Popular flavors that you don't care for

[EWSflash]

I know this has been done, but not in a while, plus the threads get so long and unwieldy. What flavors just plain turn you off? I think we can leave mayo/Miracle whip out of this one completely. Please don't snark others' choices and don't mention mouth feel or other aspects of eating. This is a flavor-only thread, although smell can factor into it since they're so interwined.

Hazelnuts- just don't like the taste
Dill- really don't like the taste, except in dill pickles, for some reason.
Most yellow curries- I like all the ingredients separately, just don't care for the alchemical combination that most people love

[RachelJ]

Sesame oil, especially if something is sauteed or fried in it. Goat cheese-no quicker way to ruin a dish, in my opinion. I love any other cheese, but goat cheese tastes to me like a petting zoo smells. Liquid smoke, gross and unnecessary. Cilantro, bleh. And possibly the worst, though I don't know if it's considered a "popular flavor"-aspartame or anything with that sugar free flavor. Horrid.

[prima]

Ranch-flavoured anything

I like fresh orange juice, but I don't want orange juice on my pork chops, in my salad dressing, in my muffins, in my rhubarb crisp or in my cranberry sauce

grapefruit and grapefruit juice- which wrecks anything it touches for me

Smoked turkey, smoked ham, smoked chicken, smoked cheeses, smoked tomatoes- yet I like Montreal smoked meat, smoked whitefish, finan haddie, smoked oysters and smoked salmon.

Creme Brulee- don't like the real deal, don't want to try the Creme Brulee cookies I've seen on grocery store shelves and wouldn't want to try the cheesecake version.

sea urchin/uni

Interestingly, I've acquired tastes for some flavours I once disliked (specifically tarragon, cilantro and caraway). Cilantro is now a staple in my kitchen.

[trolley]

artificial cherry
root beer
peanut butter flavor anything
beer (used to down it in my 20's)
lamb- too gamey

[lcool]

all flavoured coffee............tastes off to me

all cherry confections,sweet or tart cherries,sauces,ice cream,jelly,jam etc....I do like cherries,in hand and cooked no more than in a pie or clafouti
all coconut confections,candy,cake,cookie or pie etc........I do like coconut,FRESH or frozen grated,milk,cream,water

[jo_jo_ba]

Cilantro, capers, avocado, olives, coconut and bacon on EVERYTHING. Don't get me wrong, I like bacon, but in everything?

[EWSflash]

Amen.

[Veil26]

Pineapple. Obviously, I'm not very popular with the drinks-with-umbrellas crowd. (In the summer, I'll serve only sangria, beer, and vodka or gin tonics.)

[Baskerville]

I really, really, really hate chocolate flavored ice cream or milk. It makes me so sad to admit this, but I simply cannot stand it. I love chocolate in its pure form, and in cakes/frosting/sweets, but some reason when it hits dairy, it makes me want to hurl.

[margareta]

goat cheese, any flavor in coffee (also the smell), butternut squash, lentil soup, arugula, Papa John's pizza (no taste whatsoever regardless of toppings), tea of any kind (what is the point?), also campari, any sweet wine, hazelnuts, especially in nutella.

[Smorgasbord]

Rhubarb: sweet celery is even more gag-inducing than real celery
Thyme: tastes like mold to me
Walnuts: just.... no. Truly my most hated foodstuff
Black licorice: tastes the way asphalt smells
Poppy seeds: i can taste them, and they're disgusting; like eating stale pebbles
Spearmint gum: rancid! like chewing sweet floor cleaner
Any gamey tasting meat (organs, mutton, etc.): vile, tastes like poison going down
99% of all herbal teas: like drinking your great-aunt's perfume. maybe it's the hibiscus i hate?
Clams: texture also, but i hate the way they taste too
Brie: too chalky/mucousy/slightly feety

[YAYME]

Olives.- I've tried, they just taste wrong to me.
Strong fishy flavored things. - I love the texture or a well cooled mild fish though.
Water -The fact it tastes like nothing is why I hate it.
Most wine and beer - just tastes like nasty sour stuff.
Black radish- Tried it, hated it.
Swiss Chard - too bitter.

[StringerBell]

I always find it really bizarre when people say they don't like water. I usually ask them if they hate air too.

[JolokiaJen]

Chocolate... I love peanut butter ice cream and other desserts, but they always put chocolate with it and ruin it for me.

[jbsiegel]

Funny...in my world, it's not really a dessert if there ISN'T chocolate involved. Bonus points for peanut butter AND chocolate!! :-)

[JolokiaJen]

It's easy to find chocolate around here, it's in everything. I don't know, it just is such a rich taste to me. I know most people love it. Me, I love peanut butter!

[Ruthie789]

The fake chicken that some of the chains use in salads and sandwiches. Awful,,,

[KaimukiMan]

"ranch" flavor, even home made ranch dressing, its just nasty to me
peanut butter flavored anything. I love peanut butter, just keep it out of cookies and chocolate.
diet soda of any kind. why would anyone want to drink something that tastes like metal?
celery, again tastes like metal
most flavored teas. i happen to like the flavor of tea. no sweetener, no essence of... maybe a little bit of lemon.
and the big one.... i don't like the flavor of coffee. I love the smell, but the flavor is incredibly unpleasant. No tiramisu, no coffee ice cream, etc. No coffee period. All i taste is burnt and bitter- even from VERY good coffee. It is a waste to serve it to me. All the cream and sugar in the world wont kill that underlying burnt bitterness.

[Ruthie789]

Although I do like but not love blueberries, it is a flavour found in many desserts, I am not convinced that all desserts that contain blueberries have not been fortified with a flavour or essense of blueberry. I do like it in pies however.

[chefj]

Raspberry and Chocolate together, Disgusting

[StringerBell]

Goat cheese/milk- tastes like a goat smells
Soy sauce/ginger/sugar or honey combination. I love honey and ginger but this combination has to stop.
Tobasco sauce- it's so sour, bitter, and excessively tangy it causes a reaction as if I had just taken a shot of Fish sauce mixed with turpentine.
Steamed broccoli- the smell and taste is awful. Broccoli is fine raw, or sauteed, or fried, or in some other dish, but plain steamed broccoli is awful. I have a disdain for all steamed vegetables but broccoli especially.
Artificial fruit flavors
Artificial bacon flavor
Neon yellow soybean oil with butter flavoring.- nothing more than cheap, nasty, shameful, industrial people feed.
Canned tomatoes- aside from a few brands, they taste like the metal can they come in
Southern Comfort- tastes like potpourri
Cumin in salsa- it's fine in Indian food and chili, but when I eat regular salsa, salsa verde, or guacamole and taste cumin I feel like murdering whoever made it.
Lavender- tastes like someone sprayed perfume in my food.
Overly sweet tomato sauces- ketchup with herbs
Miracle Whip/egg yolk free "mayonnaise" - way too bright and tangy

I don't hate American cantaloupe or papaya but I find them a little insipid.

[jhopp217]

Hate Hazelnut, marzipan, cherry

[StrandedYankee]

Rosemary. I don't HATE rosemary, but a little goes a long way, and too much makes perfectly nice food taste and smell just like heated pine needles.

Actually, I like rosemary if it's used sparingly with flavorful meats. Sparingly being the operative word here.

[pine time]

I call it "molecules of rosemary" to be palatable to me. In fact, since I grow the plant, I pluck off just a few needles and then finely whirl 'em in a coffee mill 'cause that mouth-feel is just awful.

[dianne0712]

-tomatoes
- fish or any other seafood (no, I don't eat lobster or crab or shrimp! I get so sick of people saying " But you eat....., right?" No. Nothing out of the water. Nothing. What don't you people understand about NOTHING?)

I also get a lot of arguments about tomatoes too. "But there's nothing better than a fresh tomato! You'd love them if you had them straight out of the garden!" No, trust me, I wouldn't.

[melpy]

Just curious... Does the tomato thing include sauce, salsa, pizza with tomato sauce, BBQ sauce, ketchup, tikka masala sauce, chili and things o this nature or just the raw/sun dried stand alone sort of tomato.

No judgement! My sister ate none of these until high school or college. So many times the pizza place would get her plain cheese no sauce pizza wrong.

[stloochew]

Goat cheese.
Anything with tentacles.

[MoxieLouise]

Reese's Pieces. No thank you.

[sandylc]

All candy, pretty much. A taste of bittersweet chocolate occasionally, but that's the only "candy" that I care for. I liked some candy as a child (chocolate had to be present), but now it's all just cheap, waxy, overly sweet chemical garbage.

[Jay F]

I don't like candy much, either, even stuff I liked as a kid, like Heath Bars. I'll eat a Kit-Kat bar if I want to buy something at the drugstore so I can get cash back, but that's about the only time I'll eat candy.

[Sonny_Funzio]

Goat cheese. I hate the taste of goat cheese.
I absolutely love Limburger cheese, probably a "stinkier" cheese by far ... but not goat cheese.

I like goat (curried but other ways too) ... just not the cheese.

[Terrieltr]

All goat cheese? Or chevre?

[Sonny_Funzio]

Hmmm. Cheese from ze chevre, no? ... oui?
I never thought of that ... What if the goats were french ... ??? Cheese from goats raised predominantly on Ugni Blanc pomace, mache, endive and truffles might make the difference.

Not sure but I think all the goat cheese I’ve tasted was probably from just plain ol’ hard-workin, six-pack-drinkin American goats.

On the chance that I pass by a imported chevre counter sometime, is there a variety that is so mild as to not taste like goat cheese?

[biondanonima]

I think Terrie was probably asking if you are averse to all goat cheeses (including aged/pressed/dry cheeses like Garroxta, goat gouda or feta) or only the soft, fresh type often referred to as chevre. I know many Americans refer only to soft, fresh chevre as "goat cheese" and forget about all the other wonderful cheese out there made with goat's milk.

[jbsiegel]

Cilantro
Pepper
Mushrooms
Whipped Cream
Cool Whip
Spearmint
Peanut Butter & Jelly (I know - not a flavor, but I had to throw it in there anyway...)

[Saluti]

I absolutely can't stand mushrooms. I hate the way they taste and the way they smell. I also hate the taste of oregano. It ruins everything it's added to as far as I'm concerned.

[MysticYoYo]

Grape jelly
Artificial grape and cherry flavors
Capers (but love olives, especially green and kalamata)
Chardonnay
Whiskey and bourbon
Ketchup (but loooove barbecue sauce)
Okra
I also don't care for sweet and savory together. For instance, I love shrimp and I love coconut, but coconut shrimp? Blech

I crave chipotles (and sometimes make a hellacious chipotle mayo that I slather on everything) and I must confess to loving those Kraft singles, either in a grilled cheese sandwich or melted on an over easy-egg. Divine!

[kimm99]

Mint in anything except gum/candy. Mint ice cream is the worst offender.
Vodka - tastes like rubbing alchol to me, no matter how high end it is
Raw onion -blows out all the other flavors in a dish
Fake fruit flavor - like the taste of skittles
Margarine as a spread - not as gross when incorporated into a baked good
Hollandaise sauce
Cinnamon/apple combination
Mayo or mustard on a hamburger - they don't belong there.
Bacon on a hamburger or steak - all I taste is bacon.
Scrambled eggs
Thousand Island Dressing

[melpy]

Artificial cherry!!!! And maraschino too. Ruins anything. I am not a fan if cherry un general though. No cherry pie for me and wines with strong cherry overtones are completely wasted on me.

