For the love of Produce...

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  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    @mtaratoot
    I love okra and I revile vinegar. I think Windex tastes better and that is not normally considered a food or even a food-like substance. Vinegar is possibly the only edible substance I positively revile ^_^. That is inconvenient because vinegar is so popular, as is pickled stuff. On the other hand, since most pickled stuff contains sugar, a substance I do like but only in desserts, my dislike for vinegar steers me clear of much added sugar as well, and that is not usually considered a Bad Thing.

    We can find "fresh" okra here, but it costs more than twice as much as the frozen stuff and it is a bit inconvenient. That said, I would never buy it anyway. It makes no sense to me. I learned very early on, about 50 years ago to the day, that the freshest vegetables money can buy in a store is the frozen stuff and that is not even taking into account the impracticalities of bachelor life. It is just too bad that not all vegetables can be bought frozen.

    This is the okra I prefer:
    3goasllhubsd.png
    Unfortunately for me, it is relatively hard to get in my neck of the woods. The only store where I have been able to find it is a little over 2 km from where I live and they don't always have it. It is one of the reasons I am contemplating buying an extra freezer, as soon as I am able to figure out where to put it.
    This one is easier to get, but I don't like it as much because it doesn't have much taste, possibly because it is baby okra:
    bd60cg97trng.png
    I also like freeze-dried okra as a snack. It is heavenly, to me anyway. Too bad I have never been able to find it in Toronto.


  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    @BartBVanBockstaele

    If you like okra, and if you like vinegar, look for pickled okra. It can be divine. Of course it's a MUST if you have a Bloody Mary, but it's also just a tasty treat.

    We don't see fresh okra here so often. Our growing season isn't long enough, so when we do see it, it has been shipped from a LONG way away.

    How short is your growing season? I've grown okra from seed here in Michigan, i.e., direct seeding outdoors. I think it was the Jambalaya variety from Johnny's Selected Seeds, which they list as 50 days to maturity - much shorter than most Winter squash, among other longer things it seems like you've mentioned growing in your area. (Delicatas, even Johnny's varieties - selected for the North - run 95-100 days to maturity.)

    Okra is such a pretty plant, too - beautiful big flowers that look a bit like Hibiscus (which is a semi-near relative).
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    edited November 2022
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I've been eating the pineapple neighbor Bob gave me. I've cut it in slices, leaving in the center core. (Am I the only one that really enjoys the slightly more fibrous center core?)
    I have always eaten the core when I had fresh pineapple. It makes no sense to me to not eat it. That said, since I almost never buy it I don't often eat it either.
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    Does anyone have interesting uses for fresh pineapple that are more in a non-dessert kind of direction? I've thought about frying or broiling. But if anyone has ideas, bring 'em on.
    I would just put it in soup or mix it with other vegetables when cooking it, but only if it is not very ripe. The only way I have found so far that I really dislike is on pizza.
    Otherwise, people having different tastes is part of what makes life interesting, and I'm disinclined to cross-examine them.
    I am the opposite. I don't really care what people like or dislike. What really interests me is their explanation because that is what may teach me something I do not know or have never considered.
    Whether most people dislike veggies, and why many people eat too few of them for best health, would be a relevant topic to post in the Debate Club area. While it's a question about veggies, I still think it's a tangent to the point of this thread, i.e., takes it off topic . . . and taking threads off topic is against the MFP Community Guidelines.
    I have to disagree here as well. Talking about love for something, includes talking about hate for something and everything in between those two extremes. After all, hate and love are just two markers on the same measuring scale. Take one of them away and the scale becomes meaningless.



  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I've been eating the pineapple neighbor Bob gave me. I've cut it in slices, leaving in the center core. (Am I the only one that really enjoys the slightly more fibrous center core?)

    Does anyone have interesting uses for fresh pineapple that are more in a non-dessert kind of direction? I've thought about frying or broiling. But if anyone has ideas, bring 'em on.

    Tepache!

    Using the center core is fine, although using the whole thing is also pretty good. It is mildly fermented, so if people are avoiding alcohol, it's not the best idea. But it can be pretty tasty. I know the fibrous core also is tasty to just chew on; I don't like to actually eat it. But to "let it rot" into tepache can be a fun thing to do.


    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    How short is your growing season? I've grown okra from seed here in Michigan, i.e., direct seeding outdoors. I think it was the Jambalaya variety from Johnny's Selected Seeds, which they list as 50 days to maturity - much shorter than most Winter squash, among other longer things it seems like you've mentioned growing in your area. (Delicatas, even Johnny's varieties - selected for the North - run 95-100 days to maturity.)

    Okra is such a pretty plant, too - beautiful big flowers that look a bit like Hibiscus (which is a semi-near relative).


