Lotus Root

I bet you thought I'd given up on my root experiment. Well, you are wrong! It's just taking me FOREVER to get through them all. Anyway, I got something called lotus root from a sketchy little produce shop in Chinatown up in San Francisco.
Since it's an Asian root I decided to make a stir fry with it. I read on line that you have to peel it, and once you slice it the slices should be dropped in a bowl of vinegar water to keep the root from turning an ugly brown color. (It's similar to how a potato turns yucky colors if you leave them sit out.)
My favorite thing about the lotus root is it's amazing shape when sliced. It's really beautiful, and unusual, and I think it adds a really neat visual element to any stir fry. The root is oblong, and when sliced forms little circles, with even smaller circles within.
Texturally it's similar to a mix between a raw potato and a water chestnut. There isn't a whole lot of inherent flavor, and it's got a crunchy, starchy taste/texture to it. Even after it's cooked it retains the crunchiness. In fact now that I think about it, if you had a recipe that called for water chestnuts, lotus root would be a viable alternative, and make the dish much more exotic looking.
Anyway, I sauteed the root, then added the usual stir fry ingredients and let everything simmer together for a while doused in soy sauce and fresh chopped ginger. It wasn't a recipe really, just a bunch of veggies, some steak, and my lotus root.
Mixed with the stir fry the root turned brown (because of the soy sauce I think) but it still looked pretty cool. I left the wheels whole because I thought it looked more cool, but it was pretty impractical as each slice had to be eaten in at least two bites (so I would recommend quartering them unless the root was really small). Over all I think they were OK tasting. It was basically like eating a half cooked potato covered in soy sauce. It wasn't bad, or offensive at all, but I wasn't head over heals for it either. That being said, I'd probably pick up a lotus root every so often just because of how exotic it looks, and mix it in with my Asian cooking. It's something I think would impress those who have never had it. I also think it would make amazing amuse bouche (individual appetizers) because of it's unusual shape.Or how about chips?!? Wouldn't that be cool? I have never heard of lotus root chips, but I bet they'd be delicious since they are so potato like...Maybe I'll try that next.
In closing, if you like Asian cooking and do it often, I think it would be well worth your while to give this a try. Lotus root won't change the flavor of your dish, but it sure will make it look good! I don't think I would recommend it at all if not for it's shape, and that may seem like a silly reason to eat something, but then again maybe not. It's fun.

Sweet Potato or Imposter?

I have trying to get back into my root experiment, and just yesterday I decided to tackle the sweet potato...only I am not sure that I didn't end up buying yams instead. The label at the grocery store said "sweet potato" but there were yams close by, and when I got home and cut them open they were more yellow and less orange than I had anticipated. I still don't know what they were. Anyway, I guess we will just assume they were sweet potatoes unless I figure out differently.
I found a (simple) recipe on line for making sweet potato fries. I thought that was a good a way as any to give a food I hated as a kid another try. So I washed and cut the potato, then tossed it into a ziplock bag with olive oil, salt, brown sugar, cumin, chili powder and a pinch of cayanne, and baked them at  425 for about a half hour.
I followed the recipe, but if I had to do it over I would change several things. First of all, I would only brush the fries with oil, and then sprinkle the spice mixture over top. They were super greasy, and the oil smoked in the oven and I had to pat all the fries dry after I cooked them. I left them in a little too long in hopes that they would get crispy (they were really limp) but they burned before that ever happened. I guess the only way to really get crispy fries is to deep fry them..sigh...
Anyway, whatever root they were they made OK fries. The taste was good (but a little oily), and if they hadn't been in the shape of a french fry that looked like it should be eaten with fingers, their lack of crunchiness wouldn't have been a factor at all (Like maybe if I had cut them into rounds, like potatoes au gratin. In fact if I ever cook them again, that is what I'll do.). Prep time was almost nothing, and I thought it paired really well with the sole sandwich and cilantro lime mayo I had for dinner.
Over all I give the sweet potato...or yam...2.5 out of 5 stars. It was easy to cook. It didn't taste as bad as I remember, but I don't think it will be a flavor I crave. The mixture of brown sugar and cumin was interesting and worked really well with the sweetness of the root, but at the end of the day I'd much rather have a baked potato.

