As you’re lining up your ducks for Thanksgiving (or should that be, lining up your turkeys?), here’s a beverage that can be a cocktail, mocktail or simply a replacement for water at the table.

We were inspired by these ideas from Polar Seltzer, a Massachusetts seltzer specialist that makes dozens of zero-calorie flavored seltzers, including seasonal specialties.

Cranberry Lime is a year-round Polar Seltzer flavor that’s a perfect fit with Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you can’t find a cranberry or cranberry-lime flavor in your local store, default to lime seltzer/club soda (the difference between seltzer and club soda is below).

IN THE WATER GLASS

Garnish the seltzer with some whole cranberries: simple and elegant.

For Christmas, add a mint leaf or lime wheel for a red-and-green effect.

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. MUDDLE cranberry juice, mint and vodka in a cocktail shaker. Shake with ice.

2. STRAIN into a glass, top with seltzer and garnish with fresh mint.

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. ADD a tablespoon or more of syrup to a rocks glass or Collins glass. Add ice cubes.

2. TOP with seltzer. Garnish as desired.

CLUB SODA, SELTZER & SPARKLING WATER: WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE

The overall category is carbonated water, also called soda water: water into which carbon dioxide gas under pressure has been dissolved, causing the water to become effervescent.

Carbonated Water: In the U.S., carbonated water was known as soda water until after World War II, due to the sodium salts it contained. While today we think of “soda” as a carbonated beverage, the word originally refers to a chemical salts, also called carbonate of soda (sodium carbonate, sodium hydroxide, sodium monoxide).

The salts were added as flavoring and acidity regulator, to mimic the taste of a natural mineral water. After the war, terms such as sparkling water and seltzer water gained favor. Except for sparkling mineral water, all carbonated water/soda water is made from municipal water supplies (tap water).

Carbonated water was invented in Leeds, England in 1767 by British chemist Joseph Priestley, who discovered how to infuse water with carbon dioxide by suspending a bowl of water above a beer vat at a local brewery. Carbonated water changed the way people drank liquor, which had been neat, providing a “mixer” to dilute the alcohol.

Club Soda: Like the original carbonated water, club soda is enhanced with some sodium salts.

Fizzy Water: Another term for carbonated water.

Seltzer or Seltzer Water: Seltzer is carbonated water with no sodium salts added. The term derives from the town of Selters in central Germany, which is renowned for its mineral springs. The naturally carbonated water—which contains naturally dissolved salts—has been commercially bottled and shipped around the world since at least the 18th century.

Sparkling Water: Another term for carbonated water/soda water. It can also refer to sparkling mineral water, which is pumped from underground aquifers. Note that not all sparkling mineral waters are naturally effervescent. Many are actually carbonated from still mineral water. Some are lightly carbonated by nature, but have extra carbonation added at bottling to meet consumer preferences.

Two Cents Plain: Another word for soda water, coined during the Great Depression, when plain soda water was the cheapest drink at the soda fountain.

FOOD TRIVIA

Of all the fruit that is commercially grown in the U.S., only the blueberry, cranberry and Concord grape are native to North America.

More than 10 years ago, a concerned dad learned that his son, Ian, had multiple food allergies. He set off on a journey to develop a line of kids’ favorites, so Ian and other children with allergies wouldn’t have to miss out.

“Can you imagine going through life unable to eat pizza or onion rings or a chocolate chip cookie?” says Chuck Marble, CEO of Elevation Brands? “Imagine sitting down at the dinner table and everyone else gets to eat chicken tenders or fish sticks except you.”

If the rest of the line is as delicious as the Sausage Pancrepes we just demolished, everyone will be scrambling to enjoy the products. Nothing in the very tasty pancakes gave any hint of a dietary restriction. The box front told a different story: NO wheat or gluten, NO milk or casein, NO nuts, NO soy.

But NO here means YES, it’s delicious. The box of four small sausages wrapped in pancakes (9 ounces net weight) was an instant hit, without the need for maple syrup or any other seasoning. They went quickly, and we could only wish for a few dozen more boxes.