    Maybe not so much a short season per se, but growing degree days. We have a long season. With a greenhouse, we can harvest lettuce year round. There's a hydroponic farm nearby where you can go take one leaf of each variety and make a salad for a small army. We can grow winter beets. We just don't seem to have the HEAT that okra likes. There may be newer varieties that do better, and I have started seeing it in the market more often in the last few summers. We've also never had good local peaches, but there's now some varieties that do OK.

    Years ago a friend suggested piling soil into a stack of tractor tires to grow okra. The black rubber could heat the soil and grow the crop, but.... No thank you.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,989 Member
    @AnnPT77
    This is my favourite thing to do with pineapple. Goes well with both Mexican and SE Asian, and I typically add coriander to take it in either direction.

    https://chefmichaelsmith.com/recipe/grilled-pineapple-red-onion-salad/
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,989 Member
    If you have an Indian/Bangla/Pakistani supermarket, that is where I see fresh okra (year round, I think) near me in London UK. At some times during the year it is bloody expensive so must be imported from far away.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    From the OP, the part that's pretty much the 'charter' for the thread:
    purplefizzy wrote: »
    My question:
    Got a love affair of your own with the veggie realm?
    What is the vegetable you love introducing to nonveggie-loving friends?
    What new-to-you veggie are you surprised that you like?
    How do you boost nutrition in meals/recipes with innovative veggie additions?
    Are you doing cool stuff with jackfruit? Spiralizing celerac?
    Wat preparation method changed your mind about a particular vegetable/fruit?

    Inspire me with your produce bounty!!
    acpgee wrote: »
    @AnnPT77
    This is my favourite thing to do with pineapple. Goes well with both Mexican and SE Asian, and I typically add coriander to take it in either direction.

    https://chefmichaelsmith.com/recipe/grilled-pineapple-red-onion-salad/

    Oooo, @acpgee - that sounds really delicious! (The challenge will be finding good fresh basil or coriander here when it's already Winter.) Yum!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    I mourn that older varieties of apples are less available. Most of the modern ones are too sweet, too simple tasting, and I don't love the texture. Granny Smith taste fine, but I'd prefer something of firmness intermediate between that and the average run of apples. I'd like some more tartness, some wine-y-ness than most of the sweety-sweet moderns. Rave apples were better than average, though not ideal, but I don't often see them. My old school favorites are Winesaps, but I almost never see them anymore.

    I've tried too many of the newer varieties to list. Does anyone have any to suggest that I might look out for?

    Thanks!
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,989 Member
    @AnnPT77
    I forgot to mention I grill the pineapple and red onion on a cast iron griddle pan. I also skewer the thick red onion slices using bamboo satay prickers, so that the slices stay intact on the grill, making them easier to flip. After peeling, prick through the onion in the latitudinal direction every 3/4 inch or so, then slice into disks between the satay sticks.

    With respect to modern apple varieties, do you find Pink Lady too sweet? I like their crispness.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    @AnnPT77

    I guess I'm very fortunate to live in a place where we have several "specialty" fruit orchards and can get a wide variety of apples. I will probably always love Honeycrisp. I seem to remember Kingston Black is fairly crisp and for sure has some bitterness to balance the sweetness. The Arkansas Black is a little sweeter and VERY crisp. I imagine you should be able to find Winesap apples too.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    From the OP:
    acpgee wrote: »
    @AnnPT77
    I forgot to mention I grill the pineapple and red onion on a cast iron griddle pan. I also skewer the thick red onion slices using bamboo satay prickers, so that the slices stay intact on the grill, making them easier to flip. After peeling, prick through the onion in the latitudinal direction every 3/4 inch or so, then slice into disks between the satay sticks.

    With respect to modern apple varieties, do you find Pink Lady too sweet? I like their crispness.

    I do buy Pink Lady sometimes. For me, it's sweeter than I'd prefer, but I like it better than some of the other modern varieties. Thank you!
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,989 Member
    Speaking of apples I used some granny smiths in this recipe last night, seeing as we have mojama (=salt cured tuna) that we dragged home from our recent vacation in Valencia.
    https://www.nomadistribution.com.au/recipes/traditional-spanish/52-mojama-recipes
    1q4usgqnds7y.jpeg
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,989 Member
    BTW I discovered making tonight's salad that easy peel mandarins a b**ch to segment and remove pith from. If you are cooking with citrus, stick to varieties where the outer membrane doesn't separate too easily from the skin, and where the segments don't fall apart once the peel is removed.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    That salad, too, looks really yummy @acpgee! I do like Granny Smith apples for some things. For example, that's what I always use when I'm asked to make "traditional" mayo-type coleslaw for family gatherings. It needs a little sweetness, IMO, but I don't like sugar in it - too cloying. The Granny Smiths add a little brightness, too. The family loves my coleslaw 🤷‍♀️, and none of them are allergic to apples, so what they don't know won't hurt them.

