither the plant nor the flower look like the hibiscus plants and flowers I'm used to, the hibiscus sabdariffa is, indeed, in the hibiscus family.
     The plant is considered an annual in the area where False Bluff is, which is unusual for things that grow down here...like, I've got a hot pepper plant that's two years old that still bears like crazy and has a trunk like a small tree. 
     But the sabdariffa grows really fast and the flower blossoms are ready to harvest in a matter of months. Then it reseeds like crazy, starting the cycle all over again. In fact the plant produces harvestable flowers so fast going to try it in my Virginia garden next season.
     The tea made from an infusion of the plant's dried flowers is spectacular. The plant and its blooms are pretty boring.

This is an internet photo of the flowers because none of the plants at False Bluff were blooming when I was taking pictures.

movistar's pretty effective advertising

     There are a lot of neighborhoods in Bluefields, each with a different name:  Old Bank, Central, Beholden, Santa Rosa, Tres Cruces, Loma Fresca, Pancasan, and the list goes on.
     'movistar' recently put signs up at several 'boundary' spots for each, naming the neighborhood while advertising itself. The signs are nice. 
     And for the uninitiated, knowing what neighborhood you're in is always good.

P.S.  For those who might not already know, 'neighborhood' in Spanish is 'barrio.'

Claro and movistar

     ...are cell phone providers.  These two companies provide cell phone and other services all over Central (and South) America.  They are the two providers in Bluefields and like cell phone providers everywhere, there are Claro and movistar outlets all over town. 
     Most every phone customer prepays...and something these two companies do that I've certainly not seen in Virginia are special offers that get you extra minutes. For instance, in the photos below note that Claro's offering "6X" the number of minutes you pay for and movistar's offer is for "X5."  
     These deals are usually one day only and they work like this: if you are willing to buy, for instance, the equivalent of $20.00 USD (U.S. dollars) worth of minutes at Claro on the day the "6X" is offered, you get the number of minutes that six times $20.00 would buy you on a day the deal's not not the table.
     The "X" figure changes up or down as does the amount of money you have to spend to be able to take advantage of the offer - but what the hell - deal days are always good.