[Seeking help for improving PS setting] Yliakum plant's tastes.

[Aeghiss]

Hey there !

Some people here may be aware that I always have many many sacks projects. Including lots of projects for PlaneShift.
Yet I have some issues with one of those, so I came here to ask for your participation. I won't tell you why exactly - it's a surprise ! Plus it is linked to several projects which haven't been approved by the devs yet - well, it won't be lost in any case, it may be used for general RP matters afterwards.

So, here is the question : How do you imagine the tastes of the different plants of Yliakum ? (raw and/or cooked)
Just give any idea you have, be it simple adjectives or extremely precise descriptions : everything you'll propose will be of help.
For some plants there are clues, but for most I have none and wouldn't feel legitimate to decide on everything on my own - moreover that's quite a list and I don't think I'd be able to imagine so many different tastes alone.
Here is the list of edible plants I gathered :

Nuts :

• Banut
• Black walnut
• Burr nut
• Jookan

Fruits :

• Duppong
• Fire Fruit
• Juiceberry
• Macca
• Threestem
• Ruqua
• Joopiner berry
• Terevan berry
• Wragberry

Spices :

• Fire Fruit
• Bogo Pepper
• Corium Seeds
• Jarana Root
• Sweetburst

Aromatic herbs :

• Sinaflar Root
• Eyebright
• Wyn reed
• Barberry root
• Orilliphia

Vegetables and mushrooms :

• Pungent tuber
• Night mushroom
• Lake mushroom

Various plants (infused for making teas) :

• Golden Ivy
• Barberry root
• Blue Cohosh
• Blue Shan
• Butchers Broom
• Charmflower
• Clackerweed
• Devils Claw
• Eyebright
• Feverfew
• Gobo root
• Sinaflar root
• Kingsfoil
• Orilliphia
• Snowbud
• Tinga
• Yarrow

NB : I used italics for plants that can be considered belonging to several categories.

[Illysia]

How I imagine they taste offhand:

Nuts :

• Burr nut - very mellow flavor, very easy to not notice; however, I always imagine it as a furry nut so I imagine it tastes more furry than anything.
• Jookan - Like a cross between a marshmallow and a nut.. I can't even tell you why.

Fruits :

• Duppong - Very sweet but needs to be cooked to deodorize it otherwise it tastes like sweet trepor dung because of the smell. (providing the settings for it hasn't changed)
• Fire Fruit - Savory like tomatoes but hot like peppers
• Juiceberry - sweet but not sweet enough to make you sick, the texture of watermelon but not as much pulp. Almost like biting into a water balloon, as soon as you break the skin, juice goes everywhere.
• Ruqua - a firm, savory fruit
• Wragberry - very oily like an olive and tastes a bit like wet rags if you don't mix it with something or cook it.

Spices :

• Bogo Pepper - Savory with lots of seeds in the center which makes the center part gritty but the rest of the pepper is fleshy. Mild pepper taste
• Corium Seeds - Very strong and distinct flavor
• Jarana Root - Earthy
• Sweetburst - like confectioner's sugar when taken straight from the flower. I imagine it the texture of fine pollen

Aromatic herbs :

• Eyebright - smell sharp and invigorating, tastes a bit like soap
• Wyn reed - fibrous and watery like celery with negligible taste.
• Barberry root - somewhat sweet root
• Orilliphia - strong savory taste, but a little planty

Vegetables and mushrooms :

• Pungent tuber - onions
• Night mushroom - soft and fleshy with a mild taste
• Lake mushroom - hard and acidic due to the poison

Various plants (infused for making teas) :

• Blue Shan - strong perfume
• Butchers Broom - fibrous
• Charmflower - tastes pleasant, strong perfume
• Clackerweed - parsley
• Devils Claw - extremely tough and tasteless
• Gobo root - tastes like dirt (mainly because it grows around Gug)
• Snowbud - tastes clean
• Tinga - tastes like tea but tingles a bit

[Aeghiss]

Wragberry - very oily like an olive and tastes a bit like wet rags if you don't mix it with something or cook it.

Ow... I hope you're wrong or wragberry juice must be disgusting to drink... Though in fact I wonder how one can both make juice and oil out of the same fruit.

