Produce Guide - T

Tamarillos

The tamarillo is so gorgeous to look at that it can come as a rude surprise to bite into one and taste its mouth-puckering bitterness. Although the bitterness is mostly in the skin, which is easily removed, the tamarillo is usually destined for the cooking pot rather than the fruit bowl. Large, egg-shaped, with a satiny smooth, rusty red, deep burgundy or golden yellow skin, the fruit even smells sweet and fragrant, somewhere between a tomato and an apricot. In fact, another name for tamarillo is "tree tomato," and its slightly acid, firm flesh is indeed reminiscent of tomatoes.

Native to South America, the tamarillo is now cultivated in many countries south of the equator, including New Zealand and Australia. However, Canada gets most of its tamarillos from Colombia, and we see them on and off throughout the year. Choose fruits that are plump and heavy for their size, with smooth, vibrant skins. The yellow fruit may be a bit sweeter than the red. In any case, make sure that the stems are attached, as these come in handy during preparation. Leave firm fruits at room temperature until they become fragrant and yield to slight pressure. Ripe tamarillos can be refrigerated for at least 10 days.

Tamarind

The tamarind tree is a large evergreen native to Africa that has been grown in India and Southeast Asia for as long as anyone can remember. The Arabs named it tamarind, from tamar (dried date) and hindi (India). However, the prized fruits of the tamarind tree are not dates, but rather pods. Looking a bit like brittle fava beans, the brown, sickle-shaped pods grow in clumps, staying on the branches long after the tree has lost its leaves. Each pod contains around a dozen seeds, surrounded by a sticky pulp, which is scraped out and put to many uses.

When fully ripe, the tamarind has a lovely tart-sweet flavour, but not for eating out of hand. The pulp and seeds are usually compressed into tablets or cakes, sweetened with fructose or left naturally sour. Tamarind is an essential ingredient in Southeast Asian cooking, where it is used as a souring agent in sauces, chutneys, and curried dishes. The pulp is also the main ingredient in a sugar-sweetened syrup that gets diluted into such popular soft drinks as Jamaica's tamarinade and Mexico's refresco. In the Philippines, they favour the tamarind in sweets, and candy the ripe fruit pods. We North Americans are probably most familiar with the tamarind (whether we know it or not) as a primary flavouring ingredient in Worcestershire Sauce.

Fresh tamarind pods are available off and on throughout the year at specialty markets, especially those that cater to Asian, Latin American, or Indian customers. To use, break open the pods, and scrape out the flesh. The contents of two large or four small pods is roughly equivalent to 1/4 cup (50 ml) of tamarind concentrate or paste. Most recipes containing tamarind call for "tamarind water." The concentrate is usually diluted with four parts water, and the fresh or packaged paste is simmered for half an hour in four parts boiling water, and then strained.

Tomatillos

The tomatillo is yet another vegetable (that is to say fruit, or actually berry) which both is and isn't what it seems. In appearance it resembles an unripe cherry tomato, and it is, in fact, sometimes called a Mexican green tomato. Like the tomato, eggplant, and sweet pepper, the tomatillo is a member of the nightshade family, but just as a tomato isn't an eggplant or a pepper, the tomatillo isn't a tomato. It is a physalis, and these are all easily identified by the papery husks that encase them like miniature Chinese lanterns. (The Cape gooseberry is a more commonly known physalis, so if you've seen these you know what I'm talking about.)

Fans of Mexican food will know about tomatillos, a fundamental ingredient in green salsa. However, it is only in recent years that fresh tomatillos have become available. If you can't find them in your regular supermarket, ask the produce manager to get some in, or try a Latino specialty shop. They should be unripe, and if they are purple or yellow it means they are starting to ripen and won't have the distinctive sour taste that adds zest to the fiery sauces and stews in which they are used. Their husks should be fresh and not fully open, and when you pull them back, the tomatillo should be hard and slightly sticky.

