It tastes like what? You have got to be kidding!

I have liked this species of tree ever since I first saw it. It's pink leaves reminded me of Dr. Suess's art.  Recently, I looked though his work on-line and tried to find just such a tree, but haven't been successful. His books are full of other sorts of pink trees though so maybe it's just the color that fired my synapses.   

Look at how beautiful they are against the blue sky.

Lots of people have them in their yards.

I like the minimalist nature of this one. 

Today, when I decided to do a post on this tree, I realized that I couldn't very well show you pictures of it without telling you its name and some pertinent information about it. Boy, was I surprised. Turns out that it is way more interesting than I could ever have imagined.  

Some leaves on our countertop

The binomial name of this tree is Cedrela sinensis. It is also known as the Chinese Toon. As you might guess, it originated in China. But, (and it's a big but) what you've been looking at in this post did not occur in China.  

Do you remember Gary Coleman on Different Strokes asking, "Wha'choo talkin' 'bout Willis?"  

Well, you may very well ask the same question of me here.   

In China, the leaves of this tree are green, always have been. The pink color of the leaves that you see on the trees here occurred from a "sport" in Australia. 

Here's the story. The green-leafed trees from China had been planted and were growing in Australia years ago. At some point, a sport, or natural mutation, occurred on one of the trees and the pink leaves were the result. All the pink trees grown here in New Zealand were propogated, either by division or cuttings, from that first unique changling. These trees are known as 'Flamingo.'  The original green-leafed trees can be obtained from seed.  

Now, let's jump back to China for a moment. I learned that the Chinese have always used the green leaves from their Cedrela sinensis for flavoring in their cooking. Those leaves are said to add the flavor of peanut butter and garlic to their dishes.  

More importantly, I learned that the pink leaves do the same!!  When I read that, I dropped everything and immediately headed for the nearest tree to harvest the leaves you see in my 'on our countertop' picture. And guess what?  They do taste like peanut butter. 

Now, the taste is not exactly the same as peanut butter of course; they're not sweet for one thing, and they don't have the consistency of a paste, but from the first moment you bite into one, you get a strong impression of a peanut-like nuttiness. 

Consider this. If you were to go to your cupboard or pantry right now and take out a jar of your brand of peanut butter, spread a little on a finger and then wipe it off, you'd probably find that you could smell a hint of peanut butter on that finger for some time.  

Well, about 10 minutes ago, I took one of the leaves and crushed it thoroughly between two of my fingers. As I continue to type now, I catch occasional whiffs that make me think I must have been dipping into my jar of Jif. It's amazing. 

I also chewed one of the leaves to a pulp. As I said, the intitial flavor impression was of nuts, but the garlic taste did come through. With time it became as noticeable as the nuttiness.  

BTW, Both Jeanne and I smelled undamaged leaves carefully and didn't notice any smell at all.

I absolutely love to discover such things. This experience had made my day, but then Jeanne brought something else up that was even more fun to think about.  She pointed out that:

• The Chinese have been using these leaves to flavor their food forever. 
• Peanuts are a 'new-world' (origin is South America) food that only become known to the world in the last few hundred years.   

Can you imagine the Chinese peoples' reaction to peanuts, Jeanne wondered, when they first tasted them?  

They probably said, "Hey, these little round things taste just like Toon tree leaves. What are the chances of that?  Need garlic though."  

I love it. This world of ours is astounding. 

Last spring I finally tasted loquats after walking for years past trees full of them that I mistakenly thought were poisonous. Today I found out about peanut butter and garlic flavored flamingo trees. I've been walking past them for years too, thinking all this time that each was just 'a pretty face.'  I should have looked at them beyond 'skin-deep' long ago. How much more of our world has secrets that are hiding in plain sight? How many other plants have amazing qualities that I haven't recognized?

Gee, do you suppose the same thing could be said about people?   

All I can do is to keep looking. 

Oh, by the way, Wikipedia just told me that China now grows about 38% of the world's crop of peanuts. They must really, really like them. Makes me wonder if they're still using Toon leaves at all?             

Cross your fingers that these develope roots.            -djf