Best produce ever
Not to make those of you who live in non-citrus-producing areas jealous, but the first of my back yard oranges are coming in. I just devoured two of the best oranges that I've ever had. I actually ate them outside under the tree, because they had so much juice they dripped. That's something you never get with a grocery store orange. What's the best singular piece of produce you''ve ever had? One that was so above the rest that you'll remember it for a long time? These oranges may just do it for me.
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36 Comments:
I'd have to say wild blueberries my BFs mom picked in Timmins (Northern Ontario). They were so tiny! They tasted absolutely amazing. Even the cat liked them (after batting it around the room of course). Store bought blueberries just don't seem to cut it anymore.
thinkingincrayons at 7:53PM on 11/10/08
A gigantic apple my daughter brought home from a health-food store. Super crisp and juicy and sweet. The best I've ever tasted. She did not know what it was called and I've been looking for it ever since - about 5 years now.
PerkyMac at 8:07PM on 11/10/08
Perky - was it a honeycrisp?
thinkingincrayons at 8:25PM on 11/10/08
Blackberries from the bush I had in my backyard growing up. The red, unripe ones were really tart and crisp, and the soft, deep purple ripe ones were sweet and juicy. They made amazing jam. I have searched my entire life since moving from that house, trying to find blackberries that tasted like that.
nightowl at 8:59PM on 11/10/08
a nectarine from a paris open market on the airplane ride to barcelona. a fuji apple picked from my friend's tree while it was pouring rain. wild strawberries from upstate new york, taste like candy.
tudogostoso at 9:56PM on 11/10/08
a banana picked from the tree in jamaica. fraises des boises from a greenmarket in paris. grapes picked from an abandoned vineyard in northern california. the meyer lemons from the tree that used to grow in my backyard in berkeley.
cybercita at 10:21PM on 11/10/08
Can't choose just one! Tiny, sweet strawberries from the Vancouver area. The grapes in Italy: they tasted of honey and were not at all sour. Macoun apples straight from the tree in upstate New York.
emmab at 10:23PM on 11/10/08
when we were little we took a family vacation to alaska - we were in some rural part, and i remember we pulled the car over because there was a giant salmonberry bush - so big we were crawling around under and through it, picking berries and popping them straight in our mouths and they were delicious!
also, in costa rica last december - bought an avocado on the side of the road for a dollar and it was as big as my head. *heaven*
billyburgwife at 11:59PM on 11/10/08
This summer, I had some fresh Valencia oranges when I was in Florida. I keep buying oranges and tangerines hoping that I'll find something that remotely compares. Organic Cara-Cara oranges come close... but those Valencias were citrus perfection.
jenilowrance at 12:07AM on 11/11/08
A pear from the farmer's market this past year. A banana from St Lucia, where the banana are NOT the same variety as the ones you find in our supermarkets. Perfect asparagus from a farm in Woodstock, Illinois.
dbcurrie at 12:14AM on 11/11/08
@emmab - Apples from NY state are terrific! I love Macoun apples for eating, too. Mutsus were a revelation to me for apple pie, as they have the perfect flavor balance. When I started shopping at the greenmarket rather than the grocery, I think I had revelations all the time. Though, if I have to choose a favorite, local NY-area cherries may top the list.
producestories at 7:44AM on 11/11/08
NY apples are great! Loved them off the trees as a kid and still do now. Best food memory--raw peas. I remember sitting in the dirt, shucking the peas from the pod fresh off the plant. So so crisp and sweet.
dhorst at 9:05AM on 11/11/08
Yah, NY apples....sigh....I live in Illinois now, and the local produce here is great, but somehow the apples just don't meet my expectations.
emmab at 10:19AM on 11/11/08
Hmm...I can't pick one.
While hiking alongside a stream, I saw a guava floating by so I picked it up. It was sooo sweet and cold. Got full on picking and eating wild berries and lychee along the way. =)
Picking and eating mountain apples from my aunt's yard. They taste like luscious, mildly sweet roses and have this perfect firmness - not super crunchy or squishy.
Cassaendra at 12:04PM on 11/11/08
I would have to say easy peazy mine would be the Sorrento lemons from Italy
pjracz10 at 1:35PM on 11/11/08
This summer I was in Budapest the 1st week of August, and I followed two local elderly ladies pulling handcarts into the central marketplace. They had on zip-front house dresses and looked like they knew the lay of the land. They both went independently to the same fruit stand to buy peaches. So I bought 2 there as well. I ate both peaches one after another while sitting on a park bench later that afternoon. Heaven... So juicy, they left a puddle on the pavement. My favourite t-shirt is stained forever and I don't care!
