My daughter runs screaming when it starts to ripen. My brows furrow when I begin to cut into it: Noni. Perhaps the most horribly disgusting smelling and tasting fruit could be one of the best out there.

Said to be to have a range of health benefits for colds, cancer, diabetes, asthma, hypertension, pain, skin infection, high blood pressure, mental depression, atherosclerosis and arthritis.
It contains antibacterial compounds in the fruits; is said to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli, which is responsible for intestinal infections, and Heliobacter pylori, which causes ulcers. In addition to eating the fruit, the roots, leaves, and flowers are also eaten. A few of the many other benefits touted are that it revitalizes the cells, restores energy, purifies the blood, stimulates the immune system, relieves pain, and is a potent antioxidant.

For years, I saw the fruit hanging from the bushy tree or rotting in the sand on the beach. One of my nannies would gleefully toss any that had yet to start to rot into the fold of her dress. I watched with scepticism and fear. First of all, the fruit stinks. A good metaphor eludes me, but perhaps the idea of a moldy, once-sweaty, sock stuffed with rotting brocoli might do it?

Noni is said to be used by the Polynesians and other tropical cultures for 2000 years. Not long after I arrived in Costa Rica, the popularity of the fruit - and all it’s health claims - hit the market. I go sceptical again. I’ve watched fruit loved and hated by nutritionists, alternative health experts, and the media. It gets confusing what to think.

I “re”-stumbled onto Noni after reading about it’s benefits in Dr. Young’s book, The PH Living Miracle. He says, and many others, there’s just too much sugar in fruit (had to be a reason it tasted so good!). Thus, the trouble with Noni - it tastes horrible. Disgusting in fact, so it has to be really good for us.

I decided to give it a try, but it made no sense buying it in a bottle when it grows on trees down here. My organic supplier delivered, I think, five kilos (I hit the wrong key on the order button! I meant to get a kilo.) It turned out to be a good lesson in the ripening of Noni and how to serve it. At first, I peeled off the brown bumps. This lead to very little juice. Now, I let it ripen and through the whole thing in a blender and pulse as not to break up the seeds. After straining, the consistency is like applesauce.*

When I first gave it to Addison, it bubbled back out of his mouth like a baby trying the first bite of “chicken and peas” from a jar. Now, it’s a bit of a science. I add a few drops of green, mint clorophyll, two drops of stevia and he actually eats it right up. We both take about 1/8 cupin the morning and the same at night. My daughter? Forget about it. She’ll have to discover it someday on her own.**

So, we’ve found another wonderful reason to call this paradise: A horrible, disgusting fruit that may save your life. If you can get it down that is. Figures.

*Noni is available in bottles at most grocery stores and health stores like Bio Salud in bottles. Many grocery stores do carry the fruit, fresh.
**Some have reported to vomit upon tasting it. No joke. 

MotherJungle was just included in the “What the World Eats” project. A photo from MotherJungle appears with a table full of the food we typically eat in one week.

It is interesting, challenging, and fun thing to do with the family. When our organic produce arrived for the week, we some how managed to get most of it on the table without breaking anything.

Today, I’d have to say we still eat most of what’s in view. I admittedly got into the habit of a few-too-many sugary snacks and indulged in potato chips for awhile after this photo. But I am thrilled to say I got back on track to better health, and if I surmise what’s in view, today we can easily add a quarter more vegetables. I’ve dug out my dehydrator and love making “veggie” chips for the kids. Though I still haven’t gotten my daughter to down the avocado/alfalfa smoothies I’ve taken a liking too….I’m working on her. Addison, on the other hand, loves guacamole.

For a good honest look at what we eat - and spend - try writing down every thing the family eats for a week. The “What the World Eats” inventory challenge list may surprise you and, hopefully, enlighten you.

Rice, the staple of Costa Rica’s diet, must be made a certain way. Any other way, it just isn’t rice. I’ve simmered rice, steamed rice; and boiled the heck out of it. Those Costa Ricans near and dear to my heart will politely swallow my over-cooked or under-cooked dish, but there’s just one way to do it right. And it goes like this:

Put water in a sauce pan. (I’ve never seen it measured.)

Get the water boiling a bit.

Add rice. (Like less than half the water.)

Finely chop about 1 tablespoon of sweet red pepper and one clove of garlic. Throw this on top of the rice when the rice has absorbed about 1/2 the water. Cook - skip putting a lid on it - until the water is absorbed. You can top it with a lid after the flame is turned off.

Never works for me. But I’ve watched again and again and again the rice turn out perfect. However, when I worked with a Vietnamese family, I couldn’t steam it either. And it came out perfect every time for them. And Sushi rice? I stick with the pre-made stuff.

