“I’m a crazy lady,” said the colorfully dressed, middle-aged blonde woman standing next to me at the cheese counter of the Interbay Whole Foods.

“Show me something wild.”

The staff person behind the counter paused and tipped her head to the side, taking a moment to think.

“I’ve got just the thing.”

She reached for a jar on the counter top and said, “Try these: walnuts in syrup. They are unusual and decadent.”

Unscrewing the lid, she pulled out what looked like an oversized olive, dripping in dark, molasses-like syrup.

Instantly, I was transported back to my last trip to Armenia and the day trip I took to the ancient sites of Garni and Geghard. When we arrived at each location, we were greeted by village women selling their home made confections: sweet breads, fruit leather, jams and pickled vegetables.

At Garni, I purchased a long roll of apricot fruit leather which I munched on for the rest of the trip. The sweet fruit was warmed by the sun and with each bite I imagined the trees full of ripe apricots.

When we reached Geghard, I asked our tour guide if she would find someone selling walnuts in syrup. I’d had them for breakfast at the hotel and they were delicious—the perfect foil for my bowl of tangy yogurt. These particular walnuts, from the Ararat Valley are picked young and green (the Walnut varietal is a ‘Black Walnut’ not an English Walnut). Then, they’re bathed in barrels of spring water. Slowly, over weeks, their bitterness recedes, and they soften. Cane sugar is added and cooked down to a sweet, thick syrup. One day I hope to make them myself.

Tasting the cinnamon, sugar, and walnut together is like eating baklava without the phyllo dough. In addition to a sweet topping for breakfast yogurt, I could imagine enjoying them with pungent cheeses, ice cream, chopped and spread on banana bread or even incorporated into a roasted chicken dish. The syrup itself would be amazing on pancakes. I even saw an article that mentioned putting one of the walnuts in a Manhattan in place of the traditional Maraschino cherry.

“Where did these come from?” I asked. “I haven’t seen something like this since I was in Armenia.” In fact my jar is still in our cupboard waiting for a special occasion.

“They’re made by Harvest Song,” she tells me. And then she turns the jar around. “Oh look, they are imported from Armenia.”

“You should take some home to compare with the jar you bought back from your travels,” the cheese counter gal suggested.

And so I did. Shaking my head in disbelief, I carried my precious cargo to the cash register. I never would have imagined I’d find this particular Armenian delicacy, half way around the world from its homeland–at Whole Foods no less. It was all a little bit nuts, just like the lady standing next to me at the cheese counter.

Want more nuttiness in your life? Check out Wanderfood Wednesday!