Fresh Lychee – Forget The Canned Version

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China, Chinese, Fruit, lizhi, Lychee

I’ve previously posted about longan, or dragon eyes, and it’s time I introduced their better known relative: lizhi, or lychee. Some of you probably have had them canned in syrup – please erase everything you think you know if this is the only way you’ve tasted them. They are so much better than that when fresh!

Lychee are the fruit of Litchi chinensis, a subtropical tree that originated in and is cultivated all across Southeast Asia. Lychees are very popular fresh or in desserts like jellies in China, Vietnam, India, and other Southeast Asian countries, and like longan come in a hard rind that you peel to reveal succulent white flesh.

The fruit is juicy, soft, very sweet and just to die for. It will also get you sticky in that happy way you may associate with lapping up syrup with pancakes. Mmm.

They are also extremely healthy at a whopping 9mg of Vitamin C per tiny fruit – that means you need just 9 fruit, or about 115 grams, to cover your daily need! Lychee also contain a wide variety of minerals, most notably copper, phosphorus and potassium as well as a good deal of fiber. And all that at 8.5 kcal per fruit! (Think about it: 9 fruit amount to 75 kcal, 100% of your daily Vitamin C, and a ton of sweet, sticky goodness. Who could resist?)

I loved fresh lychee, although it was the very, very tail end of their season, so they weren’t as ubiquitous as I would have liked. What are some of your seasonal treats that you can’t resist? Are any of them good for you? Also, have you had fresh lychee, and did you like it?

Chinese Loquat – A Sichuan Delicacy

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China, Chinese, Fruit, loquat, pipagao

One of the fruit we saw everywhere in Sichuan and almost nowhere else in China was pipagao, or loquat.

Pipagao, also known as Chinese plum, is not technically a plum but rather the fruit of a shrub, Eriobotrya japonica, that grows all over Sichuan province. The fruit are yellow to orange, grow in clusters and are slightly smaller than plums. They are sweet, srcumptuos and juicy, and contain one to five dark brown seeds the size of small marbles.

In Sichuan, you can buy them from the roadside, from fruit vendors and street carts, for almost nothing at all. They are considered a great delicacy and are available in 10 pound boxes that were everywhere at airports on inner-Chinese luggage carts – everyone was bringing them where ever they went as presents or for family members. Once packaged in these decorative boxes, the prices skyrocket to substantial even for Westerners, by the way.

Since we were in Sichuan, where they were budget-friendly, I indugled.
Oh, I did.
Boy, did I ever.
I even bought some on the way up the sacred Buddhist mountain Emei, and ate them on temple steps while petting a temple kitty. Absolutely perfect. I’d describe the flavor as something like a peach-plum mixture with a bit of acidity that manages not to take away from their incredible sweetness.

Nutritionally speaking, loquats are excellent sources of Vitamin A, fiber, potassium and manganese, while also being extremely low in sodium. A win-win situation when something so healthy tastes so good! And even better? 8 calories per fruit. Yep. I promise, you won’t regret trying them if you can ever get your hands on them!

Freeze-dried Fruit – Chinese-Style

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China, Chinese, Fruit, jackfruit, rambutan, Snacks

In a candy store in Beijing I found dried, unsweetened fruit, including some that I had never had before! The first one I tried was dried jackfruit, which was incredibly popular fresh as well, but with such an overpowering scent that it was reeeally a problem (there is a reason it is nick-named the “stinkfruit”).

This reminded me somewhat of banana chips, though with more tartness, but I don’t think it’ll ever become my favorite food in the world. At least I didn’t feel compelled to try the fresh fruit afterwards!

The other variety I tried was rambutan, a gorgeous looking fruit in a wild, red peel that is related to lychees. I had really wanted to try it fresh, but it was unfortunately not in season when we were in China.

Holy cow, this was delicious! Incredibly sweet, melting in your mouth. I’d definitely recommend rambutan to anyone interested!

