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Post by bazfaz on Jun 9, 2009 21:51:44 GMT
tsss. i am eating bought cherries as it is. don't cry, they taste okay. Cherries should taste more than just okay. They should be sublime |
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Post by imec on Jun 10, 2009 2:46:02 GMT
I'll be in SW France (near Gaillac) in July. What will be in season?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 4:56:03 GMT
Lots of stuff -- it'll be an excellent time to be there. There will be tons of roadside stands selling crates of tomatoes, melons, etc., to both the camping cars driving south for a few weeks and to the people driving north at the end of their holidays.
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Post by hwinpp on Jun 10, 2009 5:38:50 GMT
This is what you get in the provinces (Kirirom in this case):  Top row, left to right: rambutans, guavas, tiep barang (French custard apples) Bottom row, l to r: salak, mangosteens, xxx, put reah Don't know what xxx is. It must be from the jungle, the city folk working in my office didn't know it. |
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Post by rikita on Jun 10, 2009 7:00:15 GMT
tsss. i am eating bought cherries as it is. don't cry, they taste okay. Cherries should taste more than just okay. They should be sublime wouldn't that depend on how much into cherries you are? but anyway, of course fresh cherries from a tree live better - but living in a city has advantages too, and thus i think going without nearby cherry trees is a disadvantage i am willing to accept. |
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Post by mockchoc on Jun 10, 2009 7:47:01 GMT
I want mangosteens like in your pic hwinpp! I bought one the other day and it was no good and much smaller  |
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Post by bazfaz on Jun 10, 2009 9:19:54 GMT
Mangosteens are such a fickle fruit. When we are in SEA we always seem to be too late or too early for the season.
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Post by hwinpp on Jun 10, 2009 10:53:08 GMT
I'll think of you the next time I buy a couple of kg, MC!
Yes, they are fickle, and bad travelers. Get bruised easily.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 12:04:16 GMT
Goodness,hw,what a beautiful,bountiful array of exotics! Don't know most of them except in name only. All I hear and see about where you are makes me more and more inclined to seek out an adventure to that part of the world. I have a dear friend who spends half the year in Thailand,Hua Hin. He has been trying to lure me over there for years.Maybe next year if the $$ get better.
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Post by bazfaz on Jun 10, 2009 14:36:07 GMT
I haven't been to Hua Hin (I was up the coast a little way) but I hear the town has a lot of big hotels and bars. But the seafood is meant to be good.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 10, 2009 19:00:46 GMT
Baz has mentioned foraging for seasonal fruits, and Casimira talked of the neighborhood bounty being shared. Here is more about that. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2009 21:22:59 GMT
Great piece Bixa,thanks. The first thing I did when we moved to this neighborhood was scope out the neighborhood fig trees. There are several and the owners don't mind my picking. I try not to get too greedy. I share my citrus when in season with most of my neighbors. One year I had a bumper crop of blood oranges and had to leave suddenly to go to NY for an emergency so had to harvest before the raccoons and opossum got them. I packed a bag to take and that evening before I left everyone on the block got a sack on their doorstep in my haste.Haven't had a crop like that since.  Figs are coming in nice,I say around the 4th of July. There are enough laden loquat trees that go virtually untouched it's sickening. The local parrots stay fat. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 11, 2009 2:39:11 GMT
The untouched loquat trees may constitute a comment on changing times and tastes. Back in the 70s, you had to guard the loquat trees from little boys who'd climb up in them for the fruit and wind up breaking the branches.
