As you relax with a cocktail on warm summer days, the eye-catching colors of the handsome bottles of The Butterfly Cannon Tequila promise more than other Tequilas.

The naturally colored and flavored contents are not just exciting on the palate; they’re a striking gift for any lover of tequila.

The Butterfly Cannon is a new approach to Tequila*: a super-premium Tequila made from 100% blue agave and produced at Mexico’s most awarded distillery, Destiladora del Valle de Tequila.

The brand also has a mission: to conserve the Monarch butterfly (photo #5), which is in peril. You can read more about it below.

Now, take a sip with us!
 
 
THE EXPRESSIONS OF BUTTERFLY CANNON TEQUILA

The Butterfly Cannon Tequila, made in three expressions, takes its name from the migration of butterflies from the U.S. to Mexico. The tequilas are:

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the tequila, orange liqueur, and fresh lime juice in a shaker. Shake and pour over ice in a rocks glass.

2. TOP off with a splash of soda and serve with an orange slice.
 
 
RECIPE #2: BUTTERFLY ROSA & TONIC

Butterfly Rosa, infused with Mexican pink grapefruit peel, begins with a hint of grapefruit flavor in addition to the lovely rosy color.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the tequila and tonic water over ice in a stemmed glass. Stir lightly.

2. GARNISH with a sprig of rosemary and a slice of grapefruit.
 

[1] The Butterfly Cannon Blue Tequila and a Blue Margarita. The recipe is below (photos #1, #2, #3, and #4 © The Butterfly Cannon).

[2] The Butterfly Cannon Rosa Tequila with tonic water. The recipe is below.

[3] The Butterfly Cannon Blue Tequila and a Paloma cocktail. Just add grapefruit juice!

[4] The expressions of The Butterfly Cannon Tequila.

[5] A Monarch butterfly hovering over a flower (photo © Suzanne D. Williams | Unsplash).

The Butterfly Cannon tells us that Eastern migratory Monarch butterflies have a unique lifestyle. American Monarchs go through three regenerations, laying their eggs in milkweeds.

They then migrate all through the U.S., and then via Texas into Northern Mexico, where they overwinter in trees for around five months.

But the butterfly has declined in recent decades, partly because the widespread adoption of herbicide-resistant corn and soybean has nearly eliminated common milkweed from crop fields in the Midwest.

Sadly, more and more of their habitat in Mexico is being destroyed by intensive farming as well (here’s more about it).

Butterfly Cannon Tequila donates to the Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund, which aims to conserve the magic of the Monarch migration.
 
 
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*Tequila is capitalized because it is the name of a town. The capitalization of proper names continues with products named after them: Bourbon, Burgundy, Champagne, Belgian waffles, and French fries.

Barbecue for breakfast is trending at restaurants, so why not at your house?

Flavor & The Menu, a trendspotting website for chefs, reports:

“While barbecue remains a popular choice at lunch and dinner, it is actually the fastest-growing breakfast flavor today” [source].

Dishes spotted on menus:

A loaded Breakfast Brisket Tostada (photo © Compass Group).

 
Now you have more ideas about how to serve leftover barbecue!
 
> The history of barbecue.
 
 
 

You may have grilled romaine, but how about grilled endive?

Thanks to modern farming techniques, endive is available year-round.

It can be grilled, added to salads, or used as “boats” to hold finger foods at parties—the latter an easy-to-make, no-cooking dish that looks impressive. Appetizers, salads, mains, sides, soups—even for dessert, you can make a type of Tarte Tatin using endive instead of apples.

Here are dozens of endive recipes from California endive growers.

If you’re grilling this weekend, here’s a simple side with big flavor.

Grilled endives also provide the base for a great summer salad. See the variation below.

A leaf of endive has just one calorie! It’s a good source of potassium, vitamins, and minerals, high in complex fiber, and promotes digestive health.
 
 
RECIPE: GRILLED BELGIAN ENDIVE

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the grill over a medium flame. Brush each endive half with olive oil and place on the grill, cut side down to start. Let cook for 8–10 minutes.

2. TURN over and cook the endives for another 12-15 minutes, turning occasionally and lowering the flame if needed until the endives soften.

