I love you like a Mango

In case you haven't heard this catchy tune, it's for real and our granddaughters can sing it for you upon request.  Seriously, the fruit in Ghana is too wonderful for words.  We love the Cape Coast pineapples, the tiny sweet bananas, and the glorious mangos that grow on the big tree in our backyard. 

When I hold one of these mangos you can't see my hand underneath because it is that big.  If I could eat a mango every day of my life I would die a very happy woman.  Since we will not be making strawberry jam here any time soon, I promised to make Gregg some mango jam in Africa.  Well, it is mango season and I gave it a first attempt.  Luckily, I brought Sure Jell from America because I won't be finding that in Accra.  Because our tree is tall, picking the mangos can be a challenge.  We even employed the pool skimmer as a "catch basket" and it works!  Each mango grows at the very end of a branch.    

The young banana tree in our backyard had 3 leaves when we arrived in July.  It now has 9 leaves and we hope to live here long enough to experience a harvest like our neighbors.  We've also become plantain fans.   Our favorite is fried plantains; some people prefer boiled.   

This cocoa bean tree was intriguing to watch as the pods grow right out of the trunk.  Ghana is the #2 exporter of Cocoa beans in the world.  Valentine's day here is National Chocolate Day in celebration of that fact.  There is a whole science to drying and roasting the cocoa beans.  Their chocolate bars remind me of baking chocolate.

The Cape Coast pineapples are white inside and the core is so soft that you eat it too.  They are tall, thin and delicious.  I can no longer imagine our kitchen table without a pineapple ripening in the fruit bowl.