The pawpaw/papaya test. (This photo is from a wonderful site called Happy Earth; click on photo to go there.)

Yesterday, I loaded a dinner-sized plate with fresh fruit at the Barbados Hilton breakfast buffet. A gentleman behind me examined the large bowl of brilliant orange chunks of fruit in the buffet, then poked it with the serving spoon.

He looked at my plate, full of the the same, then over at me. “What’s this?” he asked.

“Sir, that’s pawpaw and it’s deeelish,” I smiled.

He looked at me as though he didn’t understand.

“Papaya, sir. That’s papaya,” I said.

He laughed, said, “I know .. I jus’ wanted to hear how you say it.  Pawpaw. I’m impressed.”

I felt myself blush. To explain my ability to use the correct local term for this sweet fruit, I winked and said, “I married myself a Bajan.”

I added a few slices of fresh lime and headed back to my table.  Yes, I still look distressingly like a tourist. But … it’s … happening:  I’m becoming Bajan!

I leaped out of the car and snapped a few photos.

Look at this; who wouldn’t want to dine in this setting?

Dine al fresco!

However, don’t expect five-star service or fresh, light Caribbean fare … or even silverware … because this is the setting of the largest Kentucky Fried Chicken fast-food store in Barbados.

Does any fast food joint anywhere enjoy a more idyllic setting??

Barbados' boardwalk along the KFC.

I don’t know about the chow, but that view is finger-lickin’ good.

Yes, please, I'd love a discount.

The whole world’s on sale these days.  Of course, some offers are worth more than others.  A “meal deal” at a burger barn?  Even if it’s free, no thanks.  But this offer is one I can pull my chair up to.  And it is free!

It’s the Barbados Gourmet Card.  The card entitles diners in Barbados a big 25% discount off meals at fabulous restaurants all over the island through December 15.  Greg and I just received ours in the mail today and already it’s burning a hole in my tummy … I mean pocket ….

The card is backed by Michael Winner, who describes himself as “food critic, film director, and general nuisance.”  Mr. Winner calls Barbados a “culinary paradise.”  He should know; he’s been visiting and eating on the island for 27 years.

Hmmm, where might we dine tonight …  with the card I can choose Caribbean, Indian, Thai, Polynesian, and Italian cuisines along with famous Bajan specialties.  My mouth waters thinking of the possibilities ….  Calabaza, Elbow Room, Josef’s, Waterfront Cafe, Josef’s, The Grille, Whispers on the Bay, Brown Sugar, Scarlet, and many others.

I’ve seen restaurant discount cards that I’d be embarrassed to use.  This one is discreet; when you call to make reservations, just mention you’ll be using the card and then, at the end of the meal, give it to the waiter along with your payment.  Also, the web site for the card is excellent, with reviews of the restaurants (I wrote a little review of Josef’s, which is next door to us) along with recipes of favorite island dishes.

To learn more, visit the Barbados gourmet card site.  Or e-mail information@barbadosgourmetcard.com, or call 44 20 7636 9448 (in the UK) or 246-427-2623 (in Barbados).

Eat up!

Here are a few of this American’s faves:

1. Rum anything. Rum baba, rum cake, Great Cake, rum bread pudding, rum raisin ice cream .. you get the idea. Rum’s sugar content itself offers a pleasant sugar/alcohol high.  Rum was born in Barbados and is a religion here.

Didn't I tell you? Rum goes with everything in Barbados. Here, rum flows on a catamaran cruise.

2. Guava cheese. Took me awhile to try a food so frankly homely – it looks like sugar-coated jell-o squares. Made from guava and sugar, I fast became a convert to this flavorful treat. Sold at the check-out counter of small grocery stores here, along with sugar cakes – both cottage industries in Barbados.

Guava cheese, a food containing no cheese. Homely but heavenly!

3. Sugar cakes. Coconut and sugar (with a little water to hold it together). What could possibly be yummier?? They come in pink, brown, and white, depending on seasoning, I think .. the label doesn’t say. I adorrrrrrre sugar cakes.

4. Mango bread pudding. Dessert de rigueur at Josef’s Restaurant next door to us. Mild, smooth … this is the equivalent of a fine liqueur to us foodies.

5. Cafe Sol has fantastic two-for-one margaritas for normal people; for sweet-tooths like me, there’s rum raisin ice cream (Bico, of course) with Kahlua on top. Swoon-worthy.

Live it up at Cafe Sol in St Lawrence Gap, Barbados

6. Bico ice cream. Milk, eggs, sugar – the major food groups are contained herein, so eat it without guilt. President Bill Clinton downed tons of mango Bico when he visited Barbados. My favorite is Maple Almond.  Available all over the Caribbean, so I don’t have to go without when I travel inter-island.  Wow, the biography of Bico is on Boston University’s School of Theology web site. And I thought rum was deified.

P.S. Shameless plug for my Barbados beach holiday rentals.