Store tomatillos in their husks. In a paper bag in the refrigerator, they will last for up to two weeks. To prepare, simply pull back and discard the husks, remove the stems, and rinse. Very tart when raw, tomatillos are usually used in this state only in stews and cooked sauces, where they cook along with everything else. Otherwise, cook them before adding them to a recipe; this softens them and allows their citrusy flavour to develop. You can simmer them gently (don't boil) until just tender, which will take 5-15 minutes, or roast them in their husks in a very hot oven for 10-15 minutes. A good addition to gazpacho and guacamole, they can also be used in place of lemon or lime juice to give extra zing to a dish.

Tomatoes

Round, ripe, and red, the tomato is a sexy little number. The "love apple," as it was long called in England, was viewed with suspicion until early in the 20th century and grown largely as an ornamental fruit (which it is). A member of the deadly nightshade family, the tomato was suspected at worst of being poisonous and at best (which, for the English, was not much better) as encouraging an excessive sexual appetite. The Italians, not surprisingly, embraced the tomato much earlier, and it's hard to imagine Mediterranean cooking without this passionate ingredient.

Although I'm an Englishman, born and bred, a good tomato - juicy, succulent, flavourful - makes me weak at the knees. I can't walk past a display of cherry toms without filching one and popping it right into my mouth. Although nothing beats a tomato eaten straight from the vine, we're lucky these days to have vine-ripened tomatoes available year-round, albeit at a price. Ripe tomatoes do not transport easily, so most of the tomatoes that you get during winter are either picked green and ripened with gas instead of sunlight, or else grown in greenhouses. Neither of these methods produces the earthy flavour of the vine-ripened tomato, so you'll have to decide between your money and your mouth.

There are dozens of tomato varieties, and each has its own best way of being used. The large beefsteak tomatoes are rich and juicy - great for slicing thickly and stuffing in sandwiches or hamburgers, grilled, or stuffed and baked. Plum tomatoes are the oblong, sometimes misshapen fruit so popular in Italy. They are great in sauces but also a flavourful choice for salads. My favourite, the cherry tom, is ideal for a snack, a salad, or to toss in a stir-fry at the last minute. You can leave them whole or slice larger ones in half. You can sometimes get yellow, gold, and orange tomatoes, which are sweet and flavourful. There has been a recent surge in the popularity of green tomatoes, which, like green peppers, are simply unripe. Green tomatoes are tart, even sour, and will make your mouth pucker if you eat them raw. However, they are used for preserves and cooking, as anyone who has seen the movie Fried Green Tomatoes will know.

Turnips

A sweet young turnip is a welcome guest at my dinner table any time. However, turnips have a rather rustic reputation. Some people still associate them with cattle fodder (which they are), forgetting or never knowing just how delicious they can be. North Americans also tend to get them mixed up with rutabagas, which are also tasty but not the same vegetable. Turnips are generally smaller and creamier in texture and have smooth, white skin tinged with green. Very young turnips and French turnips, or navets, can be eaten raw.

Turnips are available year-round, but unlike rutabagas, which benefit from the cold growing season, the best ones are found in spring and fall, perhaps with their leafy green tops still attached; these can be braised or boiled and served with a bit of butter. Choose smaller turnips, heavy for their size, with smooth, unblemished skins. If the turnip has its greens, or if you're buying turnips for their greens, make sure they are fresh and brightly coloured.

Turnips don't have the extended shelf-life that rutabagas enjoy, but they will keep well for 2-3 weeks when wrapped in plastic and refrigerated. Remove any greens before storing, and use these within a day or two. Very young turnips shouldn't need peeling, as the skin is thin and tender. Simply scrub them before using. I like to braise small whole turnips in chicken stock, with a little butter and port for good measure. Larger turnips can be treated the same way, once they are peeled and sliced. Sauté sliced turnips in butter and sugar to caramelize them, and serve with bacon and eggs. Or roast them with other root vegetables, on their own or around a roast of meat.

Don't shy away from this wonderful root. Invite a few turnips for dinner, and while you're at it, ask a rutabaga along for the ride.