October 24, 2004

• Yeah: freedom.
• I think freedom is in the meat and dairy group, Nostril.
• What??!! I can't eat this freedom! I'm a vegetarian!
• Don't they have a freedom tofu knockoff yet?
• Yeah, the freedom tofu is what we get in America, while up in Canada they get free-range freedoms. In Korea, they keep freedoms as pets, and in India they worship freedoms.
• My favourite has always been the super freedom salad, with 7 different variaties of freedom and a nice light ranch dressing.
• I like freedom dressing on my salads.
• Arctic cloud berries. They're so good that the law protects the rights of the landowners who have it on their land. My freezer is full of the things.
• Black Currants, or Johanisbeer as the Germans call them. I've never had the actual fruit, but love the juice and jelly. Grandad came back from the Phillipines with a fixation for lychees which I've inherited. Ego, can you describe the fruits you mentioned?
• There's a bunch of stuff here in Hawai'i you won't find on the mainland. I can't recall most of it right now. One thing we have is li hing mui (pronounced lee hee moy) powder. It's a spice made from plums. It's put on everything from rice to gummy bears. You can even find dried plum covered in li hing mui (which seems kinda strange, since it's plum powder). It's a very strong taste that's hard to describe. Kinda like hot cinnamon that's bitter instead of hot, and kinda sweet.
• Mmm, I love the flavor of li hing mui...there's a shaved ice shop that has a hi ling mui option and it's great. I also once had mango slices slathered in it.
• That powder sounds like what my family buys to sprinkle over guava and rose apples. But the kind we have in Singapore is mixed with sugar, which cuts down on the bitterness.
• Another thing in Hawaii is the Jamaican Lilikoi, or yellow passion fruit. They grow all over some places on Kauai. We were driving around looking for them one day and managed to pick about 40 by climbing around in the trees on the side of the road. I have never tasted anything like it. So freaking good.
• Who doesn't love a rich, custardy durian? Lots of people, that's who. They're wrongedy-wrong-wrong, though that's just my opinion. I'd trade in all my bananas for just one (or two) durians!
• Oh, fuck me. http://www.durianpalace.com http://www.sisil.net/durian/opinions.html *smacks head, resumes hiding in tree*
• ( ( ( to Nostrildamus... that was a great zinger.
• atcha- both are sour, but dogberry is somewhat astringent, too. Greengage tastes sort of like unripened plum, and dogberry like... like... I have no idea how to explain what they taste like. We sprinkle salt on them and then eat them. Be careful if you get your hand on dogberry, they're a not-so-weak laxative so if you have too many you'll get sick.
• Hectorinwa, we have those in NZ I think, except they're called banana passionfruit. The vines are actually noxious weeds here because they eventually kill off the trees they grow against, and are fond of the native flora. And I adore greengages; we can buy them in NZ very occasionally. I also have a gooseberry bush in the back garden. My father-in-law loves these fruits called cape gooseberries, which grow wild and are bright orange. I've never actually tried them though.
• I really want to try durian - I have to know what this thing is that inspires so much passion for and against. I'm going to guess from your handle, LD, that you are a fan. HTML does take a bit of practice, but the preview option helped me when I was learning - you can test your links, and then double check the code. But no need to hide!
• saskatoon berries - they look like blueberries but are smaller and sweeter.
• When I was in Bali, I loved salak and jackfruit. Yum!
• I loved salak and jackfruit. And the way they whip them up into a drink with ice and fruit in the blender ... ah, yes.
• I understand you seppos have never tasted feijoas. The Feijoa is a Brazilian fruit related to the guava. They have been naturalised in New Zealand for years. Tart, sweet, delicious and very high in vitamin C.
• Ah, I forgot about feijoas. Don't like the texture much, personally, but my father-in-law makes some really good jam out of it.
• *yearns for the exotic flavors of far-flung lands
• * pining for the fjords
• Greengages that taste like unripe plums are unripe greengages. Ripe greengages are sweetness itself. Anyone else tried unripe starfruit?
• unripe starfruit? Nope, only had ripe ones. Very nice. I like a feijoa, too. *looks out window at lime tree, laments unsuitability of local climate for banana production*
• Are "greengages" the same as "greengage plums?" If so, we had a greengage tree when I was growing up in California in the 1950s, and the ripe plums were wonderful. Sweet, and tart, though not as juicy as the purple plums, and with a different flavor. And there wasn't that sour layer under the skin that most plums have. But my favorite is nectarines, but you can only get the full experience if they're tree ripened. But, wait, maybe my favorite is pomegranates. The ones in the grocery stores are picked too soon. If you have your own tree (and they are attractive) waiting till the fruit splits in autumn gives you seeds covered in a thin membrane that squirt lovely, deep red/purple juice into your mouth, after which you can crunch the seed. But, then, there are muscat grapes, which you can find in the fall in markets in the US with an Italian clientel. Big, fat berries with syrupy juice and distinctive flavor. They have a few seeds, but maybe that's what grapes are supposed to have. And quinces! The really good ones have a lovely aroma. I read somewhere that Greeks use them to freshen drawers, much like we do lavender. They have a bite much like an apple, but drier and more tart. I use them in a pork stew, when I can find them, and they're popular in a jam or conserve in Mexico (membrillo in Spanish.) And, there was (maybe still is) a restaurant in Juarez which served a really tasty membrillo liquor. Sadly, I think traditional fruits, like the ones I've mentioned, have become almost as exotic as durian. And, because so much fruit here is picked green and ripens without flavor, or is treated with things like gibrel, which increases size, but spreads the flavor over more volume, most people don't know what the mainstays are supposed to taste like. I don't know how long it's been since I had a really good, velvety apricot, or a juicy, intense peach.
• Apricots simply don't ship/store well at all. Have to get 'em fresh off the tree. Miss those, also the fresh figs we had in California. Might find something interesting here, path.