Never tell a lesbian she just needs a real man. Never tell an atheist he’ll love your church. And never tell a wine-hater they just need to try the right wine.
Let people dislike what they dislike.
Costco is normally very careful about the products it allows to be sold under its name or even in their store. It may have been removed because it was found not to be the real deal.
When my daughter turned 21 we took her and her fiance out for dinner. I ordered a bottle of wine for our table. She initially said she didn’t like wine. Her fiance turned it down because he was 2 months shy of being 21(?!).
She tried the wine though, just to be polite. She liked it! Every wine she ever tasted prior was cheap, sweet swill. Turns out she likes good dry reds.
Eh, Costco also is notorious for carrying an item for a few weeks or months, and then never again. At least, in our local experience.
I’ve always found Costco / Kirkland branded stuff to be pretty high quality. I examined the Costco saffron, and it looked like authentic dried Crocus Sativus stigmas as far as my (admittedly amateur) eye could tell, and tasted very authentic as well.
Excellent!
Three things, though. First, 21 is pretty young to have strong opinions about wine; at 21 we change our minds about a lot of stuff, simply because we don’t have that much experience adulting. Second, she’s the one who decided to try it–it doesn’t sound like you hectored her until she gave in. And third, it doesn’t sound like anyone smugly told her that she would like it despite her statements to the contrary.
Had any of those things not been true, her experience with that wine would’ve probably been less pleasant.
That’s often true, of course. Though it wasn’t exactly what I said. I was suggesting that most people who express a dislike for wine would appreciate the way that good food paired with the right wine enhances both. It really is rather miraculous, and is especially notable with robust reds that otherwise tend to be overpowering as a standalone drink.
A couple of the responses indicate that some folks deny this, so maybe I was projecting my own tastes too much, though I don’t think I was being smug about it. All I will say is that those who reject this notion are certainly not “wrong” in any sense as that word has no place here; they are simply, in my opinion, missing out on one of life’s culinary pleasures.
I have had a few experience like this that blew me away. I once had a mushroom-and-walnut pate that, paired with a Malbec, was revelatory. Ever since I’ve tried to recapture that experience, but have never quite managed it.
But I don’t at all think that “most people who dislike wine” would experience that pleasure. At most, if someone said they hated red wine, I might ask if they’d ever tried wine paired with specific foods. But in general I trust people, especially people out of their twenties, when they tell me they dislike something.
Try port with brie and almonds.
I attended a donut & beer pairing one Sunday morning. The brewer was a foodie. The baker was a foodie. There were 20 attendees and we were all blown away.
I still remember the maple glazed donut with chunks of thick pork belly paired with a high %ABV Stout.
I also still remember my gf driving me home and then sleeping the entire day away.
I mean, if you buy it, you can see that it’s threads. I don’t see how you dilute it with turmeric. Now, it could be something like safflower threads – those look different than saffron, though if you’re not familiar with real saffron, you probably wouldn’t know. ETA: Oh, or are you saying if you order out a dish with saffron, it may be cut with some of the above? That I could see. Not just cut, but completely substituted sometimes.
That said, saffron is one of those flavors that I can only take in small doses preferably spaced months apart. It’s a very potent, floral flavor that I’m not particularly fond of. That said, I do have a jar of saffron from Spice House (or is it Penzey’s) in the cupboard. I will use it in Milanese risotto when I get the rare hankering for it. I find it much more palatable in creamy sweets.
I assumed he was talking about dishes prepared with “saffron”. Yeah, the threads are pretty distinctive. I like saffron, but I, too, prefer it in tiny quantities and not too often. It’s very nice with rice, though.
I love coffee and am perfectly aware there really is a huge difference. But some people just do not care for coffee. They are also just fine without ever experiencing the joy of coffee. I’m sensitized to this kind of cheerful, endlessly insistent, self-satisfied bullying because I’ve experienced it all my life in many areas. It really is bullying whether you believe it to be or not.
