(no subject)

[moominmolly]

Foods I can no longer eat: Orange juice, grapefruit juice, corn syrup. The first two give me heartburn, and the third makes me feel crappy AND gives me heartburn. Does anyone know of a sugar-sweetened ginger ale?

Foods I find myself eating more than I used to: Cheese, dairy products. Especially, and this is the big turnaround, low-fat dairy products. Rich cheeses are nice, but I prefer things I can eat in slightly larger quantities, like low-fat yogurt or cottage cheese or even string cheese.

Foods I now adore: bananas, Fuji apples. Oh my god, Fuji apples. Every so often, I hear someone say, "wow! I'm not an apple person, but those Fujis sure are good!" and I'm like, "yeah, whatever. Get over it. It's still a goddamn apple". I mean, I like Granny Smiths when dilletante is willing to patiently slice them up thin for me, and I like baking apples, but I've never been big on just tossing one in my bag and going. That's not a snack, it's an ingredient. But Fuji, oh, bless you Fuji, I'm sorry I doubted you for so long.

Comments

[rosefox]

You could always make your own ginger ale. If that seems too much like work, I highly recommend Bundaberg ginger beer. Whole Foods has a corn syrup-free ginger ale on their 365 Organic product line as well.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I'll probably go the lazy route and try Whole Foods, which I probably should have done before now. :) But if I see Bundaberg, I will pick it up!

[amber-phoenix.livejournal.com]

making your own would probably be really easy. just take some ginger and boil it with some sugar until you have a really gingery syrup, then add sparkling water. once you discover ratios you like you can make a ton of syrup at once. (this is how l and i always have ginger lemondae in the house.) you could also pick up a bottle of ginger syrup and mix it with whatever is your fancy. whole foods and hharvest should both have this in their herbs and supplements sections.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Okay, that actually doesn't sound hard. What do you bottle it in? Does it particularly matter? Could I just put it in a jam jar? Sugar is still mysterious to me.

[amber-phoenix.livejournal.com]

You can just put it in a jam jar. (I keep mine in reused drink bottles.) Keep it refrigerated and it should last a long time, but don't worry too much about the refrigerated bit if you want to travel with it.

[sconstant.livejournal.com]

My local crunchy granola market has a plethora of corn-syrup-less ginger ales.

[amare.livejournal.com]

Heh, Yeah I don't tend to be an apple person either. I don't remember if I like Fuji's or not, but I do feel that way about Braeburn and Macintosh apples. Red Delicious on the other hand are evil and not food, well maybe only if made into applesauce.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

I think that before this, the only kinds of apples I'd knowingly had were Red and Golden Delicious (both improperly named), Granny Smith (tasty! but too hard), and Macintosh (okay, I guess, but I haven't had them in years). I'll have to try Braeburn, now.

[amare.livejournal.com]

A good apple should be mostly red with a green blush to it, taut thin skin, smooth (as opposed to the mealy flesh the "Delicious" apples have) crisp and juicy flesh, and be tart but sweet.

!!!

[amare.livejournal.com]

In looking for information on Braeburn apples I found this bit of trivia.

In ancient Greece, tossing an apple to a girl was a traditional proposal of marriage; catching it was acceptance

My first thought was an image of a girl being pelted with apples and how that didn't seem like a particularly good way to express your love. My second thought was, isn't your reflex when somebody tosses something at you and you can see it to catch it? I wonder how many accidental acceptances there were, that seems like a horrible way to trick somebody into marrying you!

Re: !!!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

My second thought was, isn't your reflex when somebody tosses something at you and you can see it to catch it?

Actually, my reflex is to DUCK, but I've trained myself into simply making a scared face and trying to catch it. :) But still, yes, that's awful! Either you duck out of the way, get pelted with an apple, or you have to marry someone accidentally!

[pumpkin-pi.livejournal.com]

ACK! That's like swearing off beer after having only tried Coors and Bud Lite! I love cortlands, macouns, and jonagold (http://www.usapple.org/consumers/appleguide/guide.shtml)(which, when in season, we are often able to find at our local Wild-Oats-type place). I'm currently munching on a Pink Lady :)

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

That's like swearing off beer after having only tried Coors and Bud Lite!

