Pompeo warns governors of Chinese infiltration into US: It's happening in your state

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Got any peaches 🍑?

I’m very fond of tree ripened peaches.
 
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Maybe I can throw some cherries your way.

I live near some cherry orchards.
 
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Both peaches and cherries are problematic here because it warms up too early in the late winter oftentimes, and then if a cold front comes through, it freezes the blooms. But if they make it, there are none better. Ozark fruit was once celebrated as the best in the U.S., and I believe it was. But labor got too expensive and the big irrigation projects out west made it more efficient for giant producers to use imported labor or even machine picking. So even though it really is distinctly inferior in taste and texture, the western fruit ruined most of the industry here.

But yes, there are some small commercial orchards near to where I live. The best fruit is late in the season when the grower will let a person go out and pick his own. That way, you can pick the ripest and sweetest.

Arkansas Blacks will store all winter if you have a basement or some place fairly cool to put them in, and they get sweeter and more honey-flavored the longer you keep them.

But it is my impression that the best cherries are grown up north in places like NY and Michigan.
 
There are Mexican soft drinks that have a high level of actual fruit juice in them.(Tosses him a bottle of one made of pineapple juice)
 
Mexican product prices aren’t bad. One mildly interesting thing is that Mexican manufacturers don’t use corn syrup like we do here. There is a lot of sugar cane in Mexico and they can import it freely from Cuba as well. So a Coke made in Mexico tastes slightly different from one made in the U.S. because it was made with cane sugar instead of corn syrup.

Another dramatic difference is vanilla. Vanilla extract made in the U.S. is artificial. Mexican vanilla is the real thing, and strong as boars’ breath. Massively different.
 
Ridgerunner said:
But it is my impression that the best cherries are grown up north in places like NY and Michigan.
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Yup

That is where I am, NY state.

Cherry orchards nearby. Local farmers markets sell them but this year with the pandemic, no farmers markets.
 
I’m no expert, but it is my understanding that American-made vanilla extract is artificial. Mexican vanilla is indisputably real, and very, very strong.

Vanilla itself is a tropical product, so it probably is imported if it’s real.

I don’t know about NY, but around here there are a number of Mexican markets where you can buy Mexican-made products. Some are really good. Some are definitely not.
 
I looked up how artificial vanilla is made and it’s disgusting.

So now, I make sure to you use real vanilla. Pricey, but worth it.
 
Too bad. Farmers’ markets are open here, but there are no mandatory closings for them either. Something that really is in short supply is meat from local family-owned slaughterhouses. They’re booked months in advance. Also, freezers are back ordered.
 
Find a Mexican market. They’re not all that expensive for the real stuff. It does taste a bit different; more mellow, less sharp. The flavor is more complex. Mexicans must use a lot of it because around here anyway, you can only buy it in these big bottles, like a pint to a quart in size.

It’s funny. I know a fair number of Mexican Americans who haven’t been here all that long. Mexican pastry is irredeemably bland to my taste. I have asked Mexicans whether American pastry is too “sharp” for them, and they all say it is. Far too sweet for their taste and flavor too strong.

I think we Americans get our pastry practices largely from Germany. My wife is 100% Alsatian ancestry and knows a lot of German dessert recipes. They’re all lavish, strong-flavored and very sweet. I love them. 🙂
 
Unfortunately, no Mexican markets near me but a lot of Middle Eastern/Mediterranean and South Asian markets.

Indian sweets are too sweet for me but when eaten after a strongly spiced Indian curry, it’s perfect.
 
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