When you think of a refreshing warm-weather drink, do you think of beer, iced tea, lemonade, or ginger ale?

If you mix two of them together in a half-and-half drink, you’ll create a summer refresher: an Arnold Palmer or a Shandy, depending on the recipe. You can purchase them ready-bottled; but like most things, homemade tastes better.
 
 
THE ARNOLD PALMER

Combine equal amounts of homemade iced tea and lemonade in a tall glass. You can vary the proportions if you prefer one flavor over the other.

The drink, also known as a half and half, is named for golf legend Arnold Palmer. It was his soft drink of choice—he mixed it up at home—and is popular enough that Country Time and Sweet Leaf, among other companies, bottle it.

Mix your alcohol of choice into an Arnold Palmer and you get a John Daly. According to Golf Digest, Mr. Daly is not at all happy about this, claiming copyright infringement.

To give you some ideas about how the recipe has expanded, AriZona Beverage Company sells six variations: Lite Iced Tea & Lemonade, Zero Iced Tea & Lemonade, Lite Green Tea & Lemonade, Pomegranate Green Tea & Lemonade, “Southern Style” Sweet Tea & Pink Lemonade, and Peach Sweet Tea and Lemonade.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE ARNOLD PALMER

One day during the late 1960s, after a long morning of designing a golf course in the Palm Springs area, the legendary golfer Arnold Palmer was ready for lunch. He asked the waitress for a mixture of half lemonade and half iced tea.

A woman sitting nearby overheard what he ordered and told the waitress, “I’ll have that Arnold Palmer drink.” Thus the Arnold Palmer tea and lemonade combination was born.

Arnold had been drinking it for years; his wife Winne made them for him.

But now, word of the Arnold Palmer tea and lemonade beverage spread throughout America via his army of fans [source].

While the Arnold Palmer contains no liquor, more than a few fans of the drink have given it a hit of spirits (gin, vodka, rum, whiskey, whatever).
 
 
THE SHANDY

Shandy, short for shandygaff, is a beer diluted with a non-alcoholic drink: ginger beer, ginger ale, carbonated lemonade, citrus-flavored soda, or cider, for example. We prefer ginger beer or Mike’s Hard Lemonade (which, at 5.2% ABV, does no diluting!).

The proportions are half-and-half; but as with an Arnold Palmer, they can be adjusted to taste.

Fentimans, a U.K. brand sold in the U.S. (and a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week), bottles a lemonade-based Shandy made of a 70%-30% mixture of beer and carbonated lemonade with a 0.5 ABV (1 proof). The lower proportion of beer enables it to be sold as a soft drink.

The origin of the term “shandygaff” is unknown; it first appeared in print in 1853. Shandy is a surname in the U.K.; and in Ireland, the name is a variant of Shaun (John). Gaff is an old term for a fishing hook. Perhaps the drink was first mixed up by a steward named Shandy?

You don’t need a gaff: Mix up your own Arnold Palmer or Shandy. Have an “AP & S” party and let guests create their own variations.

> Here’s how to have a shandy party.

[1] The Arnold Palmer, half iced tea, half lemonade (pnoto © Fahrwasser | Panther Media).

[2] If you really want to, you can add a splash of whiskey or other spirit (photo © Misunderstood Whiskey | Unsplash).

[3] A Shandy is half beer, half carbonated lemonade or ginger beer (photo © Milos Luz | iStock Photo).

Fresh apricots: a seasonal treat. Photo
courtesy Washington State Fruit Commission.

Not enough, based on a poll of THE NIBBLE staff.

Savor the flavor of fresh apricots. Different varieties of are harvested during the summer season.

In the case of imported apricots, even when ripe they will be hard and woody. As Produce Pete says, Australian apricots are fine in Australia, but not here.

A tip on buying apricots:

 
As a general tip, keep stone fruits (apricots, cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums) out of the refrigerator. The jolt from room temperature to cold temperature can turn the flesh mushy.

WAYS TO ENJOY APRICOTS

 
Three apricots have about 51 calories, with large amounts of vitamins A and C.

More than 700 hopefuls entered their beers in the annual Samuel Adams Longshot American Homebrew Contest. The main contest is not open to employees of Samuel Adams’ maker, The Boston Beer Company. Instead, they compete in a separate, in-house competition, with equal prizes.

The prize is the experience of brewing their beer at the Samuel Adams brewery in Boston, alongside the professional brewers. Their beer is then distributed in a Limited Edition—with the winners’ photo on the bottle. And there’s some cash: a $5,000 royalty for their recipe.

Given how many different brews Samuel Adams already makes (more than 40), entrants are encouraged to incorporate unusual ingredients into their recipes.

