MAYrathon 2.0 Day 24 - Attap Fruit in Syrup

I always feel like some day, I'm going to run out of fruit flavors. Some park ranger is going to knock on my door and inform me that I have, indeed, tried every fruit ever. Then I will go retire in Alaska, knock up some hot Eskimo chicks and call it a life. But today's not that day, for I have - Attap Fruit?

Coming to us from Thailand, this is definitely something I've never heard of before and it's not exactly a fruit, or maybe it is? I don't know - it gets really complicated. Attap fruit in its maturity is called the Nipa Palm, populated in the Pacific and Indian Ocean areas. They are a type of palm tree that grow is shallow, muddy waters and can grow to around 30 feet high. The most common use of this plant is not to eat but to make thatching for roofs and buildings, feed its sap to pigs and made into smoking tobacco. Sounds delicious. So how do you eat it? Wikipedia says: "Attap chee (Chinese: 亞答子; pinyin: yà dá zǐ) (chee meaning "seed" in several Chinese dialects) is a name for the immature fruits—sweet, translucent, gelatinous balls used as a dessert ingredient in Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore."

Well I better break out the can opener because I'm hankering for some gelatinous balls! The opened can is overflowing with syrup, which I'll have to give a taste to as well. I'm going to try and get a few of these white bally things on my fork for a picture. They're odorless, very translucent and blobby. I'm going in for a taste - it's indescribable really. The syrup is thick, not like a fruit cocktail juicy syrup, but almost like a gel. The taste is very slimy and chewy at the same time. It's a bit like a soggy pear chunk or a very, very unripe mango maybe. I don't know - I can see why this isn't an extremely popular fruit. I'm gonna taste a little of the syrup. Thick. Tasteless. Gross. Sorry starving children, this can is going down the garbage disposal.

MAYrathon 2.0 Day 21 - Ri-Chee Milk Flavor Crunch Snack

Flavors. It's what makes the world unique. If it weren't for flavors, we'd all be drinking water and eating kale and probably living to a fit and trim 110 years of age on average. But we as as species are an indulgent folk, and we love flavors. Your favorite soda? Your favorite beer? Your favorite pizza topping. It's all a personal taste based on its...well...taste. We all enjoy different flavors, and I for one have experienced a ton of them. From crickets to scorpions and teriyaki soda to ox tail soup, I've tasted my fair share of tastes and flavors. But there's one that feels like it should be left alone. One particular flavor that is so unique and yet so normal, that the formula need not be messed with. But today, we cross that path and look at Ri-Chee - a milk flavored snack.

Milk has always been the quintessential - it exists and it's ok drink. While people have spent years adding to it with flavors like chocolate, banana and even marshmallow peeps, I've never seen a food that is meant to taste like milk. What does that even mean? This Philippines snack comes to us from the Nutri Snack company, and here's what it claims on the back: "The only milk you can eat! Imagine your milk as a crunch snack and voila! You have Ri-Chee crunchy snack! It's the crunchy snack you'll enjoy eating with almost the same goodness of your everyday milk, only more delicious!" First of all, Are you really going to introduce the concept of "voila!" to the Philippines? And second, I love that it says ALMOST the same goodness; it's basically saying, "why aren't you just drinking a milk, douche?"

Let's check this bag out. Milk powder is the fifth ingredient along with sugar, coconut, butter, flout and some random chemicals. I bust open the bag, and it's weird to say it, but it smells like milk. I'm actually a little surprised at that. I pop a few in my mouth and I'm at first surprised how sweet it is. I was expecting more of a chip, but this tastes a lot more like a sweetened cereal. It actually tastes just like KIX cereal which I haven't had in ages. I'm shocked how much I like this. It doesn't taste like milk per se, but that may actually be a good thing overall.