I really like to eat, but sometimes get stuck in a rut, eating the same things time and time again. And even though it’s all delicious and amazing, I’ll want something different every once in a while. So, I’ve started a quest for an unknown something different, something you can’t necessarily find at the corner market or even a farmers market. Below are two “somethings different.”
Recently, my dad gave my vegan husband Jeff an extremely large—10 pound!—spikey jackfruit. But really, there’s nothing unusual there, as all jackfruits are extremely large and spikey. It was even nicely wrapped and ribboned, and was a thoughtful gift as they enjoy discussing different ways of preparing it. But unknown to my dad, only young jackfruit is used for cooking savory dishes; sad for him but lucky for us, the one he gave Jeff was ripe, fragrant and ready to eat. But one can only eat so much of the sweet, slimy, floral-tasting fruit, so, what else to do with it? Why, make jam, of course! So, Jeff butchered it. He cut it in half, removed the sections and seeds (which, if kept, could have been cooked and eaten), boiled it to a pulp, added a little lemon juice and apple cider vinegar to balance out the overwhelming sweetness of it, and a little sugar jarred it, and, voilà: jam! But don’t think it was all fun, because let me tell you, that thing stank up the entire house, and not just the inside, but the front and back yard, too! The scent of dirty locker room socks and stinky, dirty, musky man lasted for days in the house and wasn’t very pleasant. Luckily, the jam tasted great! It was very tropical-fruity with candy/musky undertones. We had it on toast with sunflower seed butter and cinnamon.
The next something was discovered at our favorite swap meet at Alpine Village. Among tools, clothing, boxes of junk and treasures, a vendor was selling little apple-shaped fruits that smelled like guavas but weren’t. The box was labeled Tejocotes, aka Mexican hawthorn. Importation is banded in the USA and, formally, only available on the black market, but they are now grown in the U.S. and can be found during fall and winter months at specialty Mexican markets or the Alpine Village swap meet. I tried one raw; it’s firm, a little sweet-tart but, according to our Google search, would be better cooked, so cook Jeff did. He peeled, deseeded, chopped and boiled, mashing them up before adding water, vanilla, a squeeze of lemon and a touch of sugar and, voilà again, jam! Or, in this case, paste. Tejocotes contain high amounts of pectin; therefore, it sets up quickly. The cooking aroma is also nice, just a pleasant, candy fruitiness. And the taste? Sweet and candy like, with overtones of bubble gum; again, we liked it on toast with sunflower seed butter (which has a milder flavor than almond or peanut butter and balances out the sweetness perfectly). I recommend both fruits and jams!