The winning beers are now available nationally in the 2011 LongShot Category 23* Variety 6-Pack, two bottles of each of the winning recipes, at a suggested retail price of $9.99:

 
*Category 23 is a judging category for beers whose ingredients are so unusual that they don’t fit into the other categories.

THE SCOOP ON THE SUDS

Friar Hop Ale
Richard Roper created a hybrid of two styles: a big hoppy IPA and a fruity Belgian ale. The caramel sweetness of a Belgian ale is enhanced with big, citrussy hop reminiscent of an IPA. The beer has universal appeal; but rather than have a second, we tried a different style.

Honey Bee’s Lavender Wheat Beer
We loved the idea created by Caitlin DeClercq, a member of the Samuel Adams sales team. She brewed a wheat beer with dried lavender petals, honey and vanilla. We’re a flavor-forward fan: While a delicious wheat beer, the lavender, honey and vanilla were too subtle for us. (“Flavor forward” is the opposite of subtle and delicate. It means that the flavors assert themselves to the point where they are easily recognized. It’s a style preference, a positive term not to be confused with “heavy-handed” or “overdone,” which are negative terms.)

And now for our favorite among the winning trio:

Blackened Hops Beer
Blackened Hops Beer made by Rodney Kibzey is one we’d buy again and again. With deep roasted malt character and both citrusy and piney American hops, this dark beer is both profound and refreshing. Its black color hints at roasted malt and coffee flavors. We love hops, but this beer will appeal to the non hop-heads in the crowd. This is Rodney’s second LongShot American Homebrew Contest win. His Weizenbock was included in the 2008 LongShot Variety Pack. Rodney, we’ll gladly stop by any time for a taste of what’s brewing.

Bravo to to the winners and to all of America’s homebrewers.

That’s how we feel about the handmade Italian salami (or salame, as it is properly called in Italy) from Creminelli Fine Meat of Seattle.

The Creminelli family has been producing artisan meat products in Italy since the 1600. More recently, in 2007, master artisan Cristiano Creminelli brought the family’s recipes and techniques to America.

The pork-based salami will be a revelation to Americans for whom Old World artisan traditions have long since disappeared. From the first bite, you know you are eating recipes made with skills passed down from generation to generation.

If Dad/Hubby/Grandpa enjoys a good piece of salami, treat him to some from Creminelli salami for Father’s Day. There are two scrumptious selections in handsome wooden gift crates:

 
Read our full review of Creminelli salami, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

Favoloso!

You can also brush up on the different types of salami.
  

Fresh fruit, filtered water and a pinch of sugar. Photo courtesy The Soft Serve Fruit Co.

Made with fresh fruit, filtered water and a small amount of organic cane sugar, Soft Serve Fruit is a healthier alternative to soft-serve (or conventional) ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Summer flavors include banana, mango, pear and strawberry. Apple, cranberry and pumpkin will appear in the fall. Soft Serve Fruit is available with or without toppings and in shakes.

Think of Soft Serve Fruit as a very low-sugar, soft-serve sorbet. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll probably prefer conventional sorbet. If you want a frozen dessert with less sugar, go for Soft Serve Fruit.

The store was packed with health-oriented moms and their pre-school and grade-school kids. The kids were very happy.

There’s only one hitch:

There are only three retail outlets: one in Manhattan and two in The Hamptons. The company plans to expand and to franchise. Learn more at SoftServeFruitCo.com.

But there is a solution:

The Yonanas frozen dessert maker, “As Seen On TV.” Frozen fruit goes in, soft-serve fruit comes out.

We actually saw the Yonanas machine at a recent healthy food press event and met the inventors. However, no samples were available for tasting.

But a friend who bought a Yonanas machine after seeing the infomercial says the machine actually does produce something similar to Soft Serve Fruit. (She said it took three bananas to make one large serving. She hasn’t tried other fruits because she doesn’t like most fruits—and in fact ordered only the banana flavor at The Soft Serve Fruit Co.) We’re on a waiting list to try her machine.

The infomercial producers have convinced the inventors to claim that the Yonanas machine is a “$150 value for $49.95.” Don’t believe it.

You can get an ice cream maker from Cuisinart and Hamilton Beach for $49.95, which includes recipes and the versatility to make ice cream, frozen yogurt and sorbet. So there’s no justification for the Yonanas claim of a $150 value (unless that’s how they value the inexpensive plastic storage container that is thrown in). It’s a little plastic machine—you can see it at GetYonanas.com.

You don’t even need a separate machine. Just throw frozen fruit into your blender or food processor, the way the Yonanas inventors likely began. Depending on your food religion, you may wish to add a bit of sugar, agave nectar or noncaloric sweetener.