New Discoveries....

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

In my wanderings at our local markets, I am seeing new crops of fruits and vegetables, some of which I personally couldn't identity. Yes, I have purchased them and brought them home to eat and to educate myself. The two are "kaki" or persimmon and "nopal" or prickly pear. Yes, I know, some of you may say, "But Rachel, you're from the Southwest and should know your cacti" but I didn't know about this prickly pear fruit (which is very abundant in the mountains of Mexico). I have discovered that it's very heart healthy, has lots of fiber, has antioxidant qualities and is very good for the GI tract...taste wise, nothing to really get excited over but all those seeds, well I can see their benefit...Oh, and one last thing, they're supposed to be "internationally known" as a great hangover prevention as they have an anti-nausea aspect to them.

The persimmon originally hailed from China and then made its way to Japan where they are very popular and come in many varieties. In the 1800's they were brought to the US and I guess are pretty common in California...again, I was totally ignorant when I first saw them. I thought they were pale, soft tomatoes. They come in styrofoam type containers and are very ripe and soft. We are not supposed to eat them until they are very ripe because unripened they can create a big blockage in our stomach which can be difficult to treat. This is a problem for animals who don't understand.

Taste wise, not too bad; I made a sauce for our salmon out of them. I think a sauce for pork would also taste good and they are abundant in Vitamin A and C.

There is one last veggie that I need to figure out. I haven't bought it because it just looks like really old, pale, wilted celery. I've seen big bunches of them in bins and am not too attracted. My next step will be to write down their Italian name and go from there. So much to learn.