2014 EPCOT Flower and Garden Festival: Florida Fresh

We visited the Florida Fresh booth yesterday, and I was able to speak with two cast members who were dressed in a way that made me believe they were management for the event (I didn't ask), about the gluten free designations in the event passport. They clarified that:

1) The items marked gluten free in the event passports do not contain gluten ingredients

2) All items are handled in a small food booth, therefore there cannot be any guarantee that cross-contamination would not occur

3) For this event, only food items are marked whether or not they are gluten free. Beverage items are not noted (even if they might BE gluten free), except for gluten free beers, which are specifically noted.

As always, Disney staff was very friendly, accommodating, and knowledgable. One cast member even had it noted in her phone which items were designated as gluten free for every booth, not just the Florida Fresh booth, where I happened to speak with her.

This gluten free designation is very exciting to me! 

I ordered the Watermelon Salad with Pickled Onions, Baby Arugula and Feta Cheese (gluten free, vegetarian) Delicious! I love this salad. Of course, I love just about anything with balsamic reduction.

Shrimp and Stone-ground Grits (gluten free). I ate a shrimp, but not the grits. Sweet shrimp, spicy seasoning- very good.

Florida Kumquat Pie (obviously NOT gluten free, but it IS vegetarian) Tim said this was tangy, sweet, light, with a sweet, crispy crust. 

The Florida Fresh booth even included a kumquat tree in the plantings:

Each booth has demonstration plantings of some of the ingredients featured in that Outdoor Kitchen. Here are some more from the Florida booth:

There were a few "What am I?" activities, which is fun:

(This one is banana, in case you cannot see it on the sign)

This is where we stopped on Day One. Now it's time for Day Two. I was hoping for more sunshine today than yesterday, but it's raining today. That's OK, Disney is magical in any weather :) And even more magical, my friend Jen happens to also be in town- we met this morning for a character breakfast, & she may be joining us in EPCOT this afternoon. 

Macadamia Nuts, Part Two

Yesterday I shared some photos from our visit to the macadamia grove. Today, I'll pick up where those left off.

Yesterday's photos included the nuts, in their green husks, on the tree. Here is a photo of the husk cut away to reveal the nut in the shell:

When the macadamia nut is mature, the husks split open, and the nut falls to the ground.

Here are two different varieties of macadamias, in their shells

The nuts are then dehydrated:

And then packaged for delivery. They are usually sold already shelled (I've never seen one sold in the shell?)

Trivia: Macadamia nuts have the hardest shell of any nut, and it requires a special tool to crack them open. 

When we visited the grove in March, Joan purchased a little tree. Here is Bailey next to the little itty bitty macadamia tree:

That little tree is now planted in our backyard. If we feed and water it properly, after two years, it should start producing nuts. 

OK, that's it for the macadamia lesson, for now. I'm sure I'll be writing about macadamias again over the next few months.

Photo source

Macadamia Nuts

I have wanted to write about our local macadamia grove for months- and I'm finally getting around to it. Actually, the timing will work out well, because I can show you the spring photos and now harvest photos.

First, a little background about macadamia nuts. They are high in oleic acid (the same "good fat" found in olive oil). Oleic acid is an omega-9 fatty acid, and has been shown to reduce overall cholesterol levels, while increasing HDL ("good") cholesterol and reducing LDL ("bad") cholesterol. Omega fatty acids are beneficial for cardiovascular and neurological (brain!) health. Macadamia nuts are also high in palmitoleic acid, another monounsaturated fatty acid linked with reducing cholesterol, and aiding in fat metabolism. Macadamia nuts are strongly anti-inflammatory, and are a great source of thiamin, iron, magnesium, copper and manganese.

Raw macadamias are a versatile RAW food ingredient- they can be used to make creams, crusts, cookies, cheeses, and sauces- but they are nearly impossible to find- and when you do find them, they are incredibly expensive. This week at Whole Foods, raw macadamias are going for $21.99/lb. 

The macadamias you find in the store are often from Hawaii, Australia, Africa or Brazil. This week, the ones at Whole Foods came from Kenya. For me, it's hard to justify the fuel cost for shipping those nuts across continents. Not to mention, they've been shelled, packaged, and transported, for who knows how long, in who knows what temperatures (macadamias are high in oils and should be kept at low temperature to prevent rancidity). Consequently, you wind up with a very ecologically expensive and financially costly product, that doesn't even taste as good as nature intended.

Imagine my joy when I discovered a local grove and arboretum that specializes in macadamia trees. When I first learned there was a macadamia grove in Florida, I had to see it. I had never seen macadamias on a tree. In fact, I'd never even seen one in a shell. I was curious about what they looked like, and how they grow.

As it turns out, IFAS (Florida Ag Extension) didn't think macadamias could grow in Florida. But Mr. Anderson, the owner and operator of Anderson's Macadamia Grove, proved them wrong. He started out as a hobby farmer and rare fruit grower/collector, and now he has a 20-acre grove with over 50 varieties of macadamia nuts. Some of the varieties he has cultivated himself, others are from Australia or Hawaii.

Macadamias are a new crop for Florida. Not many people know they grow here. In fact, I don't think I've talked to anyone who realized that they grow here, but for a few serious gardeners and rare fruit hobbyists who have planted macadamia trees in their yards.

So, this past March, Joan, Bailey and I took a trip out to the Anderson grove. Mr. Anderson was very kind to take us around the property and show us the trees, and how they grow.

And... now that I want to post photos of that trip, I can't seem to find all of them. I had a particularly cute one of Bailey sitting in the grove, but I can't seem to find it now.  *Imagine adorable Bailey pic here*

This may be a good place to mention that macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs. Do not feed macadamia nuts to your dog!

Here are some photos from the grove:

I typed 30+ year old trees on this photo when I edited it in March- but I might be wrong about that. Those might only be 15 year old trees. I'll ask when I go out there again.

The trees in bloom:

The nuts will grow in clusters on these stems.

Here is what the trees look like now, with the nuts growing on the trees:

The green layer is called a husk. Inside the husk is the shell. Inside the shell is the nut:

Different variety: 

This is not my photo below, but one I found on the internet that shows the husk-shell-nut:

Photo source

I am going to stop here for now... Blogger is not cooperating with me today, and right now it won't let me upload any more photos. I'd like to finish this post before publishing it, but it's long enough as it is, so I'll just publish what I have and continue in a new post tomorrow. Ah, the suspense! LOL