Day 291

"Ugli" Fruit: Every now and then, I end up buying something that I've passed by several times but never gotten around to trying. This exact occurrence happened during my last trip to the Buford Highway Farmers Market. I'd seen these "Ugli Fruit" things during various trips there, but due to their size/price per pound, I'd never bought one. They looked like a grapefruit gone wrong, with an extremely lumpy, greenish-yellow skin. I had no clue what the inside tasted like, so when I saw these again at the BHFM, I couldn't ignore them any longer. I picked out the smallest one and took it home.

Since I didn't want it to go bad before my trip out of town tomorrow, I decided to try it this afternoon. The whole thing was a little bigger than a grapefruit, and based on it's placement in the citrus section of the market, I chose to slice it down the middle like any other citrus fruit. Much to my surprise, the thick skin gave way to an interior that looked just like a grapefruit, with the segments arranged in a circular fashion. Based on its "ugli" appearance, I expected the inside to look, well, uglier. Oh well.

 How did it taste? Actually, the flavor was just like a standard orange, but much juicier. My first attempt to scoop out the insides with a spoon resulted in a direct spray of juice onto my shirt. Once I got the segments out, I ate it like any other citrus fruit. Pretty good, but the rind on these definitely outweighed the edible parts. If you want an orange, just buy oranges and save yourself a bit of money. I'm glad I finally tried, but I doubt I'd buy them again.

Day 290

"Doughnut" Peach: Mmm...doughnuts. Well, not exactly. Today continues my new produce selections from the Buford Highway Farmers Market, and while this one may not be strange, it was still something I'd never tried before. As someone who grew up in the south, I love peaches. It's really hard to beat a fresh, ripe peach, and those of you who grew up here know exactly what I'm talking about.

I don't have experience with any other types of peach, so when I saw these little "doughnut" peaches at the BHFM, I couldn't resist. They were much smaller than the standard Georgia variety, and they almost looked like normal peaches that had been flattened. Hopefully they tasted as good as what I'm used to, so I took one home to try.

After trying it this afternoon, I don't have much to report. The only real difference I could find was that it was slightly less sweet than a full-size peach. The interior was also much lighter colored than what I'm used to. It had the same velvety skin and texture, but once I ate around the pit, it didn't yield much fruit at all. I like it, but if you want the full-on fresh summer peach experience, it's probably best to buy the full-size variety.

I know Georgia is known as the "peach state," but as a South Carolina resident for most of my life, I grew up hearing that SC actually grows more peaches than GA. Not sure if that's still true - does anyone know?

Day 289

Thai Banana: In addition to some great packaged foods from various cuisines, I also managed to find some great new produce to take home from the Buford Highway Farmers Market. I hadn't been finding much there over the past few visits, but with the seasons changing, they luckily had some new inventory for me to check out. As I've mentioned before, I love using produce for this blog, since it's a great way for me to find small amounts of food for a super-inexpensive price.

I've tried several types of banana during the course of this blog, but when I saw this Thai variety yesterday, I knew I had to take one home. They were considerably smaller than the standard yellow ones found in most grocery stores, and the skin wasn't nearly as brightly colored.

I figured it would be a good food to pair with breakfast, so I gave it a try this morning. When I peeled the skin, it looked like any other banana on the inside. However, I definitely noticed some differences once I took a bite. The flavor was a bit brighter and tangier than I expected, almost like an under-ripe yellow banana, and the texture was noticeably mushier. Not like a over-ripe one - it still had some firmness. Really tasty, and I quickly devoured the whole thing in 2 or 3 bites. If you like bananas at all (or don't always want the bigger size), give these a shot if you see them.

Day 288

Vanilla Pastille "Lyanezh": I was in dire need of new foods today, so I headed down to the Buford Highway Farmers Market for a bit of shopping. I wanted to go there to search for squash blossoms (me and the GF were going to attempt a recipe), but I quickly struck out on those. I obviously couldn't leave without doing some more shopping, so I made the rounds and went through all my favorite sections.

I've had plenty of good luck in the Eastern European aisles, and they always have a sale section going with some great buys. Luckily, there was a small sample of something there called "lyanezh," and from what I could tell, it looked like some sort of candy. As with most Eastern European foods, there wasn't a lot of English written on the packaging, but the label on the back described it as "vanilla pastille with pieces of candy." It was made from sugar, syrup, water, apple puree, egg powder, agar, and various fruit flavors.

I love it when I can sample something for free and not have to buy, so I gave this one a shot. It reminded me of firmer, grittier cake icing, with chunks of jellybean-like gummi candy mixed throughout. It had an overall fruity taste, and based on the ingredients, I wasn't surprised by it's syrupy sweetness. Not something I'd want to eat a lot of, but I've never tasted anything before that I'd compare it to directly.

