Fruit Maven » winter

Pixie Tangerine

Fruit Maven — Tue, 08 May 2012 18:46:00 +0000

I just ate three pixie tangerines for lunch without batting an eyelash. And they were good — really good. Don’t worry, I’m not going all fruitarian on you, I can barely succeed at simple things like limiting dairy. Last night I had macaroni and cheese for dinner and the meal before that included fries and a cheeseburger. It’s just that I recently moved and most of my food is still at the old house. The four things I couldn’t leave without though, were three cartons of jumbo blueberries, a bag of pixie tangerines, a carton of milk and some hummus. Not sure what I’m planning to do with that hummus. But it made the cut so maybe a hummus/blueberry experiment is up next.

I received these pixies from Melissa’s last week and I worried they would go to waste as I was so engrossed with moving. Alas, I was dead wrong. They have satisfied my growling belly and I’m sure kept me healthy. I’ve eaten at least two every day.

Pixies were one of the very first tangerines that I tried a few years ago, where they were so good that I made a point to remember the variety. They are sweet and succulent with the perfect acidity; And while they don’t have one of the easy zipper peels, they are seedless. Bonus! The pixies in this lot are a couple inches in diameter. I’ve had them as small as a golf ball when I visited Ojai last year (where they largely grow) and they are all delicious. Supposedly they are available starting in February, but I’ve never run into them until much later. Every year I fear I will be tangerine fatigued by the time they arrive, but it never ever happens. Get thee to the store and get some of these before they run out!

APPEARANCE 4 out of 5 stars

Typical tangerine looks: medium sized, with sunny orange flesh.

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

Bright, sweet orange scent. I would love a candle that smelled like this. Mmmm.

TEXTURE 5 out of 5 stars

Juicy and luscious, seedless flesh. Lovely.

TASTE 5 out of 5 stars

Sweet and full tangerine flavor. Lightly and ideally acidic.

OVERALL 4.75 out of 5 stars

For me, this is one of the very best tangerines to eat, plus it has an adorable name. Pixie! Pixie! I’ve never had one at the same time as a Shasta Tangerine, so I can’t do an adequate taste test, but one of these two is currently my favorite.

OTHER NONSENSE

True confession: I also like the band, Pixies and the candy, Pixy Stix. So it is altogether possible that I just have a thing for the word pixie. Hard to say.

FRUIT Tangerine	PEAK Winter/Spring	PROVIDED BY Melissa’s
VARIETY Pixie	GROWN Ojai,California

White Indian Guava

Fruit Maven — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 18:34:21 +0000

Does anything rhyme with guava? The topic of fruit seriously lends itself to rhyming and yet there are so many that have no rhyming words. You can grapple with apple but orange is just borange. See? I can’t communicate strongly enough how much this annoys me. How am I supposed to be cute and clever working with words like guava? I guess I could shorten it. Guav are mauve. Except they’re not. Or “Don’t jump in the lava. Eat a guava!” A new tag line for Hawaii perhaps.

So I tried this not-mauv guav a few weeks ago and was surprised by how much I liked it. Guava flavored things are generally pretty great as is guava nectar. But most fresh guava are way too acidic for me. If you let them ripen extra long, they do sweeten up but it can be hard to tell. Plus you have to rely on the farmer to do this and that’s kind of a crap shoot in my experience. I tried quite a few of these though and they were all pretty good (minus the ubiquitous, rock hard BB gun pellets passing themselves off as seeds). And it seems like a good sign when research shows that growing this variety is a favorite of rare fruit fanciers (whatever that is). I hope I’m one! But I doubt it since I don’t grow anything except a little mold in the fridge when my fruit buying habit gets out of control.

White Indian Guava

APPEARANCE 4 out of 5 stars

Smooth, muted chartreuse skin, with gorgeous peach flesh.

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

Extremely pungent, tropical fragrance that fills the room with the smell of pineapple and banana.

TEXTURE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Flesh is soft and melting somewhat like slightly fibrous pudding. Gritty skin reminiscent of pears and an overwhelming amount of annoyingly hard seeds.

