Browsing Category : Cuisine

WTF


What’s That Food? This month’s WTF is pitahaya. Botanically known as Selenicereus megalanthus, the fruits are also known as yellow dragon fruit, yellow pitahaya (sometimes spelled pitaya) or Pitaya Amarillo. A part of the cactus family, the fruit grows on stems that can grow to 20 feet long. It is native to Central and South America but is now also…

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Venison Loin with Leek Ash | submitted photo

GOLDEN WIN


Years of hard work for the Culinary Youth Team Canada culminated in a history-making performance at the highly anticipated IKA/Culinary Olympics last month in Stuttgart, Germany. With two gold medals and fourth place overall, it was a first for a Junior Canadian team to be awarded two gold medals. It was also the highest placing ever for a Junior Canadian…

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WTF?


What’s that food? This month’s WTF is a familiar fruit in Indian cuisine. With its smooth green skin and elongated shape, tindora bears a resemblance to cucumbers, albeit a tiny cucumber. Like cucumber, tindora (Coccinia grandis) belongs to the Cucurbitaceae family and the fruit grow on vigorous climbing vines, native to tropical climes. The plant is commonly found in the…

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WTF?


What’s that food? If you take an average size grapefruit and imagine it’s been quadrupled, you will get an idea of this month’s WTF. Pomelo (or pummelo, pomello, pumelo—each spelling is correct) is a type of citrus fruit native to south and southeast Asia. It’s the biggest of all citrus fruit, can weigh between one and two kilograms, and grow…

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WTF


What’s that food? Looking like little Chinese Lanterns (the bright orange flower often found in late summer in many PEI gardens), this month’s WTF is the simple yet sweet ground cherry. The reason they resemble the classic flower is because ground cherries actually belong to the same genus of plants, Physalis. A member of the Solanaceae family which includes nightshades…

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WTF?


What’s that food? When this month’s subject was found in a local grocery store, it just had to be featured for this last month of the year. It is the appropriately named-for-the-season Santa Claus or Christmas melon. The Santa Claus (Cucumis melo inodorus) melon is a Casaba type of melon. It is a winter melon variety like the honeydew or…

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WTF?


What’s that food? This month’s WTF is an essential ingredient in both Worcestershire sauce and HP sauce—condiments that find places of honour on many chefs’ and home cooks’ shelves. Tamarind is a fruit that offers a sour yet sweetly acidic flavour, hence its use in these sauces. Tamarind is an evergreen tree native to tropical Africa but is widely cultivated…

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WTF?


What the Food? Typically when thinking of squash, large vegetables tend to come to mind, but the chayote is not your typical acorn, butternut, or even spaghetti squash. Sometimes called a pear squash, or mirliton, chayote (pronounced chai ow tay) is actually a member of the cucumber family. It is a fast-growing climbing vine with characteristic tendrils. It bears small…

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WTF?


What’s that food? This month’s What’s That Food has its roots in the Andes Mountains, and is native to Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. It can also be found growing as far north as Mexico and as far south as Argentina. The granadilla is a small fruit that is sometimes called sweet granadilla. Passiflora ligularis is one of over…

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WTF?


With its large pink and green spiky exterior, dragon fruit is hard to miss in a store. Its distinctive colour and shape stands out among the perfectly round apples and oranges and makes you wonder just what it might taste like. The dragon fruit, or pitaya, is native to Central America but is also grown and exported from several Southeast…

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