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antdad

antdad

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I guess the majority of us shop in at least one of the major's, for a change this thread is for all things good that you've discovered in yours.

I find buying oranges or assorted orange type citrus a bit like Russian roulette, I smell I squeeze and then the shop assistant starts to struggle. I just can't work out the signs, perfect skin and pertness are no guarantee of sweetness.
 
I've become a bit of a grapefruit expert for some reason, I started eating a lot of them last year when South African ones were in the Waitrose near me, they were very good. I noticed quality dropped off as their season came to an end and all of a sudden the yellow ones were juiceless and the red ones too tart, I noticed that supply had changed to Israel and / or Spain.

The florida pink grapefruits in Sainsburys and Waitrose at the mo are excellent. The best ones feel very heavy for their size, a smooth skin tends to mean a thinner rind (and more fruit), the very pitted "orange peel" feeling ones tend to have thicker rind and more bitter fruit... blemishes and marks on the skin don't matter, in fact some of the best ones are the ones with really marked skin as everyone picks up the perfect looking (but small) ones and leaves the big fat marked ones for me. :)

Comte cheese from the deli counter (Sainsburys or Waitrose) is very good and goes nice with some gala apples.
 
That's the idea...a sort of latent product expertise you've developed but no one else really cares about, except us of of course.
 
I've learnt to completely ignore any but the most expensive avocados as the cheap ones are always hard as bullets.

I will also try to buy 'exotic' fruit like peaches, plums and nectarines in Waitrose. It's pricey, but not as expensive as Tesco when I end up throwing most of theirs away because they are rock hard/tasteless/furry/overripe.
 
Those "exotic" fruit can be so disappointing, by off chance I popped into an Indian super late summer last year and unlike the English super's I could actually smell ripening and ripened fruit at the entrance of the shop. During that month, the clan gorged on thin skinned peaches that dribbled juice down your chin, I must have bought about six boxes (x24) in three or four weeks.

Look out for honey mango from Pakistan in late May and June, six or seven quid per box (6) sounds a lot but they are absolutely worth it. I suppose choosing fruit is a long lost art where we've been encouraged to look but not touch or smell and where products are mostly hidden behind protective packaging. It's not that difficult, if it smells ripe it and the flesh gives a little it 's probably ripe.
 
I like this thread! I am a bit of a fruit snob ... its just that most fruit in the UK is crap. I can second Antad's mango recommendation. We buy them from Indian stores by the box when they are in season. Delicious.

I can also recommend M&S Moroccan clementines at the moment. £2.99 for a pack or £3.99 for two packs. Not the cheapest, but the cheapest is yuck.

More recommendations please ...
 
antdad said:
Those "exotic" fruit can be so disappointing, by off chance I popped into an Indian super late summer last year and unlike the English super's I could actually smell ripening and ripened fruit at the entrance of the shop. During that month, the clan gorged on thin skinned peaches that dribbled juice down your chin, I must have bought about six boxes (x24) in three or four weeks.

Look out for honey mango from Pakistan in late May and June, six or seven quid per box (6) sounds a lot but they are absolutely worth it. I suppose choosing fruit is a long lost art where we've been encouraged to look but not touch or smell and where products are mostly hidden behind protective packaging. It's not that difficult, if it smells ripe it and the flesh gives a little it 's probably ripe.
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One of the perks of doing the Cargo Handling for Pakistan Intl and Qatar Airways is that when i can get the drivers loaded up quick with tons of boxes of mangos, some always come in my direction as a thank you, my record last year on one night was 6 boxes......had so many last summer it was driving me mad, in the end we removed the mango flesh and cut some into chunks and froze it, nice to eat with some good vanilla ice cream later in the year.....
 
antdad said:
Do you have Asian stores in deepest darkest Norfolk?
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Well it's Suffolk, but not too much difference. Not really. There aren't many Asian folk around. Ipswich is a bit more multicultural but seems to be more Eastern-European. Any really exotic ingredients we can't get at the supermarket we get online.

That said, last month Mrs PC was on the lookout for crystalised rose petals. Turns out there is an online retailer based just half a mile away and they let her go to the warehouse and buy some there. Loads of poncy stuff to buy when I have a go at some Gordon Ramsay recipes.

Back to mangoes, do you think these would be any good?
 
Norfolk, Suffolk...you all look the same to me.

I don't think I've tried Alphonso mangoes in the UK but your buddy's likes them.

http://www.virginmedia.com/images/happydays-al-now-390x400.jpg http://www.virginmedia.com/images/Henry_Winkler_Fonz_290x400.jpg

Aaayyyyyy!!!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jun/01/foodanddrink
 
On the subject of Indian grocers (there are a lot near me in Southall and Rayner's Lane), the herbs are great. You get a massive bunch of coriander (truly massive, about 2-300 stalks) for £1... bit muddy, some withered leaves, but once you wash it off and remove the dead bits the majority of it is pungent and tastes amazing. A tiny bag (20g I think, about 30 stems) in the supermarket costs more, and doesn't smell or taste of much.
With herbs, have a sniff and it tells you a lot. You can't do that with the little film bags in Tesco.

I'm glad the mangoes have been mentioned, my wife loves those from the Indian grocers.
 
Canuck said:
On the subject of Indian grocers (there are a lot near me in Southall and Rayner's Lane), the herbs are great. You get a massive bunch of coriander (truly massive, about 2-300 stalks) for £1... bit muddy, some withered leaves, but once you wash it off and remove the dead bits the majority of it is pungent and tastes amazing. A tiny bag (20g I think, about 30 stems) in the supermarket costs more, and doesn't smell or taste of much.
With herbs, have a sniff and it tells you a lot. You can't do that with the little film bags in Tesco.

I'm glad the mangoes have been mentioned, my wife loves those from the Indian grocers.
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I'm like Stephen Fry in that I find coriander tastes of soap.
 
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