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Produce Quiz --- What am I?
In the early days of North
America's settlement, I helped sustain Florida Indians and settlers. While I'm
a native to the Americas, I'm only today enjoying resurgence, as those who
learned to love me in their native lands settle throughout the U.S. If you call
me a winter variety, you're right, since I have a hard shell that lets me stay
good for a month or two until cut open, but I'm available in one form or another
any time during the year. I can be so big that you'll only want to buy only a
hunk of me, or I can be small as a melon, round or slightly pear-shaped. I come
in mottled green, orange or tan, but I'm always smooth and hard on the outside
and bright orange on the inside. I show so much variety because my seed is not
commercialized, resulting in unpredictable strains. You'll need a very sharp
knife to reach my sweet meat and I'm perfect for the larder and all those
harvest recipes. But, you're unlikely to carve me as a jack-o'lantern. Make me
into a puree, gratin, or soup, or try me sliced, sprinkled with sweet spices
(like allspice, cinnamon, ginger, and brown sugar) and roasted. I'm low in
calories and sodium, and a source of vitamin A, potassium, folic acid, fiber and
vitamin C. My name means squash in Spanish; or you may know me as West Indian
Pumpkin, Cuban Squash, Toadback, Crapaudback, Ahuyama, Zapallo, Abóbora,
or Giraumon. But, don't confuse me with a sound-alike, also known as a Dudi, a
slender gourd. (8/31/00)
I am never alone. Wanting to be
pure and simple my whole life, but it was just not meant to be. I guess my
first association was Greek. Then I went wild and since then I have been
associated with Italians, Mexicans, golden showy, beautiful, wooly white, and
happy hills. While I might be as old as the hills, that flavor won't make you
happy unless you want something scentless, tasteless and green. Keep that in
your medicine cabinet to make poultices help with your everyday scorpion bites,
sore muscles, and hair loss. The Greeks and the Romans discovered me first and
I was considered a medicine by many, including Pliny and Dioscorides. Then the
colonists brought me to America for their gardens, but I escaped, becoming wild
once again. Free in the new land, I searched for good ground. Along the way I
meet and fell in love with the tomato, a relationship that has been nurtured
ever since. I also flirted a lot with zucchini, and was often the toast of the
cucina. Then I met my sister (so they tell me) Marge and the confusion began
again. Will it be her green leaves or my white flowers? Coarse rigini from
Greece, or dried for a sprinkle? Her sweet oil or my intense concentrated oil?
Did you know it takes 200 pound of my leaves to produce a single pound of my
oil? Anyway, no matter what I end up being called, I am essential in pizza,
pasta, and many chili powders. I am popular in blossom, in fresh green leaf, or
dried. I am often used as a healing tea. My nutrients include calcium,
potassium, vitamin A, magnesium, phosphorus, and iron. Don't carry me in a
baggie or you'll be suspect. (8/25/00)
This sacred ancestor has been
part of our country and folklore since ancient times. Our lives are entwined;
it shelters and sustains living creatures from birth to old age. It is not
cultivated or commercialized. Running barefoot on the wide-open plains, through
open woodlands and bush, I seek the shade of its shiny dark green leaves. I
watch the cattle eat its fallen leaves and the bull elephant bump the ripening
fruit to the ground. The bees drink its nectar and build beehives. Our
warriors pluck beetles from its trunk to make poison for their arrows. Its bark
makes medicine to sooth insect bites. Its plum-size pale yellow fruit has thick
leathery skin, which I smell being boiled or burned for drink. In the hot
nights, I make rope from its inner bark or carve toys and tools from its soft
wood. My tribe celebrates around a fire of its wood, after imbibing the
firewater fermented from its fruit. I relish its juicy, succulent, delicately
exotic, sweet-tart flesh. Within this layer of translucent, fibrous white flesh
are two or three kernels, tucked in pockets within the pit. When hunting is
lean, we eat its nuts whole, grind flour and make oil. When I give its kernel
as a gift, it is the greatest mark of friendship. Tribal rituals, medicines and
fertility practices thoroughly utilize the entire tree. Some tribes eat its raw
leaves to relieve heartburn; its roots to treat stomach ailments. Seldom seen
outside its indigenous land, a commercially available crème liqueur is
made from its fruit, and in the 1990's they tried to grow it in Israel. Its
fruit is a member of the Mango family, and has 3-4 times the vitamin C of an
orange.(8/18/00)
We're native to India and may be
10,000 years old. The Romans loved us. Then Americans declared us only fit for
cows in the late 1600's. But today, we join the Queen for tea between slices of
buttered bread. Smooth or warty, we always have glossy skin and almost white
flesh. Ranging from 3 inches to 2 feet in length, generally the English are the
longest, while American's are shorter and fatter. The Chinese hang weights on us
sometimes to make us grow longer and stronger. Big or small, long and firm, with
seeds or not someone wrote a book listing why we are better than a man in 100
ways. We do hang out with real climbers, who may need some guidance,
constraint or support, so we don't end up rolling on the floor or taking over
the party. Peel us if we're waxed, scrub off any spines, and gut us if you
burp. Eat raw, steam or sauté. Leave in vinegar, but not the freezer.
