Re: Medit.-style eating - green almonds and other things...

I was going to grab onto this one too, and forgot.

In Greece, people also eat the green ones here and there, though it seems to 
be a local thing, some people know about it and other think it's insane.  In 
Iran, the green almonds are also cooked in a stew with lamb; the slightly 
sour flavor of them goes well with it.  Unripe grapes are also cooked this 
way.

Incidentally, those of you who live in the Los Angeles area, with it's very 
large Iranian population (the city is sometimes joked about as "Tehrangeles" 
by local Iranians), you can buy green almonds in the markets in late spring.

Walnuts are also used green - they are treated in a rather complicated 
process in lime and become a really delicious "glyko tou koutaliou", or 
"spoon sweet".  The island of Thasos is especially known for this sweet.  I 
can get a recipe if anyone wants it.  The test is to stick a needle into the 
green walnuts; if the needle goes through with no resistance the shell is 
still not present.

Pistachios are commonly sold green in Greece, the flavor is very mild.

In Turkey, aside from almonds, hazelnuts are also commonly sold green in the 
Black Sea area.  These are the long type, resembling an acorn, and the 
shells are very thin.  You just crunch them with your teeth and shell them.

A small green plum, known as "erik" there, and "eriki" in Greece are sold 
all over Turkey in the still-crunchy sour stage, and eaten with salt.  They 
are preferred this way to ripe, where they become a little bland in 
comparison with other types of plums.  I think they may be as "greengage" in 
English.

One that surprised me but is also very good is chickpeas (Turk. nohut) sold 
green on the plants.  You buy a bundle of them, and pick and shell them.  
It's reminiscent of Japanese edamame (green soybeans) but you eat them raw.

Loquats are a favorite fruit of mine in spring, but you have to be a bit 
picky - some are really good and flavorful, and others are completely 
tasteless.

One thing that always struck me as odd is that in most of Greece (I don't 
know about Corfu - let us know!), basil is grown very commonly but never 
eaten.  I remember a friend's mother telling this "funny story" about being 
in a pansion with an Italian family - "...and she just started cutting the 
basil up and throwing it into the tomato sauce!!!"  She may as well have 
been cutting up a philodendron and stewing it, for the surprise it elicited 
from the Greek woman. :)  They grow it for its smell, and there is a custom 
of giving a spring to visitors when they leave.

Bob
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