[Ruthie789]

I think cough syrup when I think cherries. It has been used to flavour too many medicines.

[sandylc]

But the "cherry" in cough syrup tastes NOTHING like real cherries!

[Ruthie789]

Agree.

[StrandedYankee]

I love the flavor of mushrooms, but I tend to puree them in cooked foods because the texture of most cooked mushrooms is, well...icky.

[oogenesis]

I must add banana bread. I hate overripe bananas with a blinding purple passion, and people will ruin perfectly good pound cake by including them. Why not just throw them out?

[melpy]

Wow, nobody mention fresh parsley, which I abhor. Can rui an entire dish when used as a garnish but chefs never mention it on the menu.

[EWSflash]

Oh no! I'm aorry you don't like it- to me it's the universal ingredient. Just goes to show ya...

[rspoonbill]

Maple syrup and maple sugar.
Chardonnay
Tarragon
Liquid smoke, and many smoked foods (salmon is OK, of course)
Any flavored coffee, but especially the ones with fake hazelnut flavor, but I like hazelnuts
Almond extract, but I like almonds
peanut butter, but I like peanuts
sweet pickles

[mira_r]

Mustard literally makes me gag. I won't eat it as a condiment or in a recipe in anything but the tiniest amount. Even then I'm very wary of it and generally prefer something else. At the office one day someone had set out a bowl of pretzels. I wasn't paying attention and grabbed one. Turned out it was mustard flavored and I spent the rest of my break between meetings chugging water and milk to remove the vile taste.

I'll eat most anything else, although the smell (not taste) of whisky is unplesant.

[pdxgastro]

Taking a sip of good whiskey makes me sneeze! Isn't that peculiar?

[linguafood]

I'm a big single malt fan, but often the first taste I get is soapy. Talk about weird....

[buttertart]

My mom could always tell when my dad had been drinking rye (Canadian whiskey to you Yanks) because he always sneezed a lot. Didn't stop him, though!

[bereccca]

Watermelon for me, which is crazy because I love fruit.

[woodleyparkhound]

Same here, berecca. Watermelon is my #1 most hated food. In general, I like pretty much everything. There are a few foods I don't care for, but I don't freak out if I see them on my plate and can eat a little of them as a "no thank you portion" (e.g. turnips). But watermelon? That is the only food that I can't be around - the smell is just horrible to me. People who like it don't think it has much of a taste/smell, but to me it's overpoweringly strong. My family members like it; I was always the only one who didn't.

When I was a kid a tried eating it several times, as spitting the seeds was just so much darned fun - I really wanted to like it, but I had to give up when I realized it made me feel really sick. I dislike other types of melon as well, but watermelon is in a class by itself. I love every other kind of fruit, including papaya, which has a texture similar to melon. In my life I've met a few other people who have this weird aversion to watermelon - one of life's mysteries. I'm the first to admit that it's odd.

As a melon hater, I've also learned to always ask about "fruit garnish" or "a side of seasonal fruit" on a menu, as that is almost always code for melon.

[ferventfoodie]

Grape. Not grapes themselves, and or course not most wine, but that icky,
artificial flavor of so many grape sodas and candy.

In the same vein, can't stand black licorice candy but love fennel and don't mind
many anise-flavored liquers, etc.

[OCEllen]

Yep, along with mint, I can't stand 'grape' flavored, smelling, anything, and licorice is on the no list, too.

[sandylc]

I had a teacher in junior high school who made it clear on the first day that anyone chewing grape gum or eating grape candy would be sent away from class and not allowed to make it up later - a zero for that day. She was totally repulsed by the smell.

[JReichert]

Onions.
Peanut butter and peanuts - though I love no-bake cookies.
Avacado.
Broccoli.
Sauerkraut.

[socky]

Vinegar - of any kind, in almost anything, or as a flavoring.

Wine - see above. I have tried - oh, have I tried. Mr. Socky's mom loves cooking everything in wine.

Sweet pickles. They're the only kind readily available in my area and they're paired with everything. Is it the vinegar? Could be. Got a secret sweet pickle bite once while eating outside. It was on the ground in seconds, much to my embarrassment.

Seafood in general. Does that count as a flavor? It all tastes the same to me. Such a shame, really - an entire underwater world of edibles. I keep trying, but the 'oo la la' never happens; only the 'ew blah blah'. And we live close to the sea; it seems every holiday has some special fish dishes that I must try.

Hmm, was going to make a bigger list but it included a lot of fermented stuff in general. Guess that's the ticket!

[antimony]

Another vinegar-hater here -- plus some other fermented things, though I love wine. Sour cream I won't eat, though I can shove it off if it's just a blob on top. (I like crema, though, and yoghurt.)

Makes it so hard to find things to eat -- people put vinegar on EVERYTHING. Or things that taste only of vinegar to me -- ketchup, mustard, mayo -- all those are to me are vinegar delivery systems -- I can't taste any of the other flavors in them. Barbeques were my childhood nemesis -- as a vegetarian with a vinegar aversion, I looked like the pickiest eater ever. Which I really wasn't -- it was just that everything not a hunk of meat on the grill was doused in vinegar.

[Jackie007]

Wow, to me ketchup, mayo, mustard don't taste that vinegary. Although, I'm probably warped because I drink a tablespoon of Apple Cider Vinegar in water every day.

[CanadaGirl]

Um, why do you drink apple cider vinegar in water? Is it just a taste thing, or is there a purported (not trying to be contrary :)) benefit?

[Jackie007]

Purported health benefits. I mostly just do it because I feel it reduces stomach bloating. There's allegedly, other benefits, but that's why I do it.

For taste purposes, I just add a squeeze of lemon or lime to my water, otherwise. i drink a lot of water. I'm very active and live in the desert...so I drink about 3 quarts a day. (I'm 100lbs)

[dianne0712]

Glad I'm not the only one who has embarrassed themselves over food hatred.. I once spit a taco over about 12 rows in a movie theater because a well-meaning friend snuck me in an illegal taco, but forgot I despise raw tomato. It was done before I could stop myself.

[mateo21]

Mayonaise (I have an allergic reaction if I touch the bottle)
Lemons (why?)
Melons
Citrus
Herbs of most sort (if I wanted to eat plants, I would be a deer)
Water
Okra
Cheese of yellow variety
Fish
Beef
Pork
Chicken thighs
Celery
Carrots
Apples
Tomatoes
Water
Acai berry
Cooked food
Food sliced with knives
Butter that hasn't been hand churned
Eggs (who wants those nasty useless things?)
Peanut butter with just peanuts as the main ingredient
Bread of most varieties
Sugar
Fat
Food
Water (did I mention this already?)

[linguafood]

Always entertaining to hear from hunger artists. Do you live on fluffernutter?

[huiray]

...and without spreading it on bread for a sandwich, of course, as he doesn't like "bread of most varieties". Assuming fluffernutter does not fall under the rubric of "food" that he listed.

Also, he didn't list limes, or pears or apricots or other berry fruits like raspberries...or many tropical fruits. Still, he did list "sugar", "water" and "food", so all the fruits are also suspect.

[buttertart]

No citrus whatsoever, scurvy, end of story.

[linguafood]

I was, of course, thinking of scooping the fluffernutter -- sorry, DIET fluffernutter with artificial sweetener -- straight out of the glass.

[jeanmarieok]

There is such a thing as 'diet' fluffernutter?

[linguafood]

DISCLAIMER: not a reality-based suggestion, as there is a good chance mateo's list wasn't either.

[huiray]

Ah. Yes, that should work for him, one would then think. Of course, he'll need to skip the peanut butter part of it.

[EWSflash]

How snarky of you.

[eight_inch_pestle]

Sticking to "real" foods, I eat just about anything. Green bell peppers and jerusalem artichokes do give me, uh, long nights, but in the right context I'll eat even those.

Truly, truly, stinky cheese is hard for me. Thinking of something called beer cheese we once brought home from a German deli. Limburger and the like. In order to not throw it out I found rye toasts with lots of dijon and raw white onion did the trick.

Kidneys can be difficult, because I always feel like I get a hint of urine even when no one else does. Chitterlings and tripe, no thanks.

I prefer cumin in a blend rather than on its own, and will often omit it from hummus if I'm cooking for myself.

Not a huge fan of fresh beef tongue, but I'm working on that, and it's at least as much about the texture as the flavor. Enjoy the occasional lengua taco, though, and love tongue well-brined, braised, and topped with a poached egg.

[Jay F]

I like a lot less cumin in things than most people, and I find I like it in meat dishes more than non-meat dishes. And it has to be cooked. I hate when it's just tossed into salsa.

[eight_inch_pestle]

Concur. Love it in an Indian curry or any sort of braised lamb, beef, or goat preparation. Just don't love it as a single, dominant note very often.

[sandylc]

Cumin doesn't belong in salsa.

[guilty]

Cumin *totally* smells like BO. That said, I do like small amounts of it in some things, but usually much less than a recipe calls for.

[Terrieltr]

Wow, I though I was the only one who thought cumin smells like BO! Good to know I'm not alone.

[jmckee]

Agree completely on Kidney -- anything where the recipe starts "rinse in several changes of water until there's no ammonia smell" is not my thing.

Beef tongue crosses the line between "cut of beef" and "piece of dead cow."

[Jay F]

Caramel mixed with chocolate. They cancel each other out, such that all I taste is a non-specific, often syrupy, sweetness. I just came from Starbucks, where a friend insisted I try some kind of caramel mocha, which is what reminded me. It was basically the issue defined.

And what I wanted was a peppermint mocha.

[bitchincook]

Cilantro
Green beans
Lima beans
Okra
"lite" anything
reduced, low or non-fat mayonnaise, sour cream, cheese, and my personal favorite fail, non-fat half-and-half
anything sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, which tastes overly sweet and metallic.
Margarine
White chocolate
fake fruit flavorings
Pate served warm (though I like it cold)
Squid ink
Hominy
Packaged cookies
Marinara sauce sweetened with sugar or high fructose corn syrup
"Creamy" salad dressing
Bottled salad dressing of any sort
Shelf-stable "meals"
Commercially made croutons
Iodized salt (I use kosher or sea salt only, and now the ordinary kind tastes like chemicals)
Imitation maple syrup
Honeydew melon
Ham flavored with maple, honey or any other sweet goop

[nikkib99]

Sour cream and onion - anything from the onion family
BBQ flavored potato chips - foul!
Macadamia nuts - like a fatty peanut
Blue cheese - I like foods that you can easily tell whether or not they're rotten.
Feta cheese - looks like curdled baby vomit, smells like vomit, tastes like vomit.
Pineapple ON pizza - really?
Ham, Bologna, and all those weird mystery meats. Ham is just odd. Bologna is odd ham with strange bits in it.

[bushwickgirl]

Well, ok, I hear you on the bbq flavored chips, but my bleu cheese loving soul is cut to the quick by the word rotten; bleu cheese is just inoculated and allowed to ripen.

[ChristinaMason]

I'm with you on the hazelnuts---they never do much for me. Macadamia nuts, either. Stay outta my chocolate!

I'm not crazy about sun-dried tomatoes, chunks of raw onion, or honeydew, either. Can't think of any foods that I really actively avoid.