Oh, I didn't really *swear off* apples. I happily ate bits of D's Granny Smiths. I just hadn't ever classified them as something I, you know, wanted.

Today I'm eating a Braeburn and it seems too mealy for me. Slowly, I'll work my way around the apple varieties I can find.

I wonder why I bothered to cultivate a taste for beer and coffee and stinky cheeses and not for apples? Probably because the first three are either macho, off-putting, or kind of obscure, and apples are none of those. Also, the first three have a reputation for being "acquired tastes", and I guess *everyone* thinks they know what apples taste like.

[pumpkin-pi.livejournal.com]

Eeewww... Mealy apples. BLECK! For me, my tastes for beer (and wine), coffee, cheeses, haggis, and the like evolved thanks to 3 things. First was due to the "acquired tastes" status - I took it to heart and assumed that either I'd have to try it a bunch of times before my tastebuds could make an accurate assessment or that I'd have to try a bunch of different types because they were all so different. Second, for beer and coffee, I liked the effects they gave - so I actively wanted to find a good taste to go along with them. Third, I just have a natural tendency to want to try the oddest thing on any given list of foods or beverages :)

[chaiya.livejournal.com]

The only useful thing I can think of to say is that we still have some kosher-for-Passover Coca Cola, which doesn't use corn syrup. Do you like Coke?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Thank you! But actually, I bought myself a 20-oz sugar-sweetened Coke on my recent day-trip to Canada, and I've been carrying it with me ever since in case I ever feel like drinking it despite the caffeine (which I haven't, so far, in a week). But that's really sweet and stuff. :)

[hakamadare.livejournal.com]

But that’s really sweet and stuff.

indeed - i am given to understand that that is rather the point.

Whole Foods, btw, tends to have organic Fujis that are generally even better than the conventional ones. i am not by any stretch of the imagination an organic-foods nut, but this is one occasion in which the extra twenty cents or so is utterly worth it.

-steve

[chillguru.livejournal.com]

hooray for bananas! they are good for your brain.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Try any hispanic market. They usually carry soda imported from Mexico. These are sugar-sweetened and taste different than US syrup-sweetened ones.

Apples. Yum! Anything crisp and crunchy is good in my book. Anything named "delicious" is as deceptive as any island named "Greenland." If you like Fijis, try Galas and Braeburns as well. To pick a crispy apple, push it with your thumb. If it makes a sharp, crispy sound and the flesh pushes back in one sharp move (like pushing styrofoam), it's a crisp apple. If it makes a softer, more continuous sound and the flesh pushes back not-sharply (ie, as if you were pushing a hackeysack), then it's a mealy apple.

[weegoddess.livejournal.com]

Yes! Gala apples!! If you like Fuji's, try those!

[yagagriswold.livejournal.com]

Blue Sky's organic ginger ale is sweetened with cane juice; however, their standard ginger ale uses corn syrup. I often see Blue Sky at Harvest Co-op Market in Central Square.

[rednikki.livejournal.com]

If you find sweetened-with-sugar ginger ale, tell me how it is. I haven't succeeded so far. I usually have Red Bull when I feel nauseated; it's the only sugar-sweetened soda I can easily find.

[trom.livejournal.com]

It's a little late in the season, but Pink Ladys also rule.

[dolohov.livejournal.com]

I can't recall the brand, but there's a whole line of sodas sweetened with white grape juice, and they had a ginger ale. Whole Foods probably carries them.

apples

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

if you get the chance:

gala
pink ladys
and
empire

n.

[ceelove.livejournal.com]

I hit Trader Joe's and Whole Foods most every week, so if you ever want me to bring you home Tasty Edible Things, just lemme know.

[cutieperson]

i am so glad i thought to grab apples :)

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I know that R.W. Knudsen (which I can always get at Whole Foods and Wild Oats) is fruit-juice sweetened. I'm pretty sure Reed's is as well, and I like them both, although they're pretty wickedly gingery!