The Moro blood orange tree has been in decline for some time now. With fruit on the tree, the task of planting it into the ground was held off. It is time to plant the tree now that the fruit had ripen. Further, new leaves are growing. There is a rush to plant now as opposed to later when the shock of planting will disturb the leaves. Having lots of prep for spring to complete, planting the blood orange tree is a priority item.
When the compost bin is at capacity, this pile accepts the overflow. On this day, compost was needed.
There are usually grubs to pull out for Ernie and Bert (the resident Redfoot tortoises) to snack on.
In the compost pile, plants will try to grow. Usually I would find avocado pits sprouting. On this day it took me a little while to determine that this is a pineapple. Of the handful of pineapple tops that are in the compost pile, this one sprouted a new sprout. It has been planted. Now we wait to see if it will grow further.
It was not too long ago when I started to seek out fruits and vegetables high in antioxidants. Many of these sought after fruits and vegetables are not likely to found at the local produce section. The reasons are that these crops are generally not commercially viable or not in demand enough. A ‘non commercially viable crop’ is crop that either: do not produce enough, take longer to produce, do not ship well, are difficult to grow, etc. Because of those factors, the price for the crop will be too high for the average consumer. Unable to sell their crop, the growers and sellers then would more likely to be left with crop rotting in the stands.
Where these goodies are not likely to rot are on the farmers’ market stands. With much lower overhead, the growers are able to provide market goers with reasonable prices. When in season, one of the fruits one expects to find at a farmer’s market are blood oranges. The fruit of the blood orange is more likely to be tart. Tartness is a characteristic one does not seek out in an orange. What is sought after are the antioxidant properties.
There are a few types of blood oranges with the most commonly available blood orange variety being the Moro blood orange, Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck. As for the availability of blood orange trees, they are now widely available. Like at the farmers’ market, the tree variety most commonly available is the Moro. That was the first tree I picked up.
Is that the Moro of the story?
No, that is not the Moro of the story. The Moro of the story is to do with what I discovered about oranges this year. When I brought the tree home almost a year ago, I did not plant it into the ground. Instead, I kept it in its container. The reason is that I was not sure if the spot I selected would be its permanent home. Staying put in its container, it set blossoms and then fruit. It was doing well through summer. When fall came around, it started to become sad. It began to shed leaves. Unable to support all the fruit, it began to drop them. It is still winter and more than half of the fruit have been dropped. When the fruit is dropped, they are usually green. I would collect them and put them into the compost bin.
Today, I noticed that another fruit had dropped. In the hunt for the dropped fruit, I also recovered a ripen orange from amongst the ivy. That led to the discovery that oranges continue to ripen despite being disconnected from the tree.
![#gardentotable #dưamón (Vietnamese dried then refrigerator pickled daikon radish) with my aunt's homemade #banhtet (sweet rice roll with mung bean and fatty pork seasoned with salt & Sichuan pepper*; tightly wrapped with banana leaves and boiled.)
*Teochew variation
Banh Tet is 'Cake of the Spring Festival.' It is made and given as gifts in South Vietnam and where this culture resides. [Photo 4: banh Tet dressed with festival paper.]
It is therefore a common food of the #springfestival. [Photo 3: banh Tet before it is crisped up with some oil on a pan.]
While it is often crisped up and consumed, an accompanying pickle can be used to add another element to this simple comfort food. From our garden we used a volunteer daikon radish and a couple of 'Bolero' carrots. I made this from memory of my dad making it. I cut the daikon into steak fries shape and dehydrated them. For the brine my mom advised. It consists of fish sauce, sugar, and water. The concentrates are dependent on taste and the strength and salinity of the fish sauce.
My dad preferred it on the saltier side; whereas traditional Vietnamese flavor profiles prefer salty and sweet.
[Photo 2: All said and done, reusing a food jar is key to maximum wholesomeness 😉😝😅]
Note: There appears to be two variations of dua mon-- traditional Vietnamese and Teochew. By dehydrating instead of sweating (partially removing water,) the daikon is crunchy and elastic; making it a very classic #teochew texture profile.
See more Spring Festival/Chinese Lunar New Year/#Tet posts at: #ned_springfestival](https://scontent-bos5-1.cdninstagram.com/v/t51.29350-15/427935298_939543330529922_6652804083994273886_n.heic?stp=dst-jpg_tt6&_nc_cat=105&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=18de74&_nc_ohc=vkEDByqoZx0Q7kNvgHmpPVO&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-bos5-1.cdninstagram.com&edm=ANo9K5cEAAAA&_nc_gid=AQ0O70jJaui1vEB9PUvt3AX&oh=00_AYBk3qRj1cCMa6BqfnEwNod7NHlW62OWfOkbJHhY2vTRcw&oe=675657AE)
. The ghostly photo was create
