I’m a simple person.
Well, no. That’s not exactly true, but what I’m about to divulge may have you shaking your head and muttering, “That Pearl. I didn’t realize she was so simple.”
I just wanted to beat ya to the punch.
Do you remember your first encounter with cilantro? I do. There it was, adrift in a bowl of pico de gallo. “Hullo,” I said to myself, having briefly picked up a “British” accent by way of a Neil Gaiman book I had been reading, “what’s this?”
And there it was, the taste that, like cumin and buffalo sauce before it, added a previously unknown depth of flavor to my taste-budly world. Much like the first Metallica album or the stark realization that I cannot wear a “skinny” jean without my lower extremities looking like denim-encased turkey legs, the first taste of cilantro blew the lid off my little coarsely-haired head.
My mother wrinkles her nose in distaste. “Tastes like soap,” she says.
Look at her over there, all refined and ladylike, maker of the world’s best gravies and flakiest crusts. She is absolutely wrong, and there’s no way to tell her without risking my rightful share of them…
And so, it is with my being absolutely right on the subject of the deliciousness of cilantro, cumin, and buffalo sauce that I come to you with another mind-blowing foray into uncharted foods.
Salt. On an apple.
Is it wrong? Is it wrong to crave salt, to pair it with the tart, crispness of an apple, to chortle indulgently while the juice runs down your chin?
Well, yes. That last bit? Yes. That’s wrong. Let’s not be undignified.
But now that I’ve linked salt with apple and found it to be delish, now what? Is the combination of salt and apple the gateway to other odd and seemingly contradictory couplings?
I mean, my sister forced – forced! – me to slather chocolate frosting on saltine crackers once, and that didn’t affect me much, right? I mean, it’s true that the combination of frosting and crackers forced me to re-think my stance on my parents’ cream-cheese-jalapeno-Ritz-cracker offering the last holiday season, and then there was the peanut-butter-potato-chip-sandwich that was passed around at that one party…
Don’t look at me like that.
I can quit any time I want to.
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39 comments:
Salt on watermelon, according to dear old dad, is pure heaven.
I was just going to say, salt on watermelon is pretty common although *I* never tried it. Cantaloupe with salt too. But Not for me. These are supposed to be sweet fruits to me, and I like to keep them that way! :) Apple with salt is new to me though. I like my apples but not overly much.
cilantro, yes; salt, no.
Cilantro must be a food of God.
I am allergic to cilantro.
It is from the Devil.
Especially because I live in Texas.
No salsa for me.
No guacamole for me.
Salted apples I can handle.
I like cilantro in my smoothies. Tomato, cucumber, spinach, and cilantro. Half a ripe avocado doesn't hurt either. THAT is heaven. Salt on an apple? Hm. I'll try it next time I have an apple. Maybe.
C'mon, chocolate frosting on anything is great.
Well, except what my dog leaves me in the yard.
Hari OM
Coriander is a MUST have in Indian cuisine - and indeed Mediterranean and possibly many others. Salt and pepper on a variety of fruits will spruce up your tastebuds.
You want bizarre? Green bananas and salad cream sandwiches; peanut butter and smoked mussels on water crackers.... oh you name it I tried it, loved it, and the need to go shopping breeds incredible recipes!!! YAM xx
I read something once about people called super-tasters. They have a palate that can recognize many more assortments of tastes and experience them much more intensely. May of these "super-tasters" can't stand cilantro. The soap thing. I don't get it. I loooove cilantro.
Salt on apples, sure. Salt on cantaloupe and watermelon, mandatory.
Salt on an apple. Might have to give that one a whirl.
The most adventurous I ever get is to eat banana with peanut butter. Chocolate is not to be added to anything; it must be eaten pure, I tell you!
I might be one of those people referred to as "picky". Ya think?
I am with your Mom on this one "tastes like soap" much like Thrills gum remember that reminded me of my childhood and those mouth washes after a bad word slipped out:) Salt on apples now that I like. Hug B
Cilantro? Gimme! Salt on an apple. Yeah, no... then again, I am not a big lover of salt. I do, however, make a tasty chicken salad with cheddar, bacon, and apple in it. =)
Cilantro? Bleah. Love the seeds, hate,loathe and despise the leaves. I would rather eat soap.
Not big on salt either.
Sugar on tomatoes is an occasional treat though.
Funny, Pearl :) I love cilantro and just discovered it in my later years. It's amazing and I let it grow wild in my garden. My husband hates it, but he hates guacamole too, so it's a wonder we stay together.
But the salted fruit thing? My mom's farming family salted all the melons and I thought it was as dumb as cheddar cheese on waffles until I tasted them.
Now I'm going to have to salt my next apple, thanks.
Have you tried the peanut butter, cream cheese and caramel sauce dip for your apples? No recipe needed just dump some together and dip away. That's addiction stuff there.
