What New Foods Have You Tried?: Like It? Hate It? Share Here!

[harrie]

On 3/15/2018 at 10:21 PM, GreekGeek said:

I'm working on eating healthier carbs and more protein, so I bought a couple of boxes of chickpea pasta. I like it! I've also been enjoying Quest protein bars. They satisfy my craving for chewy candy. I bought some sprouted rye bread at a farmer's market last weekend. It's really dense and it gets very hard after a few days, definitely a change from the soft supermarket breads. I've looked in the local supermarkets for Ezekiel bread products, but no luck so far. Has anybody tried them?

 

I've had Ezekiel bread - it's a lot like you describe the sprouted rye as being.  It's kind of rigid, bordering on crumbly - or at least the loaf I had was. I like nutty, dense breads, so if it cost less and I ate more bread, I'd probably have it more often.  I do like the cereal they make quite a bit; it's a lot like Grape Nuts, if you're familiar with them, and is quite filling.  Some fresh berries or a banana on top, and I'm good to go 'til lunch.

If you use @DeLurker's handy finder and still can't find it in your store, it might be in the natural foods section if they have one. That's where they hide the cereal at my local Big Y. Locally for me, Ezekiel bread is at Whole Foods, Costco, and a lot of mom-and-pop type natural food stores. 

[MargeGunderson]

@GreekGeek, I saw Ezekiel bread in the freezer case of my grocery this morning. I would not have thought to look there, so if you were looking in the bread aisle, try the freezer aisle (maybe with the organic/natural).

[biakbiak]

On 3/4/2018 at 11:30 AM, chessiegal said:

I stopped at a place near our house to get shrimp pad thai. I'd never had it before, but saw someone making it on TV and it looked good. It was overly sweet. Is it supposed to be like that? The only other thing I've gotten there is hot and sour soup, and it was not good. Is it worth while to try some from a place I know does good Thai or Vietnamese?

I have never thought if it was overly sweet. If you have had regular pad thai and liked it then I would definitely try it at place you know is good.

[Bastet]

3 hours ago, MargeGunderson said:

@GreekGeek, I saw Ezekiel bread in the freezer case of my grocery this morning. I would not have thought to look there, so if you were looking in the bread aisle, try the freezer aisle (maybe with the organic/natural).

Yes, that's where it is in my local markets - that sprouted stuff does not last long, so it's kept in the freezer.  I'm not often in the frozen food section of the store, so it seems like most times I am, for a second I'm startled to see bread (I hate bread that has been frozen; mine has no preservatives, so I have to keep it in the fridge and that bothers me enough - freezer, I cannot handle) before I remember that I know that about the brand.

[GreekGeek]

Thank you to all who made suggestions about where to find Ezekiel bread. I went back to the grocery store where I first tried looking for it, and it was indeed in the freezer case,

[DeLurker]

I would have never looked there.

[BW Manilowe]

This question about the thread crossed my mind last night (considering how long I've been posting here, it took its sweet time): Whenever I post here, I pretty much post about completely brand new things on the market that I've tried--which I thought was the purpose of the thread, based on my interpretation of the title.

But I think other people have posted about products that at least some people here might already know about (because of living in an area where said products are test marketed before being released nationally, or for other reasons) but are new to the poster involved. While that wasn't my first interpretation of the thread title, I can see it now. So, I'm assuming we can post about products that are either totally new on the market or we can post about products that may be new to some people here but not to others.(?)

[chessiegal]

I interpreted "What new foods have you tried' as food, not even necessarily products, that you've tried that are new to you, not new to the world. Thus my question about Pad Thai. I'd never had it before, and the first I tried was sweet, and I wanted to know if the restaurant was at fault, or was Pad Thai a sweet dish.

[ariel]

I take this thread as meaning foods that are new to you that you haven't tasted before.

[Trini]

1 hour ago, BW Manilowe said:

So, I'm assuming we can post about products that are either totally new on the market or we can post about products that may be new to some people here but not to others.(?)

Yeah, both seem appropriate to me.

