New Summer Treats: Hybrid Fruits, Shave Ice, Veggie Pops, and More

Variety and surprise—these are what keep us eating with enthusiasm.  We do it even when it’s dull, but it’s infinitely more fun when an unexpected new taste comes along.  Here are a few edibles you may not have tried yet, so they should perk up your summer taste buds. 

Plumcots, Pluots, and Aprium: These fruit hybrids are a combination of plums and apricots.  According to ShopSmart, the plumcot is “a true blend of plum and apricot flavors, the pluot (pronounced PLOO-AUGHT) “has a strong plum taste with hints of apricot,” and the aprium tastes more like an apricot than a plum but its skin isn’t fuzzy.

Are these hybrids an improvement over their parents?  Yes indeed. They’re sweeter and juicier. They’re mostly grown in California, but they may turn up in your local supermarket.  If not, they can be purchased online. There’s also a three-way hybrid called peacotum—a peach, apricot, and plum combo. This 3-way hybrid (perhaps the first) is harder to find in stores.

To select good hybrid fruits, look for those with deep color, no brown spots, and flesh that gives a little when pressed.  If necessary, keep them on the counter for a few days to ripen, and then refrigerate. For the most delicious taste, bring them back to room temperature before consuming.

Flavored Shave Ice:  In Hawaii, promises one vendor, snow cones taste like flavored snow.  That’s because they’re made with shave ice.  If you want your homemade snow cones Hawaiian style, you need a gadget that creates true shave ice (ice chips cut much smaller than those in the usual snow cone).  The Chicago Tribune “Good Eating” section recommends the Victorio snow cone maker/ice shaver, available on Amazon.com for $33, because it’s easier to use, less cumbersome than others on the market, and it makes great shave ice. Add syrups made for snow cones, or create your own from juice drinks and, for the adults, a little alcohol.

Vegetable Popsicles: If you’re into making your own popsicles, here’s the perfect book for you: Perfect Pops: The 50 Best Classic & Cool Treats (Chronicle, $16.95).  You’ll find recipes for popsicles containing real fruit, yogurt, veggies, chocolate with cayenne, and even some made with alcohol.    

Doctored Watermelon: “Five Cents a Watermelon,” the vendors used to shout when my father was a boy in the early 1900s.  No such bargain is available today, and by mid-summer the taste of watermelon, while still delicious, is old hat.  Fortunately, John Kass, a Chicago Tribune columnist, has some suggestions for making watermelon more exciting: add salt or make a salad with watermelon, feta cheese, oil, cucumber, and onion.  Kass claims that salt brings out the sweetness in watermelon (and in other foods as well).  How does he know?  His grandmother told him so.

Source(s):

ShopSmart (a Consumer Reports publication) “What to Buy Now: Pluots” July 2011.

Chicago Tribune “Aloha, shave ice!” July 27, 2011

Chicago Tribune “New pops are cold—and cool” July 13, 2011

Chicago Tribune “And the living is sweet with salt on watermelon” July 21, 2011