North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Mike Levine" <mlevine@umich.edu>]

Hi folks,
I for one get pretty depressed in the short days of December and often I 
look to the available food to help cheer me up.  I always have trouble 
deciding what order to eat the things I have preserved.  I have a nasty 
habit of saving and saving and saving things until they are almost in season 
again.  I haven't touched the frozen pesto, persimmons, pawpaws, 
blueberries, or raspberries yet.  I'm not sure why....

There's a nationwide tomato shortage (so I've read), but I've still got tons 
of ripening tomatoes on the kitchen table.  Still, for some reason I am just 
not tempted by them or by my home-grown potatoes.  I think I am more 
sensitive to solanaceous compounds than others.  I also wasted a whole bunch 
of my onions and watched as they sprouted/rotted away.  Wish I had a root 
cellar or a bigger fridge.

I have been working on the storage pears I got from Gordon's lawn a couple 
months ago and they are just coming into their prime now.  BTW, I'm really 
sorry to see Gordon leave the list, he's a real asset and has done a lot to 
get me interested in fruits and nuts that I wouldn't have explored without 
him.  Perhaps we can all do our best to make the list more welcoming, 
dynamic, and interesting to all levels of fruit expertise.  I always find it 
fascinating.

I've noticed a seasonality to people's moods on this list and would like to 
start a thread about how fruit consumption can temper this grumpiness 
effect.  What fruit chases your winter blues away? (and how long does it 
last).  I know that when I do hit those raspberries, it will surely chase my 
winter blues away for at least the day.  Recipe is just to heat frozen 
raspberries (briefly) with a little water and honey, then drizzle hot over 
organic vanilla ice cream.

Does anyone have ideas for a system for deciding what order to eat their 
preserved/frozen fruit/canned goods?  I suspect certain ones are associated 
with certain holidays for certain people.  I'm also wondering if some folks 
wait to use certain preserved fruits in recipes that also require fruits 
that are only available in winter (for example, pomegranate, certain citrus, 
N. american grown kiwis, or perhaps some southern fruit I haven't 
mentioned).  I'm interested in what keeps the longest and still tastes good. 
Where is the point of diminishing returns in flavor for dried/canned/frozen 
fruit?

Mike Levine
Ann Arbor, MI Zone 5b