Burdock Root

Burdock is the most "exotic" root I have tried so far, meaning I don't know of anyone who has ever eaten it. It's the root of a thistle. You know, the normal kind that has green bulb and purple flower at the top. It's sometimes called a "Sticky Bob" in Europe...ha ha...and it was the inspiration behind George de Mestrels invention of Velcro. It's supposedly pretty good at removing toxins from your blood, and helps you go pee.

Burdock
It's a long spindly root that is about the width of a small carrot, and about 6-8" long. The skin is dark brown to almost black and rough (and mine was covered in dirt still!). Appearance wise it was pretty gross looking. The cashier, after asking what the hell they were, picked them up carefully between his thumb and fore finger and tossed them in my bag like they were a dirty diaper. Anyway. Once I got them home I scrubbed them down (which does very little for their appearance), and got to peeling them. They are white on the inside. Well, they are white for about 4.7 seconds until they react with the air and turn a dull dirty yellow color (like a potato or apple but much faster). Once again, not very appealing to look at. They are kind of fibrous, and don't smell like anything. By the time you peel them and cut off the ends there isn't a whole lot of root left. I julienned them and added some carrots and made a veggie stir fry out of them.
I don't know if it's considered cheating that my recipe involved cooking them in soy sauce. But that's what I did. After cutting everything up I mixed about a tablespoon of sugar into a little less than half a cup of soy sauce until it dissolved. Then I poured it over the burdock and carrots, added a few sesame seeds and cooked in a pan for about 20 minutes on medium heat.

Conclusion
It turned out pretty good. Mostly the it tasted like soy sauce, but when I compared it to the carrots that were mixed in, I actually liked the burdock more. It held it's "crunchiness" better than the carrots did too, although it was much uglier in appearance.
While the amount of washing, peeling, and slicing was a bit more than I usually prefer I think the biggest downfall for me was it's appearance, before and after. It just didn't look appetizing at any stage. My one word description of it would be "dirty".
The flavor was good in an underwhelming sort of way. Much milder than the carrot actually. It was like the flavor of celery in a tougher more fibrous vegetable. I did enjoy the crunchy texture it provided in my stir fry. In fact that may be one of my favorite things about it.
Over all, I'd say on the hand full of occasions a year that I make stir fry, I will probably take the time to add this to it. Texturally I think it would be a great addition. But as for making it just for a normal dinner as a side dish I think I will pass. Over all I give Burdock 2.5 out of 4 stars.

Beets Me

I did it! I bought a bunch of fresh beets, found a recipe and tried it!

Beetroot:
The recipe called for cutting the leaves and spindly tip of the root off, wrapping them individually in foil, and baking for about 40 minutes. Chopping off the latter made me feel like I was removing the hair/ tail thing of an Avatar, and it seemed wrong, but what can you do?
The baking part was easy, but they dripped everywhere even wrapped in foil, so I am glad I thought to put a cookie sheet under them. After they cooled I was directed to peel them and dice them. They are so messy! By the time I was done it looked like I'd murdered someone on my counter! The juice stained my hands (and the counter), but the deep red slices of beets were really beautiful. They are layered like a an onion, but you can't pull them apart. It's not often that you see such depth of color in a food. It was like looking into a stained glass window, and it had the vibrancy that a turquoise ocean has as the light makes it's way through the water...it sort of glows from the inside.
Anyway, the rest was a cinch. I was making a warm beet salad and the dressing was really good, and pretty simple. In a bowl I mixed in equal measure olive oil, balsamic and red wine vinegar, I added a few chives, some salt and pepper and that was it. I poured the mixture over the warm beets and then sprinkled it with feta cheese. It was delicious! Sooooo yummy!

Conclusion: The upside was that I really enjoyed it. Beets don't have a ton of flavor, but it's pretty distinct in that they don't taste like something else. They have a good texture, and I liked having my salad when they were still slightly warm. The downside is that for as beautiful as they are they are messy because of their color. While I must admit it was fun to sway around the kitchen moaning and pretending like I'd been stabbed with a kitchen knife as the ruby red juice dripped from between my fingers, it was a hastle to clean up. And who knows what would have happened if I'd gotten any on my clothes? And it took a while to cook them. After my experience I think they they might be more of a "special occasion" root for me meaning that if I am making a nice dinner for a special occasion I will absolutely include them. They might be a fun Halloween dinner:) But for normal everyday cooking they are a little too much work from start to finish. I know you can buy them in a can, but to me anyway, that sort of defeats the purpose. In the end I give beets 3 stars.

