Week Six: Try a minimum of two new whole foods that you’ve never had before.
This challenge was the perfect opportunity to take whole foods I pass by in the supermarket and think, “I wonder what that tastes like,” or “I wonder how that is cooked” and to actually explore and find those answers for myself.
I scheduled this challenge for almost halfway through all of the challenges because though it is exciting, having to cook and/or eat two completely new-to-you items each week is quite a commitment, not only in grocery shopping, but also in meal preparation.
I started out simple by choosing items I didn’t necessarily have to cook. I also stuck to one food group: fruits.
My first week’s choices:
Papaya
Star fruit
Kumato tomatoes
I decided that the items I will choose as I continue this challenge are going to be whole foods that I have never purchased and/or prepared at home. I say that because chances are some of these items I choose I may have actually tasted once before or had as an ingredient in something ordered at a restaurant.
I chose these three fruits out of a simple process of elimination. It was towards the end of the week and I hadn’t fulfilled the challenge yet. I knew I wanted to try star fruit after watching a Chopped episode where contestants were given star fruit in one of their baskets. Unlike the Chopped chefs, we ate ours raw and didn’t get too fancy by making it an ingredient in a meal. Then I saw the papaya and thought it was possible I had tasted it before, but couldn’t recall. Either way, I had never actually sliced, diced, or served one in my house. The Kumato tomatoes were my last choice after Hubby pointed to Elephant Garlic and suggested I try it. In case you have never seen Elephant Garlic…it is monstrous! I wasn’t ready to figure out why it was so huge nor did I want to try to find a recipe in which I could use such massive amounts of garlic. The Kumato tomatoes were right next to the garlic, so I suppose Hubby thought I was being rather cheeky in choosing them over the garlic. But the truth is, I’ve always looked at Kumato tomatoes and thought they were interesting, and in the same breath, a little strange. Brownish green tomatoes? Doesn’t green usually mean not-yet-ripe, and brown mean mushy-and-old? How could they possibly be tasty?
I served all our new-to-us whole foods for breakfast. We had funny eggs on our snow day and I thought that star fruit would make a perfect side.
I’m not sure how I feel about star fruit. For starters, it is pretty expensive. Only one cost $1.99 at Acme (of course, Acme doesn’t always have the cheapest prices). I liked the texture, it had a crunchy sweetness, but something about the flavor wasn’t my favorite. I didn’t hate it, but I’d rather spend half the money on a juicy orange.
I cut up the papaya and Kumato tomatoes for Saturday’s breakfast. Not even remembering that Hubby has a love for tomatoes and eggs I decided I would make a quick breakfast sandwich with the Kumato tomatoes as the star. I scrambled a few eggs with mozzarella cheese and some sliced pork roll—umm, yumm!—and served them on whole-wheat English muffins with two slices of tomato on top.
It was such a thrown together, quickie of a breakfast that I didn’t think Hubby would even mention it. But immediately he told me what a delicious and wonderful meal it had been, reminding me of how much he loves tomatoes and eggs—which, of course, I had forgotten. The papaya wasn’t as thrilling as I had expected— in fact it was pretty flavorless. Though the caviar-like seeds inside intrigued me and made me want to learn more about the papaya fruit.
What I especially love about this challenge was that instead of limiting what I could eat, it gave me the push to try out new and different food options. I’m going to branch out to new meats and grains eventually. This week I’ve purchased beets and tomatillos (apparently I’m on a tomato kick) as my two new whole foods.
I’m terrified of beets…so we’ll see how this goes.
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