A fruit and nut case

Back from Istanbul and, as always, laden with foodie goodies. As well as replenishing my stash of vanilla pods and pul biber, I bought a few things I haven’t had before. One was something described by my friend Abdullah, who works at my favourite spice shop, as lemon salt.

As far as I could gather, this wasn’t salt that was artificially impregnated with a lemon flavour, but a naturally occurring taste, from the east of Turkey. Abdullah dropped a few grains in some apple tea I was drinking, and it really did taste quite spectacular. He also recommended using it with fish and chicken, and I’m certainly looking forward to trying it out.

Another new purchase was salted almonds that have been roasted in their shells, so they become thin and brittle enough to peel off easily. What’s left is the most delicious nut I’ve tasted in a long time. I don’t think it’ll take me long to plough my way through them.

You – well, I – can’t go to Istanbul without buying pistachios, so half a kilo of those came back with me. And finally, my current favourite addition to my morning porridge is dates, and as Turkey grows some really fabulous ones, I stocked up on those, too.

It’s just a good thing I go back to Istanbul fairly regularly, as my food purchases never seem to last very long.