Lemon Plum

The girl spotted the lemon plum, weighed it and tried to figure out how much it would cost. She loves plums. It cost 66 cents for one lonely yellow plum - so I let her buy it.

Being that it was called a lemon plum we would have thought it was MORE sour than a regular plum but it wasn't. I love the bright yellow color.

Dd said "Tastes like a really sweet plum...but tangy."

Durian - "The King of Fruit" ....FINALLY!

Yesterday my daughter's wish came true. Probably way back in November we read about durian "King of the Fruit" - and ever since she has wanted to taste it. I've never been brave enough. A month or so we found some dried durian "chips" and I thought that would satisfy her. It didn't. She still wanted to taste one fresh (well as fresh as you can get it in the USA - which means frozen fresh).

So whenever we'd walk past the frozen whole durians at the store she'd comment how she'd still like to taste one. A frozen whole durian costs about $1.60 a lb and they are quite heavy. A hard spiky shell on the outside, a seed on the inside - and you end up paying for a lot that will go to waste. So it was partly the cost that kept me from buying one for us to try.

Today we were looking at the durians as usual when dd piped up excitedly "Look!" It was a package of frozen fresh durian out of it's shell. One pound packages cost $3.89. I decided we could buy one.

When we got home - I left the durian in the garage to unthaw (and to keep the odor from penetrating the entire house). I noticed the cashier put the packaged durian in a sep. bag from the rest of the groceries and triple bagged it. She knew.

The durian came in a hard plastic lidded container that was wrapped in plastic. Inside were 2 "rolls" of durian wrapped in plastic wrap. Even with all the wrappings and inside the container, you could smell it. Not a nasty bathroom smell (as some folks claim) - but rather it smelled like onions. Strong onions.


After supper tonight I reminded the girl about the durian and we, along with little brother, went out to the garage. I brought my camera, notebook and 3 spoons. Dd was so eager for the "unveiling". She takes a whiff, "Smells terrible!" But she bravely takes some into her mouth. Her verdict was, "Tastes like onion pudding...not all that great but still glad I tasted it!" "Yuck". That was the verdict of her doll Rosie, who also had a taste. The boy disappeared inside - he was not brave enough to take a chance on "onion pudding."

I was scared too. But I tried it. It was sweet and fruity but oniony at the same time. It wasn't nasty - unless you think onions are nasty. Not my idea of a fruit flavor - but I've definitely tasted worse things in my life. The consistency was very creamy and it still had some ice particles in it - so it was almost like durian ice-cream, albeit with stringy bits inside.

So now it's done. No more requests for a whole durian. No more wondering how bad it smells or tastes. The mystery is solved. I'm glad we did it. It might sound wasteful, but it's all in the name of science and education you see, but the rest of it ended up in the garbage can. It's not something you can really keep in the fridge to eat later in the week, and even if it could - who would eat it?

Lychee Drink - Beverage from Thailand

This lychee beverage, a product of Thailand, cost about a dollar.

Lychee is a fruit grown on trees in parts of Asia. "The lychee fruit is about 1½ to 2 inches in size, oval to rounded heart shaped and the bumpy skin is red in color. Once you peel the skin off, the crisp juicy flesh of a lychee fruit is white or pinkish, translucent and glossy like the consistency of a grape, but the taste is sweeter. Lychees have a sub acid sweet taste and have a wonderful freshness to them."

I didn't bother to get the kids to try it b/c I pretty much know what they would say - "I don't like it." They may or may not take a sip before determining the taste - they just know in their soul that an unusual fruit drink will taste nasty.

I liked it. It was very fragrant and fruity and didn't have a nectar-ish consistency.

Forelle Pear

For some reason, the kids do not like pears. I can understand ds's dislike b/c he doesn't like most fruit - but dd loves fruit and she loves apples - so why not pears??

I saw these cute little pears and despite knowing that they would be almost automatically rejected by the kids, I bought them anyway. They were $1.99 per lb.

Forelles are visibly appealing...the contrast of the yellow and red peel and the petite size (almost 1/2 the size of a "normal" pear) make them mighty cute!

They were crisp on the outside and juicy and sweet inside. The sweetness had a caramel flavor.

Gooseberries

The only thing I ever heard about gooseberries, was that they are very sour. Not the kind of berry you would sprinkle on a bowl of cereal in the morning.

Being that it is winter time, I wasn't about to come across any fresh gooseberries...and if I had, I imagine they would be about as expensive as any other fresh berry this time of the year. So luckily I came across some canned gooseberries (less than $2 I think) IN SYRUP.

