The most recent totally new thing I can think of that I’ve tried in recent memory is jackfruit, a couple years ago. Mrs. Solost wanted to try it, but the local grocery, which listed it online, never had it. Until one day they did— a single jackfruit. As large as a medium-sized watermelon. The price said ‘$1.99’, but that turned to mean per lb., so the thing cost me $20-30.
Had to get online to figure out how to cut up and serve it. The fruit turned out to be flavorless, mealy and bland. I suspect it may not have been at the peak of ripeness, though whether it may have been unripe or overripe I have no idea.
The seed pods though, were good, and there were quite a few of them. We read online that they could be boiled and eaten. They tasted like and had the general texture of giant chick peas.
I’ve a persimmon tree. The deer love it. I suspect the fallen fruits get them drunk.
I’ve made persimmon beer. It’s particularly nasty stuff. But it was an adventure to make. It’s been tasted but never consumed. It has a tannic taste that is very off putting. I suspect it’s very alcoholic and maybe deadly. I need to dig it out and destroy it.
This summer, I made pani puri for my family. I had never tasted or made it before. It’s a crispy bubble shell that you fill with potatoes, chick peas, onion, chutney, then you dip the whole thing in spicy water and eat it in one bite. The different textures and flavors in that one bite while the water explodes almost to your sinuses are indescribably delicious.
The first new food I’ve had in quite a while was, just recently, persimmons. I get biweekly produce deliveries, and about a month or so ago one of the options was a box which included two fuyu (non-astringent) persimmons. I looked them up and they sounded interesting, so I decided not to swap them for something else. I put off eating them for a week, and one evening I cut one of them up and ate it.
I found them quite good, and will probably get more when I get a chance.
my sister recently made stir fry for dinner one night. needless to say, it ended with me now having an obsession to it. i swear she puts something in there to enhance the flavour…
Did you see Kung Fu Panda? Po cooked for his friends and he said his dad’s food was better because of some secret ingredient he wasn’t told about. What the dad told him later was hilarious
Uzbek Manti (steamed dumplings) - for lunch yesterday. We had the pumpkin variety - not amazing, but very nice.
Look hard enough in London, and I swear you can find anything. We had Lebanese for dinner - so there were a number of things which were kinda new to me, but mostly new in name only, as foods from that end of the Med tend to crop us in various countries with various names. For example, Lebanese Motabel is much the same as baba ganoushi or Greek melitzanosalata and so on. (they’re all eggplant dip, and all super-delicious).
