[1] The splendid Eat The Rainbow box from Farmer Jones Farm (photos #1, #2, #3, #4 © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[2] Oca and sunchokes. Oka, cultivated by the Incas like potatoes, are an underground stem tuber that originated in the high altitudes of the Andes Mountains. Sunchoke, also called Jerusalem artichoke, is a tuber, the root of a species of sunflower native to central North America. Both can be cooked, eaten raw in salads and slaws, or pickled.

[3] Crosnes (pronunced “crones”), also known as Chinese or Japanese artichoke, is a root vegetable that can be eaten raw, pickled, dried or cooked. Here’s more about them.

[4] Purple daikon radish is more rare than the conventional long white Japanese radish. Both can be enjoyed raw, pickled, or cooked.

[5] Farmer Lee Jones (photos #5 and #6 © Farmer Jones Farm).

[6] Buttery biscuits to eat with your veggies. With each flaky bite, you’ll find earthy notes of fennel, parsley, chervil, and chives.

With Mother’s Day and Father’s Day on the radar, here’s an exciting gift for any cook who knows the difference between good and great: The “Eat The Rainbow” box from Farmer Jones Farm.

For more than 40 years, The Chef’s Garden has been growing fine and specialty* vegetables—heirloom varieties, herbs, microgreens, and more.

Their produce has been sold exclusively to top chefs at the world’s most discriminating restaurants.

It’s now available for home delivery from the Jones Family Farm to you and to any lucky home cooks you would like to gift.
 
 
BETTER FLAVOR & BETTER NUTRITION!

You’ll delight not only in the freshest vegetables—pulled from the earth to fill your order—but in those that taste even better than those a home garden.

The vegetables are grown to taste better, by a devoted team under the guidance of “Farmer” Lee Jones (photo #5) and Bob Jones, Jr. They helm both The Chef’s Garden and the Jones Family Farm.

How are they are grown to taste better…and be more nutritious, too?

Following in the footsteps of their father, Bob Jones, Sr., the farms employ traditional regenerative farming methods combined with innovative technology.

A dedicated research center at the farm tests everything—seeds, soil, water, and other factors—to exact the finest tastes.

While everything is grown to maximize flavor, the efforts have delivered a huge bump in nutritional value as well: 30%, 50%, even 100% increase over the USDA averages.
 
 
REGENERATIVE FARMING MAKES A DIFFERENCE

There’s more about regenerative farming below, but in a nutshell, it involves using special techniques to create healthy soil, which in turn grows healthy crops that provide the maximum in flavor and nutrition.

The crops are grown slowly and gently in full accord with Mother Nature.

Regenerative farming is at the heart and soul of Farmer Jones Farm and The Chef’s Garden.
 
 
GET YOUR “EAT THE RAINBOW BOX”

Head to FarmerJonesFarm.com.

You can make a one-time purchase or have a box sent weekly or monthly for as long as you like.

The box will always include the best of the week, a mix of the most delicious “familiar” vegetables plus something new to try. A recent box we had included:

 
Plus:

 
While you’re on the website, check out these farm-made goodies:

 
 
WHAT IS REGENERATIVE FARMING?

Traditional regenerative farming methods comprise a variety of practices aimed at restoring and enhancing the health of soil and the agricultural ecosystem overall, while promoting sustainable food production. Some of these methods include:

 
These traditional regenerative farming methods focus on working with natural processes to enhance soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience while promoting sustainable food production for current and future generations.
 
 
> The history of agriculture.
________________
 
*Specialty vegetables are those introduced or reintroduced that are native to Africa, the Caribbean, Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Basin. Examples include the crones and oca shown in the photos, cipolines, daikon, elephant garlic, Japanese eggplant, squash blossoms, and heirloom varieties of traditional vegetables. Specialty fruit examples include cherimoya, currants, dragonfruit, gooseberries, lingonberries, litchi, and startfruit, among others.

April 5th is National Deep Dish Pizza Day, one of 12 annual pizza holidays. That’s a lot of pizza parties, but for today: the history of Chicago-style pizza, also known as deep dish pizza.

The differences between Chicago deep dish pizza, stuffed pizza, and Detroit-style pizza follow.
 
 
> A year of 12 pizza holidays.

> 40 different types of pizza.

> The history of pizza in Italy.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF CHICAGO-STYLE DEEP DISH PIZZA

Chicago deep-dish pizza, also called Chicago-style pizza, is a pizza cooked in a pan with high edges, instead of on a baking tray or a flat pizza peel.

The deep pan affords a pie of several times the toppings/fillings of conventional pizza, and a crust almost as thick as a tart crust (and much taller—photos #1 and #2).

The layers are different, too. Because the deep dish needs to bake longer, the sauce layer is on top so the cheese doesn’t burn.

