Where to begin? We started with best intentions in mind. We thought of a possible and worthy candidate for SHF no.8 (Ugli-sorbet) and headed over to Viktualienmarkt to find the master ingredient – an Ugli. No, they certainly aren’t the prettiest fruits on earth, but it is said that their taste would make up for it plenty. So how do know you pick the right one, would it be the prettier one or is the uglier one the better one…anyway I had a good chat with the stand owner and in the end made the decision for the uglier one. We had also thought about meyer lemons as a possible back-up (inspired by different food blogs), which really aren’t that easy to track down here (not in season, unknown, just so many questions…) – no surprise, she didn’t have them (as far as we could tell) and she wasn’t exactly sure what we were referring to anyway. So we told her, that next time we would let her know what the German term is (is there one?!)…We finally left as happy Ugli-owners and anxious to get started with the recipe.
Back home, the cutting part turned out to be the first challenge…How large is its content? Where and how to cut it, or simply just peel? Too many questions, so I took a rather pragmatic approach and started cutting of slices beginning from the top, until I would hit the flesh/segments. The skin is quite thick, but once you reach the inner part, it is actually pretty easy to peel off and one can start working on the individual segments. These keep the juicy inside under an almost fur-like skin.
We found it, figured out how to dissect it and then….were disappointed by the taste. We felt let down. The taste in fact wasn’t that bad, quite the contrary – very similar to a pomelo – but lacking intensity. I think the fruit is more apt to be consumed like a snack, cut in half and eaten with a spoon, or like we did by segment and turning it inside out. Despite its size, it also didn’t have the amount of juice needed to provide the foundation for a tangy sorbet, we would have needed more than one, probably two or three. Since the Ugli was hired as the main actor, we couldn’t accept a substitute, so we decided to call it off and eat it right away…there went our SHF contribution. O.
May 20th,
2005
funny, I've tried this kind of fruit a few weeks ago, first thing I thought was: why do they sell small rotten grapefruits? The taste was sweet but not very interesting, reminds me of tangerine mixed with pink grapefruit, and yes, not intense enough, lacking juice. No need to buy it again. ( It was really expensive too)