On one hand - I don't like tasting something in syrup because I feel like it's kind of cheating and you're masking the real flavor. On the other hand, some things are just not meant to be eaten sans sugar - and if we all took a bite of one without any sweetener, and just spit it out and declared it "nasty" - that would hardly be giving it a fair chance.

The ingredients were simple...just gooseberries, water and sugar - and they came from Lincolnshire, UK.

I thought they looked and tasted similar to the little grapes in canned fruit salad. I liked them and would enjoy tasting them picked fresh and cooked up in a pie. My dd thought they were "sweet and sour but pretty good." The boy, as mentioned before, not a big fruit eater declared them "Horrible!"

Sugar Palm Fruit - Kaong

Sugar Palm Fruit or Kaong - is the fruit of a sugar palm tree, and comes from the Philippines.

The fruits were little and white and egg-shaped, almost transparent.

The kids and I did not like it. It tasted super sweet, was chewy and had a bubblegummish / banana flavor. After tasting, we noticed that artificial banana flavoring was one of the ingredients. Artificial banana flavoring, never tastes good.

Dd's opinion, "too chewy and weird", ds's opinion, "tastes sweet and chewy...too banana-ful (he hates bananas - except the dried variety...and sister hates the dried variety and loves them fresh and greenish).

I guess you could think of them as the white equivalent of maraschino cherries...I love maraschino cherries - but eating them straight out of the jar isn't all that great. But, once you mix the cherries into some yummy dessert like this, or add it to a hot fudge sundae, or add it to some homemade Cherry Coke - I can't stop eating them!

"Hee-haw Hee-haw" Banana

Our burro banana, a.k.a. the “hee-haw hee-haw” banana (dd called it that when I had forgotten what it was called and asked her) was already looking pretty ripe when we purchased it, so I figured we’d better taste it before it got over-ripe (which would automatically make my dd not want to taste it – she likes her bananas almost green).

The burro banana looks very similar to a regular banana, but it is shorter and kind of chubby and squarish.

Since the banana had evidence of being ripe for the eating – I was surprised that it was a bit hard to peel, like a green banana would be.

The burro was also hard when I sliced it in half. I thought it tasted like an unripe, bland, green banana. Dd thought it had a “hint of cucumber” in the flavor, and did not like it. It wasn’t sweet at all – I didn’t like it. Supposedly it has a lemon-banana flavor – but I didn’t notice any lemon flavor.

From what I read on the burro it was ripe –so I guess that is just the way it tastes.

You Say Ugli, I say Uniq

Today we came across a grapefruit like fruit with a label on it that said "Uniq Fruit"...I had never heard of that fruit and wondered if it had another name.

As we were checking out the cashier mentioned that she thought the Uniq fruit was the same as the Ugli fruit - that it had been renamed.

I was excited to hear that it was an ugli fruit - b/c I've been wanting to taste one for some time.

I started wondering - did the name change from Ugli to Uniq all in the name of political-correctness?? What next - would Eskimo pies be renamed Inuit pies? Was the Ugli fruit suffering from low self-esteem?

Nothing nearly as exciting as all that.

The Uniq fruit is a hybrid of a grapefruit and a tangerine , and is trademarked under the name Ugli.

























The Uniq fruit was about the same size as a large grapefruit with greenish skin. It had a very thick skin and was easy to peel. After peeling, I separated the sections, then peeled off the "membranes". The inside was kind of a pinky-orange color and at first I thought "this tastes exactly like a grapefruit". But as I continued to eat it, I noticed it was less sour and the "membranes" were thicker, but not bitter like a grapefruit.

There was not a whole lot of the tangerine flavor that I was expecting...but you could taste it some.

If they were not so expensive - $2.50 for one - I'd rather buy these instead of grapefruits.

Not surprisingly as my dd LOVES grapefruits, she also enjoyed the Uniq fruit.

Passion Fruit

The passion fruit is a berry fruit - and per berry, it's definitely the most expensive berry I have ever come across.

This little fruit intrigued me because of it's name and it's cute little size (about the size of a small plum) and it's high price...$2.19 the sticker on it said (but the cashier rang it up incorrectly and when I later checked my receipt to the sticker I found out I was charged $2.79). The $2.19 was enough, without being charged an additional 60 cents...

I figured that for that price - it must taste WONDERFUL! I had heard of passion fruit - but didn't even have a clue to what it looked like.

As I said, it was small like a plum - and almost the same color as a purple one. It was lightweight and the outside was kind of wrinkled and when I pressed on it - it felt like I was pressing on something that was hollow, like a ping pong ball. It seemed quite fragile.

When I cut open this little gem - I was rather disappointed. It was filled with some jelly-like covered seeds (similar to a pomegranate) - and not many of them.

