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A street snack that has baffled botanists

atlasobscura.com

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Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#31

Post by esjeon »

The whole business sounds very shady. It's likely that the plant is sourced from the side of roads, untended fields, forests, construction companies (selling anything they find for coffee money), etc. It's a completely black area, outside of food regulations, so they can't expose the actual source, no matter what.

This can also explain the confusing reports from multiple researchers, because academic "species" don't matter in places like this. The vendors simply sell what looks similar to what they used to sell.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#32

Post by nerdponx »

notatoad wrote: post #5
wombatmobile wrote: post #3

“The mysterious that has baffled for ” — Click bait sub editor

Yeah, the headline certainly follows the clickbait tropes. But in this case, it appears to be legit - experts actually don't know and the vendors keep it a closely guarded secret.

According to the article, the vendors might not know the full story, since they get it from distributors.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#34

Post by kortex »

nathanvanfleet wrote: post #25
boomboomsubban wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are over 270 species of agave, that doesn't really answer anything.

If you read the article they say the specific Agave that they linked to using DNA analysis.

Species doesn't mean as much in the plant world. Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, Brussels sprouts, collard greens, kohlrabi, and gai lan are all Brassica oleracea. You can have specimens that are even technically the same cultivar but wildly different alimentary character.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#35

Post by edoceo »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #24
a_bonobo wrote: post #20

Isn't it a bit... terrifying to buy and eat food, when nobody wants to tell you what that food actually is??

coke secret recipe, KFC secret herbs and spices

KFC recipe is out there. Saw it on Reddit a few years ago. Followed it. Damn good chicken.

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#36

Post by girishso »

hyperpallium2 wrote: post #24
a_bonobo wrote: post #20

Isn't it a bit... terrifying to buy and eat food, when nobody wants to tell you what that food actually is??

coke secret recipe, KFC secret herbs and spices

Don't they have to follow strict regulations and pass various tests?

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#38

Post by kortex »

literallyaduck wrote: post #11

TL;DR; it's agave. I was hoping it was a byproduct of recycling waste. Mystery creates buzz. The danger of a mystery food is part of why hot dogs and food cart food as a whole are popular.

What? Who eats hotdogs and food carts because of the mystery? I eat hot dogs cause they are fast, cheap, and delicious tubes of fatty salty meat. I eat food cart food cause it's just fucking delicious. I don't know the exact spec, but the Halal meat-on-a-spit is almost always lamb and beef doner kebab. The sauce is mostly yogurt, mayo, dill and oregano. I make my own sometimes.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doner_kebab

Re: A street snack that has baffled botanists

#39

Post by drubio »

This looks like a giant variety of 'Pachyrhizus erosus' or Jicama, which is also a street snack widely sold in Mexico. I'v never seen ones as large as the one in the article, but the watery texture and how it's condimented (lemon, sugar, salt, chili powder) is exactly like Jicama. Seems wikipedia has a reference to ones as large as 2 meters and 20 kg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachyrhizus_erosus so it may be like those tree trunk sizes in the article.

It's not Agave. Agave roots are very fibery and dry, there's almost no moisture in them and you wouldn't be able to cut such thin slices like the article points out, agave roots are mashed up to start the Tequila process, here are some pics http://www.todomezcal.com/Elaboracion/molienda.html

Source: I've cut open both Agave and Jicama plants, I grew up in Mexico. You can find Jicama/(fruit) street vendors in most Mexican cities main streets or outside Mexico a mexican market is also a safe bet. They have rough peel, like a potato but rougher, and they're about 90% water.

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