Text 19200, 74 rader
Skriven 2007-08-17 23:53:06 av Joan Macdiarmid (1:18/200)
     Kommentar till en text av Carol Shenkenberger
Ärende: Re: TORTILLAS   70612
=============================
 Hi, Carol,

 CS> Want a laugh?  I've seen Masa Harina in Sasebo at the commisary.  Yup,
 CS> the 'wierd food isle' stock has it at times.

 JM>  Sasebo IS a stretch of the imagination! I made a

 CS> That it is!  Any wonder why they are yet again it seems about to win
 CS> the world-wide award as the best small commisary?  For it's size, it's
 CS> fantastic.  Sure lots of things cant be gotten, but lots of odd things

 Very creative and flexible management, and intelligent
 for a commissary, as military people do come from a
 big range of backgrounds. This way many can be
 accommodated on the rotating basis, if not continually.

 JM> point to look for it in Wegmans on a recent shopping
 JM> trip, and satisfied myself it wasn't something I
 JM> had just failed to notice, either among the flours
 JM> or the "Goya" brand display of Hispanic foods. With
 JM> the increase in Hispanics among US residents, I am
 JM> sort of surprised the stores are not stocking it.
 JM> Maybe not here because most of our local Hispanic-origin
 JM> people are Puerto Rican, and I don't know if their
 JM> cooking involves corn products as much as that from
 JM> Mexico.

 CS> Definately a non-puerto-rican-thing am afraid.  Corn didnt travel east
 CS> that way to a flour base.  Anyway masa harina is nice but not all that
 CS> special except a few recipes, nothing else will work 'right' for that
 CS> flavor.

 I like the corn flavor, though. I don't want to make
 my own corn tortillas, because I can buy them cheap
 enough for my needs. But I might look for masa harina
 to use in regular bread-baking, not as the major flour
 (like you said, not enough gluten) but as an additive
 to the regular wheat flour. I have often used 1-2
 cups of "other" flours to sub for regular wheat flour
 in a 7-cup flour recipe (2-loaf) of my usual bread.
 I'd like to see what the warm taste of corn might add
 to my bread, but I fear cornmeal might be a bit
 gritty.

 JM> Glen said [grape preserves] was OK, like many
 JM> other jams and jellies. I think maybe our grape
 JM> jellies and preserves are different from others in
 JM> the world, because they are made of native American
 JM> grapes, different in character from the European
 JM> grapes which are very good for wine-making. I suspect
 JM> the flavor characteristics of our native grapes which
 JM> make them less suitable for winemaking are exactly
 JM> what makes them very good for jellies, fresh grape
 JM> juices, and just eating, as they are quite sweet and
 JM> fragrant, with assertive flavor.

 CS> I think you are right.  Our grapes (native especially such as the
 CS> muskydine) make jelly but the wine isnt special as they were not bred
 CS> for ages for good wine making characteristics.  Sure, we grow those
 CS> types too (imported vines) but what the common grocery store has, is
 CS> an eating grape which is suitable for jelly as well.
 CS> It could be the grapes in OZ are more wine making types and do not
 CS> lead as well (most of them) to jellies?

 Yeah, that was my point. And they would guard against
 introducing our native-type grapes, to avoid accidental
 hybridization with their European varietals. Besides,
 from your description of the jelly aisles, they aren't
 hurting for good fruits to make preserves of.

 Joan MacDiarmid
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