A lot of our food adventures begin in this way:
Farmerteen: What’s that?
Jen: Brussels sprouts.
Farmerteen: What do they taste like?
Jen: I don’t know.
Farmerteen: Why?
Jen: My mom doesn’t like them, so she never served them to us.
Farmerteen: We should try them.
Jen: Okay.
Then we buy a few, accost people at the register and ask how they make them, do a little internet research, thumb through a couple of cookbooks, and then saute them in garlic and butter (because every thing tastes better in either garlic and butter or sugar and butter). As it turns out, Brussels sprouts taste like little teeny cabbages . . . they’re quite pleasant lightly sauteed to a stunning green.
The picture above isn’t Brussels sprouts, though. It’s a picture of Kumquats.
Farmerteen: What’s that?
Jen: Kumquats.
Farmerteen: What do they taste like?
Jen: I don’t know.
Farmerteen: Did your mom not like them?
Jen: I don’t know if my mom’s ever heard of them.
Farmerteen: We should try them.
Jen: Okay.
Kumquats are eaten whole, raw. (Lots of people also make a jelly, or at least a jar of sugar-pickled kumquats — we did not). They’re screamingly sour right at first (it’s the juice), and then the sweetness of the skin takes over as you chew the rest of it up. They’re little, so we eat one or two at a time. I took the second picture in front of a medium orange, so you can get an idea of the size. (The bowl is one you might serve a toddler icecream in).