U is for Unfrosted Pop Tarts

 When thinking about what to write about for the letter U, the only thing that came to mind was ugli fruit. That was something I might actually be able to find at the grocery store, but I wasn't sure I had time to go. So I did a little googling to see what else I could come up with. In a Quora forum, I found this list from N.M. to the question, "What is a fruit or vegetable that starts with the letter U?"

1. Unfrosted Pop-Tarts

2. Ultimate Brownies

3. Utah Scones

4. Umpqua Oats

5. Upside-down cakes

I'm not sure if N.M. understood the question the same way I did, but who am I to judge? Let's go down the list and see what we can figure out.

kelloggs.com

1. There are three kinds of unfrosted Pop-Tarts: strawberry, blueberry, and brown sugar cinnamon. Well, two of these contain fruit, even if it's in a small amount, so I guess that Unfrosted Pop-Tarts could count for the question. Now I want a Pop-Tart. I haven't had one in a long time and the unfrosted ones are my favorites.

2. I think brownies are stretch, but I guess they could be made with applesauce or pumpkin to replace some of the fat or with cherries. So I generously give N. M. this one. Now I want brownies, too.

3. I didn't know what a Utah scone was, so I had to educate myself. They are deep fried dough served with honey, butter, and powdered sugar. Sounds like a doughnut or beignet to me and could be served with jam or jelly or maybe some strawberries on the side, I guess. The jury is still out as to whether this one fits the criteria for a fruit or vegetable beginning with U, but now I have a sudden urge to go to Utah.

4. I didn't know what Umpqua oats were, either. Umpqua is a brand name for oats sold either in cups or packets. Many of the flavors contain fruit, so I'm going to let N.M. have this one. I wonder if Umpqua oats are better than Quaker. Now, I want to do a taste test.

5. Upside down cake: This one is definitely a winner. Upside down cake can be made with many different kinds of fruit with pineapple being my favorite. However, the last time I made a pineapple, upside down cake, I forgot the salt and it wasn't very good. Who knew that leaving the salt out could make such a difference, but it did. N.M. has gotten me thinking. I need to bake another pineapple upside down cake to make up for the last one I made.  

It's a good thing that N.M.'s list wasn't longer. Who knows what else I'd be craving?

T is for Turnip

 I talked about turnips very recently, but I like them so much, I'm going to post about them again. But it wasn't always like this.

Turnips from last fall's garden.

When I was younger, I did not like turnips at all. They were too bitter for my taste. Same went for turnip greens. My parents occasionally cooked them and I would take my mandatory spoonful which I would choke down with a glass a milk. This was a consistent theme until one time when I was visiting my parents when I was an adult. During that visit, I had turnips from a friend's garden. And they were good! They were sweet with a bit of a peppery taste. Delicious especially with butter. Where had these turnips been all of my life? Those turnips changed everything. Now I eat turnips even when they are bitter. I am willing to do that to find a sweet one just like the one that changed my turnip dislike. Luckily, last fall I grew turnips that were tasty. I know that the flavor has something to do with the temperature and turnips are supposedly sweeter if they have gone through a frost. I got lucky with the weather. 

Turnips are a cruciferous vegetable and in the same family as cabbage, broccoli, and arugla. They are a low calorie food with one cup of cubes having only 36 calories along with 2 grams of fiber. The root is not as nutritious as the top leaves which are high in Vitamins A, C, and K, but still contains them. 

Our favorite way to eat turnips is either boiled with a little butter and salt, or roasted. Both are delicious.

Do you like turnips? Or are you still waiting to find the perfect one like I did?

Oh, BTW, I am still waiting for the magical turnip greens to change me into a turnip green lover.

 

S is for Spinach

 Another blast from the past today. 

Popeye's Spinach

The other day Ward was reading something and called out, "Hey, listen to this. You know how Popeye eats spinach and gets really strong because of the iron in it? Well that portrayal happened because of a simple mistake." He proceeded to tell me that when the nutritional value for spinach was first published in the 1870's, there was a problem with a decimal point. That ended up with the belief that spinach had 10 times more iron in it than it really had. The mistake wasn't figured out until much later.

I thought that was pretty interesting and I would share it with you here on my blog. And that's where the problems began. I did a little googling and found the same story in many places. In fact, it's such a great story that it has been repeated for decades. But no one seems to have ever seen the original paper where this mistake was made. Mike Sutton published extensive research he did on the story in Best Thinking Science. After a lot of investigation, he could find no evidence that the misplaced decimal ever happened.

What about Popeye? Did the misplaced decimal story mislead him into eating spinach for strength? Well, it turns out that when he first ate it, he touted its Vitamin A properties instead of iron content.




Nevertheless, his love of spinach made it the third favorite food among children at one point and consumption of spinach went up in the 1940's when Popeye was in his heyday.

So how much iron does spinach actually have in it and is it any better than other foods as a source of iron? One cup of raw spinach (30 grams) contains 5% of the RDA for iron (which by the way is the same amount of iron in Peppermint Pattie.)  Of course, if you are eating it cooked you are likely to eat more. However, spinach also contains oxalates which bind to the iron and make it hard for the body to absorb. So generally, animal sources of iron are easier for the body to use. However like all leafy greens, spinach good for you for a lot of reasons.