PeanutButter at 5:31PM on 11/11/08
Was the apple a Cameo? I just love them and plan on planting one this spring. Our Washington navel oranges and Satsuma tangerines that used to grow in our backyard in San Diego. Those oranges spoiled me for anything else.
dawnie2u at 6:30PM on 11/11/08
Ripe apricots fresh from the tree, when you have to battle the wasps for them!
jackiecat at 7:07PM on 11/11/08
A ripe peach. A big, sweet, cool, juicy peach from the family fruit stand. Problem is, I've had so many, I don't remember the best one. I can't count the number of times my chin has dripped with sweet peach nectar. Made you jealous, huh?
rochellefeil at 7:56PM on 11/11/08
Small bananas in Bangladesh, known as colas, as I remember. I had them in 2000. I recall that Bill Clinton, then president, and a visitor to Bangladesh that year too, liked them so much that he took several of them back on Air Force One!
Teri at 8:04PM on 11/11/08
When I was really young, my family lived in Oxnard, CA, famous for their strawberries...but the best piece of fruit I ever had was off of a red plum tree in our backyard...it had the sweetest little plums I've ever had and I've yet to have one better.
mayoxqueen at 8:44PM on 11/11/08
@rochellefeil - Okay, yes, I am seriously turning green with envy now... when they are in season, there is nothing better than a deliciously sweet, perfectly ripe, fresh peach. (They are so addictive that I have been known to refer to them as "crack.")
Also, I will never forget the first time I tasted fresh calimyrna figs; it was during my first visit to California when I was a child.
Steen at 3:20AM on 11/12/08
I wait all year to get local organic strawberries and tomatoes during the summer at the farmers market. I never buy either at other times of the year Nothing better.
Marls Barkley at 12:14PM on 11/12/08
@pjracz10 -- oh, absolutely, except I was going to say the oranges. Spent last spring studying in Italy and visited Napoli and Sorrento right at the peak of the season -- we were picking the oranges off the trees that lined the streets. One of the most amazing experiences ever. I mean, really: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2056731&l=3413c&id=5406738
kfarrel3 at 12:21PM on 11/12/08
The farmer's market here had blackberries and strawberries over the summer...they were huge and pretty impressive. I guess that's my best experience...but I feel like I can do better ;)
lawofmurphy at 1:10PM on 11/12/08
@krarr13 I never tried the oranges I wonder if they sell them at stores, would love to try one. The lemons were so sweet and huge. Isn't those lemons that they produce lemoncello?
pjracz10 at 1:12PM on 11/12/08
@prjacz, I think they are, although limoncello varies a little all over Italy, so don't hold me to it. Citrus was going out of season when I left, but since according the OP it's back, I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find a supplier. I know that Grom Gelateria (on the UWS and on Bleecker St.) imports their citrus from the Amalfi Coast, so it must be available. On the internet, maybe?
kfarrel3 at 1:31PM on 11/12/08
Looked it up myself, and apparently I'm wrong. According to both of these sites, it's nearly impossible to get real Amalfi citrus in the US. Shame, really.
http://www.deliciousitaly.com/prodotto.php?id=166®ione_id=4
http://slowtalk.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/862600685/m/534100198
kfarrel3 at 1:36PM on 11/12/08
@kfarre13 awwww thats too bad. I miss them. But thanks for the info
pjracz10 at 6:40PM on 11/12/08
A peach from the tree in our backyard at our first house in San Jose. Also, strawberries at a restaurant in Florence. I never knew that's what a strawberry was supposed to taste like ...
maered at 9:57PM on 11/12/08
The strawberries here in central CA in the spring. Tiny and incredibly sweet.
White peaches from my friend's tree, so ripe the skin falls off when you touch them.
Fresh pineapple in Hawaii. When it's really, really ripe it's almost orange, not yellow.
buffy at 12:05AM on 11/13/08
Cherry tomatoes from my parents' vines in LA. Sweet as sugar, used to pick them, rub off the dirt, and pop them into my mouth. Looooved the spring/summer growing season in California.
missvenuz at 2:04AM on 11/13/08
when peaches are in season at the farmer markets in new york, they are the best. oh! and apricots.
midgepingleton at 11:54AM on 11/13/08
a pear in Argentina! Huge and amazing.
sarag22 at 3:30PM on 11/13/08
Yes, Amalfi lemons. When I got back to Texas from cooking school on the Amalfi Coast (heaven), I bought 3 lemon trees. The smell when they are blooming always takes me back there...
carolrsf at 4:19PM on 11/13/08
Tie - resh strawberries from my in-laws garden, and wild strawberries from my grandmother's field. Amazing!
dettling05 at 6:42PM on 11/13/08