It’s why you should never buy what is supposed to be “ground saffron”. Also I’ve seen reviews where there are crystals clinging to the threads, probably some sort of potassium. I don’t know if that would change the flavor, but it does increase the weight that you’re paying for.
But yeah, I’m talking about a dish that is purported to be made with saffron. Someone opened a paella stand at the farmers’ market in Portland. Had these huge paella pans with propane burners. I was immediately suspicious because of the enormous amount of paella the guy was making. The cost of enough saffron to make that much paella didn’t seem to pencil out to me. I tried a taste and could tell right away that he had to be using turmeric and paprika. I aske him how he could afford the saffron to make that much paella and he just mumbled something unintelligible.
Yeah, I figured that after I posted initially. Those of you familiar with Goya Sazon seasoning packets, there are a few that are advertised as “With Saffron” or “Con Azafran.” I’m pretty sure there’s no actual saffron in it, but Mexican saffron, which is safflower, and has no saffron flavor (but decent coloration). This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen shaky translations with Goya. They also have a sazon which is “con culantro y achiote,” and is translated as “with coriander and annatto.” Culantro is not coriander. Well, it does go by the name “long coriander” sometimes. Cilantro is coriander. The herb pictured on the packet is definitely culantro/racao. This is why I wish they’d also list botanical names in the ingredients, as I will see something sold as “oregano,” but it’s clearly Mexican oregano. But some Mexican brands will sell Mediterranean oregano. There’s no real way of knowing as it’s all labeled “oregano”. I mean, unless you know what they look like.
And you would be wrong. Do you think people that don’t like something have never heard “Oh you just never had it the way I make it” about a thousand times? If someone tells you they don’t like it, take them at their word.
Mushrooms are my only hate flavor.
I’m allergic to shellfish, but any seafood is right out just because of the smell. An actual seafood restaurant would make me loose my cookies so I avoid those. A place that has seafood options is usually okay.
I agree. But I will not force anyone who doesn’t like wine to drink it. More for me! But I had a friend who was the winemaker for a very small boutique winery, and once I was helping out with the bottling. I was sitting at a table slapping labels on the bottles with a glass of strong red wine by my side. One of the other owners brought me a cookie (Florentine?) that had one side covered in dark chocolate. I took a bite of the cookie and then a sip of wine, and my eyes literally popped the flavor was so sublime. It is like a miracle.
But I never arm-twist people if they say they don’t like something.
So here’s how I approach stuff like this:
Some folks that hate mushrooms have tried a variety of mushrooms cooked a variety of ways. They hate storebought button mushrooms and portabellas and oyster mushrooms, and they even tried a bite of someone’s to-die-for morel-and-walnut pasta and thought it was awful. Cool!
Some folks that hate mushrooms have only had storebought button mushrooms, and mostly they’ve had them sliced on pizza or soaked in a syrupy Chinese takeout dish.
If you’re in the second group, I’ll wonder whether you might like a bite of the to-die-for morel-and-walnut pasta I made, and I’ll offer it to you. I might even say that morels taste really different from button mushrooms.
But I certainly won’t tell you that you’ll love it, because what do I know?
I feel very much like you took a snippet of my post out of context.
I know lots of people who simply don’t like coffee. I think that’s fairly common.
When I was a very little kid, the only way I had mushrooms was in Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom soup. I thought mushrooms were tasteless little boogers. Heh.
Ages ago when I worked in Downey, therre was an Italian sandwich shop that had been bought by a Japanese couple after the original owners retired. They kept pretty much the same menu (the roast beef and provolone was awesome), but they added a couple of things. One was tempura whole baby Portabellos. Sometimes all I’d order for lunch was a cardboard "boat’ of those tempura mushrooms.
I should just stay out of this thread, because I’m probably triggering people. 
Why would you say that to an adult? Best manners as a host is to believe that an adult knows what they like to eat. Again, someone that doesn’t like something has probably heard your line a thousand times in their life. Your “to die for” is probably their “I’ll throw up if I have to eat that”.