World Food Day 2015: Tobago Edition

“Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.”  Paulo Coelho, Brida

Welcome to another installment of my bi-weekly blog! Join me for a look at Tobago's World Food Day 2015 from a different angle.

Tobago has joined the rest of the world to celebrate World Food Day (WFD) earlier this week. This year it was held on the 21st and 22nd October at the Dwight Yorke Stadium Parade Square. Tobago usually has an annual exhibition and food fair to mark the day, with displays of locally grown and reared agriculture produce and animals. The public is invited to the event to visit booths and become better acquainted with the operations of the agriculture division, its achievements and focus. 

Traditionally, World Food Day is an arena where local farmers and aspiring and established entrepreneurs have an opportunity to sell their products, produce and services. usually on these two days there is a mad rush of persons buying various plants, flowers and livestock. It is a good medium to showcase unusual plants and flowers as well as expose exotic produce that are not commonly seen. For example I had the opportunity to taste the lychee fruit and learn about padou which is not really known in Tobago. 

The public can visit these booths, support their villages in their respective district booths, partake in the delicious food on sale or purchase other unusual food products. Similarly to Blue Food Festival, World food has entrepreneurs using products like dasheen, cassava, sweet potato and other produce and fruits to create 'gourmet' products to tempt buyers. I have seen everything from cakes, pastries, jams, sweet treats, wines, liqueurs, rums and punches being produced and packaged locally. 

Another positive attribute of this event is the fact that prices are usually quite reduced. Perhaps its because of the community values behind this event which drops the price- whatever it is, patrons know the value of making time to come both days of this event  Another Another positive aspect of this event is that the goods being sold are usually quite reasonably priced as compared to other times during the year. Maybe its the competition, maybe its the event, perhaps its because of the underlying community values behind the event- but whatever it is, patrons know the value of coming to one day, most times both days of this two day market.

Every year for World Food, I find myself buying less flowers and more wine. More wine you say? Yes, its not for me- I buy them as Christmas presents for my family in Trinidad. Let me tell you they are much appreciated!!! Although my grandmother makes homemade five finger wine, she always asks for other unusual flavours to stock up on.

This week I will be focusing on the delicious homemade wines that were offered this year. Firstly let me say that making wine is a skill, it is not for everyone to 'try their hand' at nor should we make light of those who have this incredibly talented skill.  From recipes scribbled on a copybook page or passed on by word of mouth, to possibly closely guarded secret ingredients or techniques, making homemade wines using our local fruits, plants, barks and flowers is a treasured pastime. The time and effort put into making one bottle of wine, much less for a hundred bottles is quite eye opening.

Ginger, ginseng, five finger, saffron, cane, mango, pineapple, dasheen, guava, sorrel, cerise- I have only just started listing the amount of options and range of flavours that I saw from just some of the booths this year. How do you just choose one? Well to help you along one booth was giving out samples of their pineapple wine.... There are no words to describe how sweet and light and refreshing this wine is. It's clear golden colour looks exactly like rich honey. It's not wine to get obnoxiously drunk on- It's perfect though for a cooling refresher after lunch. The perfect wine for a nice Sunday lunch, a good river lime or even a harvest. 

So to help you along I have included a delicious and easy version of five finger wine that you can try at home. I certainly will 'try my hand' and hope for the best! Maybe if it comes out good I will be able to experiment further and stop paying $60.00 for a bottle of local wine. Trust me it starts to get expensive when you're buying twenty plus bottles at a time!

 

Five Finger Wine Recipe

25 five finger (star fruit, carambola) 

1 1/2 pk yeast (16.5 g)

12 lbs sugar

2 1/4 gal of water (i.e. 2 gallons and 4 cups)

1/2 lb raisins

• Wash and slice the five finger
• Add the five finger to some water in a bucket.
• Add the yeast and 6 lbs sugar and stir
• Cover the container and leave in a cool dry place for 21 days
• Leave lightly covered for 21 days
• Pour out and sweeten the wine with the remaining 6 lbs of sugar.
• Strain using a cloth and make sure everything is sterilized in hot water before use.
• Pour out in sterilized bottles add raisins and leave for ten days. Adding the raisins and leaving for the ten day period helps make the wine clearer.
• After the ten day period strain the wine again.
• Bottle the wine and store in a cool dry place. Serve chilled or with ice

Recipe courtesy www.simplytrinicooking.com