We're a must for Greek salads and gazpacho. Combined with yogurt, we counter
Middle Eastern spices. Great with fish, dill, and tomato. A source of
potassium, calcium, folate, and vitamin C, we're fat free, cholesterol free and
sodium free. We're a diuretic, purifier, and relaxant. Use us as a cool
astringent to soothe your skin. From fields and greenhouses, we come for you
all year with a summer peak. (8/10/00)
I don't drip down your shirt!
They may be direct descendents of a Japanese dessert from China, but I am the
provenance of their name. They kind of look like me, if I haven't packed a
trunk or any of the parts of me that the poachers covet. The old-timers at the
farmers markets know their homegrown greatness, but while they are one of the
best eating of their kind, they're not that widely known; at least not like me.
Of course, they are incredibly sweet, juicy, and rich. I'm not. We do resemble
each other in the color of our skin and firm red flesh. I'd like to think we're
equally prolific and all high quality. You'll find me in the loop almost
anytime, but they have a late harvest season. The arid areas of the West
(California, the Southwest, the mountain states, eastern Oregon, and Washington
east of the Cascade Mountains) are good for growing both Japanese and European
groups of the family, although there are very few commercial plantings left of
their variety. Like the over two thousand kindred in the family, they have more
antioxidant than any other fruit. They add potassium, vitamins C and A,
riboflavin, sugar and fiber to the diet and are laxative, diuretic, energizing
and cleansing. Mine can weigh as much as 28 kg (almost 62 pounds), and while
they are considered very large or huge for their kind, they miss the beat with
me. Don't tell anymore jokes about me because I never forget. Oh, and of
course, they're packed in flats, not pachyderm.(8/3/00)
You want all of me and I'm
yours, year round with peaks in the spring and fall. If you like me because you
think I'm Asian or Chinese, I guess that I should admit that my origins are
probably really Mediterranean, even though I'm the main type of my variety eaten
in Japan and China. If you like 'em young, I'm for you, since I'm really only
half-grown when chosen. I'm thin-skinned, bright, light, fresh, crisp and
sweet, and that's what you like about me. Some call me flat and thin, but I'm a
broad known for my model figure and I figure well in a model's diet as well.
While you delight in every part of me, it's seldom my seeds that make you yearn
for me, unlike others of my sort. It's my tiny seeds' immaturity that lets me
keep my slender profile. If you wait until I grow and swell, you'll find me
inedible. You love me when I'm raw and can take me plain or dressed. But, get
me all hot and stirredup and you adore me. Don't wash me until you need me
though, because I'm very delicate. Just treat me to a light shower and gently
pat me dry, then go ahead and pinch me at the top and bottom. Pull my string or
just eat it; either way, I'm a taste treat with tempting texture and I'm a
source of vitamin C and potassium, as well as iron, folic acid, magnesium,
thiamin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6 and phosphorus.(7/27/00)
We Wheat were grown Rye and
eaten Buckwheat in China Millet 5,000 years Canola ago. We Adzuki Bean helped
mountain Horse Bean dwellers survive hard winters and Beet merchant sailors
Radish complete Cauliflower long voyages. Treat us Mitsuba like a vegetable or
an Polygonum herb, but be Celery sure to eat us Mint promptly to enjoy us
Sunflower at our Perilla peak of flavor and nutrition. Try us Barley; try
different ones of us Fennel; try us Fenugreek all different ways, because we're
Leeks trendy, cute, tasty and unbelievably good for you. Some of us Mung Bean
are larger and meatier, some Turnip thin and delicate. We Chrysanthemum are
crunchy, nutty, tender, fresh, mild, sweetish, spicy, peppery; trimmed or
natural. Exceptionally rich Oat in vitamins, minerals, high quality Onion
protein, and enzymes, you can eat us Alfalfa raw in sandwiches, salads, or
simply dressed, or enjoy us Broccoli steamed, boiled or stir fried. Do be
careful Lentils and don't try to grow us Chard from commercial garden packets
we Corn need a special start and Chinese Cabbage they've been treated with stuff
Mustard you don't want to eat. Also, those of us Peas that are legumes should
be consumed Chick Pea raw in small quantities; some Soybean toxicity can be
present. (7/21/00)
I am what I am. No crosses will
I bear. No skin must I shed. Eat me in China, 2000 years ago. Name me for
the drink of the classic gods. "A rose is a rose is a rose" . . . "a
rose by any other name would smell as sweet" . . . well, I really am a
member of the Rosaceae family, and I have a tempting aroma. In general, I'm a
wonderful commodity fruit, but my specialties are truly specialty items. In
fact, I have numerous varieties, including over 85 created in the U.S. since the
early 1950s. My colors indicate my variety, not my ripeness. Of all fruits, I
am perhaps the most like human skin and flesh. My white, yellow or pinkish
flesh is delicate and sweet with a touch more acid or richness than a peach.