3. SEASON with salt and pepper, garnish with chopped rosemary. Serve hot or allow to cool and serve at room temperature

Variation

For a salad, cut the grilled and cooled endives crosswise into one-inch slices. Mix with crumbled feta or goat chevre, roasted nuts, and baby arugula, dressed with additional olive oil and a squeeze of lemon or lime as desired.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF BELGIAN ENDIVE

Belgian endive (Cichorium intybus var. foliosum) is a member of the chicory family, Asteraceae, which includes Belgian endive, curly endive, escarole, frisée, puntarelle, and radicchio.

They are part of the chicory family of leafy greens (Asteraceae, the daisy family). They can be enjoyed raw or cooked.

Belgian endive and curly endive are both in the chicory genus. Belgian endive is botanically known as part of Chichorium intybus. It’s grown from chicory roots in a dark environment.

Shaped like a torpedo, Belgian endive grows to about six inches in length. It has tender white leaves with either yellow or red-colored leaf edges.

Belgian endive is a pleasantly bitter, nutty, and refreshingly crisp vegetable with a delicate crunch. Once considered a luxury imported from Europe, it is now grown in California year-round).

The ancestral plant is native to western Asia, North Africa, and Europe [source]. The plant has a history reaching back to ancient Egypt.

In ancient Rome, a dish called puntarelle was made with chicory sprouts. It was mentioned by the Roman poet Horace (65 B.C.E. to 8 B.C.E.) in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple:

[1] Grilled Belgian endive tastes even better with a sprinkling of rosemary leaves (all photos © Endive.com).

[2] This is what endive looks like when it’s pulled from the ground. The long roots of the chicory family of plants can be dried and ground for a coffee substitute.

[3] Belgian endive has two subspecies: green tips and red tips.

But the variety known as Belgian endive was first discovered by accident in the 1830s by Jan Lammers, a Belgian chicory farmer. After harvesting the greens, he decided to store the roots in his cellar to dry and use as a coffee substitute.

Lammers had to leave his farm for several months to serve in the Belgian War of Independence. When he returned he discovered that the chicory roots had sprouted small, white leaves. He tasted them and found them to be tender, moist, and pleasingly bitter.

It took another few decades to commercially cultivate what he called witloof chicory. Witloof is Flemish for “white leaf.”

A Belgian botanist named Brézier then went on to refine a cultivation method to the point where it could be grown commercially. Markets in Brussels began carrying endive in 1846, and then in 1872 it was introduced in Paris and it became so popular (and pricey) that it was nicknamed “white gold” [source].

Endive is pricey because it’s one of the most difficult vegetables in the world to grow. There’s a two-step growing process:

 
In contrast, curly endive, Cichorium endivia, which includes batavia lettuce, escarole, and frisée, is simply grown in the fields as green curly lettuce.

Commercially grown Belgian endive is exported mainly from western Europe with Belgium contributing the largest share [source].
 
 

[1] Everything Butter is a symphony of nutritious nuts and seed (all photos © Fix & Fogg).

[2] How to make Everything Butter even better? Add chocolate and chunks of cherries!

[3] Oaty Nut Butter has oats plus cashews, peanuts, coconut, sunflower and chia seeds.

[3] Who needs maple syrup, when you can add protein to your pancakes with nut butter?

Last November, we discovered Fix & Fogg Nut Butters, a brand from New Zealand that made outstanding nut butters—almond, cashew, hazelnut, and peanut—that have won awards worldwide.

We declared them to be great stocking stuffers. And we have been happily eating them ever since. Three of our particular passions: the peanut butters in Coffee And Maple, Dark Chocolate, and Smoke And Fire.

Beyond PB sandwiches, we typically eat them right from the jar: a spoonful of delectable protein (8 g per two-tablespoon serving) along with our morning coffee, a wonderful way to avoid refined carbs.

You can make sandwiches, cook, and bake with it, of course. There are recipes on the website, and you can download a free e-book.

Recently, we had the opportunity to focus on four more flavors:

 
Not surprisingly: Exquisite!

And there are so many more varieties to try. Just head to the website to see the glorious bounty of nut butters.