It had a pleasant, but not overpowering smell. It was crunchy because of course you eat the seeds, and it tasted a bit like a sour grape. The kids thought it tasted similar to a kiwi.

I imagine if I had had more than a teaspoonful to taste - I could give a better description.

I don't ever intend to spend that amount of money on a passion fruit again - but if I had never bought it, I'd always be wondering what it was like.

On a side note - I did call the store to let them know of the overcharge, as I only go there about once a month (1/2 hr from home) and wanted to make sure I'd be refunded for the difference. It wasn't that the 60 cents was going to make a financial difference in my life - it was the principle of the whole thing. This same cashier also rang up 2 different items 2x instead of once. She tried arguing with me when I pointed it out nicely. A few more items and then another item is double rung.

The point is - it's not our job to be making sure that the cashier rings up every item correctly. With keeping an eye on the children, or loading up the counter with groceries - who can see every item. But on the other hand, it IS our job to be making sure that our items are rung up correctly. If we don't - no one else will.

Pepino Melon

"But it's EX-O-TIC", pleads my daughter. She was campaigning for me to buy a pepino melon. There was no price listed but I figured it was probably going to be close to $2 - and it was very small (about the size of a large apple).

We bought it - $1.50.

I was surprised at how thin the peel (or is it called a rind) was - unlike any other kind of melon I've purchased - the knife slid easily through cutting it in half.

There were some seeds and some stringy-ish portions that were easily scooped out. We sliced up the melon and had a taste.

It was very watery and soft like a ripe cantaloupe. Not very sweet at all. It tasted similar to a honeydew melon. The children did not like it - they didn't think it had much flavor at all.

Star Fruit aka Carambola

The star fruit or carambola is one of the most beautiful looking fruits.

This fruit can be yellow or green and is somewhat oval shaped with ridges all around it that look like stars on the ends. The beauty is seen when you slice it crosswise and perfect little stars appear. Unfortunately my photo taken before I cut up the fruit didn't turn out :(

The flavor is very mild - dd said it reminded her of a watermelon...how watery it was and also the flavor.

You can eat this fruit whole - the outside has a bit of a crunch like an apple and the inside is quite watery, with the texture of a grape. The flavor is kind of a combination of a variety of fruits. Unlike my dd, I did not think it tasted even remotely like a watermelon...though if you ate a not very sweet watermelon and tasted the part closest to the rind - it would be similar. It has almost a floral flavor, a bit tangy and similar to a not too sweet green grape.

You probably won't ever fill yourself up eating star fruits, but they make beautiful garnishes when added to a dessert or fruit salad (I made tapioca and sprinkled on top a few raspberries and poked in a star fruit piece).

The star fruit is a good source of vitamin c, and due to it's mild flavor and fun shape, would be a great fruit to encourage children in their fruit eating.

Kumquats -Give Those Old Oranges A Swat - title revamped by dd who thought previous title was too boring

I had often heard of kumquats and had come across them from time to time, but had no clue to what they tasted like.

They are little and cute - so who wouldn't want to taste one. Everything I read about these little cuties, indicated that it had a sweet peel (you eat everything but the seeds) and a sour center. Sounds yummy enough. You are supposed to eat them as you would eat a grape, and roll them betwixt your fingers before popping them into your mouth, in order to improve the flavor.

But as we all know, just b/c the mysterious "they" say something tastes a certain way - it doesn't mean that it does to us.

Biting into my first one the flavor was like biting into the peel of an orange and then sucking on a very sour lemon. So really - compared to the lemony center the peel was "sweet". But to me the peel was quite bitter.

My dd really likes them. After the initial tasting she has enjoyed eating them...she will usually slice them in half, take out the seeds and eat everything else. She said the flavor was like "a combination of sweet, sour and bitter...a mixture of an orange and a lemon."

My ds said, "I thought they were sweet and sour a little and they were...just good." And he also wanted me to add "and they were groovy".

Guava (fresh & canned)

We were eager to try the guava after reading about it - but I let it sit for awhile to make sure it was ripened to the proper consistency. I cut into it - we tasted - and were much disappointed!

It was hard-ish and had almost no taste at all. Not ripe enough? Just a bad one? Out of season? Don't know the answer. But then I found some canned guavas and decided to give it a try.

The canned guava was great! There were about 8 smallish guavas in the can, packed in syrup. I was happy to find out that they have about 5x as much vitamin c as an orange and they are high in fibre.

The flavor reminded me of an apricot. Dd said, "It has the texture of a pear and tastes like a combination of a pear and an apricot. Ds said "ain't as bad as mashed potatoes."

