Trying new things

Some of you may find this hard to believe, but I used to hate vegetables. As a child growing up I would only really eat carrots and my brother (the one still living at home at least) would only eat peas. It was a match made in heaven. I would eat sweet corn and I considered potato - and yes fries, 1 of my 5 a day. In the last 2 years my taste buds decided to wake the hell up and let me taste all the amazing fresh foods that are available.

Now in Maldon (where I live) the Morrissons (pictured right) has just been revamped and I got mega excited walking in there the other day. I couldn't believe the amount of fresh fruit and veg available, I've genuinely never seen anything like it - in England at least. You know all those recipes where you've gone 'oh well I've never heard of that, I won't bother'? Morrissons probably have it. I was upset I didn't need to by more veg! So I had a little wonder in the exotic fruit section and thought I'd treat myself to something new. I'm trying this whole 'one new recipe a week' thing so I thought I may as well try completely new foods too!

So the first thing to catch my eye was prickly pears. Possibly because I'd been listening to the bear necessities a couple of days before. The store kindly offers a little description under each fruit detailing its taste and how to eat it. Oh and for those of you that don't know, prickly pear is the fruit from a cactus, or cacti? Hence the name 'prickly', it usually has little spikes sticking out all over it that are supposedly relatively easy to remove in water. Mine didn't really have any on it but you should still handle with care just in case!

It has a very mild taste, almost like melon (which I think the description might have actually said). It was very soft and had seeds all the way through it, but you can't crunch the seeds, they were a little pomegranatey - not in taste but in texture. So I just kind of swallowed them down with the fruit which didn't really require much chewing. Haha I'm not really selling it am I?

Next up I thought I would try dragon fruit. I always see pictures of it in exotic fruit salads and it looks like nothing I've ever seen before. I split this at the office with my 'colleague' - seems formal. Kelly and I took half each and both really enjoyed it. Texture I would liken to that of kiwi - and you can even eat it the same way. It's quite mild in taste and very refreshing. I will most definitely be eating this again! To eat, just chop in half and use the skin as a little bowl. Simple and delicious!

Trying new things can be so exciting. These fruits might be strange to us but are probably eaten daily by people on the other side of the world - and we're lucky enough to have access to them so why not take advantage? Just another small way to make healthy food more exciting. I can't wait to try more of their exotic range, mini pineapples look awesome, I saw tiny little melons that were completely edible, star fruits (I remember trying in primary school but haven't seen since!).
Get yourself down there and have a try of something new if you can!

I'm so excited about trying new foods I've even agreed to eat seafood on Friday night. I've been terrified of fish for years, I had a (traumatic) experience when I was about 5 years old at school in France and I was force fed fish - which I had always hated and refused to eat. This seems to have scarred me and make me resent fish haha. I'm old enough now to realise how ridiculous it is to let something that happened so long ago control my emotions. I went snorkelling in Egypt 2011 and was terrified but I swam the full length of our little coral reef section after about 10minutes managed to relax (a little) and enjoy the views. I then toyed with the idea of eating fish but even thinking about bringing some seafood to my mouth makes my heart pound. Stupid I know, so I'm going to go for it! I'm trying not to think to much about the smell and taste and texture and hopefully I will be pleasantly surprised when I bite into my prawn tempura!

Wish me luck all!

Minnie
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