So Fix & Fogg is our Top Pick Of The Week: delicious food that is good for you, too.
 
 
SO VERY GOOD?

One can only smile at the taste and texture of each of these top-quality nut butters. You can taste the quality of the nuts, plus:

 
Take the taste test: Try them and judge for yourself how good they are.
 
 
ABOUT FIX & FOGG

The name Fix & Fogg comes from two characters from the classic 1873 adventure novel, Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne: Phileas Fogg and Detective Fix. Like the story, the idea of embarking on a great journey, taking risks, and trying new things, resonated with F&F’s founders.

“Although we’re not quite sold in 80 countries around the world,” they say, “maybe one day we could do just that.”

Beyond New Zealand and Australia, the brand has sailed to China, the Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Tahiti, and the U.S.

Come on Canada! Come on Europe! Come on Latin America, where the peanut and cashew originated. Great nut butters await you!

Toward their sustainability goals, Fix & Fogg is the first New Zealand-owned food manufacturer to be awarded B Corp certification.

B Corporations are businesses that act in ways that benefit society as a whole. B stands for beneficial.

What defines B Corporations is their belief that the purpose of a company is not just to make money, but to also do social and environmental good.

B Corp entrepreneurs are committed to a vision of using their businesses as forces for good: for inclusive, environmentally-sustainable prosperity. You can profit while doing good.

The B Corp certification was launched a decade ago. More than 2,200 companies in more than 50 countries are now certified. Here’s more about them.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PEANUT BUTTER

> THE HISTORY OF CASHEWS

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*Peanut butter is rich in heart-healthy fats and is a good source of protein. A 2-tablespoon serving of peanut butter contains up to 8 grams of protein and 2 to 3 grams of fiber [source].

†There are small amounts of sugar in the chocolate flavors and small amounts of maple syrup in the maple flavors.

June 15th, National Lobster Day. Decisions, decisions. A lobster roll? Lobster and avocado salad? Broiled lobster tails? Lobster pot pie?

We’re going for Lobster Mac & Cheese today. Inspired by this recipe from DeLallo, we made a big batch and paired it with a buttery Chardonnay, 2019 Au Bon Climat Los Alamos Historic Vineyard Chardonnay, from Santa Barbara County.

The recipe uses both Gruyére and Havarti cheeses. DeLallo used its Shellbows pasta, this ridged, shell-elbow hybrid is great for thicker, creamier sauces, that are easily captured in its curved tube and ridged exterior.

You can substitute other ridged pasta, like rigatoni.

> The history of macaroni and cheese.

> The history of pasta.

> The history of lobster.

> More lobster recipes for National Lobster Day.

> More macaroni and cheese recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: LOBSTER MAC & CHEESE
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package instructions. Drain. Meanwhile…

2. MELT 6 tablespoons of butter in a large pot. Whisk in the flour and cook until lightly browned, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk and continue to whisk until thickened and smooth, about another 2-3 minutes.

3. REMOVE the pot from the heat and add the cheeses, pepper, and nutmeg. Stir in the cooked pasta and lobster to coat.

4. DIVIDE between 6 individual gratin dishes (or ramekins or other oven-proof dishes—if you don’t have individual dishes, use one large dish). Bake for 25 minutes or until the sauce is bubbly.

5. MELT the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the pot. Stir in the breadcrumbs. Top the gratin dishes with the buttery breadcrumbs and broil for 5 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are browned on the top. Serve immediately.
 
 

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*A buttery texture can be found in Chardonnay that goes through malolactic fermentation, a process that softens the acidity of the wine. It converts the harsh malic acid in the pressed grape juice into the more palatable, softer lactic acid. The sharp acid notes are reduced, and the wine has a softer, buttery texture. Aging in oak provides buttery flavor notes.

[1] Make this delicious Lobster Mac & Cheese for National Lobster Day (photos #1 and #2 © DeLallo).

[2] Shellbows are a hybrid shape of shells and elbows, meant to catch more sauce per forkful.

[3] This Lobster Mac & Cheese adds some red jalapeño heat (photo © Melissa’s).

[4] A sprig of fresh sage makes a nice garnish (photo © Tillamook).