So if you pull up a bench or folding chair for your next meal in Costa Rica, you can appreciate the precision with which that simple meal was made. Costa Rica is not really known for it’s food, but do know that every rice that’s simmered and every bean that’s cooked is done with a lot of heart.

Once and awhile, a truck load of this gorgeous lettuce comes in. It’s so delightful to have something different than the greens we see all the time. As kale and other varieties are sometimes hard to get, these beauties just glowed out to me.

As I reached up to grab a few, the water spritzer came on and got my arm all wet. Small price to pray for a great salad later this evening. And though Addison won’t know he’s getting this vibrancy because I put it through the juicer for him, I have a funny feeling we’re all going to see him shine from the inside out.

Around the slightest of bends can pop the most delicious colors. Costa Rica has this way of popping beauty right before my eyes. In the beginning stages of the rainy season, many trees sprout blooms and huge seeds dangle from their branches.

Kids loves this tree because these huge long seeds - about the size of half an arm - makes a great instrument. And come this time of year, almost every kid on the block will pick one up; bring it home; and paint it so they can shake it to a Latin beat.*

I believe the seeds are edible also although I haven’t investigated that yet. (I think I’m a bit skid-dish about that as I tasted these one seeds highly suggested to me by a native and it was like eating clover. Clover with a bit of mud on it.)

No matter. This tree does it for me. More than words can say.

*If you look closely, the seeds hang like a boomerang.
Several are visible in this picture.

Yes. Finding a good mechanic in Costa Rica is really like finding a needle in a haystack. However the opportunity gives me a chance to delve into the world of taxi rides, buses, and of course hoofing it by foot.

After I left my car at a transmission place recommended by a friend of a friend, I took a taxi home. It was a long ride and though I have no idea how many kilometers the trip was, I was pleasantly surprised at paying $10 rather than the $20 I was expecting.

The  extra-curricular activities I’ve chosen for the kids depends on a car to get there. The hassle of loading the car seat - (now required in cars, though not yet in taxi’s) - and managing a special needs kid on the curbs and busy roads would keep me out of most classes. Today, the guy who dropped us off for Addy’s gym class never came back an hour later when he said he would. If I had to do that every day, it would be less painful to set up the mats and gym equipment in my living room.

While Addy was at gym, I took Coco over to a cafe so she could do her homework. I knew the stop would cost me more than I really wanted to spend, but figured it was the price of waiting around while trying to kill two birds with one stone.

Coco dutifully filled in the lines so she could eat the “over the top” sugary dessert after almost inhaling a pollo empanada.* Now here comes the part that was a pleasant, daring, and “never before done” thing by me - the mother in this situation.

As I scanned the over-priced snacks that reflected American pricing instead of Tico pricing, I saw that the menu included something called an Irish Coffee. I wasn’t driving. What the heck! I’m Irish! I ordered it and decided to live recklessly, at least for the next twenty minutes.

The drink was gorgeous and absolutely sinful. I paid the bill and swore I’d have a celery/lettuce/cauliflower shake for dinner. As we waited for the taxi that never showed up, Coco declared she was hungry; Addison was beginning to shiver as it was terribly chilly; and I suspected that there just wasn’t much whiskey in the fancy drink as I was nowhere near giddy, relaxed, or even the slightest bit light on my feet.

The security guys at the strip mall were kind enough to hail a cab. The driver cooed at Addison (an amazingly endearing trait of older men here - they adore kids!). At home, the kids took a warm bath and snuggled up in sweat pants and long sleeve shirts.

As I drank my celery/lettuce/cauliflower shake, I called the garage to check on my car. They haven’t even done the diagnostic yet. It’s been there since Friday. I’m most likely looking at least one more weekend without a car, two weeks in all, and I don’t even know what’s wrong with it yet. Oh well, leaves plenty of time to return to that cafe in search of something that will tap into my French side.

Oui! Oui!

*An empanada is a doughy “wrap” wrapped around some sort of meat or vegetable.
Everyone’s got their own special recipe much like the tamale tradition.

Those little puppies in the window always get me in trouble. BioSalud is a health food store in Costa Rica. It’s the closet thing to a co-op or Whole Foods we get to in Costa Rica.

They carry whole grains, essential oils, nutritional supplements, and those hard to find items like Mother’s Apple Cider Vinegar or yogurt starter. They also carry beauty stuff like Henna and Shea butter and Birkenstock shoes. Then, there’s those puppies.

Coco gravitates right to the section of soft - really soft - plush animals and as if she was loaded with a tape recorder below her shirt, she’ll say:

Mami that puppy is so cute! Addison would love the monkey!

