Absentee Bloglord. Part Three: Anything and everything you could desire to know about what I do in agriculture.

Installment Two: April

Mango Madness & Experiments in Dehydration, Fermentation, and Preservation.

The arrival of mango season is always a cause for major celebration. First off, it's hot as it comes, and second, there's hardly anything resembling fresh produce left in the market. Excitement about what to cook for dinner hits an all-year low. The entrance of mango at just such a time of year, combined with the fact that everything here is so confined to its season has gotten me thinking since I arrived: how can one save the bounty of different seasons for the rest of the year? Caleb and I put our heads together to come up with solution #1: a solar dehydrator. Ingenius and persevering one that he is, Caleb slapped this together and we were on our way.

Mango - sliced and ready to go into the dehydrator

Drying mango was a roaring success, if not a little time consuming just getting the fruit in thin slices. We ate it for snacks, we put it in granola, we gave it to our Sudanese friends, and it was thumbs up all around. Just as soon as I catch a breath and my own produce starts coming in, I want to try tomatoes, bananas, and who knows what else . . .

While dehydration was going on, so was the lacto-fermenting of mango chutney and the cooking of mango butter. If you're interested in preserving foods and eating healthy and you haven't given Sandor Ellix Katz' Wild Fermentation a read, it's a MUST. I've since worked on sauerkraut, kimchee, and pickles. Much to my surprise, I can't keep enough of it all around, the team is crazy about it. Just mention the word 'ferment' and people are looking at you as if you have three heads and screwing up their faces in pain. But suspend your judgement until you've tried it for yourself!

Our team decided that April should be Indian month. So every Wednesday after team meeting, an Indian curry was on the table. And the lacto-fermented mango chutney topping was a zippy, tangy, delicious addition to the feast. For easy instructions and a gorgeous/scrumptious through beautifully pictured options, check out Nourished Kitchen's fermented recipes. On the other hand, for those craving the home-canned goodness of yesteryear on their morning toast, these mangos simmered on the stove - a bit of honey or sugar, some lemon juice, and cloves - let's just say it's pretty darned good! And now we have bottled the goodness of mango season for many months to come.