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Goat (Capra aegagrus hircus)
(image source: Wikimedia Commons) Seldom does one taste a new food and immediately become smitten with it. Usually the experience goes something like this: "Hmmm....this is interesting. Different, but...
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Swordfish (Xiphias gladius)
(montage constructed using images fromWikimedia Commons) Swordfish is one of the greatest success stories for environmental marketing. In an effort to raise public awareness to the over-harvesting of...
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Paiche (Arapaima gigas)
PIE-chay. That is how I was instructed to pronounce this gargantuan, prehistoric-looking fresh water fish from South America. Referred to as "The King of the Amazon," paiche is a big fish for...
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Borage (Borago officinalis)
Borage is a plant of interesting contrasts. It self-seeds readily, quickly overtaking gardens. So it is a weed. But it is a fantastic companion plant, attracting bees (pollinators) and improving the...
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Rice Paddy Herb (Limnophila aromatica)
Ngò om is the Vietnamese name of this fun little herb. I saw this at the Sacramento Sunday farmers market mixed in with bundles of other unmarked herbs. I recognized the others, but I didn't recognize...
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Goji (Lycium barbarum)
Dried goji berries (left) is likely the only type ofgojis you will find in North America. I like toreconstitute them first before eating (right) The superfruit of super-food; that is goji. At least,...
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Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana)
Stevia is the original sweet leaf (long before Black Sabbath bestowed cannabis with that moniker). A few years ago, few had heard of stevia. Now, it has arguably become the most popular sugar...
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Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
Parsley is good and sage is fine. Rosemary is tasty, but thyme is divine. There is nothing vulgar about Thymus vulgaris. It is perhaps the one herb I find I can use in almost any savory dish, and the...
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Cucumber (Cucumis sativus)
Two types of cucumber:the left/bottom is the ubiquitous slicing cucumber.The other is lemon cucumber, a sweeter, "burpless"type of cucumber. As we were watching our daughters learn karate, an...
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Enokitake (Flammulina velutipes)
Enokitake. Enoki for short. Enoki are long, thin mushrooms that grow in bunches of sinewy white strands. Their long stalks remind me of delicate Asian noodles; soba noodles, maybe. Enoki mushrooms are...
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Watermelon (Citrullus lanatus)
I can't think of a more appropriate food to profile on the 4th of July than watermelon. Especially when the temperature exceeds 100 degrees. Watermelon, as you might expect, is aptly named. It tastes...
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Red-Fleshed Dragonfruit (Hylocereus costaricensis)
"Cold angriness...with poppy seeds." That is how my oldest daughter described the flavor of dragonfruit. Interesting, if ungrammatical. Certainly dragonfruit seems like it should taste angry. But it...
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Drumstick / Malunggay (Moringa oleifera)
Now here's an usual food plant. Ever eat a tree? And I mean, the whole tree? From roots to flowers? Bark and leaves? A friend of mine takes me to this Indian market the other day, so I can scout for...
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Tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica)
Not simply a green tomato, tomatillos are actually related to the cape gooseberry and the ground cherry. These fruits share a common characteristic: they are enclosed by a parchment-like husk....
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Wakame (Undaria pinnatifida)
After almost 300 posts on distinct foods, new terrestrial produce items seem to be drying up. It is time to turn my attention to the sea. At an Asian supermarket in Las Vegas, I came across aquariums...
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Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
Ginkgo just might be the most fascinating tree, if you're into Earth's history. Ginkgo is a living fossil. It has no close living relatives; all of its brothers and sisters (of which there were many...
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Quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria)
Hard clam. Or Hard-shell clam. Or even round clam. But the traditional name of this bivalve native to the Eastern seaboard is quahog (KOE-hog), taken from the Narragansett word "poquauhock." Quahogs...
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Arrowroot (Maranta arundinacea)
Some foods are addictive. Really addictive. But arrowroot is not one of them ;-) Arrowroot is almost always sold as a light, fine, fluffy white powder. Ground from the roots of the tropical maranta...
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Red Clover (Trifolium pratense)
Red clover in flower(image source: Wikimedia Commons)"I ain't eatin' no rabbit food!" Perhaps you've seen your pig-headed uncle wrinkle his snout in disgust when eyeballing all the vegetables on the...
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Alfalfa (Medicago sativa)
Sprouts. You either love 'em or hate 'em. And while any seed sprouts (and most can be consumed as food), when someone mentions the term "sprouts" they are usually referring to alfalfa. But alfalfa is...
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Black Pepper (Piper nigrum)
Green, black, and white peppercorns One thing this blog has taught me is that even the most seemingly ordinary foods can be quite fascinating. Such is the case with black pepper. I don't know about...
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Soybean (Glycine max)
Last week I wrote about drumstick, the so-called "Miracle Tree" because every part of the plant was edible. But soybeans might just be more miraculous than drumstick. Not because every part of the...
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Quail (Galliformes order)
California quail, the state bird of the Golden State(image source: Wikimedia Commons) Chicken can seem so banal when duck, goose, pheasant, squab, and quail abound. I remember eating quail at a fancy...
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Chinook (King) Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha)
When you see salmon in your grocery store, you will likely see two oceanic types. One is the farmed, mushy-meated, less-flavored, generic-labeled "Atlantic salmon." The other is the more exciting....
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Lettuce (Lactuca sativa)
Lettuce is more than iceberg. But by the mid-20th century, 95% of all the lettuce grown and consumed in the United States was iceberg. But there are hundreds of varieties of lettuce, many with...
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