]]> http://planetbarbadosblog.com/?feed=rss2&p=256 4 http://planetbarbadosblog.com/?p=126 http://planetbarbadosblog.com/?p=126#comments Tue, 20 Jan 2009 14:15:12 +0000 Jane Shattuck Hoyos http://onelovebarbados.com/?p=126

Such a sweet young thing: cute, little, and plump.

But beware.  This one’s too hot the handle.  In fact, the scotch bonnet chili pepper is the Jessica Rabbit of the chili world. And like many a vixen who’ve taken down strong men, this one can, too.

This walnut-sized, irregularly shaped hottie ranges in color from yellow to orange to red and in taste from hot to hotter to get-out-the-firehose.

Sweet young thang

When I say hot I mean hot. You thought the jalapeno was hot?  The serrano?  Kid stuff.  Even Thailand’s bird pepper falls short of the Caribbean scotch bonnet chili.  A single scotch bonnet chili has the fire power of fifty jalapenos.

Even so, it’s addictive. Shaped something like a Highlander’s turban (hence the name), the scotch bonnet grows throughout the Caribbean and is an essential ingredient in Jamaican jerk, French West Indian accras (salt cod fritters), in Trinidadian hot sauces, and in our famous Bajan hot sauce that we douse over our eggs, meat, chicken, fish, vegetables, and anything else we can think of.

For the true death-defying aficionado, try The Brutal Bajan.  But even a hot-sauce wuss like me enjoys the Delish brand of Bajan hot pepper sauce with cucumbers. Who’d've thought that an ingredient list that reads “hot peppers, cucumber, onions, mustard, vinegar, and salt” would be so tasty, kind of mustard-citrusy, and so perfect on my grilled salmon, in a tuna sandwiches, and splashed over ham and eggs?

I picked up a bottle of the Delish brand at the Gap Convenience store for my daughter Rachel’s first visit to Barbados and since her first encounter with the good stuff, she’s simply had to have it on her food at home … in New York.  Okay, so shoot me; I gave my kid the crack of hot sauces.

In bed with my Delish Bajan Hot Pepper Sauce with Cucumber

She’s not the only one.  My friends Sue and Chris own the Best of Barbados shops; yesterday, Sue forwarded the following e-mail she’d just received:

Greetings everyone at ‘BEST OF BARBADOS’

Do you know how enormous a two-liter bottle is??  It’s the size of those giant Coke bottles you buy when you have a party.  Sue told me it’s the number-one seller on their shop’s website.

“Hot” Has Never Been So Cool

Who’d've thought that a hot little chili would help Caribbean cuisine stake a claim on global menus? Yet it has, um, warmed its way into the hearts of chefs the world over.

The craze for our peppers may have begun in the early 1970s with Jamaica jerk pork, but chili peppers have been around and used since B.C. and domesticated throughout South and North America (particularly New Mexico, also famous for its chili peppers).

So Where to Get It?

What I don’t understand is why the “largest supplier of hot sauce in the world” only carries two Bajan brands – and neither is Delish, despite queries on forums wanting the stuff.  Ditto a site calling itself “Barbados marketplace” … good stuff on offer, but where’s the Delish, “Delish in any dish”??  You among the hard core? Get the Brutal Bajan here.

Whipping Up a Batch

It’s great to have as a claim to fame that you were once prime minister of a country, as Errol Barrows was.  But just as distinctive is Mr Barrows‘ legacy in chili-making with this recipe bearing his name.  Like it hotter?  Try this one.

Me, I prefer to leave the making of it to the experts. A perk of living in Barbados is having Delish and other brands available at every supermarket, corner market, gas station convenience store, restaurant and fast food joint.

If you’re a visitor, you can pick some up at Grantley Adams International Airport before leaving the island at the Best of Barbados store located inside security so you don’t have to worry about the 3.3-ounce rule.

The scotch bonnet … killer-hot but still – you can’t help yourself – you go back for more.

I’ve been living in Barbados full-time since January 08.  I admit that living down the street from Whole Foods in San Francisco spoiled me a bit.  Being from the Land of Plenty made the come-down all the harder when I first encountered Big B.  I expected grocery stores here might not stock such esoteric products as my favorite Greek yogurt … but I fully expected lots of good produce.

Alas, oranges are small, seedy, and dry.  Pineapples are without flavor.  Berries are almost non-existent and when I find a sad little display of them they’re usually not worth buying.  I live on grapefruits and bananas, both plentiful and delicious (and mostly locally grown).

My partner Greg (a native Bajan) says that Big B’s goal is to take one’s expectations to zero so that they can easily exceed them.

In Big B this morning I spied bright red, big, fat, juicy-looking strawberries. They had a Driscoll’s sticker on them; I’ve had my issues with Driscoll in the States but snapped up several plastic containers of strawberries and happily paid the equivalent of $10.50US for each.

Home from Big B, I opened the first box and pulled one out as though it were a Maison du Chocolat morsel of heaven.

Darned good. And eaten with much gratitude. Absence does make the heart grow fonder … oh, not for my lover necessarily, but definitely for strawberries.