I think I can hold off on the frosting on a cracker...or maybe not!
Salted watermelon I've heard of...but not salted apple. I may have to give that one a try.
omg omg, as per my usual practice, I was planning my response from the very first sentience. And I could not wait to type, "cilantro? Tastes like soap!". This explains everything. Your mother obviously birthed me and somehow lost me, and and, so, we really ARE sisters. I'm with mom on the cilantro, but totally with you, Sis, on the apples and salt thing. Want to really blow your mind? Add a crumble of blue cheese to your apple and salt
I'm gonna try this. And you have to try fries with vanilla ice-cream. ;-)
XXX
Perhaps I've never really "tasted" cilantro? Perhaps it's always overpowered by the onions and tomatoes, because I've never thought, 'Oooo, soapy taste!'
I've never heard of salt on watermelon and I don't think I'll be trying salt on my apples either, but I have a friend who salts her oranges and sugars her tomatoes.
You can have my entire share of cilantro, I don't like it at all.
Cilantro YES. Salt on apples and watwrmelon I'm with you. Now, have you tried Nutella? You can throw out all your skinny jeans forever after just one taste.
OK, I'm going to give you one you probably never thought of in your wildest nightmares. Tuna, marshmallow fluff and hot sauce, on a saltine.
Yeah, I know. It sounds disgusting. But I've tried it and lived to tell you this tale.
Marshmallow fluff was invented in Massachusetts, my home state, and every year there is a marshmallow fluff festival. I attended it one year. And there were people serving up their own peculiar marshmallow fluff-based concoctions. EVERYBODY who saw the fluff - tuna - hot sauce combo was disgusted. But everybody who tried it walked away smiling. I swear it's the truth.
Wow, I've learned so many new "recipes" here! It's so funny how everyone has a different way of eating things. My mother would put sugar on tomatoes and salt on cottage cheese. My cousins (from her side of the family) did the opposite - salt on tomatoes and sugar on cottage cheese. I'm keeping my preferences to myself, but let me just say - peanut butter and bacon on toast.
I've learned so many new recipes here! My mom would put sugar on tomatoes and salt on cottage cheese, but my cousins (on her side of the family) did the opposite - salt on tomatoes and sugar on cottage cheese. This isn't weird, but peanut butter and bacon on toast is heaven. It is not weird!
Don't trust anyone who doesn't like cilantro. They probably don't like mexican food or margaritas either.
Cilantro is the bomb! Love it. My cousin ate salton watermelon and apples. And now she is famous and has her own show on the DIY/HGTV network. Must work!
My wife finally convinced me to try salt on cantaloupe. HEAVEN! And I can't remember it because it's been too long but I know the first few times I tasted cilantro I didn't like it. Now, I love it. And the aroma!
The first time I tasted cilantro I was in a restaurant and I sent the dish back, telling the waitress it tasted like they didn't rinse the dishes after washing. I sincerely believed that is what happened!
When I was a child we put a little salt on fresh fruit in the summer. It seemed to bring out the taste, and we do need salt in hot weather.
Salt on apples makes the world go 'round! Or maybe it's my blood pressure. I dunno, but it' delish.
Cracked black pepper on strawberries, anyone?
But as for your apple plus salt combo, I guess I have done a similar thing for years, in making sandwiches (in Lancashire we call these "butties") out of Lancashire cheese and sliced apple. Lancashire cheese is very salty and crumbly, like a drier version of feta, for all you non-UK residents.
Mayo on bananas with walnuts.
weird but oh so good.
Yum. Even more yum.
How's about this: cheddar cheese on crackers, with strawberry jam. Just incredibly awesome.
Cilantro is a polarizing herb; I'm surprised if you and your mom are still able to sit at the same table together, in fact.
As far as salt on a thing, I'm all over salting a raw potato, so why not an apple? Potatoes are the apples of the earth, yes? Makes sense?
Cilantro does not taste like soap!!! I LOVE cilantro and use it in a lot of my cooking!!!!!!! I have never salted apples, but have done so on tomatoes and celery. I like cream cheese on celery. I also like to mix canned salmon with cream cheese and eat it on crackers. Ohhh, and tomatoes fried in olive oil with cilantro! Yum!
My dad used to like to eat vanilla ice cream with beer nuts in it.
Cilantro is a hate-or-love thing and I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE it!
ahem - coriander.
Anyhoo - hot toast, butter, vegemite, avocado, lemon juice and freshly cracked pepper.
You WILL thank me on your trip to heaven.
Salt? On an apple?
Have you gone mad?!
:-) You always make me smile, Pearl. Hope you have a great week.
I recently read something that said whether you love or hate cilantro is actually genetic. And that's why it's so polarizing.
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