[chessiegal]

Our Mid-Atlantic Giant Food grocery chain has started Free Fridays where you can load a free product on your loyalty card. Mrs. Field's cookie dough were a huge fail, but this week they had this Godiva bar. It was good.

 

[ebk57]

31 minutes ago, chessiegal said:

Our Mid-Atlantic Giant Food grocery chain has started Free Fridays where you can load a free product on your loyalty card. Mrs. Field's cookie dough were a huge fail, but this week they had this Godiva bar. It was good.

 

 

I got that email and totally forgot to load it to the card - damn... 

[DeLurker]

On 3/19/2018 at 7:41 PM, chessiegal said:

Our Mid-Atlantic Giant Food grocery chain has started Free Fridays where you can load a free product on your loyalty card. Mrs. Field's cookie dough were a huge fail, but this week they had this Godiva bar.

Kroger does that - the best thing I've gotten was the Lindt Milk Chocolate Easter Egg.  Most of the time it is not anything particularly exciting. 

Tried Noosa Key Lime yogurt yesterday - I love Noosa yogurt anyway, but had never tried the Key Lime as Key Lime flavored products are typically way too sweet for me.  The yogurt was not so that was nice.  I will buy it again when Noosa is on sale, because the non-sale prices are nutty.

[Scatterbrained]

I tried black bea pasta recently, and it did not go well.  It was hard to get over the color and appearance, and then the texture was weird to me, lastly I felt sick to my stomach all night.  I threw the rest of the box away.  I still have edamame pasta to try.  Holding off on that one.  I probably should have cooked it on St. Pat’s day!  

[mansonlamps]

Cheese grits.  They were amazingly good, especially with the jumbo shrimp I had with them.

[chessiegal]

Given to me today as a thank you - Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel in the shape of a cute bunny. So good!

[larapu2000]

Has anyone else tried the new (to me, anyway) chocolate covered mini Mint Oreo Thins?  They're like the Girl Scout Thin Mints had sex with Oreo Thins and they are droolworthy.

[Spunkygal]

I am really trying to eat more salads but get bored with my usual mustard vinaigrette. At Walmart, I purchased Sam's Choice sweet cilantro lime vinaigrette and it is so good. I don't taste the cilantro that much but if you are averse to cilantro, you might. It really has a pleasant kick. I also used it to marinate chicken breast in before grilling. It was a yum for me. 

[DeLurker]

I bought some Natural Bliss coffee creamer because it was on sale & I had a coupon.  I used a very modest amount because it already has sugar in it and I just use a touch of sugar in my coffee (one of the packets you get in a coffee shop would last me for 3 cups at least). 

I bought the one that was just cream & sugar because the flavored ones had visible layers of stuff at the bottom (like chocolate syrup that separated).  This stuff is teeth hurting sweet!  Since I don't use much sugar, that is probably my fault.  I'll need to see if my nephew who uses cream & sugar in larger quantities thinks it is over the top too.

[annzeepark914]

On 3/4/2018 at 2:30 PM, chessiegal said:

I stopped at a place near our house to get shrimp pad thai. I'd never had it before, but saw someone making it on TV and it looked good. It was overly sweet. Is it supposed to be like that? The only other thing I've gotten there is hot and sour soup, and it was not good. Is it worth while to try some from a place I know does good Thai or Vietnamese?

I've ordered pad thai twice (at two different Thai restaurants--one was Duangrats which has a great rep in No. VA) and didn't like it because it had a sweet, margarine-like flavor.  Don't know what they put in pad thai to create that not so good flavor.  So whenever I'm in a Thai restaurant I steer clear of pad thai and order other things on the menu--I really like Thai food (love the mussels, and the calamari with a Thai dip is great).

[mansonlamps]

Has anyone tried plov, which I believe is the Ukrainian term for what we know is pilaf?  I found a YouTube recipe and it sounds delicious, I'm going to try it.

[Scatterbrained]

I tried Nutpods creamer today and really liked it.  

