salt & pepper on apples and cantaloupe

[bbqboy]

Am I the only one who puts S & P on apples?I love pepper especially on Cantaloupe too. I shook
salt on my apple yesterday and my new girlfriend was astounded. And not in a good way.
Am I that weird?

[tracylee]

My Dad has always salt and peppered his cantaloupe. So far none of the rest of us have gone along with it.

I do add pepper to my cottage cheese in fond memories of the mix from the Alpine Village Inn in Las Vegas. Some day I'll make my own mix to match, I know it's been mentioned here on CH before.

[ijusth]

I took peanut butter that has banana in it and spread it on catalou0pe and pineapple. It was amazing. Try it.

[foodyDudey]

Salt, pepper and spices are added to fruit in India to make "fruit chaat" so it doesn't seem weird at all. Here is a recipe, you can easily find others now that you know what to look for: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/re...

[johnb]

I believe that black pepper and strawberries is considered by some to be among the classic food combinations.

I used to fly Eastern Airlines a lot and so got to ride up front regularly, where they often served little cheese plates with grapes. They had little packets of Dijon mustard, and once I accidentally got mustard on the grapes. It was great, so I still do that from time to time.

[raytamsgv]

Yes, you're weird. Just kidding. To each their own.

[The Professor]

>>Yes, you're weird. Just kidding. To each their own.<<
Well, there you go.
Couldn't have said it better.

[soupkitten]

take the train coach class (sleeper) in southern india, and the vendors come up to the windows selling sliced bananas, guavas & mangoes, etc, with s&p. when you try it, you realize it's an absolutely brilliant concept for the hot climate and the dehydration that travelers frequently suffer from. now i sometimes put s&p on sliced fruit, but only really crave it in hot weather.

op--not to get overly personal, but if your new girlfriend is that weirded out by the concept of fruit being served a different way than she's used to, get ready for some more serious food-related hangups from her. time for the sushi test.

[Emmmily]

I was totally wierded out the first time I saw someone doing this. But it's considered "classy" to put (somewhat salty) cheddar on apples and (very salty) prosciutto on melon, so what's the big difference?

[BeefeaterRocks]

I used to love apple slices & cumin cheese dipped in Kraft Roka Blue Cheese salad dressing.

[nolanani]

One of my binges was iceberg lettuce with sliced bananas and Kraft Green Goddess Dressing. Yum

[nolanani]

I have been putting salt on apples, salt on watermelon, and salt and pepper on cantaloupe since I was a kid, some 50 years ago, to the astonishment of friends. I also put mayonnaise and salt and pepper on cottage cheese, which my siser has told me that no one else does.

[Morganna]

I like salt and pepper in cottage cheese (usually I use Lawry's seasoned salt). Never tried mayo in it, but that sounds good, too. :)

[alkapal]

i love lawrey's on cottage cheese. maybe it is a nostalgia thing, but it is great with cc, esp. with good tomatoes.

[lynnlato]

I've never been a fan of seasoned salts, especially not Lawry's after a weird experience I had when my SO and I were dating. He took me home to have dinner with his family. They were in the kitchen making meatballs and sauce. My mother was Italian and a fine cook and I expected the same as SO's dad is Italian also (not mom tho).

They had a pot full of jarred sauce and were rolling ground beef into balls, sprinkling it with Lawry's and then plopping in the pot of sauce. I just stood there, wide-eyed and jaw swingin' off my chest in horror- ha!

[Morganna]

Well you can't blame Lawry's for that! :D

I went to high school in Mason City, IA, and there was a fast food place called Taco Johns (not Taco Juan's, JOHN'S). They had a side dish called "potato oles" Which consists of tator tot tops (the flat disc-shaped ones) deep fried then Lawry's salt shaken over them. ;)

They were good, but not even Ameri-Mex. :)

[BeefeaterRocks]

Sister only puts mayo on cc & fruit with a sprinkle of paprika, s & P with cc & vegies, Spike, Cajun seasoning or Old Bay is also good. In the dark ages when I was growing up our mother used to serve sliced tomatoes with sugar sprinkled on top. Botanically they are a fruit. or more precisely a berry

[lgss]

I don't eat cottage cheese any more but used to put sugar on it as a kid.

[vttp926]

i love salt on my apples. but not on my cantaloupe. but i like doing something else even more different w/ mangos. if they are still slightly unripe and green it is so good w/ fish sauce and sugar...yum..making my mouth water...

[alkapal]

maybe then i give trader joe's another cut on their "fresh" mango.

[DockPotato]

I grew up with salt on apple slices along with some thin slivers of onion alongside.

Pepper? Cantaloupe? Don't know but will try.

[ipsedixit]

My mom sprinkles salt on pineapples.