While I am best picked ripe, I am often picked just prior to full ripeness if I
must travel. I'm rich with Vitamins A and C, potassium, phosphorous, and fiber.
I'm also low in calories; about a third less than a peach. Best eaten out of
hand, for a different delight, try me split and grilled along with light meats.
My season is mid spring to late September with a peak in July and August. You
may not know I'm a real peach. In fact, I can just spontaneously bud from a
peach tree or pit. Of course, I have to admit that my tree has been known to
produce peaches as well. Put Mango or Honeydew in front of my name and you've
got incredible new varieties of my stone fruit. Put No. 9 behind my name and
you have a Scottish rock group. (7/14/00)
I'm broadly ribbed, hard, smooth
and groovy, and really, I'm only a little rough, scaly, bumpy or warty. But,
who cares what's on the outside (it's inedible anyway) --it's my sweet,
aromatic, luscious, dense, flesh that leads many to call me the finest flavored
of all my kind. I was cultivated around 1700 and named for a papal villa near
Rome, but now my name's not really my own. Here's the quandary. In North
America, I am not what you're used to. You may not even think I'm me, because
you may never have seen me, or when you do, I'm being called by one of my
European names. Americans use my name for another summer delight that is
technically not me, even though we are a lot alike. Even the authorities on such
things get a bit confused. Just so you'll know it's me when we meet, here are
some ways to tell us apart: While we resemble each other with our orange
insides, they can look like they were left in a basketball hoop. I'm somewhat
smaller than those who've assumed my name, and I must say I am more attractive
because of my smooth, strong exterior. One of my hybrids is a real sweetheart
and I really am juicier and more aromatic than the "imposters."
Although you might not notice, I am primarily cut from my vine; they just drop
off. Also, since I am not grown on a commercial scale in the U.S., I can't
really blame them for wanting to use my famous name; they are terribly popular
after all. And, we can be handled, prepared, and consumed fairly
interchangeably, at least in most kitchens. We're low in calories and full of
water and are invigorating, diuretic, laxative and stimulate the appetite. There
are jokes about my name and not running away to get married.(7/7/00)
If you travel back in time to
4000 BC, you'll find me in Egypt, and later in China (618 AD). You'll know it's
me because I'm the one with the slender thorny branches and small pale leaves,
but all my family and I did great combat with scurvy on long ocean voyages. I
love living where there are long warm summers and frost-free winters, but I've
mostly moved out of the American locale for which I'm named. So call me Mexican
or West Indian, but don't miss my annual festival the first was just last year
on the southernmost tip of mainland U.S. My relatives are green with envy
because I'm more aromatic, flavorful and juicier than those commoners. However,
unlike them, I'm almost never used in a Rickey, despite being nicknamed the
bartender's ______. Don't be surprised that I'm small and round, my flesh is
straw yellow in color and I am quite astringent with lots of Vitamin C. Eat me
in pie, cheesecake, or juices; my oil byproduct is used in cosmetics and
flavoring. By the way, the reason for my longevity may just be that my seeds are
polyembryonic -- meaning that multiple plants can be grown from one of my seeds.
(6/29/00)
We've been used in cooking for
millennia, across the world and the centuries -- from China to Ancient Rome and
even Victorian England. You, however, have been known to love us and leave us.
