If it works with turnips it’ll work with rutabagas, they’re very similar.
This comment and this thread remind me of John Pinette on turnips.
“If it’s that difficult to eat, it doesn’t wanna be food!”
I bought a whole papaya with plans to cut it up and serve in pieces. I had no idea the pit was going to be so big, and the flesh hangs onto it for all its worth. There’s probably a better way to get just the good parts, but I don’t know it.
Opening up a coconut is also quite a chore. Fascinating things, though; the edible part changes during different phases of the life cycle. If you wait until it sprouts, the insides take on a consistency somewhere between cotton candy and marshmallow.
Papaya doesn’t have a pit. It has many small seeds that are easy to scoop out: http://www.david-chancy.com/wp-content/pictures/papaya.bmp
It’s a southern butternut squash in anatomy, only it tastes like vomit.
Ever tried to peel a squash? Good luck, I’ve only done it once… don’t need to do that again.
Pistachios.
You can spend forever cracking those damned, addictive nuts open…not including the ones that WILL NOT OPEN!
As a German friend told me, “You can starve to death trying to eat those…”
What do you mean “crack and eat” pumpkin seeds? Pumpkin seeds are eaten whole. I’ve never seen anyone crack them open.
Perhaps you’re talking about a mango? If so, this is the way to eat them.
My own contribution are black salsify roots. Great taste, but a bugger to peel. I have to wear throwaway gloves, or the superglue that oozes from the roots will stick to my hands for days afterwards.
And I just loooove artichokes, for the reason Lynn Bodoni mentions. They are the vegetaria version of crawfish, i guess from Shagnasty’s description.
My mistake. Yes, it was a mango.
Stone crab are worse - need grenades for those little suckers.
Amen. If I need the insides of a squash now I roast it and scoop 'em out.
What kind of squash? One of my favorites is cutting a butternut across it’s equator and baking at 350 with butter and either brown sugar or S&P. There’s not a lot of effort in that.
If you’re using it to scoop out and make something else, nuke it on high for ~10-20 minutes to soften and go from there.
Bony fish aren’t worth the trouble.
Actually, I have peeled a butternut and an acorn squash. The acorn is crazy, although I’m sure there is a better protocol than I used- crannies and crevices. Totally wrong prep philosopy… Cook, then peel.
I love pomegranates on a long car trip. Takes frickin’ forever, which keeps me entertained. I love having something to do with my hands.
I put half a dozen or so in my mouth, suck on them for a while, take out one at a time, crack the shell, extract the kernel, and eat it. I have inflammatory bowel disease, I’m not about to eat the shells and risk an attack.
Around here, it’s possible to buy pumpkin seeds that have already had the shells removed, so I must not be alone in this.
Yeah, mango is easy. Cut off the two cheeks, crosshatch, and you’ve got two beautiful mango hedgehogs. Then take the remaining peel off the circumference of the seed, and cut off any usable bits still stuck to the seed.
It’s dead easy if you know how.
But the thing about lobsters, crab and crawdads is not in the eating of them, per se … it is in the company you keep while eating them. You hang out, have fun and slowly eat the munchies, drink the beer/wine/whatever and be with your family/buddies. When I think of blue crab, I think about getting a bunch of people together, starting the pot, and cooking the meal while everybody hangs out at the picnic table chatting, kids running around playing tag, guys talking about the shit happening on the boat, next cruise, baseball or whatever, maybe a pickup game of vollyball … you know, old fashioned nonelectronic fun:cool:
roast them first … then put them into a paperbag and close it for about 15 mintues, peel softens up nicely.