Nice Gams!

When I revealed my entry in the Artful Arrangers show, you may remember that it basically a bunch of gussied up vegetables. Some of them were rather exotic. The girl figure had very odd looking legs. They are Indian Bitter Melons which are also known as Balsam Pears. There is even an official site which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about about them – National Bitter Melon Council.

Funky Innards

If you were to cut them open, and I did, you’d find bright red seeds! I was very surprised. This vegetable is prized in Asian cooking and is quite bitter, as the name suggests.

Another exotic I used was a banana flower. Terry sent me some interesting information about this veggie. Check the Thai Supermarket Online website to learn about cooking with them.

I also cut my banana flower open to see just what the heck was inside it. It was full of miniature bananas! No surprise there, I guess. See the picture below for a good look at a maturing flower.

~Max

Notice the little bananas that are hiding under the red petals of the banana flower. Each petal has a bunch.