Don't dismiss our pretty faces. Don't send us to the dishwashers. Don't eat us
from the roadside, the prom or the funeral. Don't eat all types of us; don't
eat all the parts of us. You must neuter us before eating. Over 60 of us are
edible, but you definitely have a top ten favorites list, and you must follow
our 10 rules closely. Choose wisely from all the colors of the rainbow and gain
beauty and a wide range of flavors. Choose unwisely and risk poisons, toxins,
along with throat and stomach irritations. Our flavors range from "bland
to spicy, sweet to piquant." While some of us are delightful raw, others
must be cooked. An herb, a garnish, a seasoning; with salads, fruits, drinks,
and deserts. Crystallize us in sugar; deep-fry a few; add some of us dried in
Chinese hot and sour soup; others on a wedding cake, or preserved in butter,
sugar, oil, vinegar, syrup, or jelly. We are tasty and nutritious. Don't plate
us unless we're intended for the palate. Don't expect us to jump from lapel to
lunch. And by the way, one of us represents the state of Illinois.(6/22/00)
Long ago and far away, you may
have picked me up along the roadside or maybe stumbled across me as you haunted
the dark winding cemetery paths. I was so like my bright white cousin with her
closely drawn veil, but instead, you chose me with my tan skin. And, the darker
my skin, the more beautiful you found me, even with my torn or missing veil.
You called to me in Italian and ignored my older sisters who were flaunting
their dark gills nearby. Cultivated on a huge scale since the time of France's
Louis XIV, I may be the best known of my kind in the western world. My ring is
partially upturned and quite small and you may get a faint red stain from
caressing my head or neck. I have a heartier, richer flavor than my perfect
white cousin. Ready any time and nearly any place, I can couple with most
cuisine, but you'd do best to marry me well with beef, wild game and vegetable
dishes. Just wipe me clean and enjoy low calories and high fiber. I may not
be the Prince of my family, nor do they compare me to filet mignon, but call me
a baby of my big sister, and I'll fetch a premium market price. (6/16/00)
There are over 7,000 varieties
of us. An ancient African crop, we rode the slave ship to America around 1700
and are probably over 3,000 years old, having dined first with the Greeks and
Romans. Two hundred years later, George Washington Carver promoted us as
excellent food for man or beast and as a plant that enriched farm soil with
nitrogen. Only Southerners bought his excellent food story and they
traditionally start each New Year eating us for good luck, health and
prosperity. Many folks use us just for fodder or cover, and Nigerians make a
strong fiber from our seedpod hulls. We have a distinct, savory flavor and light
smooth texture and we can be cooked without pre-soaking because of our thin
skins. Chitlins, ham hocks, salt pork, collards, and rice would still be back
on the farm without us. Full of protein and fiber and low in fat, Neiman Marcus
sold us pickled as "Texas Caviar" into the 1970's. Available year
round, we are also grown commercially in India and China. Head to Athens, Texas
for our annual harvest festival. By the way, we didn't get our names by being
punched or milked.(6/8/00)
I AM EVERYTHING AND MORE!
People have the nerve to call me just a berry, but you'd never see me that way.
A cliché of 70's nouvelle cuisine, I originated in China over 700 years
ago, but they only used me as a childhood tonic. The French call me "vegetable
mouse," and I must admit that I'm a rampant climber, deciduous and
attractive. When cut, I release actinic and bromic acids to curdle your milk,
soften your meat, and keep your gelatin nervous. Caress my skin if you want to
eat it; on a picnic enjoy my fruit, then use my skin to patch your bicycle
tires; or after dessert save my skins to make pillowcases. See, I told you I'm
everything and more. On the culinary side, it took an inventive marketing mom
to really make me famous in the U.S. While of few of my plants are
hermaphrodites, we usually work as a harem, one male for every four or five
females producing 100 lbs. of fruit on one vine. You'll find me year-round,
since my two main producers have complementary seasons. I'm also a handler's
delight, since I have a resilient skin and can last 3-4 weeks in your
refrigerator or 6 months in cold, humid storage. Even after 6 months, I retain
90% of my Vitamin C. I need room temperature to really ripen. I get sweeter and
mushier as I ripen, despite losing some vitamin content. Scoop, peel, slice,
chunk, juice, or just bite in; use me like a strawberry or melon. Even with all
my attributes, it just isn't enough; they're marketing my smooth-skin baby
cousins and my new gold variety. I have ten times more Vitamin C than lemons and
lots of potassium, and I'm diuretic and laxative. One oval berry can have as
many as 1400 seeds, containing essential fatty acids. (6/1/00)
Eh mon, I was a chance offspring
conceived in the early twentieth century. Mama was Mandarin, but she always had
a passion for the Aaahlands. A tropical Island off the coast of Florida (where
her grandchildren now thrive), a cool night, Technicolor sky, tequila sunrises,
you get the picture. There he stood -- her perfect image of a man. The way
Mama tells it, she'd never seen one so big with rugged good looks and strong
character. (Only later would she learn Papa was a real sourpuss.) Seeing her
orange skin glow, he knew right then that they would have to trade sections. So
tell me, how could their beautiful union breed my short, thick neck, and my
bumpy leathery skin that doesn't quite fit? Is this fair? Ok, so I'm big like
Papa and my body is so desirable, with my firm flesh and strong membrane. I'm a
fast peel, my sweetness is famous and I'm in demand, but give me a break . . .
