Top 10 most interesting and unusual things found in the new Bay Ridge Key Food

(Bay Ridge Ave. between Ridge and Third Aves.)

With a neighborhood as international as Bay Ridge, when the new Key Food opened last year its shelves were stocked with ethnic foods of all types, side-by-side the generic grocery store items found everywhere. Here are the top ten most interesting and unusual items found within the confines of the store.

1) Butter Ghee - Clarified butter made from simmering unsalted butter to remove all the water content; ghee has a sacred role in Hindu libation and anointment rituals, but more commonly used in Pakistani cuisine as an ideal frying medium because of its super high smoke point - around 485-degrees F.

2) Chayote - No vegetable has more personality than chayote. They're pursed up like they have something to say but can't. When I walk by, I hear "MMmmm!!!!" It's a vegetable pear from Mexico that can be mashed, pickled, fried, boiled or eaten raw but tastes pretty bland on its own.

3) Zataar - A lemony, rich Arabic spice blend eaten as a simple, Lebanese breakfast; otherwise a leafy plant on its own, not unlike oregano.

4) Whole green cardamon - Used in both food and drink somehow; supposedly one of the great food medicines used to cure everything from kidney stones to snake and scorpion bites. Green cardamon seeds are more commonly ground up and used as a sweetener.

5) Tamarind in the pod - Eaten in many cultures, but prevalent in thai cooking; the seeds need to be taken out of the pod, soaked in water, then put through a serious strainer. Has a bittersweet flavor.

6) Tofu pups - The original vegetarian hot dog. So wrong. "A tasty tofu treat ready for all the toppings you can handle, without all the extra fat and cholesterol your body doesn't want to handle."

7) Lamb ribs - More of a farmstand treat than general supermarket fare, braise 'em, but watch out because they'll have less fat than pork ribs, so add some of your own for moisture's sake!

8) Lamb heads - Or as my Dad pointed out, Capozzelli. Dad's heard of this and even had it as a kid. Whole head here. Teeth, tongue sticking out dead. Eyeballs. Head. It's an exotic dish now, but, as you might guess, has roots in peasant food. Par-boil it, then bake it like a Thanksgiving turkey and serve with some spaghetti.


9) Cabra al Vino - Drunken Goat Cheese. Goat cheese submerged in a bath of wine, giving it a purple hue with a mild, sweet taste.

10) Bell and Evans Air-chilled chicken - I didn't become a vegan after reading Eating Animals, but I did give up chicken. Why? The water-chilled part. After being killed, most commercially made chicken is kept refrigerated by submersion in vats of chilled water for a period of hours. Sometimes the water's chlorinated, sometimes it's not. Either way, imagine what that looks like. Now imagine some of that sludge in your chicken. The USDA allows up to 8% of chicken weight to be from water absorbed during this process.