Orange-servations are back!

Last year I kept track of the segments of the oranges I ate during the Christmas season. With a purchase of a 4kg box of mandarin oranges last night, it's again time to get my yearly dose of vitamin C and satisfy my need to analyze trivial data.

After two days with oranges in our house, my results are 10, 12, 10, and 9 segments.

From the Archives

Here is a log of some new food experiences I found lost in draft status. Enjoy taking a trip back five years.

11/21/09 Chocolate Covered PEI Potato Chip - It was a ripple chip covered in chocolate and it tasted exactly like that. The oiliness of the chocolate-chip combination robbed it from the crunchiness I was  expecting. If it had retained its crunch it would have been very good.

11/21/09 Blackberry - It was pretty big. The berry bits were a lot larger than I was expecting and the mini berry seed crunch wasn't very mini, but still enjoyable.

11/16/09 Bruschetta - Kristin really likes bruschetta and when we went out to eat after our English movie on her birthday we got a sampling of apps. I tried the bruschetta. I like everything that goes along with it, like the fancy toast and the cheese, but the bruschetta itself I'm just not a fan. Kristin took heaping forkfuls to top her toast. I took small fork tips.
VERDICT: Owen List

11/15/09 Feta - Like the hard-boiled egg, feta was a topping at the Bergers. It was a salad topping (along with corn if you can believe it) and again it tasted a lot like cheese. I can confidently say my fear of feta has been vanquished.

11/08/09 Chestnut Cream - This was one topping for the crepe party at the Bergers. It is made with chestnut paste and real whipped creamed stirred together. It is sweet and very nutty. Okay, but couldn't compete with the nutella and dark chocolate spread.

11/03/09 Cranberry - This was the next day. Nicole bought all the fruits I tried this day just so I could try them. I liked cranberries the most of the bunch. They were fresh and therefore very tart. I love tartness!

11/02/09 Plum - Tried it during the same tasting session as the kiwi. Though I ate the skin I still don't think I'd like it skinless. Just not a taste that agrees with me.
VERDICT: Owen List

11/02/09 Kiwi - Tried it on the day my teachers found out I was a relatively inexperienced fruit eater. A kiwi tastes kind of like the child of a generic citrus fruit and a grape. Way better than a plum.

09/29/09 Chinese Fondue - When we went out for our anniversary to La Maison de la Fondue. We had an entirely fondue meal. I'd never had fondue with oil before, nor with chinese broth. It was excellent!

Bits & Bites 2

OH CANADA EDITION

This week has been pretty monumental.

- On Canada Day itself I tried rhubarb pie. There are many reasons I've never tried rhubarb pie, but they boil down to two main hangups: my pie aversion and rhubarb is just plain scary. It looks like celery, but is treated like a fruit.(Isn't part of the plant poisonous?) However, I was at a friend's house celebrating and his mom had just made it. It was still warm. This is apparently a good thing for pies, rhubarb especially. I couldn't refuse. The first bite through me for a loop: sweet, yet quite tart. I kept eating and it started to grow on me. I'm a sucker for sour it seems. Halfway through my slice someone tried to make sure finishing was a challenge by asking if tapioca was in the pie, like usual. My brain heard the comment, but by sheer force of will my taste buds never received the message.
VERDICT: Polite. If offered, I'd gladly eat rhubarb pie again. Who knows, maybe after a few times I'll even upgrade it to Order status.

- Today we had garden salad with supper. I decided I'd just eat the cucumbers and peppers, if I got any. Normally, the "if I got any" would mean I'd be using the hyper-picky tongs when filling my plate; however, I only used the slightly picky tongs and crunched down on some non-leafy vegetables with supper.

- When cutting up vegetables for make-your-own pizzas tonight, I had an unnatural urge to pop a fresh mushroom in my mouth. I resisted. (Hopefully Kristin eats them all before she reads this.)

