I broke one of my own longstanding rules: Never, ever, ever buy unrecognized brands of food at discount stores like Big Lots or Dollar Tree. I have had that rule for decades, but in recent years reinforced it after all the crazy food and product scandals coming out of China.
But it was a jar of cherries. Cherries!!! And it was only one dollar at Dollar Tree. And I have been thinking about adding cherries to my ever developing homemade cherry limeade recipe (since it's such a long drive to Fritz's happy hour now.) And I still had all the other ingredients at home and no kids to have to share with. This was going to be Vic's cherry limeade weekend!!!
My first red flag before I bought the cherries (besides my rule) should have been when the first jar I picked up had a lid that was already "popped" - you know how canned items should have a lid that is sealed down and not "poppy" feeling. I did tell the cashier that some of them were like that. But I still bought a different jar.
My second red flag should have been the fish smell when I opened the jar at home. But, I thought, maybe it was just a preservative or something and they will taste okay. I pulled out a cherry and sniffed it and it didn't have any smell. So I popped it in my mouth.
And then... and then... and then...
Wait for it...
You already guessed it. Tasted just like canned sardines. Or maybe a cross between sardines and Long John Silvers fish if they ever tried to can it. It tasted like all that and more, but there is one thing it didn't taste anything like. It didn't have even a hint of cherry flavor, that's for sure. Not even an aftertaste.
So when I got done gagging I promised myself to stick to my rule from now on: Never, ever, *EVER* buy unrecognized brands of food at discount stores like Big Lots or Dollar Tree. EVER.
VM