I have to say, I’m getting tired of the apple/pear/peach/banana freeze-dried fruit snacks I find here (though I highly recommend my favorites, strawberry-banana
and apple cinnamon
!), so these were a really welcome change. The rambutan I’d get here any day if I could!

How do you like your fruit chips? Fried? Baked? Freeze-dried? Sugared? Or can’t you warm to them at all?

Chinese Grapefruit – Surprisingly Sweet!

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China, Chinese, Fruit, Grapefruit

On one of my many fruit-stall trips in Beijing, I pointed at a large, pale yellow, melon-sized fruit and asked what it was. Grapefruit, I was told. Grapefruit? That large? That color? Yes, grapefruit. Fine, I thought, I am a wuss when it comes to even the slightest amount of tartness, I don’t need strange Chinese giant grapefruit. Oh, no, I was reassured, these are much sweeter than what you are thinking of. Fine! I thought, and bought one, just to say I’d tried it.

Of course I’d never really eaten a whole grapefruit (I’d be crawling on the floor, spitting and yowling, from the sour taste!), and didn’t even get the concept of grapefruit spoons. Nevertheless, I bravely cut my Chinese grapefruit, which turned out to be a pomelo, a milder citrus fruit, open and attacked it with some sweetener (xylitol) and a regular spoon.

True to what I had been told, it was much sweeter than a Western grapefruit, though still tart enough for me to need sweetener and a break between halves. I am not made for tart foods… If I had to choose between eating a pomelo and, say, walking the plank, I’d definitely go for the pomelo, but for once one of my fruit experiments in China did not leave me with a craving once I got home.

What fruit can’t you abide? For me it’s grapefruit and pineapple. Do you like tartness? My wife sucks on lemons for fun, while I whimper at sour candy!

Longan – Tasty, Tasty Dragon Eyes

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China, Chinese, Dragon Eyes, Fruit, Longan

Even before going to China, I’d heard of longan, which are called long yan (dragon eye) in Chinese. The name arises from the yellow shell of the fruit, through which the longan’s black seed can be seen, resembling the effect of a pupil on a yellow eye ball.

Longan are the fruit of Dimocarpus longan, a tree requiring warm, tropical climates and very popular both fresh and dried inside their shell (then called gui yuan) in China. Like lychees, the hard shell is peeled off to reveal a succulent, juicy, white-fleshed fruit, which turns almost black when dried. Gui yuan are used in traditional herbal medicine for calming purposes. While we were there, fresh longan weren’t in season, but gui yuan were everywhere:

By the way, the picture also shows jackfruit (top left corner, post soon to come), papaya (top middle, post soon to come), plums (top right corner), grapes (left), mangosteen (right), and lychees (bottom left corner, post soon to come)!

Now, these fruit are lychee-sized (see the bottom left corner?), but clock in at an amazing 2kcal. That’s right, 2 calories per fruit, or 17 per ounce. They are very rich in Vitamin C and also provide good amounts of Riboflavin, Potassium and Copper. They are very sweet, and in their dried form have a similar texture to dried figs. However, don’t chew too enthusiastically, the pit is still in there!

What are your favorite dried fruits? Do you prefer them sweetened or without added sugar and flavoring? Baked? Dehydrated? Fried?

Eat Like A Panda – Bamboo Shoots

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Bamboo Shoots, Chengdu, China, Chinese, Giant Panda Breeding Center, Sichuan, Vegetables

Chengdu in Sichuan Province is filled with panda memorabilia. Why? Because the Giant Panda Breeding Center, an effort to prevent the dying out of this species, is located there and draws millions of Chinese and foreign tourists. Of course we had to go and squeal over panda babies, lazy pandas, pandas in heat (which sound remarkably like goats…) and more.

What we didn’t quite expect was the Center’s restaurants offerings to “eat like a giant panda”. But of course I had to try!

So, while bamboo shoots, though boiled, not raw. I had no idea they turned black! We had to peel the outermost, harder layers (just like pandas do) to get to the soft, really tasty inner tube of flesh.

