Oh Snap, What's That? [Vol #1]

Let’s say you’re walking through the produce section of Whole Foods or Central Market, and you notice they have some new exotic produce in stock. Among that selection is some freaky-ass-looking piece of fruit you’d never heard of before. Or maybe it’s something you’d seen once on Iron Chef or a Travel Channel food show, thinking it’s something you’d never see in your store. You stop dead in your tracks, in awe. If you’re anything like me, first thing that comes to mind is “How do I eat that?”


Buddha's Hand
Last week at the store, I encountered one of these guys at Central Market.



Seriously, how can you look at that and not want to take it home?

This, ladies and gentlemen, is the “Buddha’s hand” or “fingered citron,” the world’s oldest cultivated citron fruit, originating from India and China. I saw it once on an episode of Iron Chef America. Alton Brown called out the Chairman lurking in the back of the Kitchen Stadium, holding and stroking the fruit like Dr. Claw with his cat. Someone, seriously, please give Mark Dacascos another action movie role. His Chairman act is just getting more and more depressing.

Citrons are different from other citrus fruits, like lemons and oranges, in that there is no juicy pulp under the skin, let alone juice. Historically, the Buddha’s hand has been used for its fragrance, to perfume rooms and clothing.

These are all facts I wish I had known before I bought one. How can I potentially eat this? Well, if I ever have a recipe that calls for a lot of lemon zest, and if I want a substitute that costs twice as much per pound, it would come in handy. But I have to say, the smell is great, kind of like intense lemon but more floral.


Yuzu
I also saw these next to the Buddha’s hand.



The yuzu is an Asian citrus fruit, mostly popular in Japan and Korean cuisine. The most common use I can think of is in shoyu ponzu, a Japanese citrus-flavored soy sauce. It kind of looks like a mandarin orange, but more spherical and lumpy. Unlike the Buddha’s hand, the yuzu does have pulp and juice. The flavor is like a really tart orange, or like a grapefruit but with half of the slight bitterness. I basically squeezed the juice out and made something like lemonade. Next time around, I’ll find a better application for it.