Since you are in a place most of us know very little about can you tell us a bit about the types of different vegetables grown there? What do they have that we do not have? Fruit is of interest also.

-- mitch hearn (moopups@citlink.net), December 04, 2001

Answers

good question. I bet everything grows big, I can't imagine an 8-10 foot poinsetta!

-- Melissa (me@home.net), December 04, 2001.

Mitch, we've got most of what you have, plus some, but all the names are in Portuguese and I don't have a translation for most of them. I'm going to get a recipe book my wife has that lists some of them, so it'll probably be tomorrow before I can really answer your question.

One veggie is called chuchu (pronounced, shooSHOO), with a light green meat and a subtle taste. Is usually cooked and served with the standard rice and beans.

Not really a veg but a staple also is manioc. It is often prepared fried. But it has to be soaked or boiled, I think, to get rid of the poisons.

One of my favorites is palm hearts, cut small and pickled. Vicki said she saw them in a supermarket in the U.S. during our last visit. The vegetarian restaurant where I often eat makes palm heart pizzas.

Let's see, your question caught me off guard; let me think on this some more, and I'll come back to it. I was in Manaus some time ago, as well as the northeast, and it's interesting to see that there they have fruits that we don't see much down here.

Off the subject, but I've got a rash on my right hand and foot that's driving me buggy. On the hand it's about to go away, but itching like crazy.

-- Randal (motivo@hotmail.com), December 05, 2001.