Weak joke, that title, I know, but JayZ's voice keeps singing that in my head as I researched my list of fruits I've tried, so I couldn't come up with anything better when it came down to it.
When I created my Life List, I added the goal to taste 1,000 fruits. It's totally doable because there are thousands of different varieties of many fruits like mangos, apples, grapes, and even watermelons. The biggest problem I'm realizing that I will have naming them all is that so many are represented in grocery stores under their basic name. For example, when you buy grapes, cherries, peaches, nectarines, or plums (just to name a few) in the grocery store, you have the possibility of getting a range of varieties depending on the season. However, for some inexplicable reason, grocery stores vary rarely even mention the variety.
Apples are one of the few fruits that are actually sold by variety, and that's why they are one of the better tasting fruits in grocery produce sections. Because they're sold by variety, they can charge higher prices for the ones that are more difficult to get to market (example: Honeycrisp) because people will pay more knowing that the brand tastes better than those that are cheap and easy to transport (example: Red Delicious). For some reason, this has not yet advanced to other fruits.
I'm actually pretty ashamed to admit that the thought really never crossed my mind before that I was eating different varieties of peaches, nectarines, or plums (among others). You'd think that I would have realized that the variety was the reason that sometimes my stone fruits were delicious and sometimes they were terrible. Still, better late than never! Hopefully, being more aware of the varieties offered in stores will mean that I buy less awful fruit in the future.
Here are a few of the odd fruits I've tried since setting my goal.
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| Paw-Paw (Tried in Athens, OH)-Good. Sweet and pulpy. Kind of like a bland peach. |
Apples are one of the few fruits that are actually sold by variety, and that's why they are one of the better tasting fruits in grocery produce sections. Because they're sold by variety, they can charge higher prices for the ones that are more difficult to get to market (example: Honeycrisp) because people will pay more knowing that the brand tastes better than those that are cheap and easy to transport (example: Red Delicious). For some reason, this has not yet advanced to other fruits.
I'm actually pretty ashamed to admit that the thought really never crossed my mind before that I was eating different varieties of peaches, nectarines, or plums (among others). You'd think that I would have realized that the variety was the reason that sometimes my stone fruits were delicious and sometimes they were terrible. Still, better late than never! Hopefully, being more aware of the varieties offered in stores will mean that I buy less awful fruit in the future.
Here are a few of the odd fruits I've tried since setting my goal.
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| Dragon Fruit (Tried in Korea)-Not great. Didn't have much flavor. Light sweetness, a little grainy. Might have been overripe. |
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| Yellow Melon (and Dragon Fruit)-Good Tasted like Honeydew |
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| Loquat (Tried in Jeju, Korea)-Good Sort of a sweet/sour tiny orange. Annoying amount of seeds. |
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| Chayote (Tried at home/Cooked in Thai dish Nathan made.)-Good Tastes like a mix between an apple and a potato. Image by Stephen Crout, The Obsessive Chef |
Seems that I am directly responsible, based on my geographical locations, for you trying the majority of the pictured fruits. You're welcome. Let me know what other fruits you need to pick up and I will try to move to a suitable location.
ReplyDeleteFunny, that's exactly what I was thinking as I wrote each pictures' caption. I'll give the next location some thought and inform you of your next move. Stay tuned!
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