Once upon a time-not all that long ago-a trip to the supermarket produce counter meant a predictable array of choices. Throwing together a salad for supper? Even a novice cook probably would have no difficulty rising to the occasion and tossing a tomato or two into the shopping cart along with a head of pale green iceberg lettuce and maybe a cucumber. Cooking for a meat-and-potatoes kind of guy or gal? Grab a few Idahos from the spuds bin. Making apple pie for dessert? The biggest challenge on the fruit front might be choosing between crisp Red Delicious apples or the more aromatic yellow Golden Delicious.
These days, strolling by the supermarket produce counter still can be a predictable affair for cooks who prefer to play it staid and continue to fill their carts with dependable old favorites. But for the more adventurous shopper, however, the produce aisles are awash with scores of new varieties of fruits and vegetables, many boasting exotic-sounding names and funny-looking exteriors.
Tired of iceberg lettuce? There`s always radiccio or arugula, the bittersweet, peppery greens that have found their way into the vocabularies and salads of many cooks in recent years. But there also are mizuna mustard greens, celadon-green baby bok choy, fragrant lemon grass, crunchy jicama, and even-to make things really easy-ready-mixed mesclun, a potpourri of baby salad greens that come prewashed and ready to eat.
Potatoes come in a bushel of shapes and colors, from buttery yellow to indigo purple. Sweet potatoes don`t have to be orange: the boniato, now making inroads into mainstream markets, has white flesh.
Even the sweet, green-fleshed kiwi, which once seemed so exotic, isn`t the new kid at the fruit stand any more. Previously unfamiliar varieties of apples abound, and red-skinned bananas may share space with their more common yellow cousins. Pink-pulped mamey sapotes, rosy-fleshed Sunrise papayas, bumpy-skinned feijoas, juicy white sapotes (no relation to mamey sapotes), crisp carambolas and custardy-textured cherimoyas stand ready to be turned into delicious fruit desserts.
And that`s just the tip of the iceberg. According to surveys conducted by the Food Marketing Institute and the Produce Marketing Association, the average number of items available in a supermarket produce department over the course of a year now stands at 241. Many stores carry as many as 450 separate varieties of fruits and vegetables. By way of comparison, similar 1975 surveys reported that the average supermarket produce department carried only 65 items.
According to Elizabeth Schneider, a New York-based writer who literally wrote the book on ”exotic” produce (Schneider`s encyclopedic ”Uncommon Fruits & Vegetables: A Commonsense Guide,” originally published in 1986, is due out in paperback this month from Harper & Row for $16.95), consumers`
appetite for more varied produce has been building over the last dozen years or so. The last year, however, has seen a veritable explosion in the varieties of produce available, from purple potatoes to striped tomatoes.
”That richness and varietal wealth is very much a result of the increased interest in regional produce,” explains Schneider, who cites farmers` markets as one factor in accelerating the growth and marketing of previously unfamiliar strains of fruit and vegetables. Other reasons cited by Schneider for the produce boom include Americans` increasingly health-conscious attitudes (many fruits and vegetables offer high fiber content with relatively few calories) and, perhaps most importantly, the current influx of immigrants, who bring their cuisine preferences with them and create a market for its raw ingredients. Once it`s clear that a demand exists, growers rush to fill it, and the food winds up in supermarkets.
”People want to be able to buy their familiar foods,” says Schneider, who explains that what seems exotic to one ethnic group or regional population is commonplace fare to another. ”Cuban immigrants, for instance, want their mamey sapote. The Japanese want their daikon radish. The Vietnamese want their lemon grass, and the Hispanics and Southeast Asians both use a lot of cilantro, so you`re seeing more and more of that now.”
With the influx of immigrants has come what Schneider describes as ”a kind of raised regional consciousness” on the part of Americans. ”People already here say, `Well, this is my cultural identity,` and with that comes a renewed interest in the fruits and vegetables and foods that represent them and their area.”
Upscale restaurant chefs, who fueled the fad for such regional specialties as blackened redfish, also have played a large part in helping people discover ”new” produce (some of which may have been around for years but never have enjoyed widespread distribution).
”You get a lot of experimentation among chefs,” says Schneider.
”Meanwhile, there`s been an unprecedented boom in people eating out and taking food out. A lot of `new` produce initially comes in through a fancy food service door. For example, most people saw shiitake mushrooms for the first time years ago in Chinese restaurants. Then the white-tablecloth
(upscale restaurant) chefs paid attention and incorporated them into dishes.”
