Tasting new food can often pose as a challenge for many people, yet it is one that can become a true adventure once you take the plunge and try something new. I find that it is a lot easier to work with ingredients that you are familiar with, but every once in awhile discovering a new flavour sets alarm bells ringing and ideas for new dishes begin to come to mind. I am not sure why, but I have never actually eaten a dragon fruit despite seeing it in many of the Asian markets that I’ve visited. I chose to finally pick one up and try it for myself in order to find out what this beautiful looking fruit is all about and get some ideas for how it can be utilized. Visually, a dragon fruit is stunning. I find that it resembles some sort of flower, with a bright pink outer flesh with green tipped ends on its petal-like extensions. The outer casing of the fruit felt firm, but pushing in on the flesh showed that the interior was soft and ripe. After slicing the fruit open, I was greeted by an interior that was full of white soft fruit laced with tiny black seeds. Visually, this reminded me somewhat of the seeds you see inside a kiwi fruit. Feeling the inside of the fruit, I noticed that it was somewhat wet and squishy, similar to the texture of a soft cucumber. I decided to smell the fruit and found that it’s aroma was comparable to that of an unripe banana. When I cut a portion of the fleshy edible interior and began to chew on it, I was able to discern that it had a soft consistency with an audible crunch that came from biting on the small seeds. The dragon fruit did not really appeal to the senses of salty, bitter or umami, yet it did appeal to the sweet and sour senses. Its sweetness was light but not overpowering and this was combined with a slight sourness that was particularly noticeable when biting the seeds. I found this combination of sweet and sour flavours to be quite interesting, as they seemed to be both active simultaneously in my mouth on the sides and front of my tongue. This fruit was quite unique in that the inside tasted the way a fruit would be expected to taste, yet externally it resembles a beautiful flower. It was hard to compare this to other fruits, but I felt that it shared some similarities internally with a kiwi fruit and watermelon. Through tasting it, I learnt how certain flavours can be combined and sensed by more than one of the five basic senses simultaneously. I really enjoyed the dragon fruit and would easily purchase it again. Not only was it refreshing, but it was also pleasing to the eye. One less appealing aspect I did notice, however, was that this fruit tended to leave a somewhat unpleasant aftertaste in the mouth similar to that of unripe fruit. I’m not entirely sure if this is just natural to the dragon fruit, or maybe I simply needed to let it ripen further before consuming it. I will definitely pay attention to this next time I eat this fruit to see if this was just a one-time thing or something common to this fruit. This experience of tasting a new food has shown me that by taking time to understand the textures and flavours of a food on its own, rather than eating it quickly, you can gain a better idea of ways in which the food can be utilized. I thought that the dragon fruit, with its textures, flavours and abundance of pulp inside would make for a great fruit to put into a smoothie and will likely try making one next time to see how well it works. I enjoyed this experience and look forward to hearing about your own new food experiences. If anyone else had a new experience with dragon fruit, feel free to comment on here so we can compare our thoughts on it.
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Hello to all of you who are reading my blog. My name is Peter Patlakas and I am in my first year of the Culinary Management (Integrated) Program at George Brown College in Toronto. I have no experience working in the industry, but cooking has been one of my life-long passions. I believe it all started when I first picked up my mother’s Joy of Cooking cookbook by Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker (1975) when I was around the age of twelve. I attempted to try and produce some of the recipes contained in this book and ended up impressing many of my family and friends with what I was capable of doing at such a young age. Since then, my life took me away from cooking and into the direction of the field of Psychology where I obtained a M.Sc. in Psychology. Despite all the years studying and money spent, I felt I was never really doing what I truly wanted to do… cook. I decided to switch careers, and now I am here and on a new path that I hope will one day allow me to open my own restaurant/wine bar.
My personal philosophy of cooking is one of constant learning. I feel that to truly be able to cook, you must be able to advance your skills by constantly trying new things and not getting discouraged if the end results are not what you anticipated them to be. With a little creativity, we can sometimes take a bad dish and turn it into something spectacular. As Master Chef Paul Bocuse once said, “If an architect makes a mistake, he grows ivy to cover it. If a doctor makes a mistake, he covers it with soil. If a cook makes a mistake, he covers it with some sauce and say’s it is a new recipe.” One of the great blogs I came across when exploring the world of culinary blogging was Spicie Foodie (http://spiciefoodie.com/blog) by Nancy Lopez-McHugh. Unfortunately, the author of this blog has decided to no longer provide updates, as she has gone on to create a new blog after having decided to become pescetarian. Despite this, her original blog has a great deal of content on it that can still be accessed. She offers recipes for various spicy and flavourful dishes she has created or that have resulted from her experimentation with food. She also makes various book recommendations. Best of all, she has uploaded some remarkable original culinary photos and even offers tips on how to take professional photographs of your food. I suggest you check it out. The only downside to her blog is that it would have been nice if she could have included a search feature that would allow users to search her recipes and photos by ingredient. By making my own blog, I hope to be able to share some of my culinary experiences and the dishes I create. I also hope to be able to network with others, gaining valuable insight and tips along the way. I look forward to connecting with everyone. Enjoy your culinary adventures and never be fearful of trying something new. |
AuthorHi everyone. I'm Peter, and I have decided to follow my passion and pursue a career in cooking. I look forward to connecting with you all. Archives
February 2017
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