• Eyebright - smell sharp and invigorating, tastes a bit like soap
• Wyn reed - fibrous and watery like celery with negligible taste.

So basically you think it shouldn't be use as aromatic herbs, uh ?

Lake mushroom - hard and acidic due to the poison

Poison ?

Butchers Broom - fibrous

I wonder how a butcher's broom tea can taste fibrous.

Well, anyway, thank you for your quick and quite complete answer.

[Sirial]

Regarding the wragberry different parts can have different uses, for example the flesh can be used for juice and the seeds or the skin for oil

[Illysia]

Considering how much oil it can produce, I would imagine the skin of a wragberry to be more like the pulpy parts of the inside of an orange. Lots of little cells containing oil.

Wyn reed I don't really imagine as aromatic but Eyebright I do. I imagine Eyebright as a cross between lemon and lavender.

When lake mushrooms were introduced, they were poisonous and lowered your health if eaten. Presumable there is some poisonous part that you can cut out leaving the rest safe for consumption. However, I believe that if you eat a raw, unprepared lake mushroom it will still lower your health.

As for Butcher's Broom tea, it probably is hard or at least time consuming to strain out all of the fibers so some can get left over in the tea. I kinda imagine it tastes like cooked straw.

[Sirial]

As for Butcher's Broom tea, it probably is hard or at least time consuming to strain out all of the fibers so some can get left over in the tea. I kinda imagine it tastes like cooked straw.

...and maybe blood.

[LigH]

The cumbana would be a delicious cross between corn, cucumber, banana, potato, and maybe zucchini. A pity it was never considered for an implementation and is already forgotten...

    

[Aeghiss]

I have been thinking...

Wyn reed I don't really imagine as aromatic but Eyebright I do. I imagine Eyebright as a cross between lemon and lavender.

Wouldn't it be something close to bergamot in your mind ?

[Illysia]

Possibly though I'm no great fan of it. Bergamot is a little harsh smelling to me.

The cumbana would be a delicious cross between corn, cucumber, banana, potato, and maybe zucchini. A pity it was never considered for an implementation and is already forgotten...

    

I actually do remember that now. You submitted it to a list of PS foods from before cooking was implemented, if I recall. Didn't we have a list of those here on the forum?

[Shatterkiss]

Stole some answers from Illysia, Googled some, made up the rest. Usually just with RL analogues.

Nuts :

• Banut - Peanut
• Black walnut - Walnut
• Burr nut - Cashew
• Jookan - Almond

Fruits :

• Duppong - Tomato
• Fire Fruit - Spicy kiwi fruit?
• Juiceberry - Generic berry
• Macca - Pear
• Threestem - Jackfruit?
• Ruqua - Passion Fruit
• Joopiner berry - Blueberries
• Terevan berry - Grapes
• Wragberry - Olives

Spices :

• Fire Fruit - Spicy kiwi fruit?
• Bogo Pepper - Bell pepper, slightly hotter
• Corium Seeds - Sesame seeds
• Jarana Root - Ginger
• Sweetburst - Nutmegish?

Aromatic herbs :

• Sinaflar Root - Parsnips seasoned with 5 spice blend
• Eyebright
• Wyn reed - Celery
• Barberry root - Sweet Potato
• Orilliphia - Mint or Dill?

Vegetables and mushrooms :

• Pungent tuber - Onion
• Night mushroom - Morel
• Lake mushroom - Shiitake

Various plants (infused for making teas) :

• Golden Ivy
• Barberry root - Sweet Potato
• Blue Cohosh
• Blue Shan
• Butchers Broom - Sweet, acrid
• Charmflower
• Clackerweed
• Devils Claw - bitter, earthy
• Eyebright - bitter and astringent
• Feverfew - Bitter
• Gobo root - Burdock root (mildly sweet and earthy)
• Sinaflar root
• Kingsfoil
• Orilliphia
• Snowbud
• Tinga
• Yarrow - Sweet & slightly bitter

[Can-ned Food]

I note, with some dismay but little surprise, that you don't care to ask about the flavors of the antimony & tin soup or the tungsten burgers.

I imagine that antimony has an oily, buttery flavor.  Tin is a little like peppercorn, but with an astringent tang.  Tungsten is crispy and with a rich aftertaste.  I will continue if anyone is interested.