 |
| Hopi kadushi, no? ;) |
Which feels somewhat like home to me. In fact, in Mexico we love cacti so much that we eat them. The round "leaf" of the nopal (aka prickly pear) makes delicious nopalitos, and nothing's more refreshing than its fruit (which we call "tuna"--cue totally confused tourists), chilled, on a summer day.
 |
| Nopalitos. Just looking at this makes me salivate. |
And then, of course, there's peyote, which might not necessarily be nutritious in terms of vitamins or protein but, some will argue, is food for the spirit.
 |
| Bite of Nirvana, anyone? (Image source) |
infrou
[eenf-ROW]
as in "row, row, row your boat"
Rather than share an expression today, I chose a name I think is remarkably unique. Where does infrou come from? Not Dutch. Certainly not Spanish. It shares only one letter with prickly pear.
Where does it come from?
Google's no help. A search for infrou got me one result--a link to someone's Facebook page (which, by the way, seems to have absolutely no relationship with anyone of the Cactaceae family). I tried infrou Curacao and got a bit more... But it's still just mentions, no explanations. Plenty of pics, though.
Where. Does. This. Word. COME FROM???
Someone, please put me out of my misery.
(No bonus word today. However, no one has guessed the bonus word from yesterday, so I'll wait until tomorrow to post the answer. Thanks to everyone that's taken a stab at it so far! And sorry for picking such a hard one... I'll do better next time ;) Oh, and a round of applause, please, for Debbie D "Doglady" (and isn't that nickname enough to make you love her?) for posting the correct answer to the G bonus word, galiña. Thanks to everyone who took a shot at that one, too :) )
Nopalitos looks delicious!
ReplyDeleteThey are, Judy! Maybe somewhat on the wild side for the non-adventurous eater--their consistency is a bit strange, kind of crunchy and soft (if they're done right)--but totally worth the try :) Thanks for the visit!
DeleteI'm no help, but I ate cactus "fries" in Arizona once. And I bought a glass Christmas ornament that looks exactly like that picture of infrou. Do I get points for that?
ReplyDelete~Visiting from AtoZ
Cactus fries? Never heard of them, Wendy, but they sound mightily interesting. That, and the infrou-shaped Christmas ornament definitely earn you triple points :) Thanks for stopping by!
Deleteinteresting. I visited Wendy (above) and that led me here. The A to Z blogging is quite a travel adventure.
ReplyDeleteIt totally is, Joanne! This stumbling onto new blogs and people becomes addictive, too :) Thanks for the visit!
DeleteI have never eaten cactus before! I'll have to try next time in a place that has them...
ReplyDelete@TarkabarkaHolgy from
Multicolored Diary - Epics from A to Z
MopDog - 26 Ways to Die in Medieval Hungary
Oh, you're in for a treat, Csenge :) Most good Mexican restaurants should have them. (And by "good" I mean the sort that have a born-and-raised-in-Mexico cook that insists on importing even the tomatoes from Mexico. Okay, maybe not the tomatoes. :D )
DeleteThanks for the visit!
Hi Guilie .. I agree Nopalitos looks delicious .. while infrou look very interesting to taste .. and where the infrou name comes from is anyone's guess .. I certainly can't help .. sorry! Cheers Hilary
ReplyDeleteHaha... No worries, Hilary. Not even people here in Curaçao have been able to help... So the mystery remains. It's probably worth noting, since my post (I just realized) doesn't make it clear, that although Curaçao has a lot of infrou, no one here eats them. I cry to think of all that deliciousness going to waste, seriously. Maybe I should introduce the dish, eh? ;)
DeleteThanks for stopping by!
Interesting article! I knew certain cacti were edible but I didnt know they were culinary dishes; I always thought it was strictly along the lines of: "So you're lost in the desert and you don't want to die.."
ReplyDeleteI wonder if your mystery name, might come from a language a little bit older, like indigenous/native peoples? Can you find out which native cultures were unique to your area before the Dutch and the Spanish arrived? If their descendants are still alive and the language is still practiced...Maybe they know!
@Get Lost in Lit
I think you're right; it's either the Arawak or Carib languages, or something from Angola and/or the Cape Verde islands, where most of the slaves brought to Curaçao were originally from. It's weird, though, that none of the other islands--presumably also inhabited by Arawak / Caribs at one point, later by African slaves--have a similar term. The whole thing bears looking into, eh? Maybe there's a novel in that story ;)
DeleteThanks for the visit!
Agreed with Idea-ist...it might be Arawak or Carib (I think the Arawak were on Curacao, but maybe you know the answer to that).
ReplyDeleteNot just your Spanish courses but also your history is coming in handy, Sabina :) Yep, the Arawaks were here, until they got killed (and eaten) off by the Caribs--who, in turn, got killed (but probably not eaten) by the Spanish. You, and Idea-ist above, are on the right track, though... the source is either there or in the languages the African slaves brought with them. I'm going to look into this. And if, like I said to Idea-ist above, there's a novel in there somewhere, you'll both get credit ;)
DeleteI would love to try nopalitos some day. They look delicious. And I love the mystery associated with the origin of Infrou. :)
ReplyDelete