Ahipa/Jicama It's All the Same

Jicama Root next to my newest book I got in the mail:)

I don't know if this counts as cheating (on my first taste test no less!) but I can't find the first item on my "Roots-to-Try" list, so I got another item on the list that is supposedly very similar. The Ahipa is grown in parts of Bolivia and Argentina, so it's kind of hard to get here in the U.S. I read on line, and talked to a Guatemalan produce guy at the local grocery store, and they both said that the Ahipa is almost identical to the more common Jicama root. In fact I had a hard time getting the produce man to understand why I didn't want to just substitute it. "They are the same thing." He said. So I guess for right now I will consider them one in the same. Should anyone happen to cross paths with an Ahipa maybe buy it, try it, and let me know what you think, or you can put a stamp on it and mail it to me! Anyway here is what I discovered:

Ahipa/Jicama:
They are not expensive, and they can be pretty big. The Jicama is more round whereas it's Ahipa cousin is longer and narrower looking (a little like a carrot). They are both whitish yellow. I purchased a small one thinking that I would try a little guy first to see if I liked it. When I got home and cut it open though, it was all rotten inside, and looked very similar to when a raw potato gets those icky brown spots. I was pretty disappointed. Not that it cost a lot, but more so because I took my time picking out my Jicama, and there was nothing on the outside of the root that indicated it was bad. The fiberous skin was fully intact, and there were no "soft spots" or anything.
Anyway, I read that they are mostly eaten raw, but can be used as a substitute for water chestnuts in Asian cooking. I decided to eat it raw. I found a little piece that wasn't brown and after peeling the outer skin, took a bite.
Texturally it's like eating a raw potato. It's kind of crunchy, but not as firm as a carrot. Maybe you could argue it's like an apple. At first it doesn't taste like anything. It's got quite a bit of water in it, but it doesn't taste starchy like a potato. Because it doesn't have a strong flavor it seems like most people could eat it and not dislike it. I had to take a couple bites before I tasted anything at all. Then it took a minute for me to figure out what it reminded me of. It's very subtle but it tastes just like eating raw green beans. If you took a bite of Jicama and didn't know that it was white, you would (by it's taste) probably think it was green because of that association.

Final Conclusion: It was OK. I definitely won't pick it out if I find some in a salad I am eating, but I don't think I will go out of my way to buy/eat it. I might give it a go next time I do a stir fry though. I was really disappointed in the fact that my root was rotten and I couldn't tell. And the fact that it was flavorless kind of makes me feel like I'd rather stick with celery as my flavorless crunchy veggie to have with dip. Jicama is good with ranch dressing, but so is just about every other vegetable. The big advantage it has is it's really unique texture. It would be interesting in a pasta salad maybe. In the end I give it one and a half out of 4 stars.

My Jicama was rotten....:(

The Root of the Matter

I came up with a fantastic idea yesterday! I decided to try, at least once, every edible root vegetable there is! I know, I know...it's kind of random, but here's who the whole thing started:
I was just browsing around on the Internet yesterday and got to looking and recipes. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one for sweet-potato pie, and involuntarily gagged a little. I don't like sweet potatoes....or at least I didn't the last time I tried one in 1997. Anyway eventually it let to me wondering what the difference is between a yam and a sweet potato, which led me to Wikipedia, and then a list of all known root vegetables.
Reading down the list I realized that even though I don't think I like most root veggies, I can't honestly say I know that I don't. I've not tried most of them as an adult (or in some cases ever). I scrunch my nose at the word parsnip, but I don't even know what one tastes like or looks like, much less how you prepare it or whether or not it's good for you! That inspired me to inquire into every root vegetable there is (or I can get my hands on) to learn more about them and determine definitively whether I do or don't like them. Besides it seems like a fun and healthy way to expand my knowledge of food.
The most complete list I have found has some 41 different roots, some of which will be harder than others to get. Just today I went to the store to get the first one on my list, but ended up having to skip the first three because the stores did not carry them. I was hoping to start with the exotic sounding Ahipa, or Arracacha, but have had to instead settle for beetroot. I won't get to it today, but by the end of next week I hope to have a solidly informed opinion of beets. Hopefully this experiment will broaden your horizons and maybe inspire all of you to try something new too. I hope to finish this project by the end of this fall, and I may need some help with recipes, and ideas about where to acquire certain items. So let me know if you have any thoughts.
Woo Hoo...isn't this fun? Stay tuned for more than you ever wanted to know about roots!!!