Product: Colatura Di Alici, The Secret Sauce

As ketchup is to Americans, as soy sauce is to Chinese, the favorite condiment in ancient Rome was garum, an anchovy sauce. While the Roman Empire is long gone, a form of garum is alive and well. Today it’s called colatura di alici, or juice of anchovies. (It’s also called anchovy sauce or anchovy syrup;…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Try Gourmet Marshmallows

Luscious blackberry marshmallows from artisan confectioner Gateau Et Ganache. Photo by Dhanraj Emanuel | THE NIBBLE.   It’s National Toasted Marshmallow Day, but today’s supermarket marshmallows are nothing to celebrate. Over the decades, what was once a melt-in-your-mouth confection has acquired the personality of a cotton ball—but not as soft. In the early 1950s, Kraft…
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TIP OF THE DAY: Purple Green Beans & Other Farmers Market Finds

Food can be fun; and unexpected food finds are especially fun. Take these purple green beans, known as Royalty Purple Pods. While they were introduced in 1957, have you ever seen them? The trick is to arrive at farmers markets early in the day, before the unusual veggies sell out. While the skin of the…
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RECIPE: Try Chocolate Raisin Panini

Chocolate panini: breakfast, snack or dessert. Photo courtesy Vosges Haut Chocoalt.   Our favorite breakfast bread is pain au chocolat. Literally “chocolate bread,” pain au chocolat is an oblong breakfast roll made of the same light, flaky, yeast-leavened laminated pastry dough as a croissant,* and filled with pieces of dark chocolate; *Pain au chocolat is…
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National Chop Suey Day: What Is Chop Suey & The History Of Chop Suey

August 29th is National Chop Suey Day. Many people refer to chop suey as a Chinese-American invention, like fortune cookies. But that’s a myth that keeps getting perpetuated. It came from China.     CHOP SUEY HISTORY Chop suey was first available to non-Chinese Americans in the mid-19th century, when Chinese restaurants began to appear…
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