Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Vietnamese/American Fruit Drink

     After I bought this one, and drank it, I had some misgivings.  Had I posted about soursop before?  The picture of the fruit on the label looked vaguely familiar, and one of its alternative names, guanabana, seemed familiar as well.  I went through my blog's history in its entirety, scrolling through all 830 of my previous posts.  I clicked on many, all the ones that mentioned something Mexican or Central American, or anything fruit-related.  Long story short, I couldn't find a previous post on it.  So I'm writing this one.  If any reader lets me know of a post that I somehow missed, well, I'll just have to acknowledge that it was a reprint of sorts.  Finally, the drink that I got was the soursop juice from the IOS Natural company, based out of New Jersey in the U.S.  But the fruit itself was cultivated in Vietnam.

     Here are some of soursop's aliases:  guanabana, guybana, graviola, paw-paw, and sirsak.  Its point of origin was Mexico and other parts around Central America.  However, it was transported to many other places in the world with suitably tropical environments.  In some areas too well, as now it's considered an invasive species, like in portions of India.  The soursop plant grows into a small, evergreen tree, which can top out at a height of about 10 meters (or 33 feet).  The fruit can get quite large, sometimes reaching a length of 35 cm. (about 14 inches), and a weight of up to 4 kilos (8.8 pounds).  It's dark green at first, but it changes to a yellowish-green as it ripens.  Its exterior is quite leathery, with spiky protrusions.  The inner pulp is a white color, with black, inedible seeds.  The taste of the fruit is often said to be a combination of several other fruits.  Many consumers believe its texture is reminiscent of a banana, while its flavor is thought to be akin to a strawberry mixed with an apple, with perhaps a hint of a sour citrusy taste.  Most folks consume it as a drink, or as a candy, or as a flavoring for sorbets or ice cream.

     I already covered the IOS Natural company's background before, in my post on November 30th, 2024, about watermelon juice that was grown in Turkey.  So if you're interested, head on over to that article.  I won't repeat its information here.

IOS Natural 100% soursop juice:  The color of this juice was mostly clear--just a hint of yellow.  It had a slightly sweet odor.  The texture was thickish, with some pulp in it.  The taste was okay.  It was sweet and tangy.  Not a really bold flavor, but alright.  I would recommend this one slightly.  Maybe people who've never had soursop might be intrigued by its newness, as well.

     Soursop is a favorite of the alternative medicine crowd.  It's said by them to be able to lower high blood sugar, lower high blood pressure, and to act as an antibiotic.  But, most dramatically, soursop is posited to be an effective cancer treatment.  Alas, as is pretty much always the case with these alternative medical claims, these haven't been proven scientifically to date.  So don't substitute a fruit for your doctor-proscribed actual medicines just yet.

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Exotic/Disgusting Foods and Beverages Forum--A Cooked Cheese Snack

      When I happened to see this on the shelf in the snack section at my local grocery store, I assumed it was just a cheese-flavored cracker.  But a closer inspection revealed that it wasn't--instead it was a snack composed solely of grated and baked pieces of cheese.  Literally.  The ingredient lists for these snacks are just the cheeses themselves, with nothing else, not even preservatives.  Anyway, I got two types of the Whisps snacks--the asiago & pepper jack kind, and the parmesan one.

     As has become the norm lately, I couldn't find out who created the Whisps brand, and when, from their official company website.  Fortunately though, I was able to learn some details from other online sources, which I think are accurate.  According to these, Whisps was founded by Ilana Fischer, an executive of Schuman Cheese, based out of New Jersey.  Schuman specializes in selling imported cheeses from various places around the world, including South America, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Israel, Greece, Belgium, France, and especially Italy.  Fischer started the Whisps line in 2015.  In either 2018 or 2019 (sources differ), Whisps left Schuman and became independent.  In particular, Whisps was hoping to capitalize on the keto and low carb diet trends, by putting out a snack that qualified for both of these.  John Ghingo, formerly of Applegate Farms, took over as the CEO in 2023.  And in August of 2024 Whisps was acquired by The Farmer Company, led by founder/CEO Adam Farmer.  The Whisps brand is quite small, consisting of only three products.  Aside from the two that I sampled, there is a cheddar cheese variant.  In addition to being appropriate for keto and low carb dieters, Whisps also proudly touts that its wares lack gluten and rBST.  (If you're like me and didn't know what rBST is, it stands for recombinant bovine somatotropin.  It's a synthetic hormone that's given to cows to increase milk production.  It's banned in places like New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the European Union because it can have adverse health effects on the cows.  There's no evidence that its use causes health problems for humans consuming the dairy products, though.)  They're also free of nuts, although they are made in a facility that processes nuts.  The location where the Whisps are made is a bit spread out.  The cheese is made in Wisconsin, and my product labels mention that they were distributed from an address in Burlington, Vermont.  However, the Whisps headquarters are reportedly in New York City.