[tesslouise]

I think most of these have been mentioned:
rosemary (though I do use it when I make gyro meat)
cilantro
capers (but I love other pickled things)
sun-dried tomatoes (but I love other tomatoes)
white chocolate
macadamia nuts (though that might be a texture thing)
canteloupe
green bell peppers
uncured pork (I love salami and bacon but not pork chops--they taste like plastic to me)
lamb (due to an unfortunate exposure to lamb kidneys at a young age--my one traumatic food memory)
canola oil

[MsDiPesto]

Hazelnuts. So that means I don't like the very popular Nutella.

Coconut. The milk is OK in Indian sauces, but the shredded stuff, esp when snuck into something like chocolate cookies is something that doesn't appeal to me.

[EWSflash]

Oh yeah, I don't care for hazelnuts at all, either. Or brazil nuts, they seem to be the most bland to my palate. I love macadamias, but my son puts them in the same category as brazil nuts, blandness-wise. different strokes....

[hotoynoodle]

phooey on brazil nuts! they are space fillers in the can of mixed nuts. i used to give them to the dog.

[chef chicklet]

Canola oil - it taste fishy
fake butter - what is it butter buds or the stuff for popcorn
cashews
melons are borderline (I've tried and tried- except watermelon i love it)
hominy
don't know the brands but some of the soft sour pickles. I love crunchy ones, but gag on the soft bloated ones. There is something they add a spice or whatever that's so off putting to me
fortune cookies. never ever liked them and it's the smell

[EWSflash]

I agree with the canola oil- I thought I was either going crazy or all the canola oil I bought was already rancid.

[sandylc]

From what I understand, canola (rapeseed) oil has to be put thru an extensive process in order to make it actually (semi?)edible. This makes it a highly processed food. Not desirable in many circles.

[EWSflash]

Nor in mine. I'd rather spend a bunch of money on a good oil since I don't deep-fry much at all.

[Ruthie789]

Is Canola a genetically altered food? It was never around way back when.

[sandylc]

I don't know if it's genetically altered (probably!), but it is HIGHLY processed due to the poisonous nature of the rapeseed plant from which it comes.

[sandylc]

AND, canola oil tastes bad and smells worse!

[jeanmarieok]

I hate the way canola oil tastes, too - no one else (of my family/friends) agrees with me - so I thought it was just me.

[sandylc]

No, but maybe it's just the two of us.....!

[kubasd]

you're not alone...it smells fishy to me... see below :)

[EWSflash]

I agree witht he fishy smell, and it gets all sticky too. I don't use it.

[biondanonima]

Yeah, I don't care for Canola oil either - I prefer vegetable oil if I want something neutral, although I have been using peanut and coconut oil more and more lately.

[sandylc]

Apologies to the Canadians here - I know that canola oil has contributed to your economy.

[Ruthie789]

Forcefully I think. We have to ask ourselves why it was being pushed on us so much as opposed to another oil and it is in everything,

[sandylc]

I think it replaced sunflower oil in the U.S. I always used sunflower oil years ago - just bought it at any grocery store. Now it must be sought out in little bottles at specialty stores and co-ops. Would it perhaps be good for our economy to revive the sunflower industry? Again, apologies to our Canadian friends....

[CanadaGirl]

Hey, we can grow sunflowers too ;)

[sandylc]

We could have a sunflower-growing competition!

[buttertart]

I was thinking the same thing, fellow CanadaGirl!

[trolley]

The now carry sunflower oil at Trader Joe's if you have one of those near you. I owe the sunflower big time for sun butter. awesome stuff and more nutritious than peanut butter.

[jmckee]

More nutritious? How do you figure? I've looked at the numbers and it's not really clear. Trendier, yes.

[trolley]

http://www.sunbutter.com/allergy-nutr...

[sandylc]

I've had the sunflower butter and it is very good - it is so rich and flavorful that it is too much for me in something like a sandwich, so I am searching for ways to use it. Baking, such as cookies, might be pretty good for it -

[kubasd23]

I agree with the fishy smell, especially if you're using it to deep fry something!!

[rayrayray]

Great thread and totally agree with surprise pickles...my yucks include:
-banana
-chardonnay
-parmesan (or romano)
-chipotle

[Peg]

Honey = appears to be a completely alien substance incompatible with human life.
Cooked root vegetables = make me retch if eaten. The smell is again, something alien. Raw = yummy.
Chocolate = OK, I don't dislike it, but I don't actively like it either. It is merely edible.
Tea = Just why?

[aprrel88]

Not really a flavor, but kombucha. Just don't care for it, even though everyone has been touting all its health properties. Bleh.

[bwinter714]

Hmm, lets see. For one, licorice flavor of any kind (sambuca [which has e.o's of anise], anise, fennel, tarragon, whatever is in twizzlers and black jelly beans besides corn syrup) probably due to the fact that I once ate all the black jelly beans out of a bag at once when I was a kid, and got horribly sick. Now, I almost vomit if I smell it, and trust me, I can eat/like almost everything.

Kraft american cheese. It seems as though every kid in America loved those ubiquitous plastic-covered squares of cheese, except me. I could never get over the taste, even at 7 I knew that wasn't cheese.

While we're on cheeses, I don't know if this can be technically defined as "cheese", but Velveta. That is not a flavor that is anywhere even remotely close to "cheese", unless of course you're talking about cheese that's been cultured in bigfoots a**hole! :)

****and I didn't see before I posted that huiray posted above, things very similar to mine. I'm glad I'm not the only one!

[huiray]

Liquorice and anise, especially in liquors. Anisette is one of the most disgusting things on Earth to me. Those liquorice-flavored twizzle stick chews are not far behind.

OTOH, I don't mind fennel, like fennel bulb, like star anise especially when used in cooking East/SE Asian dishes. (Note that anise/aniseed and star anise are from different plants; the main "liquorice" flavor component is anethole in both, but the mix of other constituents are not the same and the overall smell is different to me)

[jmckee]

I'm 100% behind you on this one. Except I don't like fennel either.

I buy my wife Danish salted licorice every Christmas. This is love.

[Beach Chick]

Strawberries
Fennel
Flavored creamers
fake sugar
Chipotle
Flavored water
Kiwi

[TheFoodEater]

cucumbers, dried coconut flakes, processed meat and cheese.

i'm surprised by these lists. especially how many people hate fresh herbs. mint, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, oregano, etc.

[juli5122]

Anything licorice flavored, fennel, anise, Pernod
Anything cherry flavored except for fresh cherries
Rosemary in only super small quantities otherwise it gets soapy
Green peppers

[MommaJ]

juli5122, there are a lot of folks who hate licorice flavor, but I've never come across anyone else who hated licorice flavor, cherry flavor other than fresh, AND green peppers! Nice to meet ya! I don't mind rosemary--but it would have been too darn spooky if that was on my list, too. On the other hand, I can't stand soft boiled eggs, which apparently aren't a problem for you. (My kids used to joke that they would make me a mothers day breakfast of soft boiled eggs, with a saute of green peppers and fennel on the side, and a nice cherry danish.) The worst part of being anti-licorice is that fennel has become so chic in recent years--there's a dish on every restaurant menu that flaunts its fennel. Can't wait for that fad to pass.

[linguafood]

but *one* dish on a restaurant menu including fennel is fairly easy to ignore, no?

[amazinc]

Hate, hate hate any meat cooked with fruit....duck l'orange, pork with prunes/apricots, lemon chicken. Like fruits just fine, just want meats with salt & pepper, perhaps a little garlic. Leave the sour cream off my potato, please AND off that plate of Mexican food. Don't bring yogurt to my party. I try not to eat anything that's already half spoiled. Also 100% anti any "flavored" coffee. I'll take my coffee "coffee-flavored", thanks. I also want to add that DH thinks I'm the only Texas woman in two shoes who won't eat barbeque. Please, take those smoked meats to another town!

[jeanmarieok]

My DH hates meat and fruit combos of all kinds. I thought he was unique in his taste.

[dianne0712]

My daughter too. Makes it difficult because I love it.

[al b. darned]

Here's my list in no particular order:

cilantro
flavored coffee
spiced cider
flavored beer
walnuts
tangerines
artificial sweeteners
blueberries, especially raw

And, of course, the Granddaddy of All the Things I Can't Stand: SPAM!

[al b. darned]

I would like to add bell peppers in any color other than green. They all taste "off" to me. I especially dislike canned roasted red peppers. To me they have a slimy texture I would rather avoid.

[EWSflash]

That's funny- I like all of them but the green ones. Actually I'll eat the green ones fresh like an apple, but put them in any dish and that's all you can taste.

[hotoynoodle]

every year at summer camp we had a ceremony and a song and we buried a can of spam. no idea where or how that tradition started, lol, but it seemed a good use for the stuff.

[Fromageball]

I'm the same way with yellow curries, and I don't really like ginger in anything savory like that either but I can't get enough ginger chews, ginger cookies, and really strong fresh ginger tea.

[jmckee]

Generally, in the Asian flavor palate, my wife isn't crazy about anything that tastes strongly of fresh ginger. She also doesn't care for toasted sesame oil. And fish sauce? Include her out.

[linguafood]

You mean, like, *exclude* her? '-)

[jmckee]

That's a Sam Goldwyn-ism.

[guilty]

yay!

[huiray]

I would be unable to cook many Chinese dishes if I didn't have fresh ginger. In some cases I "need" the equivalent of maybe a heaped palmful of smashed fresh ginger to attain the desired taste & smell. :-)

[huiray]

Has she ever had a bowl of phở ?

[jmckee]

Nope. She has to try new cuisines on her own. She recently discovered that she likes the occasional Indian dish. Some years back, she had a middle Eastern patient (she's a nurse) and discovered a liking for that area's various cuisines.

I must admit I've never had phở either. I was all ready to get some one day, and a dear Vietnamese-American friend informed me that the place I was going was lousy.

[smartie]

The Subway smell - fake yeast or fake bread not sure what it is. I know there's a whole post on this somewhere on CH.

[jmckee]

"Fake bread"?

[guilty]

It may look like bread and act like bread, but it doesn't quack like bread . . .

[sandylc]

Subway really stinks and I think it's mostly the "bread".

[jmckee]

But it IS bread. It isn't bread you like. It's not high quality bread. It isn't "artisinal". But it's bread.

[sandylc]

True. But bread shouldn't stink. And a product that is that full of questionable chemical ingredients should especially not be marketed as healthy.

[sandylc]

I have wondered if it would be cheaper for chains like Subway to use simple, real ingredients rather than to buy all of those chemicals and have to introduce each one into their manufacturing process. More ingredients, more complexity, more research, more suppliers, etc. Why not make it simply instead? It's as though our food system is really goofed up that way. We are also training people to think that's what food tastes like, as well.

[fara]

it lasts longer, probably resists freezer burn, etc. the chemicals are there for financial reasons. i'm sure they've done the math.

[Ruthie789]

Also the fake chicken that goes into the salads they make, some kind of sponge component!

[fara]

peanut butter in sweets
fake butter flavor scent makes me flee the building
cinnammon-raisin or cinnammon/nutmeg excess in apple pie
cookie dough ice cream- i like raw cookie dough, i like ice cream but something bad happens together
bac0-bits or bacon in anything processed like cream cheese
cheddar bread
green peppers that are not very well cooked, such as on cheap pizza
honey mustard
ranch
chipotle
mass-produced bbq sauce
sweet and sour sauce -basically take the common "chicken fingers" dips that double as salad dressings or other flavors and i steer clear of all of them

[PotatoHouse]

Hot dogs, bologna Vienna sausages, potted meat, Spam, etc.

