Have you ever tried a sapodilla? The fruit looks like a kiwi; small and brown with sandpapery skin. It tastes like a spoonful of caramelized brown sugar, with the texture of a pear. The Mayans used the rubbery sapodilla sap, called chicle, to make the world’s first chewing gum.
Happy Fourth of July! Here’s something to keep you cool at the beach, with or without the rum.
My father-in-law gave me a cookbook called The Spice Merchant’s Daughter. It’s my favorite cookbook of all time. The author, Christina Arokiasamy, grew up in Malaysia and has cooked for resorts throughout Southeast Asia.
Fried okra is a rare treat for me. I won’t get my fix at a restaurants because it’s always disappointing and often sickening. And forget some shake-and-bake coating pretending to taste fried. It doesn’t work for okra. Trust me, I have tried.
Mango, the world’s favorite fruit, casts a shadow on other fruit that ripen at the same time. Since our fruit baskets are overflowing, I made a tropical punch to showcase some of the others.
If you order an Indian kati roll, ask for it unda-style (which means egg-style) and they will cook it with a layer of scrambled egg. The egg fuses with the roti, creating a little crepe on one side.
My friend spent the better part of a year sailing around the Caribbean a few years ago. I went on board before she set sail. The galley was stocked
Pine Island is a quaint little island in southwest Florida, situated between Ft. Myers and Sanibel. There aren’t any beaches or big hotels