Lisa on August 3rd, 2011

I’d be willing to bet that most people would say that summer = watermelon and watermelon = summer. You can’t have one without the other. Just ask my watermelon-loving friend. Her superpower is eating an entire watermelon in one sitting … although then she groans about having “watermelon belly.” Good thing watermelons aren’t in season [...]

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Lisa on April 2nd, 2010

Seems like hibiscus is all the rage: hibiscus tea, hibiscus punch, even sparkling hibiscus beverages in the form of Ooba, the latest smartly-packaged and fizzy “health” drink to hit the shelves.  (It’s a far better option than Coke, true, but I hesitate to call anything that contains mostly sugared water a great beverage choice.)  Seeing [...]

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Lisa on June 12th, 2009

It’s a tangy, invigorating flavor that’s distinctly Asian and distinctly difficult to find fresh:  lemongrass, one of the core flavors in many curries, pastes, soups and stews originating in the Far East.  If a cook is in a pinch and is looking for a substitute, lemon rind is the closest she’ll get…but although lemons lend [...]

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Lisa on January 5th, 2009

Despite its secondary name of “Indian date,” the tamarind is not a date. Nor is it native to India. It originated in tropical Africa, but due to the fact that it was adopted by the Indians with gusto when it reached their shores, when it boomeranged back west, the Persians assumed the Indians were the [...]

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Lisa on October 28th, 2008

Camillia sinensis–or the tea plant, as it is more commonly called–has been a hotly-traded global commodity for more than a thousand years. (We still say “worth all the tea in China” to describe something of great value.) There’s white tea, green tea, black tea, oolong tea…entire aisles in the grocery stores are dedicated to teas! [...]

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