Meet Jeffrey, The Exotic Ingredient Smuggler

I would love to see how he would use bits of this Chinese tea that is pressed into a cake shape and aged. It’s earthy flavor might be nice infused into a sauce for poultry or even as a spice rub. But, I’ll leave that up to the expert.

According to a lucky blogger who tasted the pawpaw (which apparently tastes like a cross between a mango and a banana), the Pawpaw is the “U.S.’s largest edible native fruit. But because they have a short shelf-life, they were never cultivated, so we don’t hear about them.”

One of my favorite taste sensations ever! I’ve experienced pasta infused with truffle and truffle fries, but would like to learn how to incorporate this decadent ingredient into my own culinary repertoire.

I’ve seen this fragrant fruit used in cocktails, but have never tasted it in a dish.

There is a website solely devoted to exploring this unique ingredient. My taste buds are quite intrigued after reading: “Black garlic is sweet meets savory, a perfect mix of molasses-like richness and tangy garlic undertones. It has a tender, almost jelly-like texture with a melt-in-your-mouth consistency similar to a soft dried fruit.”

I’ve heard that it can be rather hard to grind cacao beans with convention kitchen tools. So I wonder what he could teach me to do?

A few years ago I sampled a Kobe Beef carpaccio dish at a Japanese restaurant in NYC. I’m anxious to use this ingredient in my own kitchen.

I love Chesnuts. I love jam. I am sure I would LOVE chestnut jam.

These are absolutely beautiful and taste like “a combination of green onion and garlic.”

I wish I could reach into the screen and pull this exotic fruit into my kitchen table. According to Epicurious, a pummelo is “Pummelo is an unusual Southeast Asian citrus fruit…Its flavor is similar to grapefruit’s but is sweeter and less bitter, which makes it a great balance for the heat of chiles.”

The pulp of this East African Bean Pod is known to add a duo of sweet and sour tastes to a dish.

Jicama

Okay, I know it’s basically just a turnip, and not all that exotic in that sense, but I’ve never used jicama. And seeing as though I live down the road from produce-central Chinatown, I should really get on that. I want to buy produce I can’t even identify at all, and then go home, google and find recipes!