On 4/25/2018 at 9:47 AM, DeLurker said:

I bought some Natural Bliss coffee creamer because it was on sale & I had a coupon.  I used a very modest amount because it already has sugar in it and I just use a touch of sugar in my coffee (one of the packets you get in a coffee shop would last me for 3 cups at least). 

Nutpods is unsweetened, so you might like it if you are looking for a dairy alternative.

[stillhere1900]

Jackfruit: Ive been a vegetarian for the pass 11 yrs. I've always like to try different fruits/veggies but until recently I've never had jackfruit.

I found some fresh and canned at a International market. The fresh is really good, I haven't used the canned stuff yet.

Anyone here have any experience with jackfruit ?

[callie lee 29]

Is that the smelly fruit?? The really smelly fruit??

[MargeGunderson]

22 minutes ago, callie lee 29 said:

Is that the smelly fruit?? The really smelly fruit??

I think the really smelly fruit is durian.

[biakbiak]

7 hours ago, callie lee 29 said:

Is that the smelly fruit?? The really smelly fruit??

That's durian. Jackfruit smells to many like bubblegum, I find the smell a little too sweet but enjoy it. I make a jackfruit curry often that I lived off of when I lived in Bali. It's having a moment now as the newest meat substitute.

[Athena]

21 hours ago, stillhere1900 said:

The fresh is really good, I haven't used the canned stuff yet.

The fresh is always better, but I remember having the canned stuff when I was younger. It wasn't too bad either.

I eat durian. :)

[callie lee 29]

Thanks for the clarification @biakbiak and @MargeGunderson. I'm going to look for jackfruit to try. 

[biakbiak]

1 minute ago, callie lee 29 said:

Thanks for the clarification @biakbiak and @MargeGunderson. I'm going to look for jackfruit to try. 

Its one of the world's largest fruit so its difficult to miss! 

[stillhere1900]

On 5/8/2018 at 7:41 AM, Athena said:

The fresh is always better, but I remember having the canned stuff when I was younger. It wasn't too bad either.

I eat durian. :)

Just added "durian" to my grocery list. Hope it's at the International market.

[biakbiak]

6 minutes ago, stillhere1900 said:

Just added "durian" to my grocery list. Hope it's at the International market.

Just to be sure you know it isn't similiar to jackfruit and is the very, very, smell fruit.

[stillhere1900]

On 5/8/2018 at 7:47 AM, biakbiak said:

Its one of the world's largest fruit so its difficult to miss! 

Yes they are. The store had 30/40+ lb ones at $.98 per pound.

I bought a sliced one that was already cut and prepackaged for $4.00

2 minutes ago, biakbiak said:

Just to be sure you know it isn't similiar to jackfruit and is the very, very, smell fruit.

Does it smell bad. like rotten ?

[Athena]

7 minutes ago, stillhere1900 said:

Does it smell bad. like rotten ?

Yes. It is routinely banned in public spaces and transportation in Asia. Most often in North America it is sold frozen and then people can defrost it at home and smell at its olfactory glory.

A lot of people love it or hate it because of the scent. For some people like myself, you can get past the scent or learn to smell the good notes and enjoy the flavour of it. The fruit has a creamy texture that is unlike most mainstream Western fruits. For a lot of people, they can't get past the scent at all even after they have tried it. YMMV.

[biakbiak]

12 minutes ago, stillhere1900 said:

Does it smell bad. like rotten ?

When I worked at a largely Asian organization we had to ban opening fresh ones in the kitchen, our offices were in Chinatown were it's readily available fresh. To me it smells more like a gas leak which isn't great but doesn't really bother me but I am not really a huge fan of the taste. Though I do love durian puffs at my favorite dim sum place.

[stillhere1900]

12 minutes ago, Athena said:

Yes. It is routinely banned in public spaces and transportation in Asia. Most often in North America it is sold frozen and then people can defrost it at home and smell at its olfactory glory.

A lot of people love it or hate it because of the scent. For some people like myself, you can get past the scent or learn to smell the good notes and enjoy the flavour of it. The fruit has a creamy texture that is unlike most mainstream Western fruits. For a lot of people, they can't get past the scent at all even after they have tried it. YMMV.