Whisps parmesan cheese crisps:  These were disc-shaped, about 1.25 inches (about 3 cm.) in diameter, with a yellowish white color and a rough, uneven exterior.  No real odor to speak of.  The texture was dry, and crunchy, which makes sense, since they're dried pieces of cheese, and are called "crisps."  They tasted like parmesan, which again makes sense, as that's what they were.  The flavor was very good to excellent.  I enjoyed these immensely, and would readily recommend them.

Whisps asiago & pepper jack cheese crisps:  These were the same size and shape, and outer appearance  as the parmesan ones, but their hue was a light orange instead of being yellow-white.  Again, not much of a smell at all.  And they were similarly dry and crunchy.  The flavor was very impressive.  There was a decent amount of spice bite--not overpowering, but enough to make it a bit zesty and interesting.  The parmesan ones were top notch, as I said, but these were maybe slightly better.  Or excellent.  I highly recommend these too.  If you like these kinds of cheese in general, I think you'll really like them in dried baked form as well.  I'll try to locate the cheddar kind, too, and report back here if I do.

     The official company website invited satisfied customers to "become a Whisperer."  I guess I am now, since I very much enjoyed these snacks.  But, contrary to the more common definition of whispering, I WILL EXTOLL MY LOVE AND ADMIRATION OF THESE DRIED CHEESE SNACKS THIS WAY, THE WRITING EQUIVALENT OF SHOUTING.

Great Writing News!

      A while ago I teased a bit about an upcoming acceptance of mine, and now I'm able to be more detailed about it.  An essay of mine, "Blood Lines," will be a part of the eleventh issue of Morbid Curiosity.  Morbid Curiosity is published and edited by Loren Rhoads.  Whose name should be familiar to my readers, since she was also the publisher and editor of 2022's "Death's Garden Revisited," the book that explores all aspects of cemeteries.  (And I had an essay in that one, too.)  Additionally, I did an interview with Loren on this blog back on April 9th, 2022.  The tentative publication date for Morbid Curiosity #11 is October of this year, and a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign is planned for the near future.  Obviously I'll include more information about this upcoming  magazine issue in the coming weeks and months, including the cover art, synopses, and the list of contributors.

     Now I'd like to explore Morbid Curiosity in more depth.  Because I have quite a history with this publication.  I was fortunate enough to have stories included in Issues 7, 8 and 9.  These were some of my earlier publishing credits, so they're special memories.  But, first off, what was, and now is, Morbid Curiosity about?  It lived up to its title, as it featured confessional, first person, non-fiction essays which explored, "The unsavory, unwise, unorthodox, and unusual:  All the dark elements that make life truly worth living."  Through most of its run, Morbid Curiosity mainly focused on survivor narratives.  These described folks' experiences with "sexuality, birth, modern healthcare, illicit substances, natural disasters, UFO encounters, humanity's inclination toward violence, as well as homicide, serial killers, and ghosts."  Morbid Curiosity was an annual magazine, and was published between 1997-2006.  All told 310 survivor narratives were featured.  Some of the more famous contributors were, in alphabetical order:  

Michael Amzen, Maurice Broaddus, M. Christian, Alan M. Clark, Aaron Comethus John Everson, Ray Garton, Rain Graves, T.M. Gray, Michael Hemmingson, Brian Hodge, Charlee Jacob, Brian Keene, Nancy Kilpatrick, Jasmine Sailing, Julia Solis, Jill Tracy, V. Vale, Don Webb, and David Niall Wilson.

     Morbid Curiosity attracted a fair bit of attention, too.  Two museums featured it as part of a display.  A copy of an issue can be seen on Mulder's desk in an episode of "The X-Files."  It's been cited in at least four books-- "Everyone Loves a Good Train Wreck: Why We Can't Look Away" by Eric G. Wilson, "Death: An Oral History" by Casey Jarman, "Encyclopedia Gothica" by Lisa Ladouceur, and "The Goth Bible" by Nancy Kilpatrick.  Finally, when it closed in 2006, Peter Carlson of The Washington Post wrote a long, passionate obituary for it.  (Which can still be found online.)

     Loren Rhoads ceased Morbid Curiosity to focus on her writing career.  Which has been prolific--she's penned short stories, nonfiction books, and novels.  Included in this output is the "As Above, So Below" set ("Lost Angels" and "Angelus Rose"), the "In the Wake of the Templars" trilogy ("The Dangerous Type," "Kill By Numbers," and "No More Heroes"), and the nonfiction "199 Cemeteries to See Before You Die," and its later companion, "222 Cemeteries to See Before You Die."  Also both the book I mentioned previously, "Death's Garden Revisited," and its predecessor, "Death's Garden."  She later condensed the highlights of Morbid Curiosity into the book, "Morbid Curiosity Cures the Blues."

     However, it's back from the dead.  Presumably the zombie form of Morbid Curiosity will be even more disturbing, fascinating, alarming, and interesting than it was before, if that's possible.  I hope this post has whetted your appetite for Issue #11.  It can't come soon enough!  Much more to follow.