Desperation

This Friday I was busy making preparations for a weekend away and forgot to have lunch, after only having a few cookies for breakfast. The hunger hit me early into an hour long drive. I tried to endure the gnawing, twisting stomach, but knew it was going to be a long drive. This desperation lead me to do the unthinkable. Kristin brought a banana with her for a snack, and ..., and ..., well, I asked her for a bite!
 I took a big bite because I knew that I wouldn't be able to force myself to take another. It was excruciatingly gross. Soft and mushy and gloppy. Chewing it is impossible, it just goops it to new areas of my mouth. I had to focus and slow my breathing so I wouldn't be sick. Eventually I was able to swallow. I lived and didn't need any more food during the drive. Whether it was because the banana was filling, or the overwhelming grossness killed my appetite I'll never know.
VERDICT: GROSS!

Tomato Update

Last week I was at Mum's at the golf course for lunch. Every once in a while I get adventurous on my own, or at least that is what I tell myself. It is quite often some sort of social pressure that I rationalize into me deciding to try something.
Anyway, I made no special request for my burger. When I do this I usually remove anything I don't like when the burger arrives. I did it a little differently this time. "Do tomatoes really have that much of an impact on a burger? Have I actually tried a tomatoey burger, or is this just a picky tradition?" So, I left the tomato on and took a bite.
Tomatoes are still gross!

Ya Pear

Today for fruit club we had Ya Pears. They are basically a cross between an apple and a pear. The ones we had were very juicy and from what I understand that is what they usually are like. I didn't like them. The texture was okay, but the taste is what turned me off. It tastes like a chemical approximation of pear, which isn't one of my favourite tastes to begin with. So for me Ya Pears are Na Pears.

Verdict: Polite

photo borrowed from http://www.flickr.com/photos/reid-bee/3426968383/

Mango

I've never been a big eater of tropical fruit having kept mainly to the regular fruits. I have however eaten mango every now and again. Strangely enough I never really had a fear of trying it or eating it. It's just off my radar. When someone asks me to eat one I have almost a "sure, why not" response, which is very different from my usual "AH! Run and hide under a big rock" response. Mangos don't taste bad. Mangos don't taste great. They don't look offensive. They don't look particularly appealing. Its texture is very different from what I'm accustomed to, but I don't really mind it. Mangos are the fruit of mediocrity. I have no problems having a slice of mango every time it's offered to me, but I never really want one.
VERDICT: Polite, since that is the only way I ever eat them.

photo borrowed from http://pested.ifas.ufl.edu/newsletters/2009-10/mango.png

Pomelo - Behind the Scenes

Last week we bought a pomelo and we tried it yesterday. Usually I just find a picture of something I've tried and attach it to a post, but today I want to create a more in depth look at the experience of trying a pomelo. I'm planning on making this a recurring feature as well.
I have been aware of pomelos for quite some time. Their scientific name is Citrus maxima, which is very befitting for the largest citrus fruit. When I think of what to compare it to size-wise the first thing that comes to mind is 5-pin bowling ball. I can definitely visualize a pomelo rolling down a lane and taking out pins. Pomelos are from South East Asia and, again, are just plain massive, weighing from 1-2kg.
Our pomelo's rind was yellowy-greenish. The inner part of the rind was not what I expected. I'm used to the whitish-yellow that accompanies most citrus fruits, but the pomelo's is whitish-pink. The rind is very thick. I would say at its thinnest it was 1cm and thickest 1.5cm. It was so thick that it wouldn't come off all at once. When you peel off all the skin, there is still a substantial part of the pinky-white rind interior to go before you get at the actual fruit sections. It looks a little funny at this point. There are bumps on the white stuff that make it look an awful lot like chicken skin.

Once you peel off the tricky, multi-layered rind you get to the good stuff. The skin on each individual piece of pomelo is quite thick. I just peeled it off as well and just ate the little, juice pouches. So, after nearly 10 minutes we get to the point where we can actually try the thing. A pomelo tastes like a mild grapefruit. Imagine a grapefruit without all the bitterness and that's nearly a what a pomelo tastes like. It has a slight aftertaste that can only be described as Chinese, but that's understandable from a fruit from South East Asia. I enjoy the taste very much.
The pomelo we had had very small seeds. I don't think any were bigger than the head of a pin, but I think that it was just a very good time in its development to eat it. I imagine when fully developed the seeds would be just plain massive, like the fruit itself.

