Foods From Santo Domingo

Cassava

Cooked in various ways, cassava is used in a great variety of dishes Cooked in various ways, cassava is used in a great variety of dishes. The soft-boiled root has a delicate flavor and can replace boiled potatoes in many uses: as an accompaniment for meat dishes made into purées, dumplings and gnocchi, soups, stews, gravies, etc.. Deep fried (after boiling or steaming), it can replace fried potatoes, with a distinctive flavor. Cassava flour can also replace wheat flour, and is so-used by some people with allergies to other grain crops. Tapioca and foufou are made from the starchy cassava root flour.

Cassava Plant

Cassava Root

Cassava Root Peeled

Making cassava bread.

Cassava Bread

Plantains

Plantains are hard, starchy bananas used for cooking, as contrasted with the soft, sweet varieties. Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavour and texture when unripe. They are grown as far north as Florida, the Canary Islands, Madeira, Egypt, and southern Japan or Taiwan and as far south as KwaZulu-Natal and southern Brazil. It is assumed that the Portuguese Franciscan monks were responsible for the introduction of plantains to the Caribbean islands and other parts of the Americas. The Spaniards, who saw a similarity to the plane tree that grows in Spain, gave the plantain its Spanish name, platano.

Bunch of Plantains

Fried Plantain

Cacao

Cacao (Theobroma cacao) is a small (4–8 m tall) evergreen tree in the family Sterculiaceae (alternatively Malvaceae), native to tropical South America, but now cultivated throughout the tropics. Its seeds are used to make cocoa and chocolate.

Cacao Plant

Papaya

The papaya, also known as mamao, tree melon, lechoza (Venezuela), or pawpaw is the fruit of the tree Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. The black seeds are edible, and have a sharp, spicy taste. They are sometimes ground up and used as a substitute for black pepper.

Papaya

Mango

When ripe, the unpeeled fruit gives off a distinctive resinous slightly sweet smell. In the center of the fruit is a single flat, oblong stone that can be fibrous or hairless on the surface, depending on cultivar.

Mango

Breadfruit

Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions Breadfruit is a staple food in many tropical regions. They were propagated far outside their native range by Polynesian voyagers who transported root cuttings and air-layered plants over long ocean distances. They are very rich in starch, and before being eaten they are roasted, baked, fried or boiled. When cooked the taste is described as potato-like, or similar to fresh baked bread (hence the name).

Breadfruit

Cooking Breadfruit

Cooked Breadfruit

Guava

The fruit is edible, round to pear-shaped, from 3-10 cm in diameter (to 12 cm in some selected cultivars). It has a thin delicate rind, pale green to yellow at maturity in some species, pink to red in others, a creamy white or orange-salmon flesh with many small hard seeds, and a strong, characteristic aroma. It is rich in vitamins A, B, and C.

Guava