Soooo, in my quest to find those dratted dried plums (Yes, I’m still looking for them. Yes, I know I have issues.), I headed over to an Asian market not too far from my work location and visited their dessert aisle. There were some, shall we say, “interesting” things down that aisle, not all of which were items I would necessarily consider to be of the dessert variety, or even what I would consider to be a snack.
Despite their odd definition of desserts and snacks, dried plums they did have and in several variations. So I grabbed three bags containing different types of dried plums along with a few other items that looked promising and hauled my loot out of there and back to the office.
On the way back, I ripped open the bags and tried one of each item. A random taste test while driving — good clean fun. The law states we have to use headsets while driving and we can’t text while driving, but eating while driving is still fair game, as far as I know.
When I arrived safely back at work, I made the file clerk boy try each of the items. Then I took my bag of loot over and made the IT fellow (the one I tried to play a joke on a couple weeks ago) try them.
Here’s what was in the bag:
These things were absolutely delicious. Just the perfect amount of crisp, but melted in my mouth, with a touch of sticky sweet goodness. Delectable might just be a word that I would settle on as a description for these. The boys agreed.
In fact, I think you should go buy some of these, they were that good.
I’ve had these before, they’re like gummy candy… flavored litchee and muscat. One of the boys said the muscat candy tasted like he was chewing on a plant. Whatever — they tasted fine. Besides, he’s young and his taste buds clearly aren’t fully defined.
I think you should buy some of these, too.
Next up were the dried plums. First bag wasn’t too bad but, sadly, they really weren’t what I was seeking. Same with the second bag. The third bag was deceptive. The plums weren’t spit-it-out-or-I’m-gonna-die traumatic, in fact, they started out OK, but quickly became too salty. Ick. I gave the bag to the IT fellow (which is why there’s not a picture of it), and even he didn’t much care for them. Said they had a strange aftertaste, but he was OK with eating them. Which, interpreted to guy speak probably means, “I wouldn’t go out and buy them for myself, but since they’re here and free…”
The last thing in the bag were these things.
Now, in my defense, I’ve never had roasted chestnuts. But I’ve heard The Christmas Song, I’ve sung The Christmas Song, and it seemed appropriate that I should try the subject of The Christmas Song. Maybe freshly roasted chestnuts are different from these dog food smelling variety of chestnuts, I don’t know, but I couldn’t even finish one of them. The file clerk boy took a tiny bite and declared it disgusting. The IT fellow took one look at it and his hand went from being palm-up receptive, to pushing it away denied. He emphatically declared that he wouldn’t eat anything that looked like a little disgusting poop.
He was probably the wisest of the three of us in that decision.
And that concludes our Taste Test Madness.
Jammie J's Quest 
lol. roasted chestnuts are only good if they’re freshly roasted. hehe. pre-packaged roasted chestnuts are *blech* hehe.
so, maybe ask your acupuncturist where to buy the plums? hehe. what’d she have to say?
even though i’m not really interested in your snack food right now, all the talk of snacking has made me feel peckish. hehe 😀
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I knew I should have called you before buying those things. Oh well, they were cheap and I was exploratory. Thank goodness it was only blechy chestnuts… hehe
I laughed at your “peckish” usage. Very funny. 😆
~Jammie J.
Taste testing sweetie, It sounds like you had fun tasting on those wonderful foods, hehehe, the last picture looks like a piece of poop…hehehe
love you cutie, xoxoxoxoxox 🙂
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Yes, and I made you taste test the good stuff, not the yucky stuff! 😛
~Jammie J.
😀
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~Jammie J.
I forget how to make a green happy face???? Help??
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Like this:
?
~Jammie J.
:))
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~Jammie J.
The pastry thingies look VERY good. If it weren’t for the probable high carb level, I’d be all over it.
Chestnuts (or Chest-e-nuts as my off the boat Italian mom would say) are best fresh. You split the shell and put them in broiler for about 15 minutes. Very tasty.
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My IT guy’s words were something like: “These are semi-delicious…”
I think that meant to reach full delicious status, I would have given him the entire box. hehe
Good to know about the chest-e-nuts… so you’re saying you broil your nuts? hehe
~Jammie J.
I love chestnuts. And water chestnuts. But I don’t eat plums ’cause I don’t eat fruits that start with the letter P. So dried plums won’t work either ’cause they’re prunes, or… putrid.
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Would you have liked those chestnuts? I don’t know, they were pretty bad.
No plums? Really? Oh man. I don’t know if we can be friends anymore… although you do have that cute, cute puppy. Hmmm.
~Jammie J.
Perhaps the “chestnuts” were on the fire for more than a little roasting … incinerate comes to mind! 😉
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…and that begs the question of what do normal roasted skinned chestnuts look like?
~Jammie J.
As weird as all that sounded, I totally get it. I too have tasted something somewhere and have made the big search to try to recreate it. I’d say my success rate is about 50%. I guess some things just aren’t meant to be repeated.
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Maybe you’re right… but there are three more Asian stores that I know of in close vicinity, so I could go check them all. The dude who gave them to my acupuncturist had to have bought them somewhere!
~Jammie J.
I’m thinking the chestnuts look like other nuts that you don’t eat, unless you are a fan of mountain oysters that is.
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I don’t know, am I a fan of mountain oysters?
What ARE mountain oysters? *suspicious look*
~Jammie J.
Mountain oysters are fried balls, testicles, gonads, pick a word!
Litchee is an Asian pear, so that sounds pretty good. I’ve eaten chesnuts fresh from the hulls, but never roasted. That doesn’t appeal to me. Neither does Mountain oysters.
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Hmmm, litchee or lychee is native to Asia, but I don’t think it’s of the pear family: LINK or LINK. Its taste is a bit like grapes, but sweeter and is actually one of my favorite fruits. I can easily eat a whole flat in an afternoon with no adverse effects, if you know what I mean. 😛 Are we talking about the same thing, I wonder?
I think I’ll pass on the mountain oysters. Are chestnuts good from the hull?
~Jammie J.
I love shopping at Asian food markets. Sometimes the fun is in trying to figure out what they’re selling and why I’m compelled to buy it. Have you tried mochi ice cream yet?
Maybe I will go buy those puffy crisp cookies. Thanks for the tip!
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I tried mochi ice cream 4 years ago, but sadly because it’s made from pasteurized dairy I had a bad reaction to it. 😥
I agree with you about half the fun of the shopping experience is what things are.
Those puffy crispy cookies are definitely worth the trip, just for them. Highly recommend them.
~Jammie J.
Re: the Purex 3-in-1. I liked it. I also used a Bounce dryer sheet in addition to the Purex one so I flubbed the test with that. I would say to only use the 3-in-1 with a full load since you can’t make it smaller, unless you cut it in half long ways.
I think we are talking about the same thing, although obviously my chef doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I see what you mean by the difference between an Asian pear and lychee.
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Cool — thanks for the report on the 3-in-1! We’re getting low on detergent, so I’m gonna start eyeballing the soap aisle here pretty soon!
Yeah, the Asian pear is big, round (about the size of a softball) and crunchy. Lychees are small, round, about the size of a golf ball and succulent. Oh great, now after having gone into such detail, I’m craving either or both… thanks a lot.
~Jammie J.
Roast chestnuts do look like the one in your hand. But really the only way to eat them is on a cold day in New York City getting them fresh from a street vendor.
We do get them at Thanksgiving and roast them, then put into our stuffing. (along with bunches of other stuff)
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These bagged ones I bought smelled bad, like dog food gone sour. Do fresh ones smell bad or good?
~Jammie J.