Thus, the fillings are layered in an inverted order, with the cheese at the bottom, meat and poultry, seafood, vegetables, and fruits (chiles, olives, pineapple) in the middle, and lastly, the sauce.

You should select the fillings that meet your fancy, including leftover meats and even leftover pasta!

Deep-dish pizza sauce is often chunky, not the smooth marinara that tops a regular slice. While the tastes are familiar, the experience is delightfully different.

Pizzeria Uno’s founder, Ike Sewell. is often credited with inventing Chicago deep dish pizza, in 1943. But the reality is slightly different.

According to Tim Samuelson, Chicago’s official cultural historian, there is not enough documentation to determine with certainty who invented Chicago-style deep-dish pizza. A 1956 article from the Chicago Daily News asserts that Uno’s original pizza chef Rudy Malnati developed the recipe.

And Michele Mohr from the Chicago Tribune reports that, according to the descendants of Saverio Rosati, the menu at Rosati’s Authentic Chicago Pizza has included deep-dish since the restaurant opened in 1926 [source].

Regardless, we’re glad it made out out of Chicago so the rest of us can have our share.
 
 
The Differences Between Chicago Deep Dish Pizza & Chicago Stuffed Pizza

Stuffed pizza was also invented in Chicago, but with differences. It is a variant of deep dish pizza created by Rocco Palese, owner of Guy’s Pizza and Nancy’s Pizza, based on his mother’s recipe for scarciedda.

A savory Italian Easter cake, scarciedda is stuffed with ricotta cheese, meats and other fillings (here’s a recipe).

 
Stuffed pizza was created by Rocco Palese’s wife, Nancy Palese, in 1974 at the eponymous Nancy’s Pizza. It had a completely different taste than deep-dish, with more crust and loaded with even more ingredients.
Here’s more about it.
 
 
The Differences Between Chicago Deep Dish Pizza & Detroit-Style Pizza.

Pizzerias in Detroit, Michigan, created their own version of the Chicago deep-dish pizza, called, unsurprisingly, Detroit-style pizza (photo #4).

Instead of a round pizza, Detroit chose a rectangular pan 8″ x 10″ x 2.25″. It has a lighter crust with an exterior crunch.

Brick or white Cheddar cheese is added to the mix of mozzarella and romano. Here’s a recipe.

As with Chicago-style pizza, Detroit uses an inverted-layers approach with cheese on the bottom, then meats and vegetables, with the sauce on top.

Here’s a fun idea for a pizza dinner: One of each pie!
 
 

[1] Make this deep dish pizza at home, with five suggested toppings. Here’s the recipe (photo © Ambitious Kitchen).

[2] Here’s another Chicago deep dish pizza recipe (photo © The Recipe Critic).

[3] Scarciedda, the savory Easter pie that inspired stuffed pizza (photo © Nancy’s Pizza).

[4] The side crust view of a Detroit-style pizza (photo © Joy Ride Pizza).

[4] A tall stuffed pizza (photo © Nono’s Stuffed Pizza).

[1] Crunchy cheesecake bites (photos #1 and #2 © Duda Fresh).

[2] Start with celery stalks.

So…you’d think that Cheesecake Celery Sticks are an April Fool’s Day joke.

After all…can crunchy celery sticks, a savory snack, be turned into a dessert with cheesecake filling and chocolate sauce?

Well…yes. April Fools!

> The history of April Fool’s Day.

> The history of cheesecake.

> The history of celery.

> More ways to use celery.
 
 
RECIPE: CHEESECAKE CELERY STICKS

Is it a snack? Is it a dessert? You decide!
 
Ingredients For 6 Servings

 
Preparation
 
1. COMBINE in a bowl the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Stir well.

2. SPREAD 1 tablespoon of the cream cheese mixture evenly down the center of each celery stick.

3. TOP each with a sprinkle of graham cracker crumbles.

4. GARNISH with a drizzle of chocolate sauce.

Here’s a crowd pleaser of an idea for Easter dinner: an Easter candy “charcuterie board” (platter) at the end of the meal, instead of petit fours*.

Candies and cookies take the place of the meats on an actual charcuterie board†.

We serve ours at the end of the meal, after dessert, with coffee.

You can either create a platter that’s kid-friendly, or a “gourmet” version for the sophisticated foodie crowd, with artisan Easter candies.

You can substitute Easter cookies instead, or combine cookies and candy.

If you’re creating an elegant board for connoisseurs, head to your favorite chocolatiers and augment with petite cookies like mini macarons.

And you can apply the same principles to a Christmas candy or Valentine candy charcuterie board. It’s an all-celebration concept.

And because it’s arranged in advance, you can hide the board from your guests and bring it out as an after-dinner surprise.

Thanks to the International Charcuterie Association for inspiring this article.
 
