Recommend some exotic fruits and veggies...

[Scribble]

@Mycroft Holmes

If you can ever get your hands on any, try cupuacu (pronounced koo - poo - a - soo). You have never tasted fruit like it, and never will again.

I will warn you, though, that there are some people for whom this is an acquired taste. And there are many people who never manage to acquire this taste, the poor things. There are unfortunate souls who go to their graves claiming that cupuacu tastes like Vick’s Vapo-Rub. Sad, but true.

I very strongly second the recommendation that you head for northern Brazil, though. The variety and quality of the fruit is incredible. Mycroft Holmes hasn’t even begun to describe it. In addition to the fruits he’s already listed for you, there’s umbu, sapoti, camu camu…lots and lots more. Definitely check out the acai, though. If you’re in the US, in a place with a Whole Foods or a Wild Oats Market, you can get acai in frozen packets. I say, skip the already-sweetened stuff and go straight for the pure, deep purple stuff. You won’t be able to eat it straight from the packet, but you can whip it in your blender with a bit of juice (to start the blending action) and some honey. In Brazil, you’d use guarana syrup, but I haven’t found a source for that here. The stuff is pretty darn yummy when it’s made with honey, though, so the substitution is hardly a loss.

There are a bunch of Ecuadorian fruits that might be of interest to you. There’s a limoncillo, which looks on the outside like a tiny lime. You pop off the rind and suck on the pulp beneath. The stuff tastes kind of like an intense cross between a citrus fruit and a lychee.

There’s naranjilla, which, despite its name, is nothing like an orange, really–it’s got sour, sweet, and slightly bitter flavors all at the same time. It makes a truly wonderful juice.

You could check out the yummy little taxo, a close relation to the more common maracuja type of passion fruit. Maracuja is also delicious, btw, but it often needs a little bit of sugar to keep it from being too tart. Then again, so does graviola, which has a wonderful flavor.

Don’t forget guanabanas (I think they’re called “custard apples” in English, but I’m not sure), which can be truly creamy and luscious.

I’m not a fan of a fruit called a “babaco” (I think the stuff tastes like Lysol), but I met several people who were crazy for it.

The tamarind-like borojo is truly luscious when made into juices, though.

[irishgirl]

Fresh figs.
Not enough peole eat them, and they’re so yummy (especially served with honey and warmed goat’s cheese, or as Quicksilver suggested).

Papaya (which my sister calls “cheesy feet fruit”) is nicest with orange , lemon or lime juice.

A grossly underestimated fruit is fresh pineapple…totally different from tinned stuff.

Make sweet potato garlic mash…peel and cut into chunks, boil until tender, mash with a little olive oil, crushed garlic, milk and black pepper. Yummy.

[Winston_Smith]

@Podkayne

If your grocery store has edamame, i.e. green soy beans give them a try! To prepare them, you just have to boil them about 7 minutes, and sprinkle them liberally with salt. In Japan, they eat them like potato chips (excecpt with about 1000 times the nutritional value!) and they’re a favorite snack with beer. They taste nothing at all like tofu or other soy products. Also, gentle on the digestive system, if you know what I mean.

I have to strenuously second this motion. I can’t understand how these haven’t caught on here in the states. I just want to add - better to use cracked sea salt (good), or kosher salt (best), instead of typical table salt.

[Poysyn]

For the record, I am in Canada, but we have a large immigrant population and several ethnic foods markets, I just need to know what to ask for and how to buy them…

[LavenderBlue]

Have you ever tried bok choy? It’s one of the few cruciferous vegetables I don’t find overly bitter. It also has a pleasant crunch.

Bok choy is very easy to prepare. For a nice side dish, simply chop up the leaves and stems. Quickly saute with oil and the seasonings of your choice.

[Mangetout]

OK, I’m going to recommend a wild vegetable. Sea beet Ubiquitous along the coastlines of the UK and indeed I suspect most of the world. This is the wild ancestor of beetroot, sugar beet, swiss chard and perpetual spinach, but don’t let that put you off.

The leaves can be very thick and fleshy and this is the main virtue; it can be cooked like spinach, but does not acquire that slimy, mushy texture; the flavour is best described as being everything good about spinach, plus the salty tang of the ocean. Well worth a try, but pick more than you think you’ll need - for one thing, it cooks down a lot, but you’ll also find yourself discarding some of the blemished leaves when you get home.

[wampeter]

My favorites have already been mentioned:
The loquat is a surprisingly delicious fruit. Not surprising because I didn’t think it would be delicious, but because it’s a new, different, surprising kind of delicious!
I love the prickly pear, or “sabras” in Hebrew. Just be careful if it still has its prickles! I’m not so good at cleaning them, but I know you shouldn’t hold them with your bare hand but rather with gloves (or through a thick plastic bag).
But, my favorite, to-die-for fruit is the passion fruit. Cut it open and eat all of the weird looking insides. It’s sour and sweetish and, well, the most amazing taste I’ve ever had.

[Shalmanese]

@blackhobyah

Do you get tangelos in the states? A cross between grapefruit and mandarin, quite sharp and tart citrus … just about my favourite citrus fruit, I eat kilos of them when they’re in season.
.

Hijack but where do you get decent tangelo in Australia? All the one’s I’ve had save one have been awful. Big, dry and completely lacking in flavour. We have a friend who brings them back from china specifically because he can’t find decent ones here.

[Broomstick]

@blackhobyah

Do you get tangelos in the states?

Yes

[medstar]

Can anyone tell me about ramps and where I can get some? I’ve heard that these greens grow wild and have a pronounced garlic-onion flavor.

[FaerieBeth]

@QuickSilver

…eat it as if you’re about to kiss the meat of the fruit.
When you bring the flesh to your mouth, put your lips around the inside edge of the cut quarter and suck the flesh into your mouth gently. It should just yield into your mouth… like … ummm… performing oral sex on a woman…

blinks

Hmmm? Oh…Yes, well. I like fruit.

surreptitiously adds persimmons to Stonebow’s grocery list

Muscadines are very good, too. They’re not exotic to me, since I grew up with them growing wild in the woods, but my husband (who grew up in the Northeast) was intrigued.