Day 331

Panchy Aloe Vera Dessert: When I saw this unusual dessert at the Assi Market in Duluth last week, I had no idea what to make of it. It looked more like a bag of colored liquid than dessert, and I didn't know that aloe vera was used for anything other than healing sunburns. However, you can apparently eat it, so I grabbed one and put it in my shopping basket.

Since I didn't have any other dessert options lined up tonight, I decided to give the aloe a try. According to the package, it was mango flavored, and the only listed ingredients were aloe vera, water, sugar, artificial mango flavor, and citric acid. The packaging suggested serving it chilled, so I put it in the fridge earlier today for maximum enjoyment. Well, hopefully maximum, anyway.

Once I opened the package, I was kind of confused. I didn't see any instructions regarding how to eat it, so I poured some in a bowl and grabbed a spoon. The liquid inside the package was clear, and the "dessert" consisted of square, translucent, almost invisible chunks of what I assumed was aloe. It looked like Jell -O, but I suspected it would taste a bit different than that.

Once I tried it, I was definitely surprised. The aloe cubes had a slightly firm, fruit-like texture, and they tasted a lot like lychee or longan, not mango. Funny that I can easily reference lychee and longan now, right? Anyway, I noticed that the watery liquid also had the same flavor, but due to its sweetness, I didn't have more than a couple spoonfuls. It was an extremely light, refreshing dessert, but I can't say I'd want to eat it often.

After doing some research, I found out that the little cubes were actual pieces of aloe taken from the plant. The leaves are skinned, then cut and rinsed before eating. They're usually flavored with some sort of fruit syrup before serving.