Fruit loupe

[bluesilverkdg]

It may amaze and astonish some of you who know me well, to know that I have been eating fruit lately. I have never cared for fruit. I tried to eat it, but I think it was partly a texture thing and...I don't know what other problems I had with it, but I just never, ever ate it. I mean, if someone HAD a grape and offered me one (because that happens all the time), I wouldn't refuse it. But I can't say that I ever liked fruit, and I certainly never kept any in my home. Even when I was a kid, I thought bananas were gross. I found them slimy and nasty. My mom would be all devious and try to slip strawberries into my cereal, but I was having none of that. I've always liked fruit-FLAVORED things. Candy, jello, gum, Kool-Aid...that was acceptable. I enjoy smelling like fruit. And I like fruit juice. I could drink orange juice 'til the cows come home, whenever that is. But I just couldn't bring myself to eat the real thing.

However, I recently decided that I just needed a little more fruit in my world. So, I started off with some basics: apples, bananas and grapes. I've actually still not branched out much beyond this. I dare not try anything too exotic like papaya or starfruit. Oh, I did eat a peach the other day, and I found it stringy and not sweet enough. Oranges are still a no-go. That white crap around them is just disgusting! I cannot find berries of any type that are sweet enough for my liking. (I firmly believe blueberries to be of the devil.) I would like to enjoy cherries (that are not surrounded by creamy syrup and covered in chocolate), but I just can't do it. Grapefruit scares me. Oh, and kiwi = Yuck. My mom told me I might like papaya, however I'm dubious of this notion. I can tolerate watermelon, but I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about. Canteloupe and honeydew and all those other melons can just bite me, though. Blech.
But I have deemed apples, bananas and grapes an acceptable between-meals snack, and I've gotta admit, much to my surprise, I'm actually kind of enjoying them! Maybe I'm just finally growing up.

It's funny, I will eat just about any vegetable under the sun. Seriously. Brussels sprouts? Yum. Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, endive, peppers, squash, zucchini? Bring 'em on! I could live on spinach and other greens. And of course potatoes, beans of all sorts, and tomatoes are just about the best things ever (please don't try to tell me how tomatoes are a fruit...lalalalalalala...I can't hear you.) I don't care for turnips or beets. I think those are the only veggies I just don't like at all. And I'm only OK with onions if they're cooked. But otherwise, veggies have always been my friend. Not so with fruit, but I am glad to report that I have now made peace with (some of) them.

Is an avocado a fruit or a vegetable? And do people just eat them by themselves? I mean, I like guacamole a lot. If it IS a fruit, but you eat it with tortilla chips, well, then color me intrigued.

Maybe one of these days I'll live real dangerously and pick up some dragonfruit or guava or something. What does guava taste like, anyway?

Comments

[pfy.livejournal.com]

Avocado is a fruit, but it's an honorary vegetable just like tomatoes.

The fruit in supermarkets here is almost always underripe, especially if it's out of season and has to be shipped from abroad. Fruit that's picked underripe never tastes as good as fruit that's ripened on the plant. For example, supermarket peaches tend to be little hard things that go kind of rubbery instead of ripening. A properly ripe peach should drip exquisitely sweet juice all down your top when you bite into it. So buy stuff that's in season, and find a good supplier.

There are some fruit farms here that let people pick their own fruit. Do you have those where you live? I remember spending afternoons as a kid picking strawberries in the sun, then going home and eating them with cream. It was the tastiest thing ever.

You could try things at different stages of ripeness. Overripe bananas are a bit slimy, but underripe ones are almost crisp.

Mangoes are very sweet, and I love them, but I'm not sure you'd like the texture. They're kind of squishy and stringy inside. Maybe you could try making a mango smoothie or something to avoid any texture problems.

Try pineapple? They are very sugary when ripe, but also a bit tart. They are a lot of work to peel, though.

You may also find this reference chart helpful: http://www.xkcd.com/388/

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, with the warm climate, we can grow all kinds of things around here, except for tropical and citrus fruits. But things like strawberries, blackberries, peaches, etc...they're all flourish here. So, yes, we have all kinds of "U-pick" farms.

Actually my parents go to South Carolina every summer to get peaches (it's a self-pick farm.) I've never tried any of the ones they bring back, but they absolutely rave about them, so think this summer, I may break down and try one. I did have some issues with the stringiness of the peach I tried, though. I'm very picky about things like that.

I like medium-ripe bananas. If they're too underripe, they're too sour. But if they're overrippe, they're mushy. So I like them kind of in the middle.

I've tried pineapple (fresh) that's already been cut up, and I actually have found it a bit too tart. Again, it could be overripe, because they're often shipped from places like Hawaii, and they probably get them green. If I ever find myself in Hawaii, I will partake in the local fruit. :-P

[pfy.livejournal.com]

Oh! Have you tried tamarind? It's like some kind of weird alien pod-fruit.

Tamarind for eating raw is ripened and partially dried out. The pods have hard brittle shells. You break the shell off, and remove any stringy bits attached to the pulp. Then you eat the pulp, making sure you don't bite any of the seeds (which are like little brown pebbles) inside. The pulp is sticky and sweet with a hint of sourness, and has a taste and texture a bit like dates. Yum.

[bluesilverkdg.livejournal.com]

OK..I don't think I agree with that chart. They rank green apples and blueberries as "easy, but tasty", and red apples and tomatoes as "easy, but not tasty??!"

[pfy.livejournal.com]

I disagreed with the ranking of tomatoes, too. Freshly-picked homegrown tomatoes are soooooo good. Especially sweet little cherry tomatoes... mmmmmm...

I like blueberries, but they're nowhere near as good as cherries or plums.