 
CREATE YOUR CANDY CHARCUTERIE BOARD
 
 
STEP 1: Select a tray, platter, or cheese board as the base. It doesn’t have to be large; after eating dinner, people’s capacity for candy will be smaller. Trays with a rim are better to contain the candies after people start to dig in.

Provide small paper or plastic cups (muffin/cupcake liners work) and serving spoons for people can help themselves.
 
 
STEP 2: Pick Your Treats

Focus on the color palette (as in the photos) to make your board pop.

Check out candies in Easter colors or pastels, or gold or color-foil-wrapped:

 
Also look for

 
 
*FOOD 101: MIGNARDISES (PETIT-FOURS) & FRIANDISES

These are different types of sweets served at the end of a meal with coffee. Liqueurs can also be served.

Mignardises (min-yar-DEEZ), from the French for “preciousness,” belong to the group of after-dinner cookies called petit-fours (French for “small baked pastries”).

Petit-fours (pronounced petty-foor) are tiny cakes or other tiny baked goods, like mini macaroons and other mini cookies. The words are French for “small ovens” but mean “small baked pastries.”

There are many varieties of petit-four; the most familiar in the U.S. is a one-inch-square layered sponge cake, filled with butter cream and iced in a variety of colored fondants, often with tiny roses or other piped embellishments (photo #6). A truly American addition to a petit-fours plate would be mini cupcakes.

In France, this style is not common; and there are confections that can be included on a petit-fours plate. See Friandises, below. that are not baked at all.

There are two styles of petit-fours: glacée (iced) and sec (dry).

[1] It’s easy to put together an Easter “charcuterie” board, substituting candy for charcuterie (photo © Taste Of Home | TMB Studio).

[2] A mixture of cookies and candy (photo © Lil Luna—here’s how she made it).

[3] Candy grass can hold jelly beans or other candy, then eaten (photo © The Typical Mom.

[4] Gold foil-wrapped mini bunnies add glimmer to the board (photo © Lindt USA).

[5] A mix of candy and cookies, with an army of chicken and bunny Peeps (photo © Galloway Grazes | Instagram).

[6] Easter petit-fours (photo © Mackenzie Ltd.).

[7] Modern mignardises: We have always loved these speckled eggs with candy exteriors and silken ganache insides from artisan chocolatier Fritz Knipschildt | Chocopologie (photo © Williams Sonoma).

[1] The beautiful Pinkglow® Pineapple (all photos © Fresh Del Monte).

[2] A memorable tropical fruit salad.

[3] Order online and this beautiful box arrives.

A truly delightful gift for any foodie is Fresh Del Monte’s Pinkglow® Pineapple. It looks like a regular pineapple on the outside, but the flesh is rosy pink through and through.

Gift it for Easter, Mother’s Day, hostess gifts, or any occasion where delicious, nutritious, low-calorie* fruit is appreciated.

This unique, exclusive gift comes with pink presentation packaging that showcases the world’s first and only fresh pink pineapple.

Beyond its captivating appearance, the pineapple offers a juicier and less tart (sweeter) flavor than traditional varieties.
 
 
HOW IS IT PINK?

Fresh Del Monte’s Pinkglow® Pineapple derives its unique pink color from lycopene, a natural pigment and well-known antioxidant found in red-colored produce such as cranberries, grapes, tomatoes, and watermelons.

The pineapple was bred to produce lower levels of certain enzymes already in a conventional pineapple. These enzymes convert the pink pigment lycopene to the yellow pigment beta carotene that creates the color of traditional pineapple flesh. Less of those enzymes leads to pink pineapple.

After 16 years of development, Fresh Del Monte Produce released Pinkglow pineapples in 2020: a singular, luxurious fruit.

The pineapples grow on a select farm in the south-central region of Costa Rica, which has the ideal soil and climate to produce them.
 
 
GET YOUR PINKGLOW PINEAPPLES

For more information including online purchasing and delicious recipes, head to PinkglowPineapple.com.

The fruit is available for shipping across the U.S.† and Canada, nicely packaged.

You also can find Del Monte’s Pinkglow Pineapple at select local retailers, starting at $14.99.
 
 
PINEAPPLES: A SYMBOL OF WEALTH

Until the broadscale cultivation of pineapples in the 1900s, a pineapple brought to Europe from South America was very costly.

It was a gift given to kings and nobles. Pineapples remained so uncommon and coveted that King Charles II of England posed with one in an official portrait (see the portrait).

For lesser wealthy mortals, a pineapple centerpiece on a formal dining table said much about a family’s affluence and rank in society.

Guests were delighted just to see a pineapple. It wasn’t eaten. The fruits were so expensive and so much in demand that confectioners would often rent them by the day!

> Here’s more on the history of pineapple.

†Pineapple cannot be shipped to Hawaii.