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Post by bazfaz on Jun 11, 2009 7:13:00 GMT
We planted a loquat tree when we moved here. In 2008 we got fruit, which we enjoyed. We had our neighbour for dinner and he was impressed that I had used loquats in a Thai style prawn salad. But the tree has a ridiculous way of behaving. It flowers with us (south of France) in November, the little fruits have to survibe winter, then we get ripe fruit at the end of May. This past winter saw snow and frost - so there is no crop. What is the advantage to the tree in behaving in this perverse way?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2009 7:22:05 GMT
Well, that's sort of the principle of winter wheat, but at least winter wheat isn't aftraid of ice and snow.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 11, 2009 7:24:54 GMT
Perhaps it's trying to tell you that it's not a native of France? At least your tree has read the wikipedia article. The one by my porch is in full, glorious flower even though it is Spring, not Fall here. I'd forgive it anything, though, because of it's wonderful scent. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2009 14:58:04 GMT
Market this a.m.,all the squashes and multicolored eggplant (is there a discernible taste difference between the purple,white etc.that anyone knows of?). Several varieties of melon,continued blueberries,some late strawberries  . Beautiful,beautiful Creole tomatoes. I loaded up on just about everything this week. |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 16, 2009 15:23:55 GMT
......... multicolored eggplant (is there a discernible taste difference between the purple,white etc.that anyone knows of?). Heavens, yes! I planted four varieties this past season, and the difference between them is remarkable. Your preference for some will be so strong that you'll soon be planting them &/or seeking them out. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2009 18:47:35 GMT
Peaches, nectarines and apricots have started appearing at the store, but I know they won't be any good for at least another month.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2009 19:00:30 GMT
......... multicolored eggplant (is there a discernible taste difference between the purple,white etc.that anyone knows of?). Heavens, yes! I planted four varieties this past season, and the difference between them is remarkable. Your preference for some will be so strong that you'll soon be planting them &/or seeking them out. I can't really tell a taste difference between the long skinny ichiban's and the plump purple,so are you speaking of the white and striped or what,help me here? |
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 16, 2009 19:08:19 GMT
The long white ones are wonderful -- no bitterness at all, but quite flavorful. The long green ones are good, too, but not nearly as nice as the white ones. The rosa bianca is great and so pretty.
I never could see any difference between ichibans and the big purples.
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Post by spindrift on Jun 16, 2009 21:24:06 GMT
'Ichiban'? this translates at 'number one' (the best) in Japanese. Ichiban = type of aubergine?
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Post by Deleted on Jun 16, 2009 22:03:20 GMT
Yes,'ichiban is a variety of eggplant(aubergine),it's long and slender.  |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2009 14:50:51 GMT
Slim pickings this a.m. at the market due to the heat wave and drought. One grower told me they have one man employed solely for the purpose of watering(irrigation pipes,2 motors going 24 hours).
I did however,snitch my first ripe fig out walking the beast this a.m.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 23, 2009 16:41:09 GMT
The cherries at the market are excellent now, but the prices have not come down much.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 23, 2009 19:08:31 GMT
I did however,snitch my first ripe fig ... *books flight to New Orleans* |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 1, 2009 7:12:14 GMT
The peaches are starting to look good. I would say the same thing about the apricots if I liked apricots.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2009 14:27:22 GMT
You don't like apricots?!
Wow. I so wish I could buy apricots. I also have a lovely memory concerning them. When we lived in Madrid when I was little, my brother and I played with kids who had an apricot tree in their yard. We'd play cooking and open and save all the apricot kernels. When we had a bunch, their mom would give us a can of sweetened condensed milk, which we'd mix with the kernels, then eat them.
I believe apricot kernels are supposed to be poisonous, but apparently not.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 22, 2009 10:18:58 GMT
At the market yesterday one can see the summer wind down vegetable wise. Still available are the delicious Creole tomatoes,okra,eggplants,zucchini and several types of melon. Lest I forget, there are is also a variety of figs,some I've never seen before. There are the regular 'Celeste" and Brown Turkey along with two new ones developed in recent years by LSU. One is called LSU purple and is a plump purple,the other LSU Gold is ,you guessed it,a plump gold. I sampled one of each and although good ,did not hold up to the goodness of 'Celeste".
Also,available are tuberoses which I would have killed to have been able to buy a dozen of.
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Post by auntieannie on Jul 23, 2009 20:35:25 GMT
we have received some green beans for the second week in a row today, and cherry tomatoes have made an apparition.
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