I’m no fool. This is a small child’s ploy to get me to fork over the cash so she can walk out of the store with one of these peluches stuffed in her pocket. When I can, I try to shop without her. It’s just less stressful to try to manage my consumption alone and not the huge desires of a bouncy eight year old.

If you are a “health food store” aficionado, you will find BioSalud lacking in many items. But take comfort in the fact the we are still a country close to many of it’s agricultural products. We can get eggs from down the path and goat’s milk from the farmer up the way and limes right in your own back yard.

There are locations in Multiplaza in Escazu and Plaza del Sol in San Pedro. I’m sure I’m missing a few other stores, but those are the ones I frequent. And when I do manage to go alone, I look at the stuffed animals and smile and promise she’ll be back. However, no matter how cute they are - they’re not making it home in my bag!

So what is that gob of seeds piled together posted yesterday? After the jelly-like substance is removed and is roasted in the sun or the oven for a bit, this is what hides underneath. If I told you it might be the fountain of youth would that ring a bell? Does this next photo help provide any answers to the puzzle?

It’s chocolate. I stumbled on the raw seed while hanging out in the Caribbean town of Cahuita in Costa Rica. A local taught me how to open the seeds - pictured below - dry them, peel off the husk, and roast them slightly to remove moisture from the inside. After popping on the Internet and reading a book on the benefits of raw chocolate, I was hooked.

Like many products I hunt down in Costa Rica, the supply can run dry. My friend on the coast had trouble with his legs and couldn’t make it to the cacoa farm to even attempt sending them to me by bus. I tracked down another friend who was growing a crop of them, but the transaction never materialized.

Last year when I visited the States, I saw a package of “chocolate nibs” a new product all the rage in health food stores. The small package cost me around $4.00. The seed pictured above was 600 colones a pod, which is about $1.25. After preparing them, I run crush them and mix them in my son’s food. I eat them like potato chips. My daughter spits them out. Granted she probably represents a majority of the population as they are bitter. Remember in the package, chocolate has loads and loads of sugar.

I love eating the foods of this country as it comes right out of our terrain, it’s just shipped from down the road, and often the farms are organic and/or locals, including indigenous populations - paradise in a pod.

Believe it or not, this photo shows one of the things I worship and love. Perhaps too much; perhaps it’s my downfall. But underneath all the slimy goo, you can’t imagine what heaven waits.

I went to the huge market called Hipermas. I enjoy going to this barn-like store like I enjoy running my nails down a chalkboard. Yet, I was in need of agua de pipa straight from the coconut for my son, and Hipermas always has them.

After quickly strolling past the clothes and handbags so I wouldn’t be tempted to buy something I didn’t really need, I made it to the coconuts and began placing them in the cart. Then, I wandered around the huge piles of other vegetables and fruits ranging from ayote to green bananas to ripe bananas back to the meat market where I passed on the fish with the head still on it, trying to jar my memory of what else we needed at home.

As I started my way back up the isles to go to the checkout I squealed. Yes. I squealed. It is an involuntary reaction I have to things that are just to exciting for words, and I can’t help that the sound occasionally puffs out of me like a steam engine’s smoke.

After years of searching - I’d found it! The fountain of youth! The manna from heaven. Since leaving my beach house behind, my supplies had run dry and though the country bursts with this gooey thing across the land, it’s not easy to get a city girl her weekly stash.

On the next post - same Bat time; same Bat station - we’ll reveal all the splendors of this mighty gift. (If you haven’t guessed already!)

Download Sunstruck Radio Show number 4 here!

SunStruck Radio
stories, culture, and the people who make it.

Sunstruck Radio
brings you an inside look at the human quest for paradise.

We search the world and interview those
who are most determined to find it.

On our fourth broadcast, we discuss What’s for Dessert with
Tina Tank from Michigan.

Last broadcast, we met Fred Tank from Michigan fresh from his move into retirement. Now, we talk with his “better half” Tina Tank.

What happens when a woman finds herself with a husband home all day?

If you’re moving to paradise or consider retirement to be the next heaven on earth, this is more than something to consider - regardless where we live - this stage of life can be a different kind of adventure.

The show is full other questions and perhaps a few answers.
And, there’s lots of talk about our favorite subject - FOOD!

Susan even gets up close and comfortable to a goat milking situation. You’ve got to hear that!

Tune In!

Download Sunstruck Radio Show number 4 here!

Paradise is closer than you think.
In fact, it might just be in your own back yard.
It’s free for the taking. Download now.

SunStruck Radio
Life in the Making.

Thanks for listening.

****Due to a technical glitch, the download file is being sent to a site to download or listen to on your computer. I’ve got the elves cracking on tidying it up a bit.