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One new\u00a0mindset which I have adopted whenever I go marketing is to buy fruits when they are in season. Fruits simply taste better and are cheaper\u00a0in season.<\/p>\nOne new\u00a0mindset which I have adopted whenever I go marketing is to buy fruits when they are in season. Fruits simply taste better and are cheaper\u00a0in season.<\/p>\n
Take for example, blueberries. When in season, you can get 2 punnets for $4.90 at NTUC. On other days, 1 punnet will cost around $7+. I enjoy baking blueberry butter muffins – for the delicious\u00a0aroma\u00a0released during baking and also for the lovely purplish-green color of the berries set in the muffins.\u00a0 The bite of a freshly baked, warm blueberry muffin is sooo heavenly. The blueberries were also refreshingly sweet when eaten fresh.<\/p>\n
Another recent example is persimmons. There are 2 types – Fuyu and Hachiya. I bought a bag of Korean Fuyu persimmons from NTUC last week and have been savoring its sweetness, crunchiness and mellow-peachy flavour at one fruit a day. I read somewhere that it is better to peel off its skin as it may cause some digestive problem. Apart from that, it is a good source of potassium, vitamin C and beta-carotene.<\/p>\n
Of late too, I noticed that NTUC also carry Shingo pears from Korea. I was so delighted! Too often, NTUC only carries Asian pears from China and this left me with no other options. I totally boycott China’s produce even it means to forgo\u00a0our favorite fruits (Yang likes Asian pears). BTW, Korean Shingo pears\u00a0are a definitely cut above China’s. They cost a few cents more but are sweeter, juicer and bigger (one Korean Shingo pear can satisfy two adults) with a healthy core.<\/p>\n
I have come across too many China pears and also ‘Fuji’ apples with bland tasting flesh and\u00a0rotten cores. Just this week, NTUC is also selling Ohrin apples (this is super sweet – too sweet for my taste buds)\u00a0and Seiki pears from Japan at affordable prices.<\/p>\n
Oh yeah, before I end off, I’d like to add a little note about corn on cob. I\u00a0used to believe that\u00a0the Japanese bicoloured corn is the best. After doing some reading up on corns, I experimented on other corns produced in Malaysia and Thailand.<\/p>\n
My\u00a0current\u00a0practice about purchasing corn: buy cheap\u00a0corn on cob\u00a0with bright green sheaths or ‘ears’\u00a0and fresh-looking silk (if still unsure, smell the silk – there shouldn’t be any stench). The fresher the corn, the sweeter it will be when cooked. It seems that Malaysia’s corns are sweeter and more tender than Thailand’s varieties sold here. Corn, when harvested, will start the process of converting sugar to starch. Hence, an ‘old’ corn will taste starchier. So, if the corn comes from a distant land, chances are that it has lost much\u00a0of its sweetness.<\/p>\n
Of course, once the corn is bought, cook it asap la. I like to boil it in water: put corn in a pot and cover it with water, bring to a rolling boil, let water boil the corn for 10 mins, take the corn out, use a fork to secure one end of the cob and with a knife slice the kernels off the cob onto a plate, add 1\/2 tbsp of butter and mix well. Enjoy! :D<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
One new\u00a0mindset which I have adopted whenever I go marketing is to buy fruits when they are in season. Fruits simply taste better and are cheaper\u00a0in season. Take for example, blueberries. When in season, you can get 2 punnets for<\/p>\n