I guess I wouldn't be trying it then. Thanks for the info.

[BW Manilowe]

11 hours ago, stillhere1900 said:

Just added "durian" to my grocery list. Hope it's at the International market.

Be prepared to eat it outside. Or maybe use a lot of air freshener afterwards. The smell lingers & it's not pretty. The only thing worse might be that "corpse flower" that only opens once a year (but I've never smelled that yet, so I have no idea).

My family spent the winter after 9/11 as Snowbirds in Florida (the NW panhandle area--the area around Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, Panama City, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, et al); my dad (born in the Philippines) found out they carried durian at the local Publix grocery store & he started bringing them home.

Having previous experience with durian, my mom & I evicted him to the patio to eat it or do anything else which would kick up the smell, like cut it, whenever we knew he was going to get 1 (which he did more than once, after he knew they were there). That was our compromise; he could get & eat durian, but he had to do anything that would make it really smelly outside. It worked & it kept at least most of the smell outside the house. So, if you live with anyone who isn't partial to durian you might wanna prepare yourself to, sort of, go into isolation to eat it.

[stillhere1900]

10 hours ago, BW Manilowe said:

Be prepared to eat it outside. Or maybe use a lot of air freshener afterwards. The smell lingers & it's not pretty. The only thing worse might be that "corpse flower" that only opens once a year (but I've never smelled that yet, so I have no idea).

My family spent the winter after 9/11 as Snowbirds in Florida (the NW panhandle area--the area around Destin, Santa Rosa Beach, Panama City, Fort Walton Beach, Niceville, et al); my dad (born in the Philippines) found out they carried durian at the local Publix grocery store & he started bringing them home.

Having previous experience with durian, my mom & I evicted him to the patio to eat it or do anything else which would kick up the smell, like cut it, whenever we knew he was going to get 1 (which he did more than once, after he knew they were there). That was our compromise; he could get & eat durian, but he had to do anything that would make it really smelly outside. It worked & it kept at least most of the smell outside the house. So, if you live with anyone who isn't partial to durian you might wanna prepare yourself to, sort of, go into isolation to eat it.

Thank you. I've already scratched it off my list.

[stillhere1900]

On 6/6/2017 at 10:18 PM, Giselle said:

I don't like chocolate. But I've always loved See's precancerous roll. Penuche center dipped in caramel and rolled in pecans. These would be in my Easter basket rather than chocolate. I also love their butterscotch lollypops.

Edit: I'm going to leave it in all its autocorrect glory. It was suppose to be pecan roll.

I know this post is from last yr but I just saw it.  I don't like chocolate either. whenever I say that to anyone, one of the first questions is "are you allergic to chocolate?" Like the only reason, *I* as a woman wouldn't like chocolate is because i'm allergic to it . lol

No. i just don't like the taste.

[Trini]

Lots of stuff about the smell, but ... does durian actually taste good? Is it worth it to get past the smell?

[larapu2000]

On 5/7/2018 at 12:01 PM, stillhere1900 said:

Jackfruit: Ive been a vegetarian for the pass 11 yrs. I've always like to try different fruits/veggies but until recently I've never had jackfruit.

I found some fresh and canned at a International market. The fresh is really good, I haven't used the canned stuff yet.

Anyone here have any experience with jackfruit ?

I tried it as "pulled pork," and you could have fooled me that it was meat.  The only texture is great, i liked the flavor.  Im not even a vegetarian!!

[stillhere1900]

I'm looking up the "pulled pork" recipe.

[mansonlamps]

I am  trying a bunch of "bites" recipes for my instant pot.  Many of them emulate sous vide eggs from Starbucks, but there are also plenty of oatmeal muffin/pancake type recipes as well.  Will report back.

[BW Manilowe]

So, I was looking at the foods you can buy through Amazon.com. Most of the snacks, unless you happen to get lucky or are an Amazon Prime member, unfortunately happen to either cost an arm or a leg for a single package, or you have to buy 1 of those packages that has, like, 9 million single-serving containers of whatever in it to get a decent purchase price. 

