Randomness

[Alelou]

Go Gators!

[TPoptarts]

Just munched down a whole jar of pickles. Not nearly as good as the pickles my mother makes though. But they're okay I guess maybe I'm just not used to supermarket pickles. Shoulda taken 2 jars

[Alelou]

A whole jar???? That's a lot of salt.

Have you ever had watermelon pickles? Mmm. Amazing what enough sugar can do to watermelon rind.

[JadziaKathryn]

Have you ever had watermelon pickles? Mmm. Amazing what enough sugar can do to watermelon rind.

Sugar? In pickles? I think I'm missing something here...

Although, as a general rule, sugar improves a great many things. (Something we Americans believe more than most. I never got used to Aussie whipped cream, which was almost always without sugar.)

[TPoptarts]

Ewwww sweet pickles?? Yucks

[Aquarius]

^I can't stand them either! It's abuse of a perfectly good pickle!!

[Alelou]

Well, there are such things as sweet pickles.

But... even if sweet pickles horrify you, consider that adding a pinch of sugar helps fruits and vegetables retain their cellular structure during heating and cooking. Something to keep in mind next time you want a crispy stir-fry.

[Aquarius]

Really? I did not know that! Then again it's taken me almost 20 years to perfect my cooking to anything better than "adequate"! My s.o. is the real cook. When he moved in with me years ago, he did the cooking at first, and then told me it was my turn about a week later. I was like, "Okay, pass me the phone!" Gourmet meals were from Chef Boyardee back then!

[TPoptarts]

Sweetened stir fry sounds pretty gross.

Gah I HATE cooking

[Aquarius]

Well, I'm no cooking expert, but if I understand correctly, you don't add enough sugar to taste it.

Years ago my mom stopped adding sugar to her spaghetti sauce recipe, and I never noticed the difference until she told me. But that was doctored jar sauce...probably a whole different thing cooking from scratch.

If you eat stir fry at a restaurant, you've probably eaten it sweetened, if it does what Alelou is talking about. I'd rather have that than MSG, I think.

[evcake]

mmm...bread and butter pickles! the best of both worlds.

[TPoptarts]

Well, I'm no cooking expert, but if I understand correctly, you don't add enough sugar to taste it.

Years ago my mom stopped adding sugar to her spaghetti sauce recipe, and I never noticed the difference until she told me. But that was doctored jar sauce...probably a whole different thing cooking from scratch.

If you eat stir fry at a restaurant, you've probably eaten it sweetened, if it does what Alelou is talking about. I'd rather have that than MSG, I think.

Well yeah of course it's better than MSG. I've never had restaurant stir fry though only my mother's and whatever I made myself (though I'm a lousy cook so it doesn't count ) and that's all without sugar AND without MSG.

I hate that they add sugar (and corn syrup!! ) to the pasta sauce they sell in the supermarket. I mean like YUCKS!! Like the whole point of pasta sauce is that it's supposed to taste like tomatoes and tomatoes aren't supposed to be sweet!! That's so gross it ruins the whole flavor. And the big joke is that there's also like jars of pasta sauce that say stuff like "traditional Italian, no sugar added!" (unfortunately they're more expensive ) like why the frell do they have to add sugar to all the other stuff then!! Like what's that supposed to be "traditional American"?? No wonder we're the fattest nation on the frelling planet.

My mother makes pasta sauce from scratch... and so do I when I get my hands on enough ingredients to improvise with (though like I said I'm a LOUSY cook). With NO SUGAR. Yum. I absolutely tomatoes. And I really like their sourness. And sugar just wastes it. I don't know I just like sour stuff. Well except for like sour candy yucks. I don't really like candy at all. I like chocolate. But I don't like candy.

[Dusalis Drake]

[TPoptarts]

Well then can I have them? I'm all out.

[Elessar]

ditto! And yes, TP, you may have them