Raisins: like or dislike?

Welcome to Like or Dislike, where you get to share how you really feel about ingredients from the pantry, ingredients I'm thinking about adding to my pantry, other seasonal foods, even favorite cooking gear. The things you like are sure to find their way to the recipes here on The Perfect Pantry, so do tell.

In the house where I grew up, raisins were everywhere: in noodle puddings, in cinnamon-raisin bread (the squishy grocery-store kind I still secretly crave), and in my lunch box almost every day. I love golden raisins, and I use them in curries, tagines and chutneys as well as oatmeal cookies and biscotti. I mix them into my Irish soda bread, though an Irish friend told me this is a major no-no. People seem to have strong feelings about raisins.

Raisins: like or dislike?

Last week: coarse sea salt. A few people who don't use salt at all (my doctor might be in favor of that), but for most, kosher salt has become the everyday salt, and a variety of coarse salts -- Himalayan, pink, Maldon, fleur de sel -- are popular for finishing. I love that people are experimenting with different types of sea salt, and I also love how much easier it is to find a range of salt varieties in the grocery store.

Last week: coarse sea salt. A few people who don't use salt at all (my doctor might be in favor of that), but for most, kosher salt has become the everyday salt, and a variety of coarse salts -- Himalayan, pink, Maldon, fleur de sel -- are popular for finishing. I love that people are experimenting with different types of sea salt, and I also love how much easier it is to find a range of salt varieties in the grocery store.

Comments

Big thumbs down for raisins. They ruin perfectly good recipes!!!

Like, but have to be in the mood for them. I like using them in various ethnic dishes, in granola; I like mixing them with mixed nuts. Am not wild about them in cookies, pies, etc though. Weird, I know LOL

I love raisins as long as they are plump and not dry. They are delicious in cookies, on cereal or by the handful and even in ice cream.

I'm not a big fan of raisins. Hate them in cookies or other cooked dishes like curries. I can tolerate them in something like trail mix, but definitely not something I'd go out of my way to get!

I like raisins in baked good and some meat dishes. A friend from Argentina puts raisins in the ground beef mixture she uses in her empanadas and they're delicious. Several ethnic foods from Cuban to Middle Eastern include raisins and they seem to work out deliciously.

I'm not a fan of eating raisins on their own, would rather have a grape, but I like raisins when included in baked or cooked foods.

I love raisins in any color or form (e.g. "Craisins"), in desserts or eaten as a snack, but not in savory food.

Love raisins! They're awesome as a snack with mixed nuts. We use raisins regularly in Indian desserts like kheer, sometimes in savory dishes too (e.g. masala chana dal). It's wonderful to bite into a kofta and find a couple of raisins stuffed inside.

I love raisins.

I LOVE raisins! And as you said - cinnamon raisin bread, noodle kugel, oatmeal cookies in savory dishes like tagines and curries, not to forget on oatmeal I love them. I really miss American raisins which are plump and moist and perfect for eating right from the box. In France, one usually finds them hard, sold for cooking. I actually brought boxes of Sunmaid raisins back to France!

Love the raisins. Respect the raisins!

I do love sweet and savory together. So, in tagines I use raisins or another dry fruit like apricots. And I love those meat fillings from Mexico and South America loaded with raisins and spice. I love hiking with some trail mix heavy on the raisins. Our local grocery store (Sprouts) sells about 6 varieties of store-packaged raisins...all this season's plump and delicious versions.

The golden raisin is a staple in my pantry. I like currants too.

LOVE'EM
gordon

I love raisins! I eat them just about everyday. I put them on oatmeal, in granola. Sometimes I put them in salads. I love baking with them too! Plus they are pretty healthy. What's not to love?

Love raisins! I buy the small canister. I also buy the little snack boxes. Love oatmeal raisin cookies as much as chocolate chip. I put raisins in my oatmeal. They are rich in iron, BTW.

Love, love, love!!! Every kind of them in many different recipes. Love!!!

Right now I'm cooking a pumpkin & raisins risotto ;-)

Love! My favorites are the Sunmaid Mixed Jumbos -- we have an Amazon subscription that delivers them monthly!

Like them very much, but not on their own. However they work well in many recipes. For instance, the golden raisins pictured above work well in curried chicken, or turkey, salad.

Golden raisins were in my grandmother's pantry, and I didn't see them again until I got them for my own kitchen. My husband snacks on a bowl of raisins and walnuts. Flame raisins are the best tasting.I love just about all the ways that have been mentioned to put them in cooked foods.
I am shocked that there are people who don't like them! Next - how about prunes?

I love raisins. I make my own, and after a curing period of six months to five years, a process which makes them more and more like dried plums, they possess a richness of flavor and texture that is simply delicious. I love golden raisins, but the best ones I make are from seedless black grapes. Nothing quite like them!

Hello,

I like to eat raisins but not in some foods. I never ate golden raisins but I love to eat raisin cake they're great. I'm sure you make some good food keep doing what you are doing!

Thanks

I would have to say I like them cooked or by themselves in most everything except cooked in oatmeal or cream of wheat. We had that as kids for breakfast and 70 plus years later, still don't like it.

Love... all of them!

Correct me if I am mistaken, but someone mentioned that they loved raisins "craisins". Craisins are dried cranberries.