Chinese Produce You’ve Never Eaten

Published in Gourmet Live 01.18.12
Josey Miller uncovers seven Asian fruits and vegetables to try

During a recent trip to Hong Kong, I snapped photo after photo of striking fruits and vegetables, some of which looked vaguely familiar and some of which I’d never seen before. Back at home in New York, I wanted to identify them and learn how to use them in my own kitchen, so I enlisted the help of Chris Cheung, executive chef of Lair, a Chinese fusion restaurant not far from New York’s Chinatown. He shared his kitchen expertise for the following seven food finds—all of which are worth trying…with one possible exception.

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Smooth-Skin Mango

This smooth-skin mango is less fibrous and chalky than your standard mango. “It has a slurpiness like a papaya,” Cheung says. “Mangos and papayas don’t grow too far from each other in Asia, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a hybrid of some sort.” At their peak, they can be almost sickly sweet, so try to use them up before they get too ripe. Cheung likes them raw or caramelized, such as in this Gourmet recipe, Grilled Mango.

PHOTO: JOSEY MILLER

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