She also adores Taiwanese plum salt on her Asian pears and "yai li" pears.

[alkapal]

ipse: li hing mui powder, like this? http://www.giftshawaii.net/lihimuipo12p.html

"crack seed" center has an interesting history about the chinese "traveling plum": http://www.crackseedcenter.com/MoreWh...

[ipsedixit]

Yup.

[The Professor]

Whatever floats your boat. Salt brings out the sweetness, definitely, but it also cuts the tartness...and that is a negative for me, since I live the tartness of a good apple.

I have tried salt on watermelon, but again, if it is really good fruit it doesn't need anything on it.

Now pepper...never occured to me actually. I'll try it. I've been absolutely hooked on pepper on my popcorn for the last ten years. Never thought to try it on fruit. Hmmmm...

[revsharkie]

I always put salt on mushmelon and grapefruit. First time I did it my Oregonian husband looked at me like I had three heads.

[bbqboy]

Rev, that's interesting since I'm from KC, but now in Oregon. GF is from Brooklyn. Maybe its' a heartland thing.
Scargod and others,you are correct-learned behavior from my grandparents and parents. Just didn't expect such a "WTF" from my mate just from shaking a little s&p on some fruit.
And Cayenne IS Really good on apples, soypower. Haven't tried on other stuff. I will now.

[revsharkie]

Must be...I learned about putting salt on mushmelon from my okie grandparents, and my parents both eat half a grapefruit every morning with salt. They all put salt on their watermelon, too, but I don't like watermelon so that's really not an issue for me.

[alkapal]

grapefruit with salt: makes it sweeter! yeah, buddy! my mom's father hailed from oklahoma, too.

[soypower]

Love salt on fruit....Don't use black pepper, but often a combination of salt and cayenne pepper.

[lgss]

We don't use black pepper. Growing up we put salt on canteloupe. We didn't put salt on apples, but did put peanut butter on apples and we now make apple peanut butter muffins. When I lived in Asunción, Paraguay, I was surprised that they put sugar on watermelon.

[lynnlato]

My family loves peanut butter, including on apples. Do u have a recipe for the muffins. They sound fantastic!

BTW, I salt cantalope, watermelon, honeydew & pineapple. Pepper is reserved for strawberries, as is balsamic vinegar and sugar. Mmmmm.

[The Professor]

ohhh man....I forgot about balsamic on strawberries...YES. Incredible.
Especially if the balsamic has been reduced slightly to a light syrup by boiling. You don't even need the sugar, especially if you've got great, in-season strawberries.

Still don't get the whole salt-on-apples thing though...seems to me that it would kill the sweet/tart balance of a good apple. I guess it's just me...

[lynnlato]

Not just you - I've never had apples w/ salt. It just seem a natural pairing like salt and cantalope. I think you're right, it was offset the sweet/sour balance. Guess I'll have to give it a try to be sure.

[lgss]

It's in Bette Hagman's "Gluten-Free Gourmet Bakes Bread". I should go make a batch before it gets any later.

[Scargod]

You didn't invent this.... My grandparents did this 50+ years ago.

[BeefeaterRocks]

I just cut up a cantaloupe for dinner tonight., always s & p. Tonight we are having Thai so I used schezuan pepper.

[nolanani]

Your cooking suggestions are so wonderful...I wish you were preparing my dinners and packing my lunches and handing me a treat as I walk out the door to go to work.

[Blush]

My fiance salts grapefruite; he got that trick from his dad.

[alkapal]

yep, salt is good on grapefruit. try grapefruit broiled with brown sugar on top of each half.

[MrsT]

If that's what you like, who's to say you're weird? I like burnt cheese on toast. I'm sure your girlfriend has some "odd" food combination that you may find strange. If she doesn't like it, she doesn't have to eat it.

[cayjohan]

Yes, and yes. Also on watermelon. Pepper's delicious on mangoes and peaches as well. Oh, and peppered sliced strawberries - yum.

Cay

[chocolatetartguy]

My mother salted her cantaloupe and watermelon. Sometimes I swath mustard on my apple.

[alkapal]

i'm 100% with cayjohan. salt brings out the sweetness, imo. pepper is great with salt on the 'loupes. the latinos use lime plus salt on the melons -- at least in sw fla.

[BeefeaterRocks]

My first memory of eating honeydew melon is with lime juice squeezed over it.

[Vetter]

Growing up I saw my grandparents salt their watermelon and cantaloupe. I understand it now, I guess, but I can't imagine ever wanting to use the yucky iodized table salt they had.

[kmcarr]

I love salt on apples & cantaloupe! I learned this from my parents so it's not a "new" invention. I've never tried pepper but now I think I'll have to give it a try.

[mexivilla]

Not that weird-I always put salt on apples.