So what conclusion can we draw from all of this? Once again, you can't believe everything you read.

Note: I did reading on this about a week before I wrote it. When I tried to relocate sources for some of the things I had written down, I couldn't find them all again. Therefore, I tried to summarize the topic without too many specifics when I couldn't find the sources. Come to think of it, this might be how some internet rumors get started :)

R is for Rutabaga

I am moving slower than normal because of side effects from my second COVID vaccination, so I'm going to be using posts I've done in the past for the next couple of days. Today' post, about rutabagas, I featured not too long ago. To add new content, here's a rutabaga joke from Jokes 4 Us

Q: What kind of socks do you need to plant rutabaga?

A: Garden hose. (You can groan now.)

Rutabagas

I've always been curious about rutabagas. Well, actually, I've never been curious about rutabagas and have never given them much thought until recently when Miss Landers brought some over from her garden for us to try. This was her first time growing them and she was curious about how they compared with turnips, so she also brought turnips that she had grown.

A bit of research revealed that rutabagas are a natural cross between turnips and wild cabbage. They are a relatively new plant in that the first time they are mentioned in literature is in the early 1600's. They go by many names including yellow turnips and swedes because Sweden is a top producer. (Can you guess they like to grow in colder weather?) The name “rutabaga” is derived from an old Swedish word meaning “root bag.”

Notice the multiple roots and yellow tint of the rutabaga.

How about our turnip vs. rutabaga comparison? This is what we observed. Miss Landers said that as she was pulling them (both root vegetables) that the rutabagas seemed to have more roots and root hairs. Both were pungent when raw and smelled like a cross between cabbage and radishes. The rutabaga had a yellow tint to it that intensified when cooked while the turnip remained white.

We were able to convince Ward and Theodore to participate in a taste test after the vegetables were cooked--which was pretty remarkable considering neither one of them like turnips.They weren't too sure that they wanted to sample anything called yellow turnips. However, they did sample them right along with Miss Landers and me.

We all agreed that the rutabaga had a definite potato taste. Theodore said that the rutabaga tasted as if it were a cross between potatoes and brussel sprouts. A fairly apt description. Theodore and I liked the turnips better with their more peppery taste while Ward and Miss Landers liked the rutabagas better with their milder taste and creamier texture.

In conclusion, will I start adding rutabagas to my grocery list on a regular basis? No. But will I now have something new to talk about when there is a lull in the conversation? Yes. :)

Notice they white color of the cooked turnips and the yellow color of the rutabaga.

 More sources:

• Rutabaga overview--http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rutabaga
• Rutabaga recipes--http://allrecipes.com/recipes/everyday-cooking/seasonal/winter/rutabaga/top.aspx
• Rutabaga nutrition--http://www.produceoasis.com/Items_folder/Vegetables/Rutabaga.html
• How to grow rutabagas  http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/depts/hort/hil/hil-26.html
• A serious and not so serious blog about rutabagas--http://rutablogger.blogspot.com/2011/04/breakthrough-photosnynthesis-stimulate.html

Q is for Quaraibea

 I struggled a bit to come up with something for Q. I like to have a personal connection to the topic and use my own pictures if possible. Q just wasn't working for me this way. After letting go of those criteria, I decided that I would educate myself on some of the new-to-me fruits that begin with Q. So here it goes.

Quaraibea cordoto

Quaraibea Cordoto or Chupa Chupa - This is a soft, yellow fruit that grows mostly in the Amazon Rain Forest. The taste has been described as a cross between a pumpkin and mango, and nutritionally it is high in carotene. Outside of South American, I couldn't find anywhere to buy quaraibea codoto fruit. However, I did see several sources to buy seeds to grow the tree. The tree is very fast growing and can reach 140 high. However, if will only grow that high if it is in its native tropical rainforest. William Whitman brought it to Florida in 1964 and it has  been successfully grown there, although it needs protection from the cold. 

Quenepa or Spanish lime - This lime-looking fruit is about the size of an olive, has a hard shell, and a jelly inside. Despite it's name, this is not a citrus fruit. It has a sweet, tart taste and is a good source of Vitamin C. Quenepa is native to the tropics of Central and South America. In the US, it is grown in Florida, California, and Hawaii. I have never seen quenepa in the grocery store, but I did find it for sale on Amazon when it is in season.

Quandong or Desert Peach - Quandong grows in the deserts of Australia. It has been described to taste like a tart peach and has more Vitamin C than an orange. Indigenous people have used them for medicine and fuel (from seeds) as well as food. Some quandong are grown commercially, but much of the fruit is harvested in the wild. I could not find it mentioned that they are grown outside of Australia.

Those were very brief descriptions that I think I got mostly right. I would love to hear if anyone has had experience with any of these fruit. All of them grow in warmer or drier climates than I have ever lived, which may be why I was unfamiliar with them.