September 06, 2006
Eating Dogwood and other Useless Information
Apologies for a short hiatus from bloggishness due to a move to China, and its overflow into an already overflowing space. Elbow room is currently at a premium until the cherished books of all the dear and close personal bookworms are delivered to the latest idea in used bookstores, Lorem Ipsum, for cash, but even better, to other bookworms who will cherish them the way they deserve to be cherished. It's a small comfort.
I just threw up (so to speak) a pretty enough picture, of a Kousa dogwood fruit, in order to assure you that I am still operating, however inefficiently. For those who have come to expect deeper exploration, or suffer from lassitude of the loins and knees, dizziness, tinnitus, night sweat, or spermatorrhear, you will find this little fruit most intriguing. They're very pretty and the only recipe I could find uses them as a healthy, textured, exotic alternative to a maraschino cherry. You can also make jellies and jams, but I expect that would be labor intensive due to all the peeling and seeding required.
A bit of advice from lucky_p, a veterinary pathologist and dogwood fruit sampler, "You don't want to eat the whole fruit - the skin is gritty and disagreeable. Just tear 'em open and massage/suck the pulp into your mouth. They're OK in small numbers, but I wouldn't want to sit down and eat a whole bunch of them at one sitting. I've had one friend who indicated that he experienced a 'racing heartbeat'(tachycardia?) following eating Kousa fruits, but it's never been a problem for me."
I shall harvest a few for autumnal hot fudge sundaes. Bon apetit!
Photo note: The fruit, in various stages of ripeness.
Posted by Dakota at September 6, 2006 08:38 AM