Tips and Tricks from the Professionals
Various fruits
The spiky, fruit cup-flavoured orb made an appearance on “Star Trek.” With its spiky, orange exterior and seedy, green flesh, the African horned cucumber may look a bit otherwordly to those unfamiliar with it. Its appearance is so striking, it once moonlighted in an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as a “Golana melon” from the planet …
When Iraqi Jews fled to Israel, they opened shops serving dishes that reminded them of home. Immigrants dotted the suburbs of Tel Aviv with shawarma and falafel stands, equipped with condiments and spices that reflected the Iraqi palate. Amba is one such contribution. Today, Israelis know and love this spiced, fermented mango topping, which is found across …
Find this rare, savoury mango on the periphery of Borneo markets with other odorous fruit. Compared to other mangoes, Borneo’s bambangan stands out for a few reasons. It looks different, with rough brown skin and a hefty size (a single fruit can reach more than five pounds). It smells different, with ripe varieties emitting a …
Armenians were making these sweet sheets of dried fruit centuries before the Fruit Roll-Up. T’tu lavash (“t’-TOO lah-VAHSH”), a traditional fruit leather found throughout Armenia, resembles a super-sized Fruit Roll-Up. The sight of it will likely delight any child hooked on the popular American snack brand, as vendors often sell t’tu lavash in sheets far too …
The intoxicating South African fruit is beloved by humans and elephants. A relative of cashew, mango, and pistachio plants, the marula tree is iconic in South Africa. It’s best known as the main ingredient in Amarula cream liqueur, which tastes nutty and sweet, like a butterscotch milkshake. Most diners consume the fruit raw, pureed in …
You might assume that this watermelon here has been carved by hand, but actually is completely natural. This strange condition is known as “hollow heart”. Hollow heart can happen due to poor pollination causing the watermelon to develop cracks internally. Cutting a watermelon, affected with hollow heart, across the body will reveal a well defined …
The little-known fruit tastes like peanut M&Ms. The large Celtis occidentalis tree produces tiny, dark red berries that live up to the claim that fruits are nature’s candy. These are commonly known as hackberries. Hackberries are native to North America and were used extensively by Native Americans as a source of food and medicine. They are …
Devour this rare variety without fear of post-pineapple mouth irritation. If a sweet, juicy, yellow pineapple has any flaws, it’s only the inedible core and the achy feeling you get in your mouth after consuming too much of the fruit. In both cases, bromelain is the culprit. The enzyme is responsible for irritating the mouth, …
Inside a hard, yellow shell lies a sweet, black spread. JARED RYDELEK Peanut butter fruit may have met its perfect match with another oddity of nature: blackberry jam fruit. The fruit of Rosenbergiodendron formosum has a pulp that’s so jam-like in its consistency that some people actually spread it over bread. The flowering bush is native to …
A colourized 1902 photograph shows a banana cart in Detroit LIBRARY OF CONGRESS/LC-D4-19576 The forgotten, flavoursome Big Mike is elusive, but not impossible to find. Just below the end of Wall Street, at the tip of Lower Manhattan where the island meets the furthest estuaries of the green-grey Atlantic, there are no bananas. I’m around …
A Quest for the Gros Michel, the Great Banana of Yesteryear Read More »
Health News – Avocado toast is the gourmet meal of choice for trendy brunchers everywhere. But, by now, most of us have taken this restaurant-worthy treat in-house to munch on whenever the mood strikes. After all, it can’t get much easier then topping crusty bread with the bright green slices, a squeeze of lime and …
Blueberries have high concentrations of anthocyanins in their skin. We might be eating a completely new type of blueberry with healthy, colourful flesh, in the future, thanks to government funding. Through the MBIE Endeavour Fund, Plant & Food Research has received funding to investigate the potential for a new commercial crop that combines the taste and …
The Olive tree dates back to early ancient times in both biblical and classical writings. In these early writings, the olive oil is referenced as a symbol of both goodness and purity, and the tree represents peace and happiness. In ancient times, the oil was also burnt in sacred lamps at temples during the Olympic …
John Oyagawa was born in Fiji and moved to New Zealand at the age of 21 to further his education. John and his sister Cherie Oyagawa-Smith own Cafe O — two cafes in Nadi, Fiji, and one in Auckland. He shows how to prepare fresh and flavoursome grated coconut flesh here. 1. Choose a heavy …
Step 1: Tools Step 2: Process Put the cherry on the top of the bottle and push through the cherry stone with the chopstick
123RF Passionfruit taste best when left to wrinkle for a few days. A native of southern Brazil, Passiflora edulis gained its English name thanks to the habit of Jesuit missionaries using its striking flowers to illustrate the crucifixion. New Zealand’s first commercial plantings were in Kerikeri in 1927. But today it is mostly cultivated in …
Step 1: How to Choose a Ripe (or ripening) Star Fruit: When ripe, star fruit appear mainly bright yellow with tinges of light green. They may have some dark brown along the five ridges – this is normal. The flesh should still be quite firm to the touch. You can also buy star fruit when …
Here’s how to produce paper-thin apple slices. Start peeling, halving and coring your apples. Lay each half on the cutting surface, cut side down. Using a very sharp chef’s knife, slice each half into very thin slices crosswise, aiming for each slice to be no more than 1/8 inch thick. But here’s the trick. Do …