Buttery soft!
Now, pandas literally spend 95% of their waking hours eating. That’s because they can only digest 20% of the bamboo, and have to pass the rest. Panda droppings are *very* fibrous and green. As a gentle warning, humans don’t appear to be too much better at digesting bamboo shoots…

And to finish up, I ordered something by pointing at the picture on the menu (no English was spoken by the staff). I’d expected mushrooms, but got algae. This didn’t bother me one bit, I love pretty much anything that grows/lives in the sea, however, this was one true-to-Sichuan-hot-as-all-hell dish.

Lots, and lots, and more Sichuan peppers reduced me to a glazed-eyed, flaming red, perspiring, somewhat insanely grinning mess uttering high pitched giggles and “whoa”s, but I couldn’t stop eating, it was so tasty. I simply can’t explain the appeal of it; it’s this strange, tingly sensation that makes you want to cry and never stop eating at the same time. Sichuan isn’t for softies!

What vegetables have you encountered you didn’t think were edible or tasty and that blew you away? Anything you’re dying to try?

My Very First Thanksgiving, My Very First Surgery, And A Mini-Survey Of Thanksgiving Traditions

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Fruit, Poultry, Sweets, Thanksgiving, United States, Vegetables

As I’ve mentioned before, I’m German. Want proof? Check out my dazzling Dirndl-action!

Obviously, we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving per se in Germany, although there are harvest festivals (which are not a big deal and which don’t involve turkey). So when I moved to the United States in 2005, my then-girlfriend-now-wife’s family graciously welcomed me into their home and shared their traditional Thanksgiving with me. What can I say? It was wonderful. Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, fresh cranberry sauce made in an ancient meat grinder, fresh baked bread, and most of all, my mother-in-law’s unbeatable, incomparably delicious stuffing (bread, celery, sausage) and her famous chocolate-pecan pie. And pumpkin pie. And ice cream. I met other members of the family, had a wonderful time feeling at home away from home, and I ate, and I ate, and I ate.

Curiously, that night I woke up in horrible pain, which didn’t subside. When the tight, convulsive cramping in my right lower abdomen wouldn’t subside, my father-in-law first suggested appendix issues, then scratched that since the appendix is located on the left side. He gave me Tums. They didn’t help. When I didn’t get better the next day and following night, my mother-in-law and wife took me to the emergency room, where I was X-rayed, poked, prodded, and finally diagnosed with a collapsed gall bladder filled to the brim with gall stones. Turns out high fat meals can trigger attacks. Go figure. They wanted to operate then and there, at which I burst into a teary-eyed, stumbling explanation that, look, this was Kansas, and I had mid-terms in Ohio coming up, my first semester in America, and we have plane tickets already, and my wife has to go back, what will I do? Well, the doctors gave in, let me fly back to Ohio with instructions to immediately go to the ER there.

2 days later I had outpatient surgery. Before the surgery, a smiling Russian second-in-command surgeon asked “Ahhh, gall bladder, is from baby?” “No,” I replied, “is from turkey.” (Well, in all likelihood it was from the stuffing or the pies, but hey, I was under duress). When I woke up, I found out after 2 more shots of morphine that I lack morphine receptors. Since I didn’t stop convulsing in pain, the nurses fed me a cookie, gave me a painkiller to swallow, and I was much, much better. Two days worth of chicken broth and a very coddling girlfriend later, I was back to normal, passed all my midterms with an A and craved chocolate-pecan pie.

Each year, I get asked which organ I intend to lose this year. Ah, Thanksgiving. I loved it.

Now for a bit more interesting fare, brought to you courtesy of the suggestion by wonderfully helpful Oh Cake!. I went and queried friends, colleagues and acquaintances about their Thanksgiving food traditions, and where their families originated from. I sampled English, Irish, German, Danish, American Indian, Swedish, Hungarian, Mexican, Puerto Rican, Scottish, Italian, Spanish, Slovenian and Vietnamese, from 5th generation to directly immigrated like myself.

