The Joys of Mirliton.
What I did yesterday:
Succulent Lake Pontchartrain blue crabs are culinary treasures, prepared with patience and care. They are prized by seafood lovers for their briny sweet and nutty flavor. Many a celebratory meal and reveillon dinners are served where Lake Pontchartrain blue crabs are the centerpiece of a festive, groaning table. Every day is Thanksgiving in New Orleans.
New Orleans is a city of gustatory excess. There is something in the water that stimulates the appetite. Maybe it is the static excitement that charges the air and sets everyone's hairs a'tingle.
The mirliton harvest begins in October and it lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany. Plant mirliton vines in springtime and they will flower in September. The flowers are magnets for honeybees.
In Louisiana, only the fruit of the plant is eaten but other cultures consume the stalks, the leaves, and the roots. The thought of it turns the stomachs of gourmands, both Creole and Cajun.
A Cajun will usually eat anything, but he cannot stomach the thought of eating mirliton roots. To a Creole, eating any part of the mirliton plant but the fruit is akin to eating offal, which, unsurprisingly, is a popular menu item in Cajun country.
The humble mirliton is a hardy perennial with a lifespan of about eight years. In New Orleans, mirlitons are always planted in pairs. Experience shows that two mirliton vines, side-by-side, ensure maximum fertilization. This is why mirlitons are known as love apples in New Orleans.
Most backyard gardens have at least two mirliton vines in them. The vines can grow to fifty feet long. They love to climb.
Another name for mirliton is alligator pear. The fruits are not pretty. They are pear-shaped, green, with coarse, wrinkled skin. There is nothing about their appearance to recommend them. Truth be told, they are kind of bland.
A mirliton has a faintly squash-y flavor. It is very mild, barely discernable. Because of mirliton's high vitamin C content, they are eaten to prevent scurvy.
One of the favorite ways to serve mirliton is baked with a stuffing of Lake Pontchartrain blue crab. Only the best for the lowly mirliton. Stuffed mirliton is a dish fit for a king. Silver platters piled high with stuffed mirlitons often serve as the centerpiece of a festive, groaning table. Mmm-mmm, good.
Stuffed mirliton is very popular during reveillon season, when the last of the harvest comes in. The mirliton are plump culinary possibilities that time of year. They taste the same as the fruit from the start of the season, but there is something about a big mirliton hollowed out and stuffed with lump Lake Pontchartrain blue crab meat that makes gourmands salivate.
Mirliton is good for you. It has cell-restorative properties. This is why it is rare to come across a bruise on an alligator pear. The specific enzyme that causes the restoration of damaged tissues was isolated in the lab by Professor Ethan Lovejoy, the Gertrude Toynbee Chair of Cryptozoology at Tulane University.
