Oh, the Foods You Will Eat!: Part II

We have been experimenting with nin, also known as noni, also known as nen, also known as the beach or Indian mulberry, also known as morinda citrifolia, also known as vomit fruit, no joke. We have a nin tree in our yard, and it produces lots of fruit. There are many Marshallese who use this fruit religiously, even eat it raw (though I don't think the younger generation does this as much). There are still no official studies that prove the miraculous properties of the nin, but it's fun to try it out. The three at the top are what they look like when they're almost ripe, the one in the bowl what the ripe fruit looks like:

And below is a close up of the ripe fruit. This is "ready." The fruit stinks to high heaven, both kinds. It's nasty. We learned from our Marshallese teacher, as well as some of the guards, how to let it ferment. It's the strangest thing: the fruit stinks less as it sits on the counter (takes about three days). The juice starts leaking out. It still tastes like vomit, though. The Marshallese use different parts of the tree for various remedies: to stop kids from bed-wetting (put a leaf under their sleeping mats), to help women who just gave birth recover, to help fix bleeding wounds, and to help cure everything from cancer to diabetes to earaches to hemorrhoids to fish poisoning to nausea and vomiting to fixing cavities. Some people take a teaspoon of juice every day. But I won't.

I like orange juice better.

And this is a picture of the last time Kristen and Nathaniel came over. We had such a feast! Kristen brought this incredible cashew gravy, as well as asian cucumbers (or squash, not quite sure), tomatoes, and basil. We potatoes and breadfruit and papaya, too. Miss you, Kristen and Nathaniel!