19 hours ago, heidih said:Or scarred for life by years of extreme dieting
Is celery perhaps one of those foods that our taste buds adapt to with a little age? I use it in mirepoix but had never really experimented with it beyond that due to a misguided belief that I didn’t like the flavour on its own. A year or two back OH requested celery for his salad, I was quite happy to prepare some for him (yes I do remove the strings, it only takes a few seconds with quantities appropriate for 2 people), I decided to taste a chunk and, quelle surprise, I thought that it was ok. I wouldn’t whip my cat across a field of broken glass to acquire celery but I can now appreciate it on its own.
I guess that other things in this category include blue cheese - still remember the day that I discovered that I love the flavour Roquefort - couldn’t tolerate any blue cheese until at least in my mid-20s. Same for parsnip. Can’t think of others for now but am certain that there are quite a few.
I think that age also permits us to distinguish flavours more, certainly it is only in recent years that I have properly been able to identify one type of potato from another. In the UK our key potato moment is the arrival of Jersey Royal new potatoes and I have been known to pay a small fortune for those at the start of the season because there are no other spuds with similar flavour. In winter I appreciate King Edward potatoes, thankfully these are inexpensive. Not sure that 10 years ago I would have been able to detect a King Edward from a Maris Piper. Perhaps it is just me 🙃
