How many red, white & blue recipes can
you devise? Share them here!

Plan ahead for at least one red, white and blue recipe for July 4th.

For more Independence Day food and beverage ideas, select the July 4th category in the column at the right.

And please share your own ideas!

Red, White & Blue Fruit Medley from
Harry & David.

Need a special July 4th gift?

Harry & David has a couple of real cuties.

We’re ready to start celebrating: Please pass the Moose Munch!

To please your guests on July 4th, we present for your consideration red, white and blue “cocktail shots.”

In this recipe, seasonal fresh fruits are puréed and mixed with Navan vanilla liqueur.

You can serve the flag-themed cocktails as a trio of shots, or pour them as standard drinks.

And now for dessert:

Stay tuned for more!

Drink the flag. Photo courtesy Navan.

Americans like to celebrate their independence with beer:

July 4th is the biggest beer-selling holiday in the country. Supermarkets alone are projected to sell 24 million cases for a total of $41 billion in retail sales.

If you’re serving beer, look for craft brews for thematic names:

You also can contemplate George Washington’s own hand-written recipe for beer (the original is in a notebook owned by the New York Public Library):

Take a large Siffer [Sifter] full of Bran Hops to your Taste. — Boil these 3 hours then strain out 30 Gall[ons] into a cooler put in 3 Gall[ons] Molasses while the Beer is Scalding hot or rather draw the Melasses into the cooler & St[r]ain the Beer on it while boiling Hot. let this stand till it is little more than Blood warm then put in a quart of Yea[s]t if the Weather is very Cold cover it over with a Blank[et] & let it Work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask — leave the bung open till it is almost don[e] Working — Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed.”

That’s too much work for us—we’ll just head for the Samuel Adams in the fridge.

Enjoy THE NIBBLE’s Beer Glossary.

Thomas Jefferson, Ben Franklin and
George Washington loved their beer! Photo
courtesy Yards Brewing Company.

Margarita mix is the best-selling cocktail mix in America. It’s easy to celebrate Cinco de Mayo with a Margarita.

This year, forget the Margarita mix and offer Bandera Tequila Shots. “Bandera” means flag in Spanish; the drink comprises three shots in the color of the Mexican flag: green, white and red.

Bandera Tequila Shots Recipe
Shake and strain each ingredient into separate shot glasses:

1. For green shot: 1 part blanco tequila. If you want to make the lime shot more green like the flag, add a drop of food color.

2. For white shot: 1 part lime juice/1 part blanco tequila.

3. For red shot: 2 parts blanco tequila, and 1 part tomato juice.

You can set up the different-colored shots on a bar or table, or make them “to order.”

July 4th Tequila Shots: To turn this into Red, White & Blue tequila shots for July 4th, use a drop of blue food color instead of green food color in Step 1.

Thanks to Tequila Cazadores for this fun idea.

Learn about the different types of tequila.

These tequila shots salute the Mexican
flag. Photo courtesy Tequila Cazadores.

If you insist upon Margaritas, here are recipes for original, classic and frozen Margaritas and a frozen black grape Margarita.

What did our Founding Fathers eat to celebrate July 4, 1776?

Philadelphia’s City Tavern was “the” place where the signers of the Declaration of Independence would gather to dine. The tavern was constructed in 1773 and became the unofficial meeting place for the First Continental Congress, beginning in late summer 1774; they also celebrated the first anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1777, there.

Unfortunately, neither that bill of fare nor any bills of fare from 1776 were preserved in Tavern’s records. Didn’t the owner realize there was history in the making?

Philadelphia’s City Tavern: You can dine where the Founding Fathers ate.

The good news is that the tavern is still in business, looking as it looked back in 1776 (plus modern amenities such as electricity and plumbing). You’ll dine on reproduction china, flatware, pewter and glassware, starting with cornmeal-fried oysters, smoked salmon and trout, and salmagundi (an 18th century classic that preceded our “chef’s salad”—fresh garden greens, ham, smoked turkey, smoked chicken, salami, Cheddar cheese, hard-boiled egg, olives and dressing). Entrées include beef, chicken or lobster pot pie, braised rabbit, roast duckling, pork schnitzel, crab cakes, bratwurst, port chops and venison medallions. Even the bread basket delivers the culinary experience of the 18th century: Sally Lunn bread, Anadama loaves and sweet potato and pecan biscuits (Thomas Jefferson’s favorite). Enjoy the cuisine with period-style ales. Find out more at www.citytavern.com.

• Find more recipes with flavored Stoli vodka at Stoli.com.
• See THE NIBBLE’s cocktail recipes.

• Find more dessert recipes.

Freedom ice cream from Sheer Bliss is red, white and blue: vanilla ice cream with red and blue swirls of pomegranate and blueberry. It’s the perfect flavor for an Independence Day celebration (it’s all natural and certified kosher, too).

Sheer Bliss is available at fine food stores nationwide; you can find a store locator on the website, SheerBlissIceCream.com. If you live near a Publix store in the Southeast, there’s a two-for-one special beginning July 2, in honor of AmVets, the veterans service organization.

Celebrate Independence Day with Freedom ice cream from Sheer Bliss.

Red, white and blue ingredients create the
perfect July Fourth dessert. Photo courtesy
Dove Chocolate Discoveries.

Not only are berries, such as strawberries and blueberries, in season during the Fourth of July, but they also come in patriotic colors, making them great ingredients in recipes you can make for your Independence Day celebrations, such as this White Chocolate Covered Strawberries recipe, courtesy of Dove Chocolate Discoveries.

INGREDIENTS

 
PREPARATION

1. Wash and completely dry strawberries.

2. For optimum results, temper chocolate in a chocolate tempering machine. If you don’t own one, simply melt the chocolate in a microwave oven or double boiler.
3. Holding a strawberry by the stem, dip about half of it in chocolate. Give it a quick twist, shake off excess and point it at the ceiling for a second to be sure the chocolate adheres.
4. Before chocolate dries, dip tip of strawberry into blue-colored sugar (available in the cake-decorating aisle of grocery store, or online). Place on parchment paper to set up and cool. If set up seems slow, place in refrigerator for 3 to 5 minutes.

Note: chocolate-covered strawberries are best enjoyed the day they are made.

Check out more of our special July Fourth recipes: