Buenos Aires – Coreatown provided more fun produce in the form of what I’ve at best identified as a “Korean Melon.” There seem to be several different types, and the English translation is usually just rendered simply. Occasional additions like “Golden Liner” or “Golden King” are added to it, and the Cook’s Thesauraus site refers to it as the dua gan, though when I search on that phrase I come up with photos and descriptions of a very different type of fruit, called the Giant Granadilla, so I’m not placing any bets on that particular name. These are a little bigger than a softball. The flesh inside is very crisp and fresh tasting, not overly sweet, although it could just be that these are not fully ripe, as most descriptions I’ve seen of them tend towards a sweeter, more perfumey style. It’ll pair nicely with my off-beat cucumber in its salsa tonight or tomorrow.
Yesterday was the culmination of the Chinese Lunar New Year festival. I’d had that in the back of my mind for the last week or two, but admittedly done nothing about it. Yesterday morning started a scramble to find out what sort of festivities were planned in Buenos Aires for it. It shouldn’t surprise me by now that “marginal” communities are ignored by the press here, and I couldn’t find anything in any of the local papers’ websites. I sent out a missive to local friends, and Grant over at What’s Up Buenos Aires responded that he didn’t have any details, but had heard there would be things going on in Chinatown – unfortunately no more info that I already had guessed at. The Mi Belgrano website had a couple of paragraphs about what the Lunar New Year was all about (which have today already been replaced by just a series of photos from yesterday, though you can see them at the bottom of the photo page), but only said that there would be a parade and lots of food available on the streets of Chinatown – no details were listed. By the time I got there at 5:00, figuring from my past experiences in other cities that the early evening would be my best bet, it was all over. The parade had happened hours before and all that was left were a dozen or so tables setup with some leftover food still on them being sold to the remaining couple of hundred tourists and locals milling about. Next year!
[…] If you’ve been reading along, you’ve met the other two important ingredients, my bizarre cucumber and Korean melon (on the left in the photo, more details by clicking on the links). The word salsa here just simply means sauce, so I’m using it more in the sense that we gringos do. When I was growing up I’m not sure that salsa existed in our world of awareness. It first came to light probably either through Taco Bell (remember when they only had one “mild” hot sauce and it actually seemed spicy?) or perhaps in a jar from El Paso foods, used to make nachos at home. Gradually it became part of the vocabulary and meant a pureed red or green hot sauce. Somewhere down the line it became ubiquitous in the American restaurant world in the form of some sort of mix of chopped fruits or vegetables, flavored with hot peppers and herbs, and served alongside some sort of meat. I’m using it in that sense. […]
I am doing a paper on Korean melon and can”t find much like recipes or history
I know this melon. In Korea, this is called Chamoe (Pronounced Chum o way). You will find seeds online under the name Silverline melon.
Angel, Thanks for the info!