When I was a kid I was a brittle epileptic, which means I would have seizures at the drop of a hat. One night, when I was 9, we had hot dogs for supper and I ended up having seizures all night. We don't know if the hot dogs triggered the seizures (we suspect food poisoning) or if it was a coincidence, but i haven't eaten hot dogs or anything similar in the past 33 years.

[Ruthie789]

I think the nitrates did you in on that one.

[laur0406]

Great post, love it!!

I HATE cilantro...even if there is only a teeny tiny bit, I can still taste it. Sometimes it's unavoidable and I can deal with it, but most of the time I can't.

Also, rosemary for some reason. When it's used, I think there is usually way too much. Blech.

[Cliocooks]

+1 on almost all flavored coffees and on super-spicy to the point that no other flavors get through.

And here are two I don't think anyone has mentioned, so maybe I'm weird
arugula--which tastes "off" to me, and "rooibos" teas.

[frannieface77]

I was eating some arugula straight the other day (i like my bitter greens!) and a friend followed my example. She expected something similar to spinach- she was definitely surprised! She didn't like it too much either, haha. I like rooibos tea a lot, but i can understand how it might taste a little strange to some.

[MrsJTW]

I also usually don't like the smell of coffee brewing, especially if I am in a coffee shop or bookstore or just walking past one. I used to drink tons of coffee and loved it, but not the smell brewing. Sometimes it's okay smelling it at home. It must just be too many different scents combining at a shop that make it so overwhelming. My husband likes hazelnut coffee though and sometimes it's a strong smell in the house. I saw reading above that it bothers a lot of people.

The smell of yeast when walking by a bakery used to make me feel ill, too. There was a small bakery next to my high school and I always felt sick in the morning standing outside. When I bake at home though I love the smell.

Oh and I was just talking about this one the other day. Amaretto liqueur, especially in an amaretto sour. YUCK!

[linguafood]

What else would you make an amaretto sour with?

[bushwickgirl]

Eh, mmm...

Well, I think MrsJTW means amaretto with sour mix is yucky, and beyond that, but yeah, I don't know what you could sub. Don't drink 'em?

[buttertart]

Is there such a drink? Good?

[bushwickgirl]

Yes, and since I like amaretto, I enjoy a good amaretto sour on occasion.

[buttertart]

Must try sometime.

[ChristinaMason]

I like amaretto with club soda and several wedges of lemon. Really cuts the syrupy sweetness. A sour made strictly with lemon juice and simple syrup is not terrible---especially if you use a lot of ice.

[MrsJTW]

I meant I don't like amaretto at all, but especially an amaretto sour.

[linguafood]

Thank you for clarifying. And how did you find that out, being that you don't like amaretto at all? I would guess it's not a drink you would order yourself?

[MrsJTW]

Took me awhile, but I thought of a few things.

I am not fond of sweet gherkins. I love dill pickles though, especially with lots of garlic.

I absolutely did not like the taste of lobster the one time I had it. Well, I heard a story that my mom had had lobster for dinner once when I was a baby and I refused to breast feed that night, so I guess I have had lobster twice. lol

I have always HATED the taste of milk. Cow milk is bad enough, but goat milk was even worse as a kid. I used to LOVE cheese, but never liked to drink milk. I think I went through a phase where I would drink it if it was mixed with Quick, but after awhile I hated that, too. Especially the strawberry. Funny milkshakes never bothered me though. No wonder I am vegan now! =)

I also don't especially like the peel on cucumbers. If it is fresh out of the garden, it's fine, but usually the peels taste so nasty to me. It must be the wax or some sort of chemicals. I just saw Chef Irvine on t. v. last night though saying it should be peeled when he was tasting food at a failing restaurant.

Oh one more just came to mind. I really hate purified drinking water like Aquafina. It tastes like chlorine and I really can't stand it. I have to have something like Ice Mountain or maybe Evian. Or I just drink tap water depending on the tap. I received a Brita pitcher as a gift though and it tastes fine.

[pine time]

Ah, yes! Bottled water. Has a flatness to me that's off-putting. Thought I was the only one. Guess I like my (tap) water with some gusto.

[EWSflash]

This may or may not help- try running your bottled water through a Vinturi. It's occasionally worked for me, if the flatness is due to no oxygenation. Of course, I wouldn't recommend buying a Vinturi just for that, because if the water is basically funky-tasting it won't help, but sometimes that's what it needs. JMHO

[CupcakeCoquette]

Chicken, mint in desserts, swordfish, tapioca, tarragon, american cheese, raw onions, milk by itself, blue cheese, Chardonnay

[MrsJTW]

Wow that's funny. I don't like Chardonnay either. I thought maybe I just don't know what brand to buy, but I haven't found one that I like yet. I really like other whites, but not that one. And you don't like milk, too, just like me. =)

[CupcakeCoquette]

Kindred spirit!
I felt the same way, that perhaps I hadn't had "good" Chardonnay. I've come to the conclusion that no such thing exists, it all tastes like weird butter to me.

[biscottifan]

Try a French Chablis - it is not aged in wood.

[dianne0712]

I realized I wasn't wrong about the way chardonay tastes when I heard a wine expert talking about how cat pee is one of the flavours you are SUPPOSED to taste in it. There is actually a brand called Cat Pee on a Gooseberry Bush, another flavour you are supposed to taste.

[Terrieltr]

Ew.

[hotoynoodle]

you're thinking of sauvignon blanc, not chardonnay.

[kubasd23]

I used to hate chardonnay until I had one aged in a steel cask. I hated the oak flavor for a while. Then about 5 years later I tried it again and loved the way the oak played with the other flavors

[buttertart]

White Burgundies, oh yes. California oaked chardonnays, oh no.

[montrealeater]

I tend to dislike food items labeled as 'Ranch' flavoured. I also hate all-dressed chips. Both are too strong for me - I could probably eat both if the flavour concentrations were less...intense.

EDIT: I will admit to liking the fake butter flavour on popcorn, tho. Possibly partly due to childhood movie theatre nostalgia, but yeah, love that stuff. And I know it has the bad fats of 10 million Big Macs, or something. :)

[CanadaGirl]

There is something about movie popcorn! I can't stand microwave popcorn, but love movie theatre popcorn. I feel quite confident it's actually the same stuff, but.....

[sandylc]

The best popcorn in the world is good-quality popcorn popped in a pan on the stove in coconut oil. Top with plain salt and real butter. Yum. I hate the artificial flavors on both movie and microwave popcorns.

[CanadaGirl]

I make "real" popcorn at home, but there's just something about movie popcorn that gets to me :)

Try popcorn popped as you describe, but top it with brown butter, rosemary sizzled in the butter as it browns, and Parmesan grated on a microplane. Yum

[sandylc]

I understand where you're coming from. In any arena OTHER than my popcorn, I experiment like crazy - rarely making the same thing the same way twice, and always on the lookout for a fun new twist.

HOWEVER, when it comes to popcorn, I can't bring myself to mess with perfection!!!

If I were willing, I would try your recipe!

[CanadaGirl]

We all have our "one way and one way only" food. :)

[ErnieD]

Oh, that sounds AMAZING. I don't have any parm in the house or I would literally be making it instead of typing right now. I'm getting a little tired of my current popcorn routine(s) and this is next on the list.

[biondanonima]

Try popping your popcorn in bacon grease - you will never look for another cooking fat again!

[guilty]

Strawberry. Not just the artificial stuff, either. I will buy a package or two of fresh berries when they're in season, and they may be tolerable in ice cream, but strawberry-flavored things, or even just foods with strawberries as an ingredient, are icky to me.

I wonder if this has anything to do with that vodka-and-strawberry-juice-filled evening many years ago in college . . .

[HillJ]

My Mother (boy I miss her) loved Strawberry Quik. I have no idea why. It was always in her pantry.

[guilty]

OK, I have to admit that while we never had strawberry quik or the like as kids, I did get to try it thanks to one of my mother's boyfriends, and I loved it. This might change everything . . .

[EWSflash]

:-)

[rohirette]

Fennel/licorice, in all its forms. That is all that I really dislike. Everything else is just a preference.

[sandylc]

Artificial flavors (including "natural" flavors - they are the same thing)
Horseradish
strong fishy tastes
sauerkraut

[Njchicaa]

Pomegranate
Maple syrup

[ptrichmondmike]

Wow, I thought I was picky until I browsed this thread.

Of virtually all the chow mentioned here, I think I only really hate marshmallows (and artificial flavorings don't count). I'm not overly fond of mint and a few others mentioned, but the vast majority...REALLY? Olives, rosemary, hazelnuts...basil? All of these are wonderful. Strawberries and melons? Orange combined with chocolate? Delicious! Etc. etc. etc.

Of course, the OP excluded "mouth feel" as a diagnostic...yet it can override "flavor" for many, many people -- including me. No matter how tasty, there's no room for slimy flesh or its vegetable ilk in my mouth.

Humans are damned strange.

[EWSflash]

I am the OP- FYI, I had asked people to please not snark others' choices. If you don't like something because of the mouth feel, just say it's one of those things you don't care for.

[dianne0712]

Ya, kinda makes ya feel better about yourself, doesn't it! : )

[Angela Roberta]

I am not crazy about strawberry preserves or anything with cooked strawberries. Fresh strawberries are so good, and the change, for the worse, is so dramatic after cooking. On the other hand, cooked raspberries are wonderful--no significant decline from fresh.

[tastesgoodwhatisit]

I actively dislike artificial watermelon and strawberry flavours, even though I like the original fruit. Some flavours like cherry and grape don't make me think of the fruit, but I like them by themselves.

I dislike the taste of plain yoghurt. Used as base for a sauce is fine, but not on its own.

I'm not sure you'd call it a popular flavour, but I don't like the taste of aspartame, and would always rather drink plain (safe) water than diet sodas.

[Motosport]

Pumpkin! I just can't manage to appeciate pumpkin pie or any of the many pumpkin flavored things that appear in the Fall.

[buttertart]

Thank you!!! Me either. Pumpkin pie absolutely no.thank.you.

[pine time]

Ohhh, please send all your pumpkin products directly to me! One of my favorite flavors.

[HillJ]

Does that include pumpkin spice flavored coffee beans?

[buttertart]

Do you want to make my head explode? I hate beyond hate ALL flavored coffees, and that sounds like the stuff of nightmares (although the most evil one I've ever been around is the Green Mountain...blueberry...one).

[Isolda]

Flavored coffees should be banned everywhere, except perhaps for special flavored coffee stores, which should be marked with yellow crime scene tape to warn us away. That smell, and there really is a characteristic smell, makes me feel sick to my stomach.

[buttertart]

With you every step of the way.

[sandylc]

YES.

[HillJ]

Sometimes the flavored coffee remind me of a cigar shop....and all the flavored tobacco my Grandfather use to enjoy. Made me gag.

[buttertart]

Oh yeah.

[dianne0712]

Me too, and you're not the only one to mention the nauseating aspect of flavoured coffees. What is it about them that actually makes us nauseous as opposed to other things we dislike that maybe make us wrinkle our noses or just not eat it?

[sandylc]

It's......FRANKENFOOD!

[bushwickgirl]

Blueberry? What were they thinking, bleech.

[Jay F]

Why anyone would put air freshener in coffee is beyond me.

[buttertart]

Nasty nasty nasty!

