Several names for the currant, including the English, are derived from pronunciations of 'Corinth', which was the provenance of high quality dried currants, the small, dried, black seedless grapes. They have particular value in baking as they keep their consistency and flavour.
A tree that grows in South East Asia and Australia, producing clusters of large, sour purple berries that are used in preserves. Could you send details (and a picture) to queries@whatamieating.com if you know more?
Curry actually means sauce or gravy, but has slowly been adopted by Westerners to mean a hot Indian dish flavoured with curry powder. An authentic Indian curry would be wet and complex.
Curry leaves are small green leaves which has a distinctive curry flavour with nut, lemon and musk.
The custard apple or sitaphal is a tropical fruit which comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. When buying choose very soft fruits indeed. The skin of all of them is green or purplish-green and scaly, almost fir-cone patterned, in appearance. Inside, the flesh is creamy in colour and consistency, but has to be sucked from the shiny black seeds. The flesh has a sweet-sour flavour, sometimes slightly custardy and larger ones have the luscious and complex taste of banana, mango and vanilla. They are often made into fritters, or sliced and steeped in wine. The custard apples include cherimoyas, sweet sops, sour sops and atemoyas.
Chayote. Custard marrow. A Central American food plant, it is a bulbous, pear-shaped gourd which grows on a vine, with pale green, ridged skin and about the size of an avocado. It is a bland vegetable, somewhat like a cucumber in flavour, with a little spice when fresh. It should be treated in the same way as vegetable marrow or aubergine (US: eggplant) and, like them, should be cooked before eating. In Mexico it is often diced or sliced and then steamed or poached, after which it is added to soups or salads, though it may be served as an accompaniment to meat dishes or as a dessert. Leaves and shoots are also edible when young.