TASTE 4.5 out of 5 stars

Delightfully mild and sweet. Not overly acidic. Reminds me of an exotic creamy banana mixed with a sweet tangerine. Very well balanced.

OVERALL 4.25 out of 5 stars

This is my new favorite type of guava. I just need to figure out how to strain out those seeds and I’ll be all set. If you come across this type, be sure to snatch a batch.

FRUIT Guava	PEAK Winter/Spring	PURCHASED n/a
VARIETY White Indian	GROWN California

OTHER NONSENSE

I like to rhyme. I do it all the time. Especially when I’m feeling sublime from finding a lime. At times I share my lime with a mime so he can use it to clean the grime from his dimes. Sometimes.

Pommelo

Fruit Maven — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 18:04:30 +0000

If you pride yourself on your pithy prose, then this is the fruit for you!

Let’s talk about pith. Or actually, let’s learn a new word today — albedo. I heard this word on one of the tours at the UC Riverside Citrus Collection a few weeks ago and I jotted it down to look up when I got home. I don’t like to let an opportunity go by to learn to use a word that I can throw out later to impress people at snotty parties (not to be confused with snot parties, which are more geared toward the toddler crowd). You may be briefly wondering why I bother to go to snotty parties. The truth is, I really don’t. But I like to have a fancy word in my pocket just in case. You never know!

So it turns out albedo is simply the botanical word for pith, the spongy and often bitter, protective layer between the fruit inside and the zest layer on the outside. Put another way, the albedo (or pith) + the zest = the peel (or skin or rind).

So the next time your friend cuts open a fruit like this one, you can think of me and calmy say, “Oh hey – look at the albedo on that baby! It forms the outline of two perfect mitten shapes on that pommelo. How perfectly delightful!” To which your friend will likely either laugh or just look at you puzzled – both fun in my book.

Pommelo

APPEARANCE 3 out of 5 stars

Humongous (this is the largest planet in my citrus solar system project after all!). Pretty green skin with 1 inch thick albedo and pink flesh.

AROMA 3 out of 5 stars

Clear but mild grapefruit.

TEXTURE 2.5 out of 5 stars

Pretty difficult to cut with a common butter knife (whereas the Melogold I was also tasting cut easily). The flesh was almost crunchy with some juice. No seeds.

TASTE 3 out of 5 stars

Extremely mellow, slightly sweet grapefruit flavor without any bitterness and very little acidity.

OVERALL 2.88 out of 5 stars

This citrus was basically crunchy and bland, which are not words I’m ever hoping to say after eating citrus, particularly one I associate with the complex and assertive profile of a grapefruit. Bleh.

NOTES

Pommelos also go by the name pummelo, pomelo, Chinese grapefruit and shaddock. I personally would go by shaddock if I were a pommelo. It has a certain cowboy swagger, which I feel I would need if I tasted like this.

FRUIT Pommelo	PEAK Winter	PURCHASED Grocery Store
VARIETY Unknown	GROWN Unknown

Bergamot Orange

Fruit Maven — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 20:39:26 +0000

I finally got my hands on a bergamot orange this week and I have been scheming about what I’m going to do with the luscious rind. Heidi from 101 Cookbooks just happened to post a recipe for gorgeous citrus salts a few days ago, which are a definite possibility. But I am thinking I want to pair this up with Earl Grey tea somehow. Bergamot oil is what provides the distinct flavor of Earl Grey so it seems like an obvious way to push the flavor. I’ve got a few things brewing so stay tuned for a recipe next week.

As we chat about bergamots, I need to warn you that Internet seems to have some confusion about two different fruit that both seem to be bergamot but are pretty different. (Yes, I like to refer to Internet at times as if he/she is my personal friend – same way I do when I’m talking about my good, close friends Brad and Angie - I loved Angie’s dress at the Globes.) So beware when looking to purchase them. David Lebovitz does a pretty straightforward job of describing the competing specimens. The true bergamot is a cross between a sour orange and an uncertain citrus – potentially a lemon, citron or limetta (sweet lime). Once again the wacky citrus world has been flouncing around. I can’t say this shocks me anymore as it appears the citrus world is notoriously wild. You can’t leave them alone for one second.

