Inside my Fridge.

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Inside my Fridge.

Postby tinyrick » Tue Oct 08, 2019 5:32 pm

I'm always up for trying new foods. I thought this might be the most appropriate place to post this cause it involves the inside of the fridge rather than the outside, but it's still the fridge. When it comes to international foods, that usually means trying their candies. Mostly what I get those at Asian and Mexican markets, but I got some Tim Tams off of Amazon. They're basically like KIt Kats but way more chocolatey, but after the shipping fee, it's $20+. Way better than Kit Kats, but not worth $20, but worth trying them once. I've managed to get Jelly Babies locally too. Didn't really like them.

I'd really like to know some popularoverseas candy brands so I can test them out.

Edit: Forgot to mention Tim Tams are Australian. I'm eventually going to have to try Vegemite, which isn't a candy, but I keep hearing it mentioned by Australians. It sounds disgusting, but I have to give it a chance at least once.
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Last edited by tinyrick on Wed Oct 09, 2019 11:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Inside my Fridge.

Postby IamNotCreepy » Tue Oct 08, 2019 7:52 pm

You should definitely try Pulparindo.
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Re: Inside my Fridge.

Postby tinyrick » Wed Oct 09, 2019 10:50 pm

IamNotCreepy wrote:You should definitely try Pulparindo.


Don't think I've had this specifically, but I have had the Mexican suckers covered in chili powder, both tamarind and mango.
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Re: Inside my Fridge.

Postby cmsellers » Sun Oct 13, 2019 12:53 am

If you can find it (you'll probably need an Asian market owned by Koreans), try tteok, a Korean rice cake make from sticky rice flour.

I'm a fan of fruit, and so I've tried a lot of exotic ones. The ones I personally think are worth trying fresh are guanabana or soursop (expensive in the US, but well-worth it; it's one of my favorite fruits), lychees (they come in kinds with spiky and flat scales; I only like the flat-scaled ones), Mexican cream guavas and/or Brazilian guavas (I don't usually like guavas, but like these two kinds) rambutans (very subtle flavor, tricky to eat without getting the bitter seed coating, but worth it, IMO, and mangosteens (tricky to open, very expensive in the US, and sometimes rotten when you get them, but well worth trying at least once). Also, while they're not technically exotic, ground cherries, goldenberries, or cape gooseberries are delicious, as are actual gooseberries, and hard to find outside of fancy stores.

While I love, love, love Turkish food, most Turkish foods aren't nearly as good in the US. Either you can't get the right ingredients (Adana kebap, salep, dondurma), or it goes stale (Turkish delight, dolma, many Turkish pistachios in the US) or people just don't make it correctly in the US (as with most "Turkish" baklava) I've seen. However I would suggest that one thing which is worth trying in the US is halloumi, a salty Cypriot cheese with a very high melting point. It is traditionally grilled, though I like to pan-fry it in olive oil.

Given your love for candy, I'd also suggest trying Eti Canga if you can find it online. It's basically if you took a piece of hard caramel and surrounded with chocolate-covered peanuts. Turkey is generally bad at chocolate, and it's the only regular-season chocolate thing there I really liked. (I also liked some of the chocolate bayram candy, but you only find that twice a year and probably not online.)

If you're open to trying new grains, I really like three that a lot of Americans don't eat: wild rice, buckwheat and kaniwa. Wild rice is expensive and usually used only to accentuate rice, but it's really nice on its own, and much cheaper at Trader Joe's than anywhere else I've seen. Buckwheat in the US is most popular either ground or whole-roasted (kasha), though I prefer the whole, unroasted groats. Kaniwa you will likely have to special order; if you ask in stores people will helpfully direct you to the quinoa. (It's related to quinoa, but I like kaniwa a lot better.) Ordering online, you run the risk of getting either kichiwa (amaranth, which looks similar but tastes like the bottom of a hamster cage) or a bag that's full of grit. Best source I've found is Shiloh Farms. I also like proso millet, which when boiled with butter results in something which tastes like a really nice cornbread.

If you can find them, try coquito nuts. They come from Chile, and I've only been able to find them once, and pretty expensive, but apparently a lot of places in California have the trees as landscaping, so if you ever go to California you might be able to get some free. They're like bite-sized coconuts with a more slightly sweeter flavor. Similarly, I've only ever seen loquats and Suriname cherries on landscaping trees, but they're pretty delicious if you luck into finding them.

You don't mention if you eat meat, but I'm a big fan of duck, all kinds of duck, but Muscovy duck is particularly hard to find and particularly worthwhile. Rabbit is also delicious, but I discovered that it does not keep very well, and one rabbit is a little too much for one person to eat in one sitting. I also strongly recommend trying Spanish chorizo if you haven't; it's expensive in the US, but utterly fantastic.

Finally, I don't know if you drink black tea, but if you do, I have to suggest rose and jasmine black teas. Best rose tea I've found on Amazon is the Tao of Tea. Jasmine black tea, I still haven't found one that I love, but some that I like, but jasmine oolong (which you can get in Asian markets), is for me, no substitute.
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