What I found was that the vast majority closely adhered to the gold standard – turkey, gravy, pumpkin and/or apple pie and/or pecan pie. Popular items all across the board were stuffing (bread or cornbread based), green beans, potatoes or sweet potatoes, mashed or scalloped, or with marshamallows, squash dishes and cranberry sauce. But there were a few standouts and particular stories I enjoyed and thought I’d share:

“My grandma also makes homemade egg noodles (roll out the dough and cut the noodles by hand with a knife). She makes them that day and they dry for hours on the dining room table. All the women sit around and cut them as they dry enough while chatting. And the kids always run by and steal the uncooked noodles.” – German descendent tradition

“With my sibling food allergies we didn’t have an extravegant thanksgiving, most of my childhold we had lamb cooked in a crock pot with banana squash, yams, and rice.” – British/German descendent

“We always do different things. I’ve made traditional japanese, indian, american, mexican and chinese food for thanksgiving (not all at once)” – Swedish descendent

“Wine-soaked cranberry sauce and tarhonya (a Hungarian noodle dish). Before my great-aunt died we had her amazing bread, now we buy baguettes to eat with our butter (did I mention the butter? we really, really love butter in my family). My grandmother makes sós stangli (Hungarian cheese straws), which get passed off to friends the next day because we’re all tired of them (she does nothing, ever, besides bake these). For dessert: Hungarian pastries, and a new version of rice pudding every year.” – Hungarian descendent, many recent immigrants

“My family goes with each family part making turkeys in different ways, but usually roasted and stewed. Also rice with different kinds of beans. In Puerto Rico pies aren’t very popular, but instead we make pumpkin flan. My aunt will make some escabeche of green bananas. – Puerto Rican studying abroad

“I try to make something native american, specially mayan or aztec, to show respect and appreciation.” – Mexican-American immigrant

“Butternut squash, corn, homemade bread, parnips – cut legthwise and fried in butter, rutabegas – boiled and mashed, sweet potatoes (no marshmallows!). My family is really adamant that we stick with very traditional food – Lots of root vegetables and what I would think of as late harvest food.  – Irish descendent

“An old Scottish recipe that has been in our family for years and its pretty simple – oatmeal, butter, and onions” – Scottish descendent (I am particularly excited about this stuffing because I was promised a sample!)

“Growing up, my family incorporated a lot of Italian-American food into Thanksgiving. We always had a lasagna and antipasto earlier in the day before the actual “traditional” dinner of roasted turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes etc.” – Italian descendent

“Empanadas as appetizers to honor our latin roots and I also insist that she make a tomato/onion/lemon juice “dressing” which you can drizzle on the turkey in addition to regular gravy.” – Spanish descendent

“Duck (or turkey, but only if the kids insist)” – Vietnamese immigrants

“We use mashed green plantains to make the stuffing, add some seasoning, usually a lil bit of bacon, garlic and some people like to add raisins.” – Puerto Rican studying abroad

I hope you enjoyed this mini-study of Thanksgiving traditions! I, for one, would like to try almost all of the listed menus! Who knows, if I stay here permanently, maybe I’ll add a German twist on my Thanksgiving dinners, too. Are there any specialty items inspired by your family’s roots that simply must be there come Thanksgiving?

Mangosteen – A 50/50 Chance Of Deliciousness.

Tags

China, Chinese, Food, Fruit, Mangosteen

One of the tastiest fruit I discovered in China was the shan zhu, or mangosteen.These are the fruit of an evergreen tree originally native to Indonesia, and are also widely used in Chinese and other traditional medicines.

Mangosteen are about the size of a mandarin orange, but come in a rock-hard purple rind. The problem that this rind poses is two-fold: You have to crack it (best done with palms and force, knives have been broken on these fruit!), and you have pretty much no chance of telling whether the fruit is just right or completely rotten (hence the 50/50 chance).

Now, once cracked, the rind will reveal white, orange-like segments that separate very easily and form a beautiful contrast to the dark purple outer layer:

The flavor is sweet, and doesn’t really compare to anything I’ve had before. But believe me, it tastes wonderful enough to risk the 50% chance of finding rotten segments. The texture reminded me somewhat of juicy, ripe plums, not oranges. Nutritionally speaking, the fruit is low in calories with only 63kcal per 100g of edible fruit portion. They are high in fiber, and fairly rich in folates. They can’t compare to stars like dragonfruit, but they’re tasty and good for you, nonetheless.