By the way, I am heading to UC Riverside next week for a tour of their citrus collection. I have a good number of questions for them about citrus varieties and how things are classified. I am still a little baffled by whether an orange is a type of mandarin or if a mandarin is a type of orange–among other things. And of course, I’m hoping to get my hands on a few unusual goodies. Let me know in the comments (or email me) if there is anything you would love to know about the citrus world. I think I’m going to have access to some experts, so now is the time.

Bergamot Orange

APPEARANCE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Bright yellow, bumpy sphere with pale greenish-yellow flesh.

AROMA 5 out of 5 stars

Extraordinary perfume when cut or zested. Fills the room with a delightfully high-pitched orange fragrance. It literally makes my eyebrows go up as I breathe it in.

TEXTURE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Fairly dense when cut with a knife. Thin rind and mildly juicy flesh. Few seeds.

TASTE 3.5 out of 5 stars

Reminds me of a grown up version of sour orange pixie sticks.

OVERALL 3.88 out of 5 stars

This fruit is basically the polar opposite of the Mango Orange I reviewed last week. This baby is all acidity. It is just over-the-top sour. That being said, it has this really sweet high note that I thoroughly enjoy and while I couldn’t possibly eat even a segment of this fruit, I keep going for little nibbles of the juice. I think that might be why my cheeks are starting to sweat as I type this. That, or I’m just really out of shape and simple typing raises my heart rate. Hard to say.

FRUIT Bergamot	PEAK Winter	PROVIDED BY Specialty Produce
VARIETY n/a	GROWN California

Opal Apple

Fruit Maven — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:58:15 +0000

What a surprise! This apple seems pretty late in the season to show up at my grocery store so I was delighted to see it just sitting there near the end cap. I know of course, that ALL apples just sit there. But for whatever reason when it is a fruit I’ve never seen (or heard of) I feel like they are perched there just waiting to pounce on me. If I turn the corner and spy them first then I get to pounce on them. It’s a fun game I like to play when shopping by myself. If you ever see me crouched conspicuously around a corner, please don’t give away my position. It ruins everything. We can call it a neurotic form a tag, or whatever makes you more comfortable.

So whenever this happens, I tend to wonder two things. First, “Is this a variety that is finally getting the exposure it deserves?” And then immediately following, “Or am I going to hate this and think — Ew. No wonder no one has heard of you?” I ask the fruit questions like this all the way home until I finally just give in and eat one, because usually the fruit is so mad I won the game that they won’t speak to me. They can be sore losers like that.

In this case I was hoping to like it, because I like real opals. I know that has nothing to do with it, but I really just don’t want the cognitive burden of having to remember that I do like one and don’t like the other. Phew. Another crisis averted.

Opal Apple

APPEARANCE 4 out of 5 stars

Bright, happy sunflower yellow with the most adorable pale freckles. White flesh.

AROMA 3.5 out of 5 stars

Not particularly aromatic. Smells fresh and moist but indistinguishable from any other food or plant.

TEXTURE 4 out of 5 stars

Has a crisp bite that pleasantly crackles in your ear.

TASTE 4 out of 5 stars

Lovely and complex flavor with layers of sweet “appley” sugar intersecting with nuances of lemon and orange.

OVERALL 3.88 out of 5 stars

This is a great find and if you see one be sure to snatch it up. The texture does soften a bit over time so eat them within the first few days. Believe me, that should be no problem. I also baked them in to an amazing little scone with thyme and cheddar cheese. Oh my. Will be posting the recipe for that tomorrow! Stay tuned.

FRUIT Apple	PEAK Winter	PURCHASED Grocery Store
VARIETY Opal	GROWN Unknown

ALSO!

A Virginia elementary school had a fruit flash mob to promote healthy eating. So awesome! Check it out.