[EWSflash]

Oh now that's just wrong. My MIL went through a phase where she would flavor her coffee with the most awful things (although I admit I'm purist about coffee)- I wouldn't have poured a cup if I'd known it was a mix of banana, cinnamon, raspberry, and irish cream flavored beans. Thank heavens she got past that!

[HillJ]

Or the General Foods Instant Flavored Coffees...have you seen those? Are they still around? Sugar, flavoring and instant coffee in a can...

[EWSflash]

I think they are. Since I don't consider them to be coffee any more than I consider a good mole to be dessert because of a pinch of chocolate in it, I don't hate them. I don't drink them, either, though.

[guilty]

Even the idea of blueberry coffee is unspeakable.

I have a friend who claims to drink the General Foods International (instant) coffee, and says she doesn't know what she'd do if they ever discontinued them. I was also surprised to learn they still existed.

[buttertart]

bwg - Blueberry was unspeakably vile, like sticking your head in a vat of blueberry donut flavor.
EWSf - AAAAAAGHHH my MIL likes them too but just a flavor at a time. Cinnamon (...) or hazelnut. She gets plain for picky Sonnyboy and wifey, though.
HJ - methinks they are.

[EWSflash]

Good for you- my MIL stopped a few years ago with the flavored coffee. I don't know if she'll relapse, though.

[pine time]

had to sit in someone's office recently while she slooooowly drank a cup of flavored (i.e., smelly) coffee. Felt nauseous afterwards. Vile stuff.

[EWSflash]

Oh gods, she went through a phase of putting cinnamon in coffee, too. That and cinnamon potpourri in the bathrooms during same phase, the combination of which I've yet to stop shuddering when I think of it. I want to say- "you live in Phoenix- open some windows if you want to freshen the air!" Even middle-of-winter polluted Phoenix air is beter than al that cinnamon covering up all the other smells and mingling with the coffee smell!

[buttertart]

My eyes are watering thinking about it.

[chileheadmike]

Sriracha, I just don't like the stuff. I know it's heresy, but it does not taste good to me.

That and ketchup. Sweet red goo of satan. Can't stand the smell of the stuff from across the room. Saddens me when my wife and daughter dump it all over my hardwood roasted pork tenderloin.

[EWSflash]

I don't care for sriracha much either, or ketchup most of the time. My condolences about the roasted tenderloin, it would break my heart right in half.

[Firenzilla]

I agree, I would cry.

[jmckee]

I like ketchup but I'm relieved to see somebody else mention Sriracha. I like some heat, but as sauces go I find Sriracha overrated. Waaaaay overrated.

[woodleyparkhound]

I like ketchup on fries and burgers, but was *horrified* when a friend's 20 year old niece insisted on placing a huge bottle of ketchup on the Thanksgiving table. She then proceeded to dump it all over everything on her plate.

[sandylc]

Oh, no! Ketchup on pork tenderloin? You poor man! What on earth is wrong with them? Could you offer them a homemade sauce of some sort? Say, oops, we're out of ketchup, try this instead?

[dianne0712]

I sympathise. My husband dumps Frank's on everything, even a white wine cream sauce or beef wellington.

[greeneyedgirly]

I might be in the minority here...I can't stand really spicy foods.

A little bit of "kick" is ok, but if my mouth is on fire, I can't taste the food!

[jmckee]

Sauerkraut
Watermelon

(And my mother craved BOTH the entire time she was pregnant with me. Hmm.)

Licorice anything
Fennel
Liver (except chicken -- and pork, in certain applications)
Fish sauce
Eel
Raw green bell pepper

[jmckee]

I like spicy, in many applications, but only to a point.

Someone, I think it was Paul Prudhomme, once pointed out that if the first thing you taste is the spice, it's not properly seasoned.

However, at my first favorite local wing joint (no longer the favorite *sigh* it changed hands), my regular order was extra hot extra wet garlic wings. The spice buzz blended with the chicken and the garlic beautifully.

[alwayshungrygal]

+1, I can't stand anything spicy.

[ROCKLES]

Raspberry
fennel, although I like anise and licorice, and the fennel bulb
liver
sour

[guilty]

Yes, raspberry. I feel like raspberries are a trick the world plays on me--people really like that flavor? Kind of like the Welsh language . . .

[EWSflash]

It's okay- more for me.

[kubasd23]

second that!!! Raspberries are probably my favorite fruit!! Absolutely love fennel, AND sour!! Rockles, you and I could share meals, cuz i'd eat those flavors you don't, haha

[jsandler]

Bacon and peanut butter.

[LeoLioness]

Pumpkin. Especially pumpkin pie spice-type flavors.

Licorice/anise/fennel

Campari

Grapefruit

Any and all artificial sweeteners

[HillJ]

Man made flavors like cherry really don't work.
What the heck happened to Twizzlers for instance-ugh.

[TSAW]

I can't stand sweets topped with bacon! I like sweets and I like bacon, but why would you ruin a perfectly good cupcake or milkshake with bacon?!? GACK!

[TheFoodEater]

i thought the same thing till i had a maple donut with bacon on it. it made sense, the same way mystical poetry or js bach masses make sense.

[kubasd23]

I've never had bacon in a desert, but I have made candied bacon on biscuits as a breakfast item.... so it's not a far stretch from that to dessert, i guess.

[helou]

I loathe anything licorice flavored - fennel, anise, anything like black licorice.

And, I like almost every cuisine, but I just can't stand Indian food/curry. I live in an area with a lot of Indian stores and restaurants, and I even had to change dry cleaners because the one I used was in a strip mall with an Indian restaurant and I couldn't get the smell out of my nose even after I drove away.

[Allice98]

Cilantro
Fennel/Anise
Maple
Coconut (except coconut milk which somehow tastes different)
Hazelnuts
White Chocolate
Spearmint

It is so frusterating because while I am a vegetarian I am NOT a picky eater but these flavors are in a lot of foods making is very frusterating to dine out on occasion.

[cattaca]

Me too but I can handle cilantro but not Italian flat leaf parsley or that bitter melon so popular in Philipino cuisine.

[MandalayVA]

Licorice
Wintergreen
Mint outside of toothpaste or mouthwash
I'd say dill but I can handle light amounts
Olives

[elenacampana]

Artificial sweeteners - all of them, but especially in diet tonic water - blech.
Flavored coffees and "cream"
Candy corn

[laliz]

cilantro
black licorice
flavored coffees and coffee "creamers"
green bell peppers
Old Bay

[lyn]

licorice anything-candy, liquor, anise seasoning.
artificial cherry products
melon
green bell peppers
gin

[scarsdalesurprise]

Thank you for bringing up Old Bay. That stuff is nasty, and I love spices. Not sure which element makes it so bad.

[bushwickgirl]

Maybe the bay leaf, Old Bay has quite a bit of ground bay leaves in it, as well as celery salt and celery seed.

[tcamp]

Any flavored coffee

Candy corn

Marshmellow
Caramel

Sweet cocktails

I am attracted to briney and tart tastes--olives, capers, pickled anything, lemon, etc.

Interesting how tarragon, rosemary, mint and other fresh herbs are turnoffs for many. I would never have thought that.

[Pzz]

I, too, despise flavored coffees. And was really dismayed to hear that flavored coffees now outsell regular coffee in large parts of this country. I went out and bought my own coffee grinder after bringing home store-ground coffee and finding out that my expensive Ethiopian coffee was tainted with rasberry-vanilla-mocha residue from previous customers. Horrible.

[pine time]

+99 on flavored coffees. If I want dessert, I'll order it separately, thank you kindly.

[laliz]

EWSflash I so agree about the yellow curries and the dill. Thank you for saying that.

[Firegoat]

Olives of any type.
Bell peppers
Surprise pickles
Coffee or Mocha
Black licorice

[oogenesis]

LMSAO at the 'surprise pickles'. Whenever I order a hamburger, I often forget to ask them to leave off the dill pickle slices...and then have to fish them out. Great waste of a cucumber. One of my chef-instructors makes fantastic dill pickles, though. Now I only like his.

Thirding and fourthing hazelnuts. I don't get the European love affair with them. They just taste burnt and rancid to me. I like Nutella, though. I'm weird.

Belgian chocolate. It has a weird aftertaste to me. Then Hershey's chocolate, because they substitute plant oils for real cocoa butter (a saturated [solid] fat), and I CAN TASTE IT. Cheap bastards. Every country on earth makes better cheapo chocolate than the US...</rant>

Artificial fruit flavors, with grape flavor topping my list of worst offenders. Until recently I wondered what grape it was supposed to be imitating. It's trying to mimic the Concord grape, but real Concord grapes taste divine. Not soapy.

Most licorice-flavored liquors. No ouzo or arak for me, thanks.

Another hand for ultra-sweet cake frosting. I'm usually the one scraping frosting off my slice of cake at parties.

All melons except for watermelons. They make me gag. I don't know why. Every once in a while, I give foods I hated in the past another chance to win me over. I've since conquered cashews; I can now tolerate olives in very, very small amounts, but melons are hopeless.

Ketchup. One exception: Trader Joe's ketchup. I don't know who makes it, but it tastes almost like a tomato chutney. It's GOOD.

Most American-style lager beers. Y'know...if I want water, I'll drink water.

Artificial sweeteners. They taste medicinal. All of them. And yes, I CAN tell the difference.

[Firegoat]

I'm glad someone got the "surprise pickle" reference. If I see a pickle coming, I can adjust and handle it. But if I order a burger sans pickles.... and bite right in and get the surprise pickle? The gag reflex goes overtime. Surprise pickles are not my friend.

[dianne0712]

I actually love pickles, but every time I see one I can't help but think of that quote from The Child's Garden of Grass"Profound revelation number 1 - no matter how much you may dislike pickles, they are, after all, the only thing you can do with cucumbers." LOL!

[hotoynoodle]

turmeric and saffron.

yellow curry.

maple flavored anything. even the real stuff.

bananas out-of-hand. i can't stand the texture. i make excellent bread and cakes out of them but hate to eat them.

commercial cookies and cakes. they are achingly sweet to me.

hard squashes, like acorn and butternut and also sweet potatoes. bleck. they are veggies but sweet. compound that with folks adding stuff like maple syrup to them and i can't stand even a bite.

bbq sauce.

artificially flavored liquors that seem to crowd every back bar in the nation right now. i mean seriously? cotton candy, or bubble gum or whipped cream flavored vodka? shudder.

[huiray]

No turmeric, saffron or yellow curries for you? I would be disconsolate if forced to forego these things.

[pine time]

Please send every thread of the saffron my way. Love the stuff.

[Firenzilla]

all bbq sauce?? there's so many variations (and i love most of them) just don't likely the sickly sweet ones or apple juiced based ones

[OCEllen]

Mint in any form or permutation, peppermint, spearmint, wintergreen. Even the smell. I have an almost allergic reaction to it.

[lyri]

I like hazelnuts, but I hate hazelnut flavored anything, especially coffee. Same with almonds, except for amaretto. I love amaretto, but please keep your almond syrup out of my coffee.

Thyme. I don't know why. Maybe I'm using it wrong, but when I cook with thyme it just tastes weird to me, so I've given up.

Strawberry flavored candy, and even worse, PINEAPPLE flavored candy. I love pineapple, I do, but the artificial flavoring is just vile and makes me nauseous.

Ketchup/mayo/mustard. I can use mayo in certain things, but mayo on a sandwich? No thanks. And I just can't stand the smell of ketchup and mustard, together or apart. I can't stand pickles either, so yeah, I have the plainest burgers you could ever imagine.

