eating things you find lying around

[boxofdelights]

There are some black and red currant bushes along the bike path near my house. The fruit is almost over. They are so tedious to top and tail, but so good! Flavors intense and varied. The first time I walked past with my husband I picked one and ate it then picked one and tried to give it to him.
He winced. "Pesticides!"
"They don't even water these poor bushes, why would they be out here spraying pesticides on the fruit?"
He hesitated, maybe thinking of the other things that could be on roadside bushes, then ate it and pronounced it delicious. He is willing to eat purslane from my garden, but probably not from the side of a bike path. We will not mention the fact that feral cats hang out in my garden.
There are some other bushes near the bike path, less than waist-high, with fruit that looks and tastes like a marble-sized plum. Any guesses?

I approve of edible landscaping. Very much. But there are places it is not appropriate. To make a large parking lot less hellish, what you want is shade. In the Foothills Mall parking lot, someone once planted dwarf apple trees. No shade to speak of, but the spaces around them are filled with apple smush in autumn.

I never eat the pickled ginger that comes with takeout sushi. I like pickled ginger, I just can't understand wanting to remove the taste of sushi. If Neal is around I give it to him; otherwise, I've been putting it in the freezer. For Neal's birthday, I decided to try candying it. One cup frozen pickled ginger, one cup sugar, one cup water, simmer until the water is mostly gone. It's good. I made him some more to take on his hiking trip with Mungo, but he wanted to leave it at home. He didn't want it to spoil in his backpack. "How do we preserve food without refrigeration?" I said. "We dry it, smoke it, salt it, pickle it, candy it. Candied pickled ginger is not going to go bad in ten days!" It didn't last ten days because he and Mungo ate it all in three.

I am really really pleased that my picky eater turned into an adventurous eater even though I never coerced him to eat anything he didn't want.

Oddly, Aiko is Sir Not-appearing-in-this-post.

Comments

[em_h]

I rarely if ever eat pickled ginger with my sushi, but I like having the little containers around the house so I can grab one if I feel like a quick pickled-ginger hit. Candying is an interesting idea, though. Sometimes we end up with an excess, so maybe I'll try that next time.

[laughingrat]

Ooo, candied pickled ginger. Hmm.

[telophase]

Toby thought he was a picky eater, but it turns out not so much: it hadn't occurred to him to try things he doesn't like when cooked another way. For instance, he hates quite a few vegetables when cooked by steamng or boiling, but we discovered that roasting them changes whatever compound it is that he hates and he'll eat them happily.

And he used to think he hated salads, but I pointed out that he likes romaine lettuce, mushrooms, red bell peppers, and green onions and that makes a salad right there. Put ranch or ginger dressing on it and he's happy as a clam. He just hates raw tomatoes and iceberg lettuce, which are on most restaurant salads around here.

[jesse_the_k]

I am so glad he grew into an adventursome eater without nagging. Nagging is a drag, and no parsnips or dandelion wine or raw fish is even worse.

Sushi ginger makes my life so much better in so many ways. (Including, shifting from one roll to another to reset my palate while eating sushi.)

I am, however, a sushi ginger snob. I go for the undyed, four-ingredient loveliness from the Ginger People: organic ginger, organic cane sugar, rice vinegar, citric acid.

I add a couple slices in iced mint tea. I throw it in salad dressings when there's avocado. Loft a dozen slices into sweet&sour stir fry.