DELICIOUS TROPICAL FRUITS

Today's trend in cooking leans toward more healthful foods. Gourmets seek to ferret out new flavors, aromas, textures and delights. Housewives need easy, varied and uncomplicated recipes. Executives want light meals that allow them to continue working immediately after eating without feeling weighed down. Children must have nourishing snacks to take to school. All of us want aphrodisiacs, better health, satisfying tastes, foods that are appropriate for beginning or ending a meal, healthful beverages to quench our thirst; easy and appetizing drinks, food surprises for private moments. The solution to all of these needs lies in the universe of fruits, and the sublimation of all of these expectations can be found in tropical fruits. Colombia, located in the American tropics, with coasts on two oceans, high mountains, broad plains and jungles, has every variety of fruit or is capable of producing them. Within Colombian territory, in Old Caldas, which is the heart of the coffee growing area, the most varied species of fruit trees are concentrated in a veritable earthy paradise. This region is particularly blessed because of the exuberance of its landscape, the diversity of its vegetation and the richness of its soil, fertilized daily by volcanic ash. Here fruit is a fundamental part of what we call the Coffee Culture, since for generations the trees that bear fruit have been vital to the landscape, providing additional income for the economy, flavor for regional customs and a further basis for the transition of good eating. In this book, with creativity and innovation, we are rescuing the best of culinary knowledge concerning the exquisite and exotic tropical fruits, many of which are just now being discovered by the palates of those living in countries with seasons. In these pages we open the door to many a healthful and marvelous epicurean adventure.