Monkey Puzzle Tree Birthday Surprises Part 1 Of 3

Last week I celebrated my 49th birthday, which if you ask me only has the fact that it is 7 squared going for it, it's now got to that stage where I'd rather get to 50 and be done with it. However, despite my lack of enthusiasm for my new age what I hadn't anticipated was that this year my birthday would include 2 presents and a surprise I was so not expecting all thanks to my wonderful girlfriend Nathalie. The reason they were so special was of course because they were all Monkey Puzzle tree related!

Pressie 1

Before my actual birthday Nathalie was rather excited about an auction she was interested in on eBay, when I enquired as to what was going on I was told to mind my own business as it would ruin a surprise if I found out. I immediately suspected that this must mean it was birthday related but couldn't for the life of me think of what it was likely to be. Well I found out what it was all about on the opening of one of my presents on my birthday, a small unassuming present was unceremoniously ripped open to reveal........Monkey Puzzle tree seeds!

My Very Own Ngülliw

I was, it is fair to say, absolutely blown away. Lately I've been reading all I can about Monkey Puzzle trees and have been fascinated by the fact that an ancient people in Chile, the Pehuenche, lived for thousands of years amongst the forests of Monkey Puzzle trees, which they called Pehuén. The seeds from the tree (ngülliw in Mapudungun) were central to their diet, which they supplemented with meat and fish. (I'll be posting more about all this soon).

So now I have some Monkey Puzzle seeds of my own to experiment with in the kitchen! Which, as you can guess, has put a huge grin on my face and even though I can't count these in either of my categories I really don't care!

(to be continued...)

Monkey Puzzle Trees Seen - 8        Monkey Puzzle Trees Yet To See - 4