New Food Weekend Challenge

[smasty]

Should we have a new food challenge this weekend? Try a fruit or vegetable you've never had. Pick up the weirdest thing you see at the market and give it a spin! Maybe you've never tried squash raw, or never tried star fruit, or fennel? Or try a new recipe and report back.

[thunderdancer]

I love it smasty - cool idea :)

I've got a packet of FRESH dates ooooh....
I'm waiting for them to ripen so I can have that gorgeous taste of dates again.. (can't eat the dry fruit anymore)

[lil]

There's a good idea! I'm close to several asian markets and they always have interesting things in there. I'll see what I find today.

[Jeanne]

I thought of you yesterday Smasty when I was shopping and came across Asian pears. I told my son about what you had thought of them and we bought some. At home he said, "I want to try the pear that tastes like booze!" After eating one he said, "Do you notice how high the vibration feels in these pears?" I did! They taste very happy. We love them!
That's my new taste contribution.

[mwjeepster]

I went back today and bought a fresh yellow plum. I have never seen a yellow plum before and I have to tell you, it was insanely delicious. I'm like, ok, where have I been for the last 47 years? I got so caught up in my new find I completely forgot to buy more of the Asian pear/apples. I was about to go back when my neighbor brought over a bag of apples he and his sons picked this morning from on orchard near by - they were just heavenly!

So I am loving this VERY much... but I have one question (for now!) are there salad dressings like the kind I love (balsamic vinegrette) that are raw? I'm thinking what I'm using did not come from the garden so to speak, and I would like to change that. I find that with every day I am getting more and more excited and more committed to doing this fully.

Also, my dh is getting interested... and he's one of the worst eaters I have ever met besides myself - he says he wants to do it with me to support my "diet" (I won't tell him it's a life change yet, that would scare him!).

My love and best wishes to all!
Melissa

[GoingRAW]

mwjeepster,

I am in the same boat as you... I am addicted to my homemade balsamic dressing and have been hesitant to give it up until I find a good raw version!

[smasty]

Hi Guys!!!

I haven't been to the store yet to pick out my new thing, but for sure tomorrow.

Melissa and GR, regarding salad dressing...Kristi posted a good one using apple cider vinegar. I adore my salad dressing so much, I could live on it 3 meals a day. Mine is nama shoyu, raw tahini, olive oil, lime or lemon juice, and sometimes some ginger. It's creamy from the tahini, it's asian/salty from the nama, its tangy from the juice...I'm mad about it!! I love it so much I look forward to my salads all day long. I read somewhere that the key to staying raw is having REALLY good salad dressings...I totally agree. I'm sure it gets easier the longer a person is raw, so maybe salad dressings become less important, but in the beginning it's huge, and still is for me. Melissa, I'll have to keep an eye out for yellow plums.

Hey Jeanne! That's funny about the asian pears. I swear they taste like daquiris to me!

Lil...let us know what you find.

Thunder...what's a fresh date like? "The Date People" ought to be harvesting soon, I've thought about placing an order w/ them.

Well, I can't wait to see what interesting thing I find tomorrow.

[ConsciousCuisine]

:) I'd love to take part, however I cannot think of one thing I have not tried! Durian, Goji Berries, Sapote, Cherimoya, Asian Plums, Lychees , Jackfruit and so on...tried them all! Love them all, too! (with the exception of Durian, that is). Here's a challenge: Name something sooo exotic that I probably haven't heard of or tried it! I dare ya ! ;)

[Analeah]

Hey good posts everyone and good idea to start this thread! Okay so I just tried something I have never tried before or even heard about it. I found it at the farmers market in Vevey at a booth selling fresh produce directly from Africa. Unfortunately I don't know the name of it, when I asked the person working they only said it was called "noisette" which of course just means nut so I assume it is the primary nut in Africa like hazelnuts are here in Switzerland. Anyway the nut (or whatever it was) was so delicious! It tasted somewhere between a macadamia nut and coconut! Also, last weekend for the first time I tried a real raw passion fruit. I have never seen them before in the US does anyone know if you can buy them fresh in the US?

[mwjeepster]

I think you can get raw passion fruit here, I'll go over to my store and see if they carry it - there's one thing I've never had!

On the dressing front - is cold pressed olive oil ok? Is vinegar ok? If yes, then making a home made vinegrette should work. I'm like you Smasty & Going Raw, I LIVE for my salads because of the dressing.

I hope everyone has a great day - dh and I are off to the city to see his mom who is in a nursing home and then back to my Asian market for more fruit!!!!!

Love to all,
Melissa

[ConsciousCuisine]

Raw Apple Cider Vinegar that still has the "Mother" culture in it is good on Raw diets. That's the one that is used by Raw-ers across the board...

[lil]

Okay - I picked up a Pomelo. I've always seen them but never had one. Like MW - I wonder where I've been the last few decades!
The Pomelo looks like a grapefruit on steriods. But it's sweeter than grapefruit. The taste kind of reminds me as a kid, we used to put sugar on our grapefruit (ewww....). They are hard to open. The skin sprays a lot - but it's kind of a nice citrus scent.

I grabbed some Lychee's - but they are not new to me. Saw some "Kidney Mangoes" - cute little mangoes shaped liked kidneys. Didn't interest me.

Hey CC - I saw a fruit (? not sure) that I've never seen before. But I can't remember it's name!! It was an asian name - in three parts. The fruit was the size of an apricot and reddish in colour. It had long, soft tentacles all over it that were a browny gold.

Okay - I did a seach - it's a "Rambutan" (It had a different name in this store): http://facethewall.com/fruit-rambutan.html . I'll have to go back and get some!.

[ConsciousCuisine]

To me, the flesh has a texture like an unripe peach, or a really soaked brazil nut...interesting fruit...thanks for reminding me of this! I haven't had this in a while 'cause it's pretty rare... :)

[smasty]

I did it!!! I found "prickly pear" (tried that one CC??). It was weird!!! I think this is the fruit of the sagauro (sp?) cactus. I took a pic but don't have time to post right now. Anyway, I peeled it, and there's a thin layer of fruit then quite a lot of meaty part with seeds like hard sunflower seeds. The part without the seeds was bland, almost salty, but the part with the seeds was very sweet, but you couldn't eat it because of the seeds. I chewed it up to taste the sweet then spit it out. If anyone has a better idea how to eat these I might try again, otherwise it's on the list as tried it once, not again.

This was fun!! I aslo bought kelp and some kind of squash to try. I bought peaches too, I haven't had a peach in over 30 years (never really liked them before). These are incredible!!

[lil]

Sue - how do you eat squash raw? They are just coming into season and I would love to have some.