Intellectually curious

I was once described as "intellectually curious" by a man I met at a party. He was a professor and, as I recall, we were discussing New Zealand in the context of international foreign policy. As you do at parties.

'Intellectually curious' is a somewhat ambiguous descriptor but I took it to mean 'inquisitive' rather than 'peculiar'. My latest food experiment may have you wondering whether Mr Professor really meant the later.

I know this blog is supposed to be about weird and wonderful foods I've eaten, but I'm going to bust out today and tell you about some of the weird and wonderful things in my fridge that I'm not going to eat. Well, I could, but I'd probably die as a result.

Early this year I rediscovered an ancient unopened tub of Puhoi berry yoghurt in my fridge door. It was in such advance stages of fermentation that the foil seal had bulged upwards to the point that it cracked the tub's plastic lid. (Intellectually) curious, I decided to leave it there to discover what would happen next.

I'll admit to having been a little apprehensive every time I opened the fridge in case the movement resulted in a Yoghurt Event. But it held off and, nearly a year later, is sitting there waiting for expectantly my next move. More on that soon.

I have another experiment, one that I've been harbouring at the back of the fridge...just for my blog readers, whoever you mysterious people may be. And that's the jumbo formerly green but now blue and green olive experiment.

I bought some tasty jumbo green olives at the French Market in Parnell. I thought olives never went off, so took my time eating them.

To my surprise they started to develop a blue crust. I'm not sure whether the blue is mould or some kind of chemical leachate. Either way, it's scary. In the interest of scientific discovery and intellectual curiousity, I've left them there to see how blue they'll go. Here's how they look after a few (maybe three?) months

So, what now? I'm certainly not about to eat either experiment; I'm not even sure I want to even so much as sniff them.

In the interest of low-brow entertainment, I plan to don a raincoat and get one of the kids to video the moment I open the yoghurt. I think it's probably all fermented out by now and will probably resist the temptation to explode all over me. But you never know.

And here's where this blog gets all interactive. Shall I do it this week? Or shall I wait until exactly a year after its 23 November best before date?

Reader votes will decide.

That's if I have any readers out there. Or am I just talking to myself? Now that would be curious indeed.