14 Rare Products That You Hardly Had To Try
For a European, vegetables are a standard set of onions, potatoes, carrots, cabbage and so on. However, our world is so huge and in every corner of it there are amazing products that are unthinking for an unprepared person.
Happy Worthy Life plunged into amazing cooking and found out what soups and side dishes were made of by representatives of different nations.
1. Purple Corn (Hopi)
Indians have been growing such corn in the Andes for thousands of years. True, boiled hopi is not very tasty: because of the high starch content, the grains are too hard. Native Americans dry cobs or make them a kind of stewed fruit – chicha morada, which, due to the presence of a mass of antioxidants, is considered very useful.
2. Pepper “sweet chocolate”
Canadian scientists who bred chocolate paprika claim it is a gourmet product. In color and taste, this variety really resembles cocoa beans.
3. Watermelon radish
Watermelon radish is an artificially bred hybrid, but this does not make the vegetable worse. This radish needs to be eaten raw, because when cooking it loses its bright color.
4. Fiddlehead
Fiddlehead, or bracken, is a species of edible fern. The stems of the plant are plucked before they open, and then boiled or pickled. True, only female shoots are collected (they do not contain spores). The stems taste like mushrooms with an earthy smell.
5. Swainson is beautiful
These vibrant flowers can only be found in the arid regions of Australia. And no, they don’t want to hurt you, like most of the flora and fauna of this continent. Australian Aborigines eat their peas fried or grind seeds and bake bread from them.
6. Yucca root
This root successfully replaces potatoes in Central and South America. He does not have any pronounced taste and smell. But there is one huge but: in the peel contains cyanide and in its raw form, the root can be very poisonous.
7. Dulce
Residents of Scotland and Ireland add this seaweed to various dishes. However, before it was dried in the sun and eaten without further processing. Dulce gives the taste of shrimp to food and saturates the body with vitamins and minerals.
8. Cabbage Romanesco
The inflorescence of cabbage Romanesco forms an ideal logarithmic spiral, which can please mathematicians. And foodies enjoy its delicate creamy nut flavor.
9. Capricornus
This root crop was popular in England in the Victorian era, however, then everyone forgot about it together. However, today the goat-breeder is again served in the best restaurants. To taste, the root resembles oysters with artichokes and a hint of licorice.
10. Soleros
In fact, soleros is a cactus without thorns. It grows on the salty soil of sea coasts. In Europe and North America, salmon is called marine asparagus and is used as a side dish.
11. Akmella (paracress)
Acmella grows in the swampy areas of Brazil, only its leaves are consumed. They are crushed into salads, which from such an additive acquire a sour taste. Acmella has one wonderful property: if you chew its buds, your mouth becomes numb, as from anesthesia in a dental office.
12. Nopal (prickly pear)
But this is a real cactus. In Mexico, nopal lies on store shelves next to potatoes and corn. It is fried on a grill or pan with the addition of hot pepper.
13. Beninquaza
This vegetable is called a wax or winter pumpkin. She is loved in China, India and Indonesia. Stuffed pumpkin or just cut into slices and fry. To taste, fried Beninase resembles fish.
14. Lotus root
Lotus roots are boiled, fried and pickled. However, with improper preparation and collection time, the plant can be deadly poisonous.
And what was the most amazing product you had to try?
Preview Photo Credit By Windell Oskay / Flickr, Windell Oskay / Flickr