Anyway... I happened to notice that they had a new bag of those Sweetos non-cheese flavored puffs which the Cheetos people put out every so often, as a limited time thing. It wasn't the cinnamon sugar ones in the purple bag that have been out for awhile, though., These were caramel flavored puffs, which seem to have been introduced sometime last year (2017), according to what I could find out about them online, but I hadn't heard of them until I saw them on Amazon a few days ago.

Since I liked--actually loved (still love)--the cinnamon sugar ones, & I do like caramel things (without nuts, at least), & I could actually get a single bag for a price I'd pay in a store, or at least close to it, I decided to try them. They may still be in production for this release; the Fresh Until date on my bag is actually sometime this week (so, as far as I can say, Amazon's snack/cookie/etc. selection, at least, is fairly fresh & not, at least in my case, stuff that's been sitting around a fulfillment center for years & is well beyond the package's Freshness date... if you were curious about such things).

Though I've already eaten a good portion of the bag, I haven't decided how much I like the caramel puffs. I like them, but I think I like the original cinnamon sugar version better.

Edited May 23, 2018 by BW Manilowe
To add a comment & fix a little spacing.

[Scatterbrained]

The Asian Chopped Salad bagged salad from Aldi.  It might as well be called crack salad; it is so tasty.  

 

I also tried the Southwest version (no), and the sweet kale version (hard no).

[Mittengirl]

I tried the Oreo Pina Colada Thins, Cinnamon (not Cinnamon Bun), and Fudge Dipped Coconut Thins Bites (the name is bigger than the cookie!).   Loved the Pina Colada and the Coconut ones.  The cinnamon flavor was surprisingly bland - it needed more zip.  I haven’t tried the Kettle Corn flavored ones yet, because I can’t quite figure out what they should taste like.   I saw the ones with the Pop Rocks in the filling again this year.  They are... interesting, not the flavor but just the explosions.

[Mindthinkr]

I just saw a new commercial for a type of milk. A2? It says it has a protein removed but is it another branding of Lactaid? 

[Bastet]

3 minutes ago, Mindthinkr said:

I just saw a new commercial for a type of milk. A2? It says it has a protein removed but is it another branding of Lactaid? 

No, the lactose content is the same if you're drinking "regular" (milk that has the A1 protein) or A2 milk.  The difference is in that protein; they're very similar, but there are claims the amino acid that's different in A1 increases the risk of several health conditions.  I think the A2 protein is what cows used to produce, then factory farming/breeding practices led to A1 cows, but I don't drink enough milk to have bothered looking into it.

[Mindthinkr]

5 minutes ago, Bastet said:

No, the lactose content is the same if you're drinking "regular" (milk that has the A1 protein) or A2 milk.  The difference is in that protein; they're very similar, but there are claims the amino acid that's different in A1 increases the risk of several health conditions.  I think the A2 protein is what cows used to produce, then factory farming/breeding practices led to A1 cows, but I don't drink enough milk to have bothered looking into it.

I don’t do a lot of milk either but buy Lactaid for the kitties. (It peeves me that I have to buy it 2 qts at a time as they’ll only go thru 1-3 TBS per day...if they are in the mood. Cats. What can I say?). Thanks for the info. 

[biakbiak]

Most of the health claims have not been proven for a2 but there is some anecdotal evidence that some people who experience negative side effects from regular milk and thought they were lactose intolerant may not be but rather it’s the a1 protein that is causing the issue.

[wilsie]

@Mindthinkr  I checked to see if you could freeze Lactaid since your kitties don't use it very quickly.  On the Lactaid site it said you could but it wasn't recommended.  But I found this from another google choice: "Freeze lactose-free milk in an airtight container and leave at least 1/2 inch headspace at the top, as lactose-free milk will expand when frozen; thaw in refrigerator. ... The freezer time shown is for best quality only - lactose-free milk that has been kept constantly frozen at 0° F will keep safe indefinitely."  I always freeze milk since I'm the only one who drinks it and it costs as much, if not more, for 1/2 gallon than a whole one.  I usually just cook with it and it works fine for me.  I hope this is a help.