As for the papaya, I can use it in a smoothie with other fruits, but papaya on its own is also quite vomit-like to me.

Sweet plantains are extremely popular here, with many preferring them over green ones, but I can't stand them. I LOVE green plantains, but "amarillos" just taste rotten to me.

[mrbigshotno.1]

I live half the year in the northern plains, I know a gal that's a checker at WM, she told me a bunch of people will grab plantains when they are yellow (not noticing the sign or that they are 60 cents apeice or they are labeled plantains) and will bring them back all pissed off "what the hell kind of bananas are you selling", funny. I love the green ones too, tons of things you can do with them.

[huiray]

Definitely agree with the hazelnut-flavored coffee. Gag.

[dianne0712]

all flavoured coffees - gag

[sandylc]

They even smell terrible.

[pine time]

Once had a boss who drank the stuff all day. An hour-long meeting in her office was torture--smelled like those gosh-awful scented candles all the time.

[EWSflash]

I don't like hazelnut anything. It leads the short parade of nuts I dislike, the others being Brazil nuts, and sometimes pecans.

[EWSflash]

I'll go one further- I really dislike hazelnuts, period.

[EWSflash]

whoops- double busted

[Firenzilla]

I'm with you on the ketchup/mayo/mustard/pickles! nasty. Some mustards are okay, like spicy wholegrain or horseradish... but that yellow hotdog mustard is gross.

I always go for BBQ sauce on my burgers =)

[Jambie]

Lemon in any kind of sweet dessert. The tart and sweet together set my teeth on edge. Ditto for cream cheese in frosting and fillings.

[PotatoHouse]

I'm not trying to put you down, everyone is allowed their own tastes, but I do have to yum your yuck. To each his own. ;-)

[Jambie]

Yeah, I know that I'm the odd one out but when somebody brings a cake to work with a cream cheese frosting, I'm totally safe from eating any! For my birthday recently, somebody actually made me a lemon cake with cream cheese frosting. It is the thought that counts so I ate a piece but it wasn't easy.

[tcamp]

Gee, I hope you didn't win my cake at the UNICEF fundraiser cake walk yesterday! Lemon cake with lemon creamcheese frosting (dyed orange) and decorated with candy corn. I will concede that candy corn is gross.

[EWSflash]

I'd have gobbled the whole thing down if I'd won it. 8^)

[Cachetes]

Agreed! Sweet lemon desserts completely turn me off, including cakes and sorbets. In fact, though I love grapefruit juice and think limes squeezed on food are divine, I'm not big on citrus in general. But in desserts? The worst.

[CanadaGirl]

What about if the dessert is tart? Would a lemon tart that isn't too sweet work, or is it a pretty hard dislike?

[cheesemaestro]

Root beer and sarsaparilla

Raw celery

Raw carrots

Peanut butter in baked goods (but fine by itself)

Bananas in baked goods (but fine by themselves)

[akt22]

Agree with the raw celery! It's so overpowering. Delicious as soup though!

[Firenzilla]

+1 against raw celery. fine in sauces and soups

[dianne0712]

bananas yucky in all ways

[PotatoHouse]

80/20 hamburger. I know all the big chefs SWEAR by that mixture, but I won't go any lower than 85/15. Anything lower just smells like cheap hamburger to me when it's cooking. It reminds me of the gun club we used to go to every weekend when I was in jr. high. My stepfather would spend most of the day (not to mention money) shooting skeet and trap, but was too damn cheap to let us buy an inexpensive hamburger from the clubhouse (made from aforementioned cheap hamburger meat) for lunch. We usually had to bring sandwiches from home.

[pdxgastro]

Cheeseburgers. I like burgers. I like cheese. What I don't like is the resulting alchemical combination (as you say, EWS).

Dairy Queen frequently offers specials on 2 cheeseburgers for $X. I ask if they'll substitute plain hamburgers instead. Sometimes they will, sometimes they won't. Makes no sense. Isn't a plain hamburger cheaper?!

[Vetter]

The combination of lemon & mint that is so popular in summer cocktails.
Tarragon - tarragon chicken, tarragon vinegar - keep it outta my fall food!

[EWSflash]

You can send it all to me- I LOVE tarragon. I pick a strand out of the garden, grab the leaves, strip them, and eat them. That's too strong, but I love it like that.

[montrealeater]

I LOVE tarragon, too, it's my favourite herb. Oddly, I haaaate black licorice and Pernod, ouzo and the like, so I don't know why I love tarragon so much. I also love an anise note in perfume.

[biondanonima]

I like tarragon and love fennel but I HATE black licorice, Sambuca, Pernod, ouzo etc. Star anise I can tolerate only in VERY small quantities. Weird, huh?

[chefj]

I love all that other stuff and hate Tarragon.

[EWSflash]

I like it all.

[mkmccp]

Wintergreen flavor ( I'm looking at you, Wint-o-green Lifesavers!!)
peanut butter
Raw broccoli, too pungent
Sours mix
Overripe melon

[zooxanthellae]

I'm not sure how "popular" this is, but I have a pretty low tolerance for stinky cheese. Morbier is about as far as I go. I really wanted to like the Blue Stilton that I bought a little while ago and was just totally turned off by the odd "plastic" pungency.

However, I'll note that Stilton is apparently great with port, but I consumed it alone because I don't drink.

[dianne0712]

The stilton and port mousse at Fenton's in TO is something I still dream about.....*sigh*

[EWSflash]

MMMmmmmmmm, stinky cheese... 8^P

[almond tree]

Vanillin. If you can't afford real vanilla, leave it out entirely.

Bananas --- just because.

[EWSflash]

Banana-flavored food, although I like bananas
Ditto most lemon-flavored desserts
Also cinnamon (can be okay if used judiciously and with lots of other spices in, say, pies)
Epazote, a truly vile-flavored and vile-smelling herb. Unfortunately I grew it once and it's been self-sowing and coming back every year since- and we've even moved since I planted it on purpose. One day I'll find somebody who likes it and give them my entire crop.

[bushwickgirl]

I have a roommate right now who has a non life threatening allergy to cinnamon, and is constantly asking me if I added to...whatever I'm making, "because I have to ask." I mean, I understand her reasoning and respect her health concerns, but I don't put cinnamon in beef stew...or scrambled eggs.

I'll take your epazote; it smells slightly minty to me, with a gasoline like finish; intriguing.

[EWSflash]

It's yours for the taking :-)

[sandylc]

Wow, never heard of anyone besides my mother with the cinnamon thing. It doubles my mother over with disabling digestive cramps that take days to go away. Sometimes just a good whiff of it does her in!

[bushwickgirl]

My roommate insists that it's quite common, but I've never met anyone else who has a cinnamon or cassia allergy, and was quite surprised when she refused to eat pumpkin pie.

Apparently the allergy exists, though, and can cause a host of problems for people sensitive to it.

[buttertart]

I'm allergic to contact with it - lasted one day in a suumer job between high school and university in a McCormick's factory where I was charged with packing cinnamon sticks into the little paper boxes they used to come in, and you had to break them to fit them in - woke up the next am swole up like a balloon wherever I had come into contact with or touched later. Hence my iffiness around it (I use a bit in some things).
PS this and sensitivity to mango peel are my only food allergies - wonder if they're botanically related as mangoes are to poison ivy, several really good bouts of which (acquired in colorful circumstances) apparently sensitized me to the oil in mango peel.

[bushwickgirl]

Ah ha, I thought you just didn't like it. I have read that a sensitivity to it's smell or contact with it is very possible.

[melpy]

I put cinnamon in many meat dishes. It is a valid question. Not in my eggs though.

[bushwickgirl]

Oh, sure, it does have applications in meat dishes, beef, pork; poultry, but I don't specially use it in my basic beef stew, and if I did, I'd let her know.

[MrsJTW]

Hmm I had not heard of epazote before, but after looking it up, it must be what I saw a guy using on t. v. not too long ago in some black beans for it's carminative properties. I guess you could dry it and sell it to someone like that. ; )

[EWSflash]

Yes, that's what it's for, although I guess most folks who've always had it added to their food have devoped a taste for it. Not me. And I wouldn't try to foist it on an unsuspecting audience, either.

[calliope_nh]

Grape flavor. I like grapes, Welch's Grape Jam, and wine (unless it tastes grape juicy). Grape juice, candy, Popsicles or medicine - belch, can't stand it.

[MRS]

good one!! i forgot about how gross it is!

[Ruthie789]

I guess you do not like Thrills gum!

[CanadaGirl]

Is that what Thrills is suppose to taste like? All I get is something resembling soap. No thanks!

[Ruthie789]

LOL. I passed some around my office and got the same comments.

[noodlepoodle]

Any of those special flavored coffees, especially hazelnut and vanilla, and those seasonal flavors like pumpkin spice (oh lord) the smell makes me a bit queasy, and they're everywhere takeout coffee is sold.

Jelly beans, even the "good ones" like Jelly Bellies. The sugar makes my teeth ache.

Most commercial cookies. They taste artificial.

Canned chick peas.

[smartie]

oh yes coffee flavors, also that hazelnut fake milk or vanilla which my boss drinks in coffee which smells like body odor.

liquorice like anise or ouzo is yuk

fake almond flavoring

[ChristinaBambina]

Oh, I so agree about those flavored coffees. Whenever I go to a mall and have to walk past one of those coffee shops, I feel really sick. Usually I'm smelling the amaretto one, I think. It makes me never, never go into those places.

[sweetpotater]

ANY coffee.

[roxlet]

"What flavor coffee would you like?"
"Um, coffee flavored?"

[Jay F]

Flavored Coffee = Worst Idea in Hot Beverage History

[sandylc]

+1,000,000!!!!!

[Jay F]

Like drinking warm Glade.

[StringerBell]

Those flavored liquid non-dairy creamers are really, really nasty. I don't get how people use that stuff, they all have a medicinal taste and the ingredients are absolutely horrendous. Referring to them as "food" is being a little generous in my opinion. Even worse are the powdered non-dairy creamers.

[sandylc]

+1.

[beccydinosaur]

Coconut! The worst.

Fake berry flavours
Chocolate - actually, just chocolate ice cream for some reason! I love it in most other applications.
Lighter-colored beers
Do drinks count? If so both full-sugar Coke and Pepsi, which taste sickly sweet.
Raw onion

[pdxgastro]

Do you ever notice that after eating raw onion that your mouth tastes like cigarettes? (And I don't smoke)

[MRS]

definitely rosemary!! yuck!!

[waking1]

Cilantro
Wintergreen
Anything with red dye (especially candy)

[EWSflash]

You can taste red dye?

[bushwickgirl]

I know that sounds slightly odd, but i find I can detect a certain underlying chemical bitterness to anything with an abundance of red food coloring, except red velvet cake, thank God.

[RGC1982]

I can taste red dye too, and it is horrid. It can slide by in a decent red velvet cake, but if it makes it into a frosting, I think I am eating poison.

Thai Basil is my thing. It smells like old fashioned, soapy hair tonic and tastes like soap. If it is in my food, I cannot eat the dish. The smell and taste turn me off. Regular basil is okay.

I am not a fan of cilantro too, and can't figure out how people just substitute it for flat leafed parsley as though they really were the same. I can deal with it in things like guacamole, where it is necessary..

[huiray]

Thai basil (húng quế) is yummy to me. I even use it by the fistful as a veggie in soups, added at the end, tender stems and flowers and all.

