Tropical Fruit Rum Parfait: Florida Style

Summertime is tropical fruit season in Florida. It is also rum season. So to honor both, I created a tropical fruit rum parfait using locally sourced Florida fruit and Florida silver rum.

Florida sourced tropical fruit rum parfait with Copper Bottom Silver Rum,
Copyright 2019 by Helen A Lockey

My usual rum of choice is aged but recently I got to try Copper Bottom Craft Distillery's Silver Rum, and loved it. I used this in my parfait because it had a lovely smooth taste that was not too sugary.

Copper Bottom Craft Distillery is located in Holly Hill (near Daytona Beach,) Florida.

I bought Florida grown ripe jackfruit (golden color) and yellow pineapple from Caribbean Plants And Produce fruit stand on western Okeechobee Boulevard. They sell fruit and produce from a lot of local growers in Loxahatchee, Florida.

I picked the green stevia leaves from my garden.

The ice cream was a frozen confection made out of almond milk, and was store bought.


PARFAIT MAKING:

Put two scoops of ice cream in a wide lipped parfait glass or old fashioned champagne glass

Then put a handful (about 1/2 cup) of chopped pineapple on top of the ice cream

Then place a handful (about 1/2 cup) of shredded, ripe, jackfruit on top of the pineapple pieces

Garnish with three stevia or mint leaves

Then drizzle about 1-ounce (or to taste) silver rum over everything.


ENJOY.

Açai Bowls, Superfood Fun In Fla.

Açai bowls are a delicious way to eat your superfoods. These bowls are put together from a base of frozen, ground, purple Brazilian Açai berries. There are usually staple ingredients like strawberries, bananas, blueberries, shredded coconut, honey, and granola.  And from there the ingredients vary a lot from any type of berry (goji, mulberry, raspberry...etc.), to any type of fruit (dragonfruit, mango, kiwi fruit...etc), to dark chocolate, and even to avocados. Here are just three of the more outstanding bowls I have eaten in South Florida.

Off-menu açaí crafted at Vegan Fine Foods,
Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.,
Copyright 2019 by Helen A. Lockey

Vegan Fine Foods has one of the largest açaí bowls that can be ordered, off-menu, from Chef Jonny. They can cost $18 each or more and can easily feed two-three people. The one Chef Jonny made for me contained frozen açaí, red and white dragon fruit, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, goji berries, dark chocolate, dried mulberries, chocolate chips, mango, shredded coconut, buried granola, and an edible orchid flower.

Açaí bowl from Perk Coffee House, Tequesta, Fla.
Copyright 2018 by Helen A Lockey

Perk Coffee House was the first place I ate an açaí bowl, back in July 2018. Their bowl contained blueberries, strawberries, grated coconut, frozen açaí, pineapple, hemp seeds, flax seeds, bananas, honey, and granola ($8.00). I paid $1.50 extra for some almond butter. 

Ital Bowls Foodtruck açaí bowl, Stuart, Fla.,
Copyright 2019 by Helen A Lockey

Ital Bowls Food truck, in Stuart, was the most recent location that I tried an açaí bowl. Their, "The Ital Bowl," had an unexpected ingredient--fresh avocado. It also contained organic frozen açaí,   bananas, blueberries, kiwi fruit, honey, granola, and vegan protein powder ($10). I replaced the honey with agave syrup ($0.50 more), added shredded coconut ($0.75 more) and goji berries ($1.00 more).

Superfoods help slow down the affects of aging. And so Açaí bowls are basically a healthy, adult form, of an ice cream sundae with limitless combinations.