Ian’s manufactures approximately 40 allergy-friendly foods for every time of the day: breakfast, entrées, desserts, snacks and sides. There are gluten-, dairy- and soy-free Mac & No Cheese; gluten-free chicken patties and tenders; onion rings and more.

There’s a store locator on the website, and if there’s no store near you, you can email your local retailer’s information to their sales team.

For more information, visit IansNaturalFoods.com.

Who would have thought that fresh fruit could have such a Thanksgiving theme! We found this idea in in the Dole Pinterest stream and couldn’t resist making one ourselves. In fact, it’s a great project to keep the kids busy on Thanksgiving.

Ingredients Per Fruit Turkey:

 
You can make and enjoy this fruit gobbler for breakfast, lunch, dinner or snacking throughout Thanksgiving weekend. Consider adding a side of yogurt or cottage cheese.

Photo courtesy Michelle Furlotte | Dole | Pinterest.

THANKSGIVING FRUIT & VEGETABLE GIFTS

Looking for something very nice and also very good-for-you? Turkey-decorated cookies may be cute, but premium produce is more considerate, not to mention more welcome during this calorie-packed season.

Melissa’s, America’s premier purveyor of fine fruits and vegetables, has an e-store that makes sending healthful gifts a snap.

You’ll find everything from traditional and organic deluxe fruit baskets to organic vegetables, including several varieties of Organic Purification Boxes and options that include specialty foods and wines.

Gifts We’d Like To Receive

For Kids & Adults

 
These are only the tip of the iceberg. For your perusing pleasure, check out:

Caviar chocolate isn’t for anyone. But here’s a bar with more universal appeal:

The PMS Bar from Lucas Candies. P is for peanut butter, M is for milk chocolate and S is for salted potato chips.

It’s so creamy, with a light potato chip crunch, and nifty looking with a semi-sweet chocolate drizzle. At $4.00, it’s a great stocking stuffer.

We were also fond of the newest Lucas candy bar creation, the Haverstraw Bar, made with milk chocolate, toasted coconut and toffee chips. The confections are made fresh by hand daily.
The Lucas family has been making chocolates since 1896, when five Lucas brothers emigrated to the U.S. from Greece and settled on the Hudson River in Haverstraw, New York.

Back to the chocolate: Today the store, in its original location, is operated by the fourth generation of the Lucas family. The same recipes that came with the family from Greece in 1896 are still made, along with some new ones like the PMS Bar and Haverstraw bar.

Historical note #2: Peanut butter was introduced to the masses in 1904 at the Universal Exposition in St. Louis, but it was a while before it was commercially produced and became a staple in American households. Krema Products Company of Columbus, Ohio began selling peanut butter in 1908 and remains the oldest peanut butter company still in operation today.

The first shelf-stable peanut butter was invented in 1922. Here’s the history of peanut butter.
  

Good things come in small packages. In the case of Petrossian’s new Caviar Chocolate, the package is small but the flavor is huge, and the memory will last a lifetime.

Petrossian has partnered with the great French chocolatier Pralus to create (to our knowledge) the world’s first caviar-studded chocolate.

For that select group of people who love both chocolate and caviar, you couldn’t find a better gift. “Even we were amazed with the result!” says Petrossian, describing their reaction to what Pralus had created.

The silken white chocolate and slightly salty, crunchy beads of sturgeon caviar are a marriage made in heaven: the highest form of salted chocolate. The cost of four small pieces: $29. The experience: priceless.

Petrossian doesn’t rest on its laurels as the world’s most prominent purveyor of fine caviar. The creative minds there are always trying to do more.

Recent innovations include caviar cream, caviar powder, Papierusse (“Russian paper”)—sheets of pressed caviar that look like Japanese nori—and caviar cubes for garnish.

Just imagine a gift basket with all of these wonderful products—and some fresh Petrossian caviar! Can we send you our address?