[kubasd23]

I love thai basil! I grew some last year in my herb garden, in large part because I can rarely find it in my grocery store! I put it in most of my stir fries, non thai ones included!

[huiray]

I grew quite a few plants too. However, I got a lot from Chinese/Vietnamese groceries around here. There was also a Vietnamese restaurant specializing in phở with an attached grocery which got in their basil mainly from Texas. I would pick up a pound or two of freshly arrived stuff from time to time, sometimes several weeks in a row. They relocated & ceased their grocery side of the business so when I want stuff other than/more than what I get from my plants I go to the other places.

I see from your profile you are in SE Connecticut. Google indicates there are at least 2 Chinese/Asian grocers (and a Japanese grocer) in the Groton/New London area - do they not carry Thai basil?

[kubasd23]

I have to admit, I haven't been to those.... I'll have to google it and find them and check it out. There is an Asian grocer about 20 min from here, but they didn't have any produce.... buckets of frogs? yes. Thai basil? no. haha. Thanks for the tip though, I have no idea why I didn't think of something as simple as using google...

[dianne0712]

Don't much like basil but I can tolerate it. I don't like it when they add perfumey tastes to perfectly good food like Earl grey shortbreads or lavender honey,

[greeneyedgirly]

Yep, I also try to avoid most stuff that has dye in it...especially cakes that have that horrible neon-colored frosting. The chemical, plasticy taste of dye is really nasty. I actually don't eat red velvet cake because of it.

[waking1]

Yup. To me it tastes very bitter and awkward if that makes sense. Like all of the other flavors of the product are completely warped.

[EWSflash]

Interesting!

[CanadaGirl]

There's a reason cake decorating places sell "no-taste red" color paste and regular. I don't notice it in small amounts though.

[sparrowgrass]

I used to win bets that I could pick out red M&M's blindfolded--can't anymore, I think they must have changed to no taste reds.

[celesul]

Really? When did you stop being able to pick it out? I remember we did blind taste tests of m&ms at summer camp one year. I could always tell blue (slightly chalky, if that makes sense) and brown (sweet and perfect) from yellow, orange, green, and red, which were all slightly sour and off to me, with yellow being the mildest of that bunch and red the strongest. I usually got the correct color for the ones in that group, but I wasn't completely reliable. I had a very hard time tasting the difference between green and red.

...I remember the other kids being somewhat surprised.

[kubasd]

I have always insisted that the colors tasted different.... vindication!!!

[celesul]

:-) You could always do a blind taste test. I find the differences in taste very subtle. The dyes aren't supposed to change the flavor, so it's not that noticeable to most people. I dunno. I'm pretty sure that I'm not a supertaster or anything (I feel like I would be pickier if I was...) but I am pretty sensitive to certain flavors. These ones aren't really noticeable unless I'm paying attention.

I will admit though, that most of the taste difference people experience with m&ms if they aren't testing them blind, is about our perceptions, not about the flavor of the dyes. The way I'd usually eat m&ms (which I'll admit I generally don't do, because I like shmancy chocolate) isn't going make me aware of the dye taste.

[sandylc]

It makes sense, as food colors come from various sources, not some magical single formulation.

[CanadaGirl]

Spearmint. Blech!!

[arktos]

Oatmeal

Celery

Caraway

Clove

Nutmeg

Brazil nuts

Sweet potato/Yams

Ketchup

Relish

Beets

Pumpkin

Nopales

Apples

Sauerkraut

Liquorice

Coconut- The worst!!

Watermelon

[CanadaGirl]

What is (are) nopales?

[arktos]

Nopales are flat cactus pads with the thorns removed (hopefully!!). And they taste like a rubbery/slimy cross between green beans and okra. I try to avoid them at all cost. Mexicans like them though and use them in a lot of their cooking.

[EWSflash]

Mmmmmm, nopales- I loves 'em.I even grow my own. Real good in a chile colorado sauce

[invinotheresverde]

I hate to yum someone's yuck, but nopales are soooooo yummable.

[huiray]

They're repulsive to me.

[EWSflash]

C'est la vie, right?

[dianne0712]

I am WITH you on the sweet potatoes and licorice! Also things that have that flavour, like fennel or tarragon. Blech.

[ipsedixit]

Orange + chocolate

Butter cookies

Orange creme

[pine time]

+1 on the orange/chocolate combo. Like them both separately, tho.

[Vetter]

+2. Yuck!

[ipsedixit]

Yeah, isn't that weird.

I think the same applies for things like raspberry, cranberry, etc. and chocolate.

[laliz]

I really hate orange + chocolate comination.
Orange creme sounds disgusting.

[scarsdalesurprise]

Another yuck for the orange and chocolate combo.

[mariekeac]

+1

[Firenzilla]

I used to hate the orange/chocolate combo, but i've recently come around

[chefathome]

Orange + chocolate = no way for me!

[mrbigshotno.1]

Anything "sour apple"

[jw615]

I can't do this one either, though for me, I'll say that my issue is artificial apple flavoring. Anything with 'real' apple flavor is out already because of a life threatening apple allergy. I've tried some artificially flavored apple things, and they creep me out so much (feels like I'm doing something wrong) that I just can't do it.

[mcel215]

Peppermint candy, even Candy canes.
Oregano
Marshmellow anything.

[invinotheresverde]

Agree on the oregano. The smell icks me out, too.

[huiray]

I like oregano in moderation. Type matters too.

[EWSflash]

Which kind do you prefer? I like Mexican oregano, myself.

[linguafood]

That is SO interesting! I recently bought Mexican oregano for the first time out of curiosity, and used it on Greek salad. I don't know that I liked it as much as the Mediterranean -- found it rather intense & almost like it was an herb mix (sage? rosemary?).

I don't think they are interchangeable -- applications you prefer for the Mex?

[Chowrin]

chili, salsa, ropa vieja. tons of stuff, really. totally different spice -- better with water-cooking, less good for pizza topping.

[linguafood]

yeah, it might work well in pasta sauce, when it has time to mellow out some. tho then i may as well use the med stuff :-)

[chicgail]

Mexican oregano is a totally different plant from Mediterranean oregano. They smell and taste entirely differently. I keep both in my pantry.

[linguafood]

Yes, I think I might have mentioned that above.

[chicgail]

You did. I was agreeing with you, lingafood.

I found this on Penzey's site:

"Mediterranean and Mexican oregano are two different plants, but because they are used in the same way and have a somewhat similar flavor they are both called oregano. Mediterranean oregano grows wild on the hilly mountainsides of southern Europe and is an essential ingredient in so many of the dishes from the region. ... Mexican oregano is stronger and less sweet, well-suited to the spicy, hot, cumin-flavored dishes of Mexico and Central America- perfect for chili and salsa."

[EWSflash]

Probably because I tend to make Mexican/Caribbean/stronger flavored meals, I guess htat's why I like the mexican oregano. What's the Cubano oregano like? It's a great-looking plant, and a former neighbor told me that that's what they used in central America, or was it South America? Fuzzy big round leaves, smells good. Does anybody use that for cooking here?

[StringerBell]

"Fuzzy big round leaves, smells good. Does anybody use that for cooking here?"

EWSflash, it sounds like you're referring to Cuban oregano (Plectranthus amboinicus), not Mexican oregano (Lippia graveolens). Mexican oregano leaves are ovate and only slightly fuzzy, Cuban oregano leaves are mostly round, very fuzzy, and thick. The Mexican oregano is tall and woody with somewhat sparse foliage, while the Cuban kind is short with much higher leaf density. The Cuban kind is definitely a nicer looking plant, especially the variegated kind.

The Cuban kind is by far the most aromatic of all the oreganos I grow. If you rub your fingers on a leaf it will smell strongly like it for the next hour. I can often smell it just standing near the plant and the smell is incredible and intoxicating. The only other herb that has such an amazing smell to me is Thai basil. I like all the oreganos but the Cuban kind is really good with black beans.

[StringerBell]

"cumin-flavored dishes of Mexico?" Mexican food very rarely has any cumin in it, unless an American is cooking it.

[Tripeler]

Surprised to read that. Bags and bags of comino are sold in the Mexican markets I shop at in California. I supposed only the Americans are using it.

[Jackie007]

This sounds like the when I was informed by somebody living in Iowa recently that potatoes are only used in Mexican cooking at places like Taco Bell and only so Americans will eat it...and completely refuses to believe me that potatoes are very common in burritos, tacos, etc here, at restaurants with entirely Mexican staffs and nearly completely Mexican clientele.

[StringerBell]

Your anecdote is insulting (implying that I do not know real Mexican food) and irrelevant. I never claimed that cumin is not used in authentic Mexican food, just that it is not used nearly as much as Americans think and is certainly not a defining flavor.

Also, potatoes are actually not extremely prevalent in Mexican cuisine either, despite being one of the major centers for genetic diversity. They originated in the mountains of Peru and require a cool, mild climate, that's why Idaho is known for potatoes and not Texas or Florida. They do not grow well in most of Mexico, the exception being certain high altitude areas, and only fairly recently (the last 50 years or so) have they been gaining more widespread usage largely because of the work the Rockefeller Foundation did with potatoes in Mexico in the 1950s to increase yields and disease resistance. Per capita consumption of potatoes in Mexican is only about 17kg, as opposed to 400 kg for corn. http://www.potato2008.org/en/world/la...

They actually import a lot of potatoes from the US and Canada now, much of which no doubt is not actually used in Mexican food but is instead used for things like french fries. Yes potatoes are used in south of the border Mexican food, but if someone were to refer to the "potato-filled cuisine of Mexico," that would be even more of an extreme misrepresentation than "cumin-flavored cuisine of Mexico."

[Jackie007]

Get off your high horse...and potatoes are pretty common in Chihuahuan dishes. I'm not referring to Mexican cuisine as a monolith, but rather as what's common around my area and Juarez.

Have a margarita and chill.

[StringerBell]

I am already chill, that's why I don't make snide drive by comments. Maybe you should have a Christmas style burrito and chill.

[Jackie007]

That's more northern NM.

[sandylc]

"Mexican food very rarely has any cumin in it, unless an American is cooking it."

I'm not buying this.

[pine time]

My Mexican born friend, a fantastic cook, will be shocked to hear this.

[StringerBell]

"I'm not buying this."

Well, I don't know what to tell you, but it's true. I have a lot of Mexican friends, from Veracruz, Mexico City, Chiapas, and Oaxaca. I've eaten their food and their non English-speaking moms' food countless times and it rarely has any cumin. Some of them are excellent cooks and I talk with them and ask them questions and advice about certain things on a regular basis. I grow and share with them a lot of plants that are common in Mexican food that are hard to find here fresh, even at Mexican grocery stores, so they're always offering me food.

Certain dishes like cochinita pibil or mixiotes, sure. Cumin was brought over with the Spanish and has penetrated their cuisine somewhat but not to anywhere near the level it is used in Tex Mex or Americanized Mexican food, or Indian food for that matter. I cook Mexican food all the time and browse recipes in Spanish and they rarely have cumin in them. Search for the same recipe in English and it's likely to contain cumin. If you look through Diana Kennedy's books the recipes also rarely use cumin. Putting cumin in everything = Tex Mex.

[sandylc]

There is a big difference between "rarely" and "used in everything" - I just paged through my well-worn Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy and saw moderate cumin usage in the dishes where I would expect it. I would not call its appearance "rarely". The same thing in my 3 Rick Bayless books. Of course it is not in every dish any more than Americans put.....uh, ketchup (sorry I lack a a better example off the top of my head) in everything.