Let's face it, people DO judge a book by its cover. Calling me incomparable or
special is like calling art interesting, the underlying truth is evident, I know
what you're really thinking. You'll usually find me visiting the mainland from
December through April, but you can find me as early as October and as late as
June, and I'm a great source of Vitamin C. Peel me easy, eat me well, don't
feel guilty, and don't blame Mama. (5/25/00)
I'm originally from the Andes
(but I'm not a fingerling potato). I hitched to New Zealand from South America
and they gave me my marketing name in the '60's (but I'm not a Kiwi or Feijoa).
I can be whatever you want: I'm a bitter fruit or a sweet vegetable; I smell
like an apricot or a tomato; I've the consistency of a firm plum or soft
eggplant. And, want me you will, with my elegant stem, my satin skin in deep
purple, red, orange or yellow, my lush deep blush flesh with purple whorls and
edible seeds. If you take me home, treat me to a boiling bath for a few minutes,
so I can easily slip out of my skin, cradle me like an egg, and be careful when
cutting me fresh, I'll leave stains for sure. You'll need to peel me and I'm
quite bitter about it, and you'll probably prefer to cook me, since few like my
fresh attitude. I'm best heavily dosed with sugar or citrus and add intrigue to
compotes and chutneys, salsas, relishes, sweet and savory sauces. I must tell
you that I'm low in calories (around 19 a piece) with vitamins A&C, calcium,
potassium, phosphorus, sodium, and magnesium. Would you know me if I tell you
that I'm on a subtropical shrub grown as a house plant for years? (5/19/00)
Like the Gallo Wines don't serve
me before my time, or you'll find the results to be very, very bitter. Speaking
of time, originally I was given the last name of the botanist who discovered me,
Dom J. de Silva….., a nineteenth century museum director in Brazil. In my
family I outshine most of the other fruits, and I'm even giving cloves a run for
their money. My beauties and pleasures are often missed because I hang out with
magnificent red flowers with edible sweet white and purple petals. While
Californians took advantage of our beauty and scent to decorate their gardens,
while the opposite end of the world was having quite a time propagating and
promulgating me back into the spotlight. With all that propagation, no wonder
New Zealand is full of me. Sorry Dom. Anyway, back to the serving stuff.
You'll only want me perfectly ripe -- my greenish yellow skin unblemished,
fragrant, and tender to the touch. Then palm me and enjoy me, but peel me
first, because no matter how good I smell, my skin's too bitter to bite. If
your too anxious to peel me, you can just cut me, scoop me out to enjoy my cream
colored, soft, pear-like graininess surrounding tiny sweet seeds in pulp. My
taste is er, uh pine… or no maybe uh, er, strawb.., oh whatever you think,
with almost a bit of mint. Eat me fresh in salads or try as an ice; cook me in
sauces or desserts or make jelly from my belly, but use me sparingly or I'll
dominate and upstage the other players. As a native to South America, you'll
love my Brazilian Black Tea. I've got vitamin C and niacin, potassium, folic
acid and I'm real rich in iodine. Although it's a nickname I've never really
understood, I've yet to be discovered in an upside down cake. (5/11/00)
I'm the newest Rugrat! A native
of southern Europe and Western Asia, I'm now in India, all of Europe, as well
as the U.S. I symbolized joy and pleasure for the Romans. You'll find me
mentioned in ancient Egyptian writings and the Bible. In the 10th century,
China got me from Sumatra. Today, with a good run and syndication, my crown will
cover the globe. I'm a smooth, hollow stemmed annual or biennial herb with
feathery leaves and yellow flowers that bear my progeny. I grow like a weed, up
to 3 feet tall. You may not know that my flowers make beautiful fragrant
bouquets. My fresh leaves and dried seeds are my culinary prize, both herb and
spice. You can also buy my leaves dried, but I think they're flavorless.
Personally, I find a nice freeze best preserves my leaves. I'm excellent in
sauces and dressings, with vegetables, chicken and poultry. You would guess my
identity if I told you some of my favorite dishes; I'll simply say I'm often
part of a cure. In addition, my leaves and seeds create beneficial oil. Make me
into tea or chew on my seeds to combat urinary-track infections, bad breath, and
upset, gassy stomach. My highest nutritional content is potassium and calcium.
Warning to birds - my ripe seeds are toxic to you. (5/5/00)
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