The guavas were full of tiny, hard seeds. In the canned guavas they were fairly easy to just scrape out with a spoon or fork. If they were not so expensive canned, I would buy these more often. If you don't like the idea of all the added sugar in the syrup you can rinse them under water before serving.

A HARD cocoNUT to CRACK

Well I have two coconut eating experiments - one good, one bad.

The good first...we researched how to drain and then open our coconut. Being rather impatient, and not very good with directions - I poked the holes with a screwdriver and banged on it with a mallet. This worked to get out some clear liquid. The kids were surprised to find out that the liquid was clear. They both had a taste and decided it tasted ok. They were more interested in getting the whole coconut opened up. I tried a variety of methods and finally resorted to hurling the coconut onto our concrete driveway. It split open into many little pieces - which the kids enjoyed eating. Not as tasty as the shredded coconut you can buy in a bag - but the novelty of eating something fresh and in it's natural state, wins out.

I had a hard time figuring out how to shred the coconut - which ended up being ok, since I didn't really have any idea what I'd do with a bunch of freshly shredded coconut.

The coconut remains, remained in the fridge for a few days and then I pitched it, much to the chagrin of my dd.

So we bought another one. Being too lazy to go outside to the garage and fetch the mallet and screwdriver, I attempted to improvise with inadequate kitchen utensils. I did manage to easily poke out one of the eyes (no not of my children but the coconut) - which seemed a bit odd. I used a nail and the basement hammer. After safely "sterilizing" the nail (well ran it under hot water and a bit of dish soap anyway) - I hammered it (easily) into the eye. Then I did the same with the other two eyes.

It did not appear that the holes were large enough to drain the coconut - so I tried poking in the sharp end of a vegetable peeler and hammering on that...then a cocktail fork - to no avail. Thankfully my dh then arrived home and took over. I noticed the coconut liquid smelled kind of "funny" - rancid or fermented. I took a taste - tasted like it smelled.

Dh took it to the basement and cracked open the husk and it looked very odd. Instead of being a nice white cracked in to - it was kind of dirty and speckled and instead of the meat adhering to the husk part it kind of came apart like a hardboiled egg...and looked like one. Nasty smell. Felt kind of soft. He broke it open and I feared it would be crawling with maggots or something else...the inside just didn't look normal - it wasn't hard and deep white like our other coconut and the smell was bad.

I've read that rancid coconuts smell HORRIBLE - well this was not to that point - though after throwing it all in the laundry room trash can - we decided to take it outdoors to the trash. The laundry room smelled of coconut for awhile.

I've read that coconuts can stay fresh for a few months, and since we only had this one for a short time I'm kind of surprised (though who knows how long it sat in the store).

Pictures below of the "bad" coconut.

Eggplant

At the grocery store today the kids eagerly kept an eye out for something exotic to buy. Eggplant won.

I've always loved the color of eggplant - dark purple almost black, but I've been afraid to try it.

I was very apprehensive about trying the eggplant, the kids were excited. I searched the internet to find out how to prepare it...found out some interesting things - such as the eggplant is part of the nightshade family (which includes potatoes and tomatoes), and is actually a fruit not a vegetable.

I also read that the eggplant is generally bitter and you can remove some of the bitterness by salting the eggplant and letting it sit for about 1/2 hour, and then rinsing it.

I wanted to find a way to prepare the eggplant that would allow the true flavor and consistency to show. There were tons of recipes but mostly included breading and deep fat frying or mixing it into a casserole type dish.

I finally found a simple recipe: salt the eggplant, then slice it up, and mix into a combination of lemon juice and oil. Then sprinkle on salt/pepper and any other spices you like. I chose Italian Seasoning. Then bake for 10 min in the oven at 400 degrees.

I was really put off by the texture of the eggplant. The skin is thin enough that you can leave it on - and it kind of has a soft, rubbery texture. The inside feels spongy.

I prepared the dish, not feeling very excited about tasting it. I never let on ahead of time to the kids how negative I felt about the whole thing.

I found the eggplant to be pretty tasteless, except for the flavors of lemon and Italian Seasoning that I added. I didn't notice any bitterness so seems like the salting trick worked. The texture reminded me of a pan fried zucchini, but more spongy.

The girl ate a couple of little slices and didn't like it. I think the seasoning was a bad choice and overpowering. The boy didn't seem to really like it, yet awhile later at supper time he asked if he could have some more, and was disappointed when I told him I "disposed" of it.

I'm not really disappointed when we find a food we don't care for. This is all about experimenting with new tastes and introducing the kids to things we normally would not buy.

My only experience with eggplant was in 8th grade cooking class - all I remember was that I didn't like it. Never tasted it again until today. And I don't plan on eating it in the future.

For some strange reason, I think it's cool that it's part of the nightshade family.