If you haven`t checked out the mushroom selection at the supermarket lately, you may be surprised to find so many varieties available, among them morels, shiitake, chanterelles, and oyster mushrooms. According to Schneider, you`ll be seeing even more of these delicious edible fungi in the future.
”Growers are cultivating all kinds of mushrooms that they didn`t cultivate before,” she says. ”There`s tremendous interest in them now, maybe because they fall somewhere between vegetable and flesh and have a complexity of flavor that cooks admire.”
Anything else about to happen in a big way in the produce department?
”Potatoes,” says Schneider. ”That`s an area that is just beginning to be tapped. Squashes-there are so many beautiful little squashes, with different textures and colors. There has been fabulous growth in the squash business, especially in Colorado where they grow a lot of organic squash. You`ll be seeing more passion fruit, because it`s now coming from New Zealand and Florida and California, which means it will be available year-round.
”Look for lots more varieties of chilies, which are becoming increasingly popular because they figure in the foods of so many different ethnic groups, and more kinds of persimmons. You`ll especially be seeing more fuyu persimmons, which are rounded like tomatoes and non-astringent. Asians love them, and growers can charge very little for them because they know that every last fuyu will be bought by the Asian community. They`re not an experiment any more.”
While Schneider-who has spent the last 18 years immersed in the world of uncommon fruits and vegetables-is delighted about recent developments on the produce front, she bemoans the fact that too many people still don`t know how to enjoy the new bounty.
”The terrible thing is that even the majority of produce handlers don`t know what to do with the stuff,” she contends. ”I went into a store in New York the other day and the produce guy had all his carambolas ripening on ice instead of at room temperature. I told him that they shouldn`t be refrigerated and he said, `Madame, all citrus fruits must be refrigerated.` Well, the carambola isn`t a citrus fruit, and it`s not supposed to be refrigerated. Unfortunately, there aren`t any educational programs for these guys, and consumers need some education before they can incorporate these fruits and vegetables into their lives. Otherwise, how will people know when something is ripe, or how to use it?
”It`s like someone handed you a green banana and you didn`t know you had to ripen it at room temperature before eating it, it wouldn`t do you any good,” says Schneider.
”It would be lovely if the produce people could help educate people in the stores, but most don`t have the proper training. And it`s damn sad, because these wonderful fruits and vegetables can`t talk and say `Eat me, I`m ripe,` and I hate the idea of them languishing on the shelf because people don`t know what to do with them.
”Or they avoid something and miss out on a whole lot of good flavor because the fruit doesn`t look so hot on the outside. Or they don`t know, for example, that there is a world of difference between one shiitake and another- now that they`ve gone into mass production with them, some are grown practically overnight, but the really meaty, flavorful ones take 12 months to develop. So the consumer has to be knowledgeable and speak up when they`re not getting what they want.
”That was the entire goal of my book, to show people that it`s no more complicated to put some kohlrabi in your salad than it is to slice up a cucumber and to let them know that you shouldn`t put a white sapote in the refrigerator, for example,” says Schneider. ”None of those things are self- evident. In preparation for doing the book, I spent six years watching things ripen and talking with hundreds of people who had devoted their lives to this stuff.”
Schneider also chose to include only ”contemporary, everyday” recipes in the book. ”The only ingredient in most of the recipes that`s unusual is the fruit or vegetable itself,” she says. ”I wanted to make this produce seem `regular.` ”
Consumers, warns Schneider, must be prepared to pay a premium for fruits and vegetables not yet in wide distribution. ”The produce shouldn`t be priced out of existence unless it`s a very tiny crop, but you have to be willing to spend more for an organically-grown specialty,” she says. ”Once it goes mainstream and is produced in larger quantities, the prices probably will go down. That happened with kiwis, it`s happening now with jicama from Mexico, and it should be happening in the future with carambolas.”
Schneider grudgingly acknowledges that there`s something of a vogue now for exotic fruits and vegetables but insists upon making it clear that she personally loathes the idea of trendy produce.
”If people buy things because they`re trendy and not because they appreciate the flavor, then all is lost,” she argues. ”You`re not maintaining quality standards, you`re just using the fruit or vegetable as an image-maker, and that doesn`t make a whole lot of sense. Food isn`t supposed to be some sort of trendoid object, it`s supposed to feed your body and soul and the things that matter.”
