And the calendar pages blew

[venta]

On Sunday, I took myself off for a walk down Uxbridge Road to frolic among the fleshpots and poundshops of West Ealing. I actually wanted to buy a small, flip-top plastic bin. I failed utterly, but I discovered a whole new fruit.

Passing the large and mysteriously hybrid Asian/Polish shop[*] I stopped to buy a lemon and some garlic, and observed a small sign saying "fresh dates".

Now, I know about fresh dates. They're the glossy, sticky ones that come in plastic trays (often with inexplicably nobbly plastic poky-stick fork-things), particularly at Christmas. As opposed to dried dates, which hang out year-round in bags in health food shops.

These, though... well, they looked like small, yellow plums. Curious, I bought half a dozen and trotted on my way.

I nibbled on one... it was crunchy! Like an apple! My brain, thinking that what I was eating was basically a plum, busily screamed at me "it's not ripe! Ewwww, it's sour and unripe, stop eating it!" Meanwhile, reports were coming in from other quarters that actually, it was fairly sweet and tasted more or less like a date, but... crunchy.

I had another, and decided I liked them. And had a little light google, and discovered that dates have four stages (apparently). Wikipedia tells me that they are "known throughout the world by their Arabic names kimri (unripe), khlal (full-size, crunchy), rutab (ripe, soft), tamr (ripe, sun-dried)". I guess mine are khlal, then.

Yesterday I picked one up from the fruit bowl, and noticed that the end had started to go a bit brown and squashy. Dates can ripen off the tree, so I guess it's heading towards rutab. The brain, which still isn't getting with the program, was quietly repelled by my eating ewww, rotten, squashy, nasty, beginning-to-ferment plum... in actuality, the fruit was quite squashy, but definitely heading more into familiar date texture/taste territory.

So this isn't exactly a new fruit, but it is quite an exciting new discovery. Further googling suggests that this might be the beginning of the season for this sort of date, so I may have a couple of months of crunchy fresh date excitement coming up.

I didn't think to take a picture of the fresh dates, but they actually looked very like the ones these people photographed at a Hollywood farmers' market. Incidentally, I'd like just to pause briefly and boggle at that phrase: Hollywood farmers' market.

[*] Note for locals: the one on the north side of Uxbridge Road opposite the Lido[**].
[**] Note for non-locals: this isn't actually a lido at all. It's a small park called The Lido, presumably for historical reasons.

Comments

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Ooh, those look interesting. I wonder if they make it out of the metropolis.

I think of the Christmas ones as being dried dates too, just not quite as dried as the health food ones. Potentially interesting factoid: the kind of box they come in is called a glove box, presumably because historically gloves were sold in such a receptacle. And I think originally (and still sometimes in posh ones) the plastic sticky thing was the actual stick on which they had grown and been dried.

[ebee.livejournal.com]

It is actually West Ealing Park but the building, now the CVS, next to it used to be a cinema (last open around Lion King launch time I believe) then converted to a very sleazy snooker hall before the whole lot got rebuilt as the CVS and flats. New fruit is very exciting! Plastic bins can be procured from Wilkinsons in West Ealing if you're still on the hunt?

[phlebas.livejournal.com]

"Hollywood famers' market" actually sounds more congruous.

[venta.livejournal.com]

It is actually West Ealing Park

Oh, OK. The associated bus stop is called The Lido, and I thought signs said the park was too.

Plastic bins can be procured from Wilkinsons in West Ealing

No, they can't :) That's where I went. Large plastic bins, and middle-sized plastic bins can be obtained there, but not small ones.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Dammit. I may have to correct that :)

[venta.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, I think I was vaguely aware that the nobbliness of the sticky thing was due to attempts to imitate the real stalk. I'd forgotten, though.

The Christmas kind are clearly less dried than dried ones, hence me thinking of them as fresh. I'd never really considered what state dates might be in before that one.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

Mm, I remember being surprised by my first sight of a fresh fig. Had not really thought to imagine what they might look like before they were dried, but if I had, I wouldn't have come up with that.

[venta.livejournal.com]

I have been vaguely aware for some time of what figs looked like, because my parents' nextdoor neighbour has a fig tree.

I don't remember eating one[*] until recently though... and I'm a bit undecided. They're not nasty, but they're not quite as nice as dried figs had lead me to hope they might be.

[*] Certainly not "as is". I can't rule out that I've had pieces of fresh fig in some posh dish at a restaurant somewhere.

[undyingking.livejournal.com]

I definitely prefer dried ones.

A fresh one just off a tree, that's ripened in some hot climate, is a lot nicer than the ones we get here, though: sweeter and less stodgy/woolly.

[ebee.livejournal.com]

Yup bus stop next to old cinema. Maybe they renamed it? I shall investigate!
Confused re bin- had row with housemate who alleged all of west Ealing was a fail for bin procurement, however he did eventually succeed and muttered darkly of wilko. I shall enquire further!

*bimbles off to procure Sherlock style hat for said investigating!*
Also, meant to email, fancy earlish Sunday roast at the EP Tavern this week?

[venta.livejournal.com]

Wilko does indeed stock bins, as noted above... however I wanted a small one (ie smaller than the kitchen one you're replacing)! And they ain't got none of them. Loads of sensible kitchen-bin-sizes ones, though, in lots of colours.

Sunday roasts in general a top plan, but we have a complicated, large, multi-faceted meal booked for Sunday evening (blame Groupon) so probably not ideal for this week!

[exspelunca.livejournal.com]

Bit late catching up but do you mean small bin as in the one at home between the draining board and the hob, used for peelings en route to compost heap? If so, try Kleeneze, and possibly Scotts of Stowe or Coopers of Stortford, though these mean mail order.

[venta.livejournal.com]

No, not quite that small. More of a wastepaper-bin-for-bedroom sort of size.

It's not a huge deal - something I'd be happy to buy from Wilko/a pound shop, but not something I care enough about to fork out Scotts of Stowe prices for!

(It's intended to be an auxiliary laundry basket for things that want to be kept separate from the main ruck of the laundry, so not exactly essential for continued existence!)