My advice? Try it! And sometimes the fruit vendors magically know which ones will be good, so just smile and nod and let them select for you.

Does anyone know the trick to selecting a ripe mangosteen? Are there foods you never can trust but are willing to risk it every single time in hopes of success? Or have you abandoned any that you thought weren’t worth it?

Donghuamen Night Market in Beijing – Curiosities on a Stick

Tags

Beijing, China, Chinese, curiosities, Fish & Seafood, Food, Fruit, Meat, Snacks

Yes. That would be me eating fried snake on a stick.

Probably the most memorable novel food experience on our China trip was the Donghuamen night market that pops up every night on Donghuamen Street in one of the luxury shopping areas of Beijing, China. The market serves pretty much anything you wouldn’t normally think to eat on a stick. Don’t believe me? Take a look: This stand had English labels, but you could mostly tell what things were. And if in doubt, vendors waving sticks at you and yelling “Testicles!! Lady, testicles!!!” at you enticingly is a good indication of what might await you. There were indeed testicles (from cocks and bulls, I believe), and also snakes, eels, whole baby sharks, centipedes, silk worms, honeybee cocoons, sea stars, sea horses, sea urchins, various squids and other cephalopods, stinky tofu (essentially tofu gone bad, and believe me, your nose will tell you if you’re even getting close!) and plenty of other things.

As a customer, you select as many of these items as you want and the vendors will dip them into an intensely flavored spice rub and either fry (most common) or grill (much rarer) them for you. While it’s certainly a lot to process for your brain, everything tastes pretty much just like that incredibly overpowering spice mixture, though things like silk worms and scorpions might add a textural component to the experience. It’s neither too diet-friendly nor too tasty, if you ask me, and not even because I don’t enjoy snake/squid/what-have-you, but simply because that spice rub was probably 95% salt and 5% hot spices. Nevertheless, it’s something any curious foodie should try at least once when in Beijing!

Now, once the foodie quota is met, you can distract yourself with steamed or fried bao zi (stuffed buns) served with a variety of dipping sauces:

And for a sweet finish, there are fruit, also served on a skewer, though not fried or rubbed in salt:

The Donghuamen night market has been around since the early 1980s and is a popular draw for Chinese and foreigners alike, though the Chinese tend to seem more enthusiastic about the offered wares in general. Do expect to be aggressively advertised to by testicle-sellers if you are foreign, and maybe be advised that “bu yao!” means “I don’t want it!”. Other than that, it’s certainly a memorable experience to try out one night in Beijing, and will provide you with glorious photos to show whenever people ask about your trip.

Yangmei – “Hairy Strawberry”

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China, Chinese, Food, Fruit, yangmei

One of the strangest, yet tastiest fruit I encountered in China were yangmei, also called “hairy strawberries”, that are not at all related to strawberries.Yangmei has been trademarked as “Yumberry” for marketing purposes, so if you ever see yumberry yogurt, that’s what that is.

Yangmei are the fruit of the Myrica rubra tree and are about the size of large grapes. They have a beautifully intense dark red coloring, and these little bubble-like growths that feel slightly hairy on the tongue. The whole fruit can be eaten, but comes with a pit. The flavor is an interesting mix of mildly sour with enough sweetness to be completely addictive. The flesh is firm and also crimson.

Yangmei are very low in calories (28kcal per 100g) and very healthy, as they are high in antioxidants, ellagic acid, vitamins, and minerals, including vitamin-C, thiamine, riboflavin and carotene. And very, very tasty!

On a less scientific note, they are also great for pretending to have lost several teeth in a fist fight!

Are there any other Chinese fruit you have particular questions about? Or would you like more detail on those I’ve talked about so far?

P.S.: Is anyone planning on attending the Fabulous Food Show in Cleveland, OH, next weekend?