The following recipes incorporating unusual fruits and vegetables were developed by Pat Dailey in The Tribune test kitchen, unless otherwise noted.
BONIATO SOUP
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Yield: 5 1/2 cups
White fleshed inside like an Idaho potato, the flavor of the boniato tubers is unexpectedly sweet. In this creamy smooth soup, the sweetness is offset by a spicy bite of hot peppers and fresh ginger.
2 tablespoons butter
2 medium onions, minced
1 medium clove garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 1/2 pounds boniato, peeled, thinly sliced
2 cans (13 3/4 ounces each) chicken broth
1 small piece fresh ginger, peeled
1 small serrano or jalapeno pepper, seeded if desired
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/8-1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro (coriander) leaves
1. Melt butter in 3-quart pan. Add onion, garlic and cumin. Cook and stir until tender, about 5 minutes. Add boniato and chicken broth and heat to boil. Cover and simmer until vegetables are completely soft, about 20 minutes.
2. Strain vegetables from broth, reserving both. Puree vegetables, ginger and jalapeno pepper in food processor or blender until smooth. Stir back into broth and add cream and cayenne. Reheat gently and add cilantro.
PASSION FRUIT MOUSSE
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 4 hours
Yield: 6 to 8 servings
2 tablespoons each: cold water, fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons unflavored gelatin
3 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
Juice from 6 ripe passion fruits
1 tablespoon passion fruit liqueur, optional
3/4 cup whipping cream, well chilled
1. Combine water and lemon juice in small dish. Sprinkle gelatin over surface and let stand until gelatin is softened. Dissolve gelatin by putting dish into a larger dish of hot water or by heating in microwave oven on medium (50 percent power) 40 to 45 seconds. Cool slightly.
2. Beat egg yolks and sugar with electric mixer until thick and light. Add passion fruit juice and liqueur if using.
3. Wash and dry beaters. Beat egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Stir gelatin into egg yolk mixture then fold in egg whites. Whip cream until it holds soft peaks and fold into mixture.
4. Transfer to 6 to 8 individual serving dishes or 1 large one. Cover and refrigerate until set or up to 2 days.
JICAMA CITRUS SALAD
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Standing time: 2 to 3 hours
Yield: 6 servings
1 small jicama, about 1 pound
1 small red onion
1 small red bell pepper
2 large navel oranges
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tablespoons each, fresh: lime juice, lemon juice
1 teaspoon each: sugar, red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon each: ground coriander, salt
1. Peel jicama with a paring knife and cut into matchsticks about 2-inches long by 1/4-inch thick. Cut onion into thin slivers. Cut bell pepper into strips. Remove peel and all white pith from oranges. Cut into segments by slicing between the membrane.
2. Toss vegetables and fruit with remaining ingredients. Cover and refrigerate 2 to 3 hours. Toss lightly and adjust seasoning before serving.
RED BANANA BREAD
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 60 to 65 minutes
Yield: 1 loaf
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 red bananas, pureed, about 1 cup
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon each: vanilla, instant coffee granules
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9- by 5-inch or 5-cup loaf pan.
2. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and nutmeg together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until light. Add eggs and mix well, then add banana puree, sour cream, vanilla and coffee. Fold in dry ingredients and nuts.
3. Transfer to prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, 60 to 65 minutes. Turn out onto wire rack to cool.
SALAD OF FEIJOA, ENDIVE AND AVOCADO
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings
This recipe is from Elizabeth Schneider`s ”Uncommon Fruits and Vegetables.”
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons each: rice vinegar, lime juice
1/4 cup corn oil
2 medium-ripe large feijoas, about 1/2 pound
4 medium Belgian endive, about 1/2 pound, rinsed
1 medium avocado, peeled, pitted, cut into thin slivers about 1/2 inches long
1. Mix together sugar, salt and vinegar in a small bowl; stir to dissolve. Add lime juice and corn oil and blend. Peel feijoas thoroughly, then cut into thin julienne strips about 1 1/2 inches long. Add to dressing and mix gently to blend. Refrigerate for 1/2 hour or longer.
2. Cut out base of endive, then halve lengthwise. Cut diagonal julienne shreds about 1 1/2 inches long. Arrange these in a dish; cover with avocado. Pour feijoa and dressing over all. Toss gently and serve at once. –
