And a few days ago, strolling through a market in Zhongshan, I saw pints of fresh seasonal red bayberries, which I almost bought. Then I saw what was next to them. Lo, what are these? They looked like blackberries, but oblong. “First of the season!” exclaimed another customer to her husband. I typed the Chinese [...]
Tag Archives | Asian Fruits and Vegetables
Fun Fruits for Chinese New Year
Fruits can be tasty as well as expressive. In China, it’s not uncommon, especially around New Year, to find these fruits with natural writing on them. The only name I know of is “fat choy guo” is Cantonese, meaning lucky or fortune fruits. Growers simply tape a stenciled sticker over the fruit before they’re matured [...]
Roasted Kabocha Squash with Bok Choy Lentil Soup
Pumpkins and squashes are so inexpensive in China, even more than in the US, that I cook with them whenever possible. (At 3 to 5 kuai per medium pumpkin, what’s not to love?) Calabaza and butternut are the varieties that appear most in my meals and snacks. But if I’m craving something with even more [...]
Brown Butter Pasta with Tatsoi
One of my favorite spur-of-the-moment dishes to make is pasta with spinach. However, in China, it’s often hard to find really fresh, crisp spinach in markets. Spinach seems even less appealing when, at the same market, I can find fresher and ridiculously cheaper Asian greens. I picked up 3 bunches of tatsoi today for the [...]
Yangmei, and Making Berry Iced Teas
‘Tis the season for blueberries and raspberries in the US, and ’tis the season for yangmei in China. These little purplish red berries with a knobbly surface are all over the indoor and outdoor markets here in southern China, and I’m sure I’ll find them in Beijing when I get back. They are also known [...]
Rambutan
When I was about 4 or 5, growing up in Guangzhou, I went crazy with excitement whenever my parents brought home a sack of lychees or rambutans from the fruit market. Abandoning whatever toys I was playing with at a time, I would instead grab a plastic bowl and sit for at least an hour [...]
Dragonfruit
How could you not be curious about a fruit that looks like a blowfish mated with a Venus fly trap? The dragonfruit, also called the pitaya or strawberry pear, is one of those strange-looking things you see in a market and just have to try. I had forgotten about eating these in abudance as a [...]
Appetite for China is all about fresh and simple Asian cooking. Welcome and bon appetit!
