Sometimes my food budget is so tight, I can barely afford the necessities. But when things are a little more flush, one of my favorite things to do is to purchase an ingredient I'm not familiar with just to, well, become more familiar with it! As you can imagine, this has led to both happy and not-so-happy endings.
It's not unusual when food shopping that I'll stumble on something completely unfamiliar to me, either in the grocery store or at the farmer's market. If I can afford to splurge a little and take the risk it might not work out, I'll often buy it just to see if I can learn more and maybe even discover something new and delicious for my table.
The most obvious place for this to happen is in stores, or specific grocery store sections, that feature foods from other countries. But my favorite place to do this is at the farmers' market, especially those that have Asian famers that cater to shoppers from their countries. There are many varieties of Chinese greens that I haven't tried, for example, and it's been a lot of fun working my way through them. Most vendors are often happy to introduce me to their wares and, if I'm lucky, I may even get some cooking advice from a Chinese or Vietnamese grandma!
Other successes have been dragon fruit, cardoons, orach (a kind of purple spinach), puntarelle and feijoas. Where I've bombed out the most is when purchasing canned goods from other countries. I'll spare you the details, but I suspect that you have to be raised on some of these 'delicacies' to really appreciate them. Now that I have a smart phone, I can look up unfamiliar items but that also takes some of the fun out of it, too.
What unusual ingredients have you courageously discovered? Have they become a regular part of your diet or have you been happy to quickly toss it into the trash?
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When I can afford to I also try a new ingredient OR a new kitchen tool. Recently, I learned to make Gyoza/Japanese dumplings and the recipe didn't advise which type of steamer to use. I ended up buying both the bamboo and stainless steel steamers. It didn't matter really as the Gyoza was a hit with the family!
I bought persimmons for the first time this last December at the store, with no clue what to do with them. After I got home I did a bit of research, and found a recipe for persimmon cookies that I made. They were a hit, and will be on the permanent rotation for holiday cookies! (Though I've had my share of blunders too!)
My favorite discovery is lychee. Tried it in hawaii, and fell in love with the flavor. The canned version is meh, but the syrup in the cans makes a great sake martini, and I use the lychees for decoration.
I ended up at the Asian grocery shop a few weeks back and picked up a can of petai beans. I should have googled. I did, as soon as I got home. Turns out they are stinky. I have no idea what to do with them, butI guess that is part of the fun.
I adore adore adore Dragon Fruit. But then again, I grew up eating them. :)
I guess the unfamiliar ingredients I have mostly worked with in the past few years have been cheeses. We lived just over the border from France, and so every Saturday went to the weekly market to discover unfamiliar foods. Usually, that meant buying a cheese I had never tasted, and learning how to serve it. So, first a St-Marcellin, and then a Reblochon, and so on... it was a fantastic experience!! And the cheeses we discovered are very easily integrated into our lifestyle and meals.
Oh, and while I was there, I learned how to cook Poulet de Bresse (it is very different -- more muscular, and not processed in water), as well as duck, and duck breast. I also acquainted myself with French varieties of fish, which are often very different than our own! Since fish is astronomically expensive there, I would pick what was on special, and get advice from the fishmonger. Our favourite discovery was a tiny fish shaped like a sole, which you dip in flour and fry in butter, whole and as-is (it is so small, it is easier to remove the bones when it is cooked, otherwise, you lose all the meat).
Produce for some reason, can be a little more daunting, probably because the preparation is often more involved or tricky. For example, I always wanted to buy a flat of squash blossoms, but I have a fear of frying and so never did...
We made cocktails with a dragonfruit, and it was surprisingly good.
http://smithratliff.com/2011/09/14/chinatown-greenmarket-cocktails/
In Hawaii recently, we bought some random produce at the store we hadn't seen before, just to give it a try. One was a total flop! We asked how to prepare it, and they said to boil it for a long time. I don't think we boiled it long enough, but it had a terrible flavor (kind of artichoke-y) anyway! Don't even know the name.
We picked up some Abiu fruit also, which might be my new favorite - so sweet, a little coconutty, just divine.
I also found that the lychees and passion fruits there are much different from the ones I've had previously in Australia, but also good!
Normally I would have steered clear of unfamiliar things, but I'm glad we tried them!
Last year I tried bitter melon for the first time. It's totally possible that I didn't prepare it right, but I can't say I enjoyed it. Probably won't be purchasing it again :)
I have found people who are adventurous when it comes to trying new foods are also great in bed. Yeah, I do dragonfruit, do you?
I recently tried amaranth leaves, which made a beautiful frittata with goat's cheese and chives.
And another recent discovery was fermented black beans, which give a great umami edge to sweet potato pancakes.
I picked up a cherimoya on a whim once and absolutely fell in love.
I'm a sucker for new fruits....canned goods are too easy to not like even in the US.
Last summer I discovered dragon fruit.....so beautiful and delicious! I really enjoyed making (and eating!) dragon fruit granita -
http://thecornerkitchen.blogspot.com/2011/07/dragon-fruit-granita.html
For me it is nettles, cardoon, and fiddle heads