[StringerBell]

It seems we're mostly arguing semantics. I flipped through Rick Bayless' Authentic Mexican last night and started counting through recipes until I got to around 80 and about 10% of them had cumin, most of them very little, maybe 1/4 teaspoon or so. Most of those were meat seasonings that featured a lot of various spices. In these recipes the cumin is about as prominent as black pepper, maybe less so. If I were to eat any of these dishes I find it unlikely that I would even be able to tell there was cumin in it, unlike in Tex Mex dishes where the flavor is prominent. Wouldn't you agree that referring to Mexican cuisine as "cumin-flavored" is a little ridiculous? There is probably as much or more black pepper by weight used in Mexican food than cumin, it would be just as silly had they referred to the "spicy, black pepper-flavored dishes of Mexico."

[sandylc]

I'll go along with that, generally speaking.

[huiray]

I usually use the garden variety commonly sold in garden centers in the USA for fresh stuff (Probably "Spanish oregano"? [Origanum vulgare] but could be Greek or Italian oregano, I think, and presumably varying from one place to the other, and where the supplier's plants were grown. I'm not entirely sure which one I have in my garden now) or the dried stuff supplied in US supermarkets or Penzeys (which may be a mixture). Dried "Mexican oregano" [not a true oregano] which I pick up in Mexican/Spanish groceries or supermercados is coarser-looking and rougher in taste, also more pungent. I use the dried "Mexican" type with more caution in stuff like stews. Fresh Russian oregano (I grew some one year - at least that was what it was labeled as from the Garden center) was nasty to me taste-wise, and not particularly handsome as a plant anyway.

"Sweet Marjoram" - which is technically synonymous with Oreganum/oregano - I find nice, too, but rarely used by me as I find the variety commonly available as such in the USA to be somewhat weak in flavor for my taste, at least when used fresh. It's nice with scrambled eggs done as a quick dump-and-scramble dish, no dairy. [not the slow-stirred low heat French way, which I don't do].

A few links:
www.herbsociety.org/factsheets/oregano.pdf
http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/oregano-00400000006781/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oregano

[cheesemaestro]

Agree on the marshmallow. The texture, as well as the flavor, turns me off.

[PotatoHouse]

You guys should try homemade marshmallows. TOTALLY different from store bought.

[chefathome]

Yes! Not even close. It is like a completely different food. I would never buy marshmallows for any reason. Oh - maybe in a craft for kids but not to eat!

[laliz]

I detest anything marshmallow

[smartie]

agree with dill, papaya, fennel.

I hate fake strawberry flavor, spearmint and wintergreen anything.

[brightside16]

I hate fake strawberry flavor. I allowed myself to indulge in a Crumbs cupcake, picked a strawberry flavored one, and had to throw it out after one bite. Such awful medicinal-"strawberry" flavor ruining what could have been a nearly guilt free cupcake splurge!

I'm not a fan of fake lemon- reminds me too much of cleaning supplies. And I'm one of those people who hates cilantro. Tastes like soap.

[greeneyedgirly]

Count me in with the cilantro haters! Can taste it even if there's only a speck of it in something.

Blergh!

[Aislyn]

Ditto on the cilantro.

[Jackie007]

Meanwhile, I *hate* strawberries and just about all fake strawberry flavor things, but on rare occasions, I will eat strawberry poptarts. To me they don't taste like strawberries or fake strawberries. They are a sugary entity unto their own. I might eat them like once or twice a year.

[alliegator]

Hazelnuts. At least I'm in good company!
Peanut butter is a pet peeve of mine. Don't like it in just about everything, particularly desserts. I do like most asian style peanut sauces, though.

[EWSflash]

No offense, but i can't stand hazelnuts, I finally decided. Most of the rest, yes, except for Brazil nuts and sometimes pecans. Other times, pecans are really good.

[Seeker19104]

Dislike most commercial chocolate except Belgian. Too sweet for me. Like cocoa especially in a well-balanced mole sauce.

Avoid things with peppermint flavoring as most turn me off. Like real mint.

[jw615]

I don't do anything chocolate either, though I can tolerate it in applications where there is a very small amount and the dominant flavor is something that I like. It's not a sweetness thing, I just don't like the taste or the smell.

Was baking brownies for a bake sale earlier this week and had to leave the kitchen...the smell was so pervasive.

[pine time]

The previous posts sparked some yucks from me, along with some new ones:

Papaya (and Mr. Pine loves it)

Hazelnuts

Peppermint (but I like spearmint)

Rosemary (I grow the plant and like the smell; just don't like the taste & mouthfeel in foods)
Fresh dill (but I grow the plant and it's fine dried)

Fishy fish

[jmckee]

Rosemary: I forget which cookbook of mine suggested this (I think it's one of Elizabeth David's), but to avoid the "mouthfeel of prickly little pine needles", the suggestion was to simmer rosemary branches in cream or broth and then add only the liquid to the dish. You get the rosemary flavor, somewhat muted, and no spikiness.

[pine time]

Sounds like a great solution if you like the flavor, just not the texture, but I can't tolerate either.

[huiray]

Use a spice bag/muslin/cheese cloth baggie?
If fresh, use the entire twig then fish out the twig(s) at the end? Pick the twig off a roast?

[linguafood]

Agree on the hazelnuts -- if they're fresh/just picked, they're nice and sweet and nutty. But most you get in the store are bitter or rancid.

On that note -- HATE cashews. It's like eating meal. Blech. It doesn't deserve to be called a nut for that alone.

US-style cake frosting. Too sweet, too much, too everything.

Funny about dill. I love dill a lot, but I hate dill pickles. Go figure. That's about all I can come up with. I'm an EO eater.

[Strangewine]

Funny thing about cashews is that they aren't actually a nut... so there's your out.

[linguafood]

Same with peanuts (which I like).

[acgold7]

Basil.
Fennel.
Tarragon.

[shanagain]

Going back in time to ditto "fennel." I don't like it in any way, shape or form.

Also, that type of coffee roast that leaves a sour-ish/bitter taste in my mouth.

[bushwickgirl]

I sat for ten minutes thinking about this, and the only thing I came up with is papaya, I can't get excited about it, and banana extract, chemical smell and taste, just nasty. I don't know how popular banana extract is, but yeech.

I used to work with a chef who hated dill, and talked about how he hated it all the time. It got to be a joke after a while.

[Isolda]

ditto on the papaya. How could I have forgotten that one? My daughter loves it, so I buy it quite a lot, but it smells and tastes a little like vomit to me.

And any fruit extracts other than vanilla, citrus, or almond are generally not very good to me.

[laliz]

I agree about papaya

[Terrieltr]

Ripe or green papaya? Or all? I've never been a fan of it ripe, but I love me some green papaya salad.

[bushwickgirl]

Ripe, can't get excited, green, get very excited.

[chicgail]

Papaya tastes like dirty feet to me. And oddly, mango, which is in the same family, is one of my favorite fruits.

[buttertart]

Mango: scientific name Mangifera indica L.
Papaya: scientific name Carica Papaya
They are both tropical fruits, but not related.

[sandylc]

I'm sorry, chicgail, but the question must be asked: How do you know what dirty feet taste like? :-}

[woodleyparkhound]

I had the same question, sandylc!!

[huiray]

Smell and taste go together closely, do they not?
:-)

[sandylc]

That is true.....!

[chicgail]

LOL!
It may be that ome questions must be asked, but some questions must not be answered.

[nofunlatte]

Anything melon flavored
Mint (stand alone--it's okay when mixed with other herbs)

[EWSflash]

+1 with the mint. Don't like it much mixed, either.

[guilty]

Totally agree about both melon and mint.

[babette feasts]

Funny, I like those better together than separately. They sort of cancel each other out.

[laliz]

just say no to mint. thanks

[EWSflash]

Glad I'm not alone.

[kubasd23]

I hate mint in anything other than gum, toothpaste, or mouthwash. If I'm reading a menu description or a recipe and I see mint, I stop reading immediately. American Cheese, same thing. I would rather NOT have cheese on something than have American cheese. I agree with the posters below with papaya. Banana flavouring. Oh! I can't believe I forgot green bell peppers! Any color or type of pepper BUT green bell peppers!

[MRS]

melted American cheese makes me gag!!!

[guilty]

The *only* way I like green pepper is on pizza with onion.

[frannieface77]

+1 on American Cheese! And when people get the animal style fries at In'n'Out...and the cheese isn't even melted all the way and you KNOW it's a kraft single...UGH UGH UGH.

[Firenzilla]

How sad is it that that is the cheese we stuck our name on... American cheese, it's hardly even cheese. so gross.

[sandylc]

American cheese is a conundrum. In its genuine form, it is supposed to be a blend of swiss and cheddar cheeses. Seems harmless enough, if boring. But many pseudo-cheeses market themselves as "american" in large letters, with words like "processed cheese" and "cheese food" and "cheese product" in tiny letters. These frankenstein, plastic cheeses are allowed to call themselves american, but not to call themselves just "cheese". If you must eat american cheese, do the full-fat, unflavored, Kraft Deluxe American (NOT singles!). It is still sort of bland and smarmy, but last time I looked it was at least still cheese. It might actually have a role to play in our society: To help wean people off of Velveeta!!!!

[Lady_Tenar]

Yeah, banana flavoring is disgusting. And also tastes absolutely nothing like banana. The fact that anyone can taste it and say "this is banana" is just a testament to brainwashing...

[berkleybabe]

Anything with chipotle
Anything with liquid smoke
Anything chevre/goat cheese-flavored

[Mattkn]

I'm totally there on the liquid smoke. Chipotle I used to abhor, but it saturated everything in the past few years that somehow my palate tolerates it now. Adore chevre!

[laliz]

+goat cheese
+chipotle (ugh ugh ugh)

[EWSflash]

I had a bottle of mesquite smoke elixir that dove out of the cabinet and smashed on the floor,. It smelled like an apartment fire for several months. But I didn't hate it :-)

[Isolda]

There is a flavor used in many storebought cookies (such as Pepperidge Farm) called "natural butter flavor." I have no idea how they derive it, but it's vile. When I see that on a label, I just don't buy the product. I usually bake everything from scratch anyway, but every once in a while, I'd like to pick up a packet of cookies without that stuff in it!

I also dislike hazelnuts, but I think it's because most of the hazelnuts sold in the US are rancid and bitter, which wrecks the taste of everything they're in.

And I hesitate to say that I hate white chocolate because I don't think that has a flavor other than bland sweet fat, and there's definitely an unpleasant mouthfeel component there as well.

Acai and goji berries, two trendy foods, are also really nasty to me. I avoid the juice and tea fridge at WF because those two berries are in almost everything these days. Make them go away!

[invinotheresverde]

I also hate that fake butter flavor. So nasty.

[sandylc]

We live near a company that makes that "natural" butter flavor. It smells horrible on the days that they are making it.

[hetook]

yuck

[taos]

chocolate, except if it's really, really dark like 85%
olives
okra
coffee with milk, though I'm a huge fan of black coffee
mayonnaise
pimento

[chicgail]

"Butter flavor" is indeed vile. In Mexico I swear they even put it in butter. When we were living there, I used to buy imported butters to avoid it.

But I think that any of the artificial butter flavors are disgusting - almond may top the list. Artificial vanilla flavor is also right up there. Also mint and strawberry. Feh!