Product Review: Guadalajara Wild Agave Nectar

One afternoon while wandering around Matehuala, San Luís Potosí, México, as an LDS missionary [1], a street vendor approached my companion [2] and me. As we chatted with him, he offered us something from his cart, free of charge. What he gave us was called quiote (kee-OH-tay; mouse over for IPA).[3] It comes from the maguey cactus (Agave americana).[4] When the maguey cactus is ready to reproduce it sends up a flower stalk. This stalk is filled with agua miel (literally "honey water")—which is what we call agave nectar. To make quiote, this stem is harvested, toasted, and cut into slices. To eat quiote you bite off a piece and masticate it, extracting the juices, but don't swallow the pulp (similar to the way you would eat fresh-cut sugarcane).

Product Review: xoconostle

The xoconostle (sometimes spelled xoconoxtle [1]) is a variety [2] of tuna (prickly pear fruit [3]) that comes from the Opuntia matudae cactus. To eat a xoconostle you peel off the skin which may be covered in glochids.[4] Glochids are the tiny spines found on many types of cactus. They are barbed and so are much harder to remove than the larger spines.[5] Then cut the xoconostle in half. Scoop out the mass of red seeds and discard them.

Product Review: Green tunas

The Spanish word tuna can be a little confusing. Your first inclination would probably be to think that a tuna is a canned fish that has a terrible taste and smell [1], and contributes significantly to your mercury intake. But that would be wrong. The Spanish word for that fish is atún. A tuna is fruit of the prickly pear (genus Opuntia).[2] My first encounter with tunas was in Matehuala, San Luís Potosí, México [3], where I served as an LDS missionary.[4] The paddles of Opuntia species are also regularly eaten in México, where they are called nopales.

Recipe: Cucumber Pasta Salad

Whenever this salad would show up at family reunions, holiday potlucks, or funerals, I would always go back for more and more. One day I decided that I wanted to make some, so I called up my mom and asked for the recipe. She didn't have it. She told me to ask one of my aunts. My aunt had the recipe. That is, she had the ingredient list. But not the amounts for each ingredient. The first time I made it, I used too much seasoned salt and Leann refused to help me eat it. Since I believe that no one should have to stumble through a recipe not knowing how much to use of each ingredient, I present you with the amounts I came up with.

Borromean Rings

I recently figured out that I could take Lilli's teething rings [1] and link them together to make Borromean Rings. Borromean rings are three rings that are interlocked in such a way that no two rings intersect each other.[2] Consider the diagram to the right. If you erase the blue ring, the red and green rings are not linked. But as long as the blue ring is there, none of the rings can be removed. The same is true for erasing the green or red ring. Blacksmith puzzles often work on a similar principle, as do braids and the monkey's fist knot. Ancient drawings or carvings of complete Borromean rings have been found in Italy, Afgahnistan, and Norway (where it is called a valknut); partial Borromean rings are even more common.[3]

Product Review: Choquette Avocado

I found this monster in a Mexican tienda where it was labeled as "aguacate Fuerte" in Spanish and "Florida avocado" in English. A Fuerte ("strong") avocado is a cultivar of avocado which was developed in the Mexican state of Puebla and which gets its name from the fact that it's better than many other cultivars at withstanding frost.[1] I was, however, skeptical that this was actually a Fuerte since Fuerte avocados are pear-shaped and this one was not. Based on the English label, I suspect that this is a different avocado cultivar: Choquette. Choquette avocados are quite large, oval-shaped, and have a glossy bright green skin rather than a bumpy dark green one.[2]

Product Review: Hall Avocado

I found this avocado in the same Mexican tienda as the Choquette avocado [1] when I went back looking for more. I didn't find any Choquette avocados, but since this variety was pretty big, too, I decided to try it. Since Leann can't currently have any dairy, I didn't try making avocado shakes [2] out of these big avocados. But at some point in the future I'd like to try. I deduced that this cultivar was Hall based on the description provided by the distributor (Agroindustria Ocoeña, S.A. [3]).