SailingKnitter

While we were touring the botanical gardens in Bocas del Toro, Panama, I was given a Jagua (Genipa Americana) fruit. The juice of this baseball-sized greenish-gray colored fruit is the source of a dye which is used by the Woumaan and Embera Indians of the Darien rainforest region of Panama. They not only dye palm fibers for weaving baskets, but also use it as a stain for elaborate body decorations!

Here’s a photo of a small basket I bought in Panama which was made by these indigenous people with the palm fibers.

Well…it just so happens that I have a book (Margo M. Callaghan “Darien Rainforest Basketry”) which describes how to extract the juice from the Jagua and use it to dye palm fibers and to decorate oneself. Not that I’m that much into self-adornment (well, except I did just have Panamanian flags painted on my toenails), but the dye part could be applied to YARN! Ooooooooo.

Well, you can guess what happens. Yep. I peeled the jagua, and grated it. What I didn’t know was that the “peel” was really thick like a grapefruit (about ¼”). So I had only really peeled the dark outer layer and started grating the pith which has no juice. Eventually, I got to the center of the fruit and found the juicy sections similar to an orange. Oh! That’s where the juice is! The juice was a greenish-gray color, but it turns indigo blue when exposed to the air for a few hours.