Caltrops

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I bought some of these because they are exotic, unusual and beautiful. Now, I can't bring myself to cook and eat them.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 22 September 2005 17:03 (twenty years ago)

Rock Hardy may recognize them from our adventure in Uwajimaya, where a lovely Chinese lady tried for several minutes to explain what to do with them. All I understood was something about steam and "not in July". Robert and I went back to the store before leaving Seattle to buy the perishables we needed (green tea ice cream, pigs trotters, fresh figs), and I grabbed 4 of these.

I looked them up in The Asian Grocery Demystified when we got them home.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 22 September 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

I went back to Uwajimaya the next Wednesday (it, Salumi and Safeco are a nice little walkable loop), mainly for books in Kinokuniya, but did another turn around the grocery store and stood and goggled at those little bullheads again. But you have to cook at least some of them -- we need a report on the flavor!

In other Uwajimaya news, the lichee gummy candies are okay, but the muscat ones are AWESOME. They taste exactly like the American muscadine or scuppernong, if you've ever had those.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 22 September 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

Jaq, please post a photo.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Thursday, 22 September 2005 23:19 (twenty years ago)

Here's all 4 with a pen for scale. The shells are hard and smooth, like a chestnut, but less leathery.

http://www.theilliterate.com/archives/illiterati/4_caltrops.JPG

And here's an attempted close-up, so you can see it's demonic little face:

http://www.theilliterate.com/archives/illiterati/caltrop.JPG

Apparently, they have to be boiled for an hour to make them safe to eat. So, 2 of them are boiling away right now. I think they will be a bugger to crack open.

― Jaq (Jaq), Thursday, 22 September 2005 23:50 (twenty years ago)

They look like something that should be threaded onto a piece of leather for a necklace.

― Rock Hardy (Rock Hardy), Thursday, 22 September 2005 23:59 (twenty years ago)

For dinner tonight, sliced tomatoes, grilled cheese sammiches, and caltrops!

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 23 September 2005 00:04 (twenty years ago)

(I have tomorrow off, so if I don't get all the toxins out and end up in the ER, it's okay.)

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 23 September 2005 00:05 (twenty years ago)

I get the feeling that they look more likely in real life than in photographs. Wow.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Friday, 23 September 2005 00:37 (twenty years ago)

They really look molded out of plastic, or carved from some incredibly hard shiny wood. There was a great big bin of them in the produce section, across from the banana flowers and dragon fruit, right next to the lotus roots. I totally love Uwajimaya.

They are done boiling now. I had to get the camera a photo sequence.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 23 September 2005 00:59 (twenty years ago)

There wasn't much change after boiling them for an hour. The shells were still hard as rocks. I beat on them with a hammer to crack them open. This is out of focus, but it's the cracked end:

http://www.theilliterate.com/archives/illiterati/cracked.JPG

The texture is powdery, floury, not oily or even moist at all. The flavor is bland, with a vague hint of something familiar, maybe chestnut, but it's fleeting. I ate most of both of them and couldn't really place it. Supposedly, caltrop flour is used as a thickener.

The aftermath:

http://www.theilliterate.com/archives/illiterati/aftermath.JPG

I wouldn't especially want to eat them again, but they are really amazing to see.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 23 September 2005 01:29 (twenty years ago)

They look like bats/gargoyles!

― Archel (Archel), Friday, 23 September 2005 09:39 (twenty years ago)

They would make wonderful goth necklaces! And, you can't see it in the photos unfortunately, where the bat's head is, between the wings, there's a tiny tiny tuft of whiskery stuff.

These get my vote for most unlikely looking foodstuff ever.

― Jaq (Jaq), Friday, 23 September 2005 16:05 (twenty years ago)

They do look like bats. I've never heard of these before...

― Vermont Girl (Vermont Girl), Monday, 26 September 2005 16:42 (twenty years ago)

three months pass...

I finally realized what these things tasted like - undercooked beans. We still have one in the refrigerator, I found it when sorting out leftovers on the weekend.

― Jaq (Jaq), Tuesday, 10 January 2006 23:22 (nineteen years ago)

Although it's actually a seed, right? I just read about them in "On Food And Cooking". Perhaps they were over-dried or old?

Mine is still on my mantle.

― Casuistry (Chris P), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 03:20 (nineteen years ago)

It's a seed. Supposedly they are only available in the markets just after the harvest. They are so starchy they are normally ground into a flour and used for thickening. They just had that very slightly bitter, sort of greenish flavor that undercooked beans have, that same slight astringency. Other than that (and it was very fleeting), they were completely bland.

A wiccan talisman making website I ran across suggests oiling them to keep them glossy. It seems a shame to keep it in the fridge when it is so cool looking.

― Jaq (Jaq), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 04:30 (nineteen years ago)

sounds like how you prepare mesquite beans, maybe you could substitute.

― teeny (teeny), Wednesday, 11 January 2006 13:07 (nineteen years ago)

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