Brain hibernating during lockdown?

[mint]

Here is one way of waking it up.

Today I did some hill-walking notwithstanding steady rain and voilà I learned a new French word!   Look, I don't mind if you aren't the least interested.  I am writing about this because then I can be sure of remembering it in future[:)]

We passed a small tree with lovely, glossy leaves and bunches of golden fruit that looked like apricots.  I was told that the fruit were called nèfles and the tree a néflier.  Aha, notice the sneaky change of accents.  Of course the French WOULD keep doing things like this to confound les étrangers.  It's like crème but, if it's skimmed milk, it becomes écrémé......

Then, on googling the tree, I learned that it was a medlar and then, I learned an English word new to me.  The word is "bletted"....well, don't know about you, but I was blowed if I knew what THAT meant.

So, here is a link to explain all and show you this lovely little tree.

[url]https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=neflier[/url].  My French friends told me that the fruit was "pas comestible" and that they gave it to animals.  Ha, wait till I see them again and tell them that au contraire, the fruit is perfectly edible and is in fact quite delicious!

[Gardengirl]

Your walk sounds a good way to shake your brain about, Mint. Interesting about the néflier, which I didn’t know, so your brain-wakening walk had taught me a new word too.

It’s a bit like parsnips - they were regarded as animal feed in France not so long ago, but they are not only on sale in greengrocers, but on menus, or were in winter.

[idun]

mint, do you watch french tv, this sort of stuff is so easy pick up, watching nature, gardening programs etc etc. And I used to love a lot of french docs, bit different angle often from UK ones, and I enjoyed the variety they offered.

I need to start watching more french tv again. Since sky stopped tv5 monde, which was actually an awful thing to do I have hardly watched any....... which is very bad for me.

[idun]

double post

[suein56]

Gardengirl wrote the following post at 05 Jun 2020 20:58:

It’s a bit like parsnips - they were regarded as animal feed in France not so long ago, but they are not only on sale in greengrocers, but on menus, or were in winter.

Absolutely .. you beat me to it GG ? .. I love parsnips .. especially roasted when they become so sweet .. and also parsnip soup, which is superb with a smidgeon of chorizo, to give it a slight kick.

There are some delectable delights which French menus seem to have passed up on in past times .. no more .. France is waking up to the benefits tastewise of humble foodstuffs.

[chessfou2]

Yes, it's a fashion trend. When we moved here in 2006 none of our neighbours had heard of panais (although it was common here several hundred years ago). Gradually, they started to appear in the shops - first the 'grandes surfaces' then the smaller shops (or was it the other way round?). Then they started to appear on restaurant menus and that launched an explosion of panais. Great, because we love roast parsnips with shoulder of lamb or roast beef.

[idun]

None of our friends or neighbours had heard of panais de guernesey either. 

It was rutabagas that people didn't want, as people ate it during the war and it was considered only good for animal feed. Same same with sweet corn when I first got there.

I could always buy navet long, quite like that.

[mint]

But why on earth would they eat topinambours?  Horrible things!

One of our keenest walkers comes in sometimes with boxes of home grown stuff to share with the group.  She it was who introduced me to topinambour.  Only had it once, and it was once too many!

I remember years ago in the supermarket when I asked an elderly man what these things were called and whether they were good to eat.  He said, no, they were horrible but that people ate a lot of them during the war.

[pomme]

Nothing wrong with topinambours (Jerusalem artichokes) at all. We grow them and usually just roast them in butter with garlic or as soup ingredient. They can be rather invasive plants with long roots and they seem to be able to grow from just about any part of a tuber left in the ground.

Ours must be an old variety as they are very knobbly and nothing like the smooth tubers you see in shops nowadays. They were here when we bought the house so probably a left-over from the war which the old owners then used to feed their animals. I must admit when we first arrived the older locals wouldn't eat them because of the wartime associations.

I've even been served them as part of a dessert in both Danish and English starred restaurants, once with pear, vanilla ice cream and thyme and the other as a sorbet with chocolate and hazelnuts.

[mint]

Pomme, tempting as those desserts sound, I am NOT about to eat them again EVER![:D]

[idun]

I love topinambours, the side effects or is it the backside effects however are not so pleasant![:-))]

[Www]  

[Gardengirl]

Ha, Idun! A friend calls them f...ichokes! ?

On first trying them I thought they might be like ginger and was sadly disappointed!

I think ordinary artichokes are also a waste of space - well, they actually take up more space when you’re finished than they did before starting to eat, and you have to work for it!

I first tried artichokes on a school exchange to St Nazaire, aged 13, following a long coach journey from the NE of England to the south coast, a very rough Channel crossing, when I was seasick all night, then 2 train legs before arriving.

We sat down to dinner en famille and had artichokes and oysters as starters - I can hardly think of any worse starters than those after such a journey - plus none of us could communicate!

I’d never had either of them, have never had oysters since and only eat artichokes if friends serve them - I never buy them or order them in restaurants.

[mint]

GG, I feel EXACTLY the same as you as regards artichokes.

But oysters.............hm, I do like them......a lot[:D]

[pomme]

The problem with Jerusalem artichokes is they aren't prepared correctly so remain "fartichokes". They contain a lot of inulin which needs to be broken down into the sugar fructose outside your gut!

The usual method of reducing the amount of inulin is to use an acid such as lemon juice or vinegar when boiling them whole for 15 minutes and then roasting them. We just slice them, put them in a pan with a little water and lemon juice, garlic and plenty of butter, leave them to cook slowly for about 30 mins. as the water boils away and then serve then as they are or add cream/milk and mash.

[idun]

I like artichokes. I like dibbing the leaf ends in a good sauce and then dragging that little flesh off with my teeth and then the heart, at the end.

Love palm hearts too with a good sauce.

Re the jerusalem ones, well, I think that I have always cooked them properly and they still have the same effect, but I still like them.