    I like my coleslaw OK, but I never make mayo coleslaw for myself. It's just what they always want me to bring, though. I think the other stuff I eat is mostly a little too weird, maybe? This is mostly a group of people who seem to prefer eating things they've eaten before 😆 . . . I guess it's reassuring somehow?

    @mtaratoot, Michigan is a big apple growing state, but not so much right around here - more along the Lake Michigan ridges, where there's some lake effect moderation of temperature extremes. There is quite a selection of different local apple types (at farmers markets and the huuuge local produce market here in town), but it's mostly the modern sweet varieties.

    I cannot love Honeycrisp, though many of my friends do. I've never seen Kingston Black or Arkansas Black here that I can recall. I found Winesaps last Fall, but none this year so far, though the store where I found them is carrying other apples from that same Michigan-based orchard/company. The last bag I bought were Empire, and I don't hate them, but they're not Winesaps.

    I'm probably partly psychologically poisoned by my own curmudgeonliness. It seems like many fruits just get sweeter and sweeter (grapes come to mind as another example) and the super-sweet types drive out availability of other varieties I personally prefer and think have a more complicated flavor profile.

    I also seem to have trouble getting tangerines that taste like I remember tangerines tasting back in the day. I don't find the currently-common tangerines objectionable, but they somehow taste less "tangerine-y" and to me more like an orange variant.
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    edited November 2022
    @AnnPT77

    Slaw. I'm not a mayo guy. There's a place on the coast that makes a slaw that is really good. It's more of a vinegar slaw than a mayo slaw; plus one there. The secret though is they use fennel. Oh my it's so good. A little purple cabbage for color, too. Love it.

    There's another place twenty miles farther down the coast that uses apples in their slaw, and it's a mayo slaw. I don't like it at all.

    And a funny story about why I don't go to the second place so much. Well, there's more, but this one takes the cake. They make clam chowder in-house. They have New England style and Manhattan style. I don't like the sickly thick cream style soup, and it's often hard to find a good Manhattan chowder. Well, one time my ex and I were at this place and ordered the chowder. The server said they would have to make some more because they were out. We said we don't mind waiting; we're on vacation. We were friendly as always. Eventually the chowder came out.

    My ex said, "I don't think there's any clams in this." I thought maybe she was right. We asked the server. She said, "We have two kinds of chowder, clam chowder and Manhattan chowder, and there's no clams in Manhattan chowder." Ummm... OK. Well I grabbed a menu from the next table over. Right smack in the middle of the menu is an area outlined by a thick red border that clearly says "Homemade clam chowder" and lists New England Style and Manhattan Style. The server clearly saw me looking at the menu and came up and said, "I know it says clam chowder on the menu, but there's no clams in Manhattan chowder." I said there always was in the past. She stuck to her guns. It would have been so easy for her to apologize and comp the soup for us. Nope. My only regret is that I left her a nice tip.

    I have never been back.

    They were always slow with service. I can abide that. They make a few good dishes. The slaw isn't one of them. I can abide slow service. But when my dad and I were visiting one time and were seated, we sat for quite a while. Another couple was seated. They got menus and had their order taken before we even got menus. I asked my dad if it would be OK if we left and went somewhere else. He said yeah. That was before the chowder incident. And I'll never go back there. There's too many other good options.

    I have something else to say about chowder in general, and while chowder always has potatoes and Manhattan chowder has tomatoes, it's probably too far removed from produce to write about here. Maybe I'll start another post somewhere about chowder.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,989 Member
    Regarding granny smith in slaws. I typically substitute hard to find green papaya or green mango for a combination of spiralized carrots and granny smith in SE Asian salads such as Som Tam. A combination of grated celeriac and granny smith would work too, I think.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    Regarding granny smith in slaws. I typically substitute hard to find green papaya or green mango for a combination of spiralized carrots and granny smith in SE Asian salads such as Som Tam. A combination of grated celeriac and granny smith would work too, I think.
    I'd like those variations - the relatives would balk at it, because I think they'd *see* it. So weird, to me!

    The young-adult nephew was offended when he learned that the chocolate chip cookies he'd liked on tasting - had bananas! 🤣

    I don't mind pushing their perceptions generally . . . less on holidays, though.

    Holidays are hug time. They keep me in their circle - the widowed relative - on sufferance. I appreciate that deeply, want to please them.



  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,535 Member
    I eat an insane amount of veggies starting with breakfast. Roasted/cast iron/steamed, you name it. Sometimes I'll get em all cooked up and zap em in the Vitamix for a nice soup. I also grow Ponderosa lemons. Baby those giant tart girls like a momma bear till just perfect for harvest!