One note of caution when peeling and eating a pomelo. It is a citrus fruit, so be wary of squirting. Be wary of squirting on a scale you've never experienced before. A pomelo is at least three times bigger than an orange, but its squirting capability is probably 3 squared. I consider myself lucky, since my glasses shielded my eyes from any stray liquid jetting across the kitchen. An orange will make your fingertips messy, while a pomelo will have your hands messy and sticky down to the wrists.
A pomelo is like a big, mild, difficult grapefruit and definitely makes you work hard for the pleasure of eating it. To get the most of the experience I would say you should definitely give your self a solid 20 minutes. Also, do it with someone. It makes the peeling easier if you do it in shifts and a pomelo is a lot of fruit for the eating (even with its massive rind).

VERDICT: Make, the entire production involved prevents it from being a favourite, but the great taste can't be ignored.

White Grapefruit

We went shopping today and picked up a variety of citrus fruits I had yet to try. One of them was a white grapefruit. Until today I had no idea that a white grapefruit existed. I guess if the term pink grapefruit exists it should hint at another variety, but I just didn't clue in.
Trying one wasn't much of a challenge. I have grown up eating grapefruits, of the pink variety, and really like them. Using the tiny spoon is very enjoyable. So, since I already know what it tasted like (great) I figure I should have at least something to report on the experience. I know why a lot of people just cut their grapefruit in half and scoop out the tasty bits. Grapefruits are very hard to peel. I was glad I started with a nice serrated knife or it would have taken me over five minutes to peel the thing.
For future reference, if you don't want to just slice the thing in half, bring the right tools to peel your grapefruit.
VERDICT: Make, since it isn't quite a favourite but I do like it.

Pomegranate

11/03/09 - I've heard a lot of people talk about pomegranates, but I don't get it. They taste good, but not great, especially weighed against what you have to go through to taste them at all. First the cutting it in half and then awkward spoon-work that follows. Spending minutes studying the woody branches between you and scooping out the massive seeds trying to pick the perfect place. And, if you succeed you get a couple of the massive seeds. These massive seeds have a tiny coating of juice and pulp. Picture the earth as the seed and the atmosphere as the good part. There is barely enough juice there to register that it has a taste, let alone whether it is good or not. Then the seeds: spitting them or eating them? Is either option any good? This is why they invented seedless watermelons.

This whole experience has taught me why pomegranate juice is so expensive. I think I agree most with the French word for the fruit: pomme grenade. I think it would be most useful if converted into a fruit explosive device. No one would suspect it and the seeds would do major damage.

Pomegranates don't taste bad enough to be gross, but the work is too much for me to actually like them. IF they came in seedless varieties, now that would be another story.

VERDICT: Polite

Photo borrowed from http://chickspeak.com/blog/2009/10/16/pomegranate-dietary-supplements-can-you-ever-get-enough/

Prickly Pear

11/03/09 - My only knowledge of prickly pears comes from Balu's song in the Jungle Book and he only mentions them in passing. So when one of the teachers I work with brought some fruit in for me to try and told me one was a Cactus Pear I didn't think twice­. Only later did I make the connection.
Prickly pears grow on the Prickly Pear Cactus and outside of grocery stores have needles just like the cactus. There are none of those cacti growing around here, so the one I had was no longer prickly.
The outside is nothing special, but the inside is very pretty to look at. My pear had a bright pink/purple hue best described as magenta. I have no idea how to eat a fruit like this. I cut it open and took slices. In hindsight I would have halved it and spooned out the flesh. However, since a prickly pear tastes like eating a mixture of sugar, sand, water and rocks, I'll never get the chance. I plan on never entering a desert for the rest of my life just to avoid the possibility I may get lost and have to live on a prickly pear diet.
VERDICT: Gross

picture borrowed from http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Prickly_pear_CDC.jpg