What new ingredient have you eaten this year?

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I was wondering, as the year comes to a close (OK, it has a month to go yet, I know), what new ingredient(s) you have learnt to use this year? I guess I know which one @summerdays is going to answer giggle but for me, there have been 2 of them.

1. Jerusalem artichoke... A humble root vegetable that my husband seemed rather apprehensive about for some reason. He's an adventurous chef and eater normally but for some reason was rather cautious regarding this vegetable, so I simply baked it, in the form of a chip bringing out the sweetness in it which he liked.
2. Oily Toor Dal, which is quite simply the pigeon pea. A yellow split pea that holds its shape when cooked and makes for a wonderful yet simple dish.

Both have been a pleasant surprise, but I think the Toor Dal has been the preferred ' hit' in our household!

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[summerdays]

Ok so Yacon will be on my list... Though so far only nibbled a piece.

I also tried Curly Kale and Cavelo Nero for the first time, both were fine if disguised with other food (not a huge fan of the cabbage family).

A new one to me that I've really enjoyed has been golden beetroot! There is a huge one sitting by my back door that I must cook this week

 

[cupcakechef]

You know, I can't think of anything off the top of my head that I've tried that's new. Which is kind of ridiculous (and sad, when you think about it) since I'm an expat living in Japan - you would think that there would be all manner of things on my list of new ingredients! We've lived here 2.5 years now and have 1.5 years left...and it seems I've found my "niche" group of foods I like and I'm not deviating from it. Either that or my memory just sucks right now (it is almost midnight here, right now - so that's a distinct possibility!)

 

[MyExWasAChef]

Ok so this might sound embarassing to some but I never eat mayonnaise not because I have an allergy or anything I just don't like the consistency and taste but I decided to try it anyway just for variety in my craft. To quell the taste I add some sriracha or hot sauce to my sandwich while adding a little mayonnaise. I add on a lot of onions, mustard and tomatoes as well but that's because I'm trying to overpower the scent of fat in my sandwich. It's been going great I suppose since I'm eating tuna spread now and that has a lot mayo in it.

 

[Corzhens]

The only ingredient I remember is the Chinese chestnut that we bought in Hongkong last month. The chestnuts were double the size of ordinary chestnuts. We roasted some and it is not as good as the ordinary ones. We cooked our favorite menudo - a dish of pork belly and pork liver with tomato sauce and nuts. That's where the big chestnuts came into play. Gee, it was delicious and everyone was asking for the chestnuts. Maybe next year we can try it again for another dish, that is if we would have a trip to Hongkong again.

 

[winterybella]

The pea in SatSaysStraighton's picture looks like what we call split peas and they come in yellow and green. If that's what they are then they are no strangers to me. Kale was probably the one thing I tried this year or very late last year. It certainly wasn't around or out there until somehow it became this new miracle leaf and everyone had to have some. I stumbled on it and tried it a few times. I had only had eggplants a few times and then when it was introduced to the forum I went out and got more. Now I have a greater appreciation for the vegetable.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

The pea in SatSaysStraighton's picture looks like what we call split peas and they come in yellow and green

I think you may be thinking of the green and yellow lentils rather than the pigeon pea/green or yellow split pea. They all look the same until you get them side by side! I believe that they are from different parts of the world. However, they are interchangeable in recipes with only a minor taste change. The biggest difference is that the split pea takes longer to cook than the lentil does. This is simply down to the fact that the lentil is flatter than the pea is.

Some time a go I started a thread on the differences between lentils, peas and beans..
www.cookingbites.com/threads/legumes-pulses-beans-peas-and-lentils.5179/

And this picture shows the difference or lack of between the green split pea on the left and the green lentil on the right. I'm still looking for a picture with both the yellow options in. I may end up doing on myself when I get round to getting out of bed!

However, I have just found this site which is extensive and quite fascinating, if you like that kind of thing! www.clovegarden.com/ingred/bp_legumev.html

 

[winterybella]

When I Google pigeon peas I get this. Here we call them green peas when green and dried peas when brown.

Then we call these yellow and green split peas.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

Problem is, is that if I raid my shelves, I will come up with at least 3 possibly 4 that look like the yellow split peas you have to the left there. They will be Mong dal, toor dal, yellow lentils, pigeon peas and all are different. Some are peas in origin and others are lentils in origin and all are yellow and different sizes. There are probably others in my shelving somewhere as well. I was reading earlier that chickpeas and their relatives started off life in Turkey (many, many thousands of years ago). These seem to be the origin of split peas. But lentils started off life in what is now Mongolia and these are smaller flatter things...

 

[Rosyrain]

For me, the new ingredient of the year is parsnip. this is my new favorite root vegetable to add to soups because it has a really nice flavor. It can have a little bit of a bite though. so I have to make sure it is cooked all the way. They are kind of spendy at the grocery store though. I also started using chickpeas this year as well, but not nearly as often as parsnips. Thanks to this forum, I am trying all sorts of new things.