    Ugli fruit is my winter love <3 sooo hard to find. Its always a conundrum for the produce manager.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    I mourn that older varieties of apples are less available. Most of the modern ones are too sweet, too simple tasting, and I don't love the texture. Granny Smith taste fine, but I'd prefer something of firmness intermediate between that and the average run of apples. I'd like some more tartness, some wine-y-ness than most of the sweety-sweet moderns. Rave apples were better than average, though not ideal, but I don't often see them. My old school favorites are Winesaps, but I almost never see them anymore.

    I've tried too many of the newer varieties to list. Does anyone have any to suggest that I might look out for?

    Thanks!
    I have the same problem. I noticed that apples are usually classified as "crunchy" or "sweet" here in Toronto, no one seems to be talking about taste. My (slightly extreme) thoughts on that is that glass test tubes are very crunchy and icing sugar is very sweet. Neither are particularly attractive as foods. As for Granny Smith, to me, they are comparable to test tubes covered in citric acid.

    I tend to eat Cortland apples the most, they are fragile and don't last long, but they are probably the tastiest I can find in my neck of the woods.

  • allaboutthecake
    allaboutthecake Posts: 1,535 Member
    I think you get more crunchy bang for your buck if you can find tree-ripened apples directly at the farm. I was lucky to nab a huge box of tree-ripened apples and the taste/crunch/sweetness couldn't be rivaled by any 6-10 month storage-bin apple!
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    allaboutthecake wrote: »
    I think you get more crunchy bang for your buck if you can find tree-ripened apples directly at the farm. I was lucky to nab a huge box of tree-ripened apples and the taste/crunch/sweetness couldn't be rivaled by any 6-10 month storage-bin apple!

    When possible, I'm getting mine at farmers markets from local-ish growers. Generally, if it's apple season, they will have been picked in the past day or so. But a too-sweet too-simple (to my taste) apple variety is still too sweet and too simple, even if fresh. I agree that tree-ripened and fresh-picked are usually best, within any given variety, though.
  • acpgee
    acpgee Posts: 7,989 Member
    I don't normally cook squashes besides courgette as they are generally too big for our household of two. We were supposed host a friend for dinner who cancelled at the last minute and I prepared the planned roast dinner anyway. What do you do with two thirds of of a leftover roast butternut squash? It is not sweetened really, as I sprinkled the tiniest pinch of brown sugar on top. We have a couple of leftover roast new potatoes and a little roast cherry tomato, both skin on too.

    Was considering a soup made by sauteeing some onion, adding scooped out leftover squash and peeled leftover potato and skin on tomatoes. Blitzing that with the immersion blender and maybe adding a handful of split red lentils. Maybe stir in the leftover bit of Philly light cream cheese languishing in the fridge just before serving?

    Ideas on what to do with the squash and other roast veg welcome.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,562 Member
    acpgee wrote: »
    I don't normally cook squashes besides courgette as they are generally too big for our household of two. We were supposed host a friend for dinner who cancelled at the last minute and I prepared the planned roast dinner anyway. What do you do with two thirds of of a leftover roast butternut squash? It is not sweetened really, as I sprinkled the tiniest pinch of brown sugar on top. We have a couple of leftover roast new potatoes and a little roast cherry tomato, both skin on too.

    Was considering a soup made by sauteeing some onion, adding ?scooped out leftover squash and peeled leftover potato and skin on tomatoes. Blitzing that with the immersion blender and maybe adding a handful of split red lentils. Maybe stir in the leftover bit of Philly light cream cheese languishing in the fridge just before serving?

    Ideas on what to do with the squash and other roast veg .

    The soup would be good. I'd consider sage or something smoked (smoked hot peppers are nice with squash IMO). Some toasted seeds (something hull-less, maybe pepitas or sunflower?) on top or blended in (or both) are good, IMO, too.

    But I don't usually have leftover squash, unless you count my intentional vast freezer stockpile!
  • mtaratoot
    mtaratoot Posts: 14,367 Member
    @acpgee

    If you make the soup, and if "fishy" fish is something you eat, add a can of mackerel right before you serve the soup. I ate a lot of winter squash soup with mackerel when I was in grad school. Makes me nostalgic. Maybe I'll make some. I bet it would be good with salmon, too.
  • BartBVanBockstaele
    BartBVanBockstaele Posts: 623 Member
    mtaratoot wrote: »
    @acpgee

    If you make the soup, and if "fishy" fish is something you eat, add a can of mackerel right before you serve the soup. I ate a lot of winter squash soup with mackerel when I was in grad school. Makes me nostalgic. Maybe I'll make some. I bet it would be good with salmon, too.
    Most fish will be great, but the fattiest are probably best indeed. I love sardines, especially fresh or frozen ones, but even the canned ones are a great addition, which is what I usually do since fresh/frozen ones are usually not available where I live.

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