I managed to also find a lot of other great foods that I had to actually pay for. Too bad you can't sample everything in the store.

Day 287

Swad Brand Patra: Today's new food is the last of my haul from Patel Brothers in Decatur, and to be honest, I wasn't exactly looking forward to it tonight. I neglected doing my daily post until tonight (after dinner away from home), and opening up a can of new food when I wasn't at all hungry didn't sound exciting at all. However, the blog must go on, so I came home and gave this "patra" a try. The can described the contents as "curried vegetable rolls." and as with most Indian foods, the results are never exactly what I expect.

The main ingredient for this one was something called "colocasia leaves." That was something I'd never heard of, so I did a bit of research. Apparently, colocasia is an herbaceous plant that's also sometimes called "elephant's ear" due to its large leaves. The root is used to make poi (the Hawaiian dish), but this dish only used the leaves. It also included gram flour (another Indian staple), palm sugar, chili, salt, ginger, coconut, and several other spices.

As instructed by the can, I emptied the contents, then cut off a thin slice to lightly pan-fry in a bit of oil. I gave it a couple minutes of heat on each side, then plated. Based on the appearance, I wasn't really sure what this would be like, but it was actually really tasty. The gram flour portion almost had the texture of firm polenta, and the pre-cooked colocasia leaves provided a nice contrast to the starch. As with many Indian dishes, this one definitely had some heat and sweetness, but I can't wait to eat the rest of this as a side with my next dinner - it was great. If only I'd been hungrier tonight!

Day 286

Swad Brand Khaman Dhokla: I desperately needed a appetizer to hold me over until dinner was ready tonight, so I got this "Khaman Dhokla" frozen dish out of the freezer. I had purchased this one during my trip to Patel Brothers a few days ago, and judging by the amount of these in stock at the time, it was a popular dish. I've enjoyed discovering Indian/Pakistani dishes, even in pre-prepared versions. They usually offer a lot of flavor, despite the absence of meat. This one almost looked like a dessert, but the packaging promised it to be an "all-time favorite savory of Gujarat, made with chickpea flour."

The contents were packaged in a plastic microwavable tray, but since I didn't want to cook the whole thing at once, I popped the frozen square out of the tray and cut off a small piece to microwave. The ingredients consisted of water, chickpea flour, palm oil, and quite a few herbs/spices (cilantro, coconut, green chili, mustard seed, curry leaves, chili powder, turmeric). Based on the appearance, I really had no idea what this one was going to taste like.

After about a minute, it was ready. Much to my surprise, it looked just like yellow cake after it was heated. The texture was strangely just like sponge cake, with a hint of sweetness that was almost dessert-like. It melted in my mouth after a few chews, but I was left with a spicy, peppery aftertaste that I wasn't expecting. I should expect heat with Indian cuisine by now, but the texture of this one made me think I might encounter something else. Even though it was a surprise on several levels, I definitely enjoyed it. I'm glad I did, since I ended up taking home 2 of them (they were buy one, get one free).

I might end up using the rest of this as a side for dinner this week, but for now, I'll probably eat the rest on its own. Good stuff.

Day 285

"Hippo" Baked Snack: As my readers probably know by now, I can't resist trying imported snack foods. Aside from usually being affordable, they tend to offer an easy glimpse into how other countries view snacking options. With that in mind, I managed to find quite a few great new snacks at Patel Brothers earlier this week. I've already tried some interesting stuff from there, and I was equally curious about these "Hippo" snacks I found. The "Chinese Manchurian" flavor was what really got me - what was that about?

I decided to try these as a pre-dinner snack tonight. I wasn't sure what the "Chinese Manchurian" seasoning was, but the ingredients had a list of chemicals and preservatives a mile long. Oh well, at least they were baked. So much for healthy eating this week.

I opened the bag and took a look. Each piece looked like a cross between a puffed-up crouton and potato chip. After trying, the flavor reminded me more of spicier sour cream and onion potato chips than anything Chinese (or Manchurian). Despite being a product of India, I didn't detect any of the typical Indian spices. Nothing too ground-breaking, but I managed to eat about half the bag in one sitting. I was obviously hungry.

The bag also included a statement from the "hippo": "Hippo love Chinese Manchurian. Hippo think Bruce Lee foolish. But Hippo smart to make Hippo Brand Chinese Manchurian munchies. They little tangy and have Chinese spices. Look, Hippo have both munch and punch." Umm...ok.