[1] A composed salad of avocado and orange. The recipe is below (photo © Foods & Wines From Spain).

[2] A composed salad recipe of vegetables and chickpeas. “Composed” means that the ingredients have been arranged individually in an attractive composition (photo © Anna Pelzer | Unsplash).

[3] This composed salad is not as perfectly composed—the ingredients are not as neatly placed. But it’s still a composed, as opposed to tossed, salad (photo © Nadine Primeau | Unsplash).

[4] A composed fruit salad, for breakfast or dessert (photo © Trang Doan | Pexels).

[5] A tossed salad of spinach, strawberries, spearmint, and goat cheese (photo © Doville Ramoskaite | Unsplash).

[6] A tossed salad of mixed lettuces, tomatoes, grilled shrimp, and blueberries (photo © Taylor Kiser | Unsplash).

[7] A tomato and peach tossed salad with white cheddar curds (photo © Adam Bartoszewicz | Unsplash).

May is National Salad Month, a time to explore new recipes, as attached as you may be to your current ones. There are many types of salads, the major categories of which are:

 
Most salads are traditionally served cold, although some, including grain and vegetable salads, can be served warm or hot.

Salads can be served as appetizers/first courses, entrées, sides, and desserts. Dessert salads can be sweetened, molded, or even frozen, and can be combined with fruit gelatin, whipped cream, or sour cream.

Salads can be composed (photos #1, #2, #3, #4) or tossed (photos #5, #6, #7).

 
> Check below for a delicious avocado and orange composed salad recipe (photo #1).

> You’ll also find a template for the perfect vinaigrette.

But first:
 
 
THE STRUCTURE OF A SALAD

Culinary students learn that the structure of a salad includes the Base, Body, Dressing and Garnish. Thanks to the Utah Education Network for this information.

 
The earliest salads were wild greens and herbs seasoned with salt. They represented the first vegetables to become available in the spring in northern climes, a refreshing repast after the winter diet of roots, tubers, nuts, seeds, and meat or fish, but no fresh greens or fruits [source].
 
 
RECIPE #1: AVOCADO & ORANGE SALAD

You can use a standard navel orange, but the visual and palate appeal of cara cara oranges and blood oranges gives the recipe an added lift. You can also substitute red grapefruit.

Thanks to Food & Wines From Spain for the recipe (photo #1).

For a wine pairing, wine specialist Adrienne Smith suggests Malvasía.

“There is something about a young and aromatic, dry Malvasía wine made in the Canary Islands that goes well with just about anything,” she says.

“Delicate enough to not overpower the avocado, but at the same time bold enough to match the acidity of the oranges, these wines from areas like Lanzarote* are hard to beat.”

Prep time is 30 minutes or less.

> The history of the avocado.

> The history of the orange.

> The history of blood oranges.

> The history of cara cara oranges.
 
Ingredients For 1 Large Or 2 Small Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE the oranges. Slice off the tops and bottoms and then cut off the peel and pith, following the curve of the fruit. Next, holding each orange over a sieve placed on top of a bowl to catch the juice, cut along the membranes to release each segment. Squeeze out any juice from the pulp and discard.

2. MAKE the dressing. Place the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and black pepper into a jar and emulsify using a hand-held stick blender. Alternatively, shake the mixture in a screw-topped jar. Add the reserved orange juice and mix again. When ready to serve:

3. HALVE the avocado, remove the stone and peel off the skin. Cut the flesh crossways into slices. Place the greens on the plate, arrange the avocado slices and orange segments on top and drizzle the dressing. Garnish with parsley and red onion as desired.
 
 
SALAD TIPS

– Keep washed and drained greens wrapped in a dry paper towel and refrigerate in a plastic container or a large plastic bag.

 
 
RECIPE #2: THE PERFECT VINAIGRETTE

Vinaigrette is an emulsion of oil, vinegar, and seasoning. The seasoning can be as simple as salt and pepper but can have added citrus zest, fruits (puréed), herbs (including prepared herbs, like horseradish and wasabi), mustard, and spices.

The classic formula for a vinaigrette is 3 parts oil to 1 part acid. The acid is typically vinegar but can be citrus juice, or a combination of both.

Oil. Any culinary oil can be used. Olive oil is standard, but less expensive oils such as canola, corn, grapeseed, and sunflower can be substituted.

Nut oils are especially delicious, as is sesame oil. If using dark sesame oil, which is very strong, you should blend it with olive oil or one of the other mild oils.

Vinegar. Any kind of vinegar works, from apple cider to balsamic to red or white wine to rice vinegar. Check out the different types of vinegar.

Seasonings. If using mustard or puréed fruit, you can substitute it for a portion of the acid. It can be just a hint, e.g. 1/8 teaspoon, or a full-out Dijon mustard or strawberry vinaigrette, made by substituting 1/3 of the vinegar/acid.

You can also substitute citrus juice (grapefruit, lemon, lime, orange, yuzu) for 1/3 to 100% of the vinegar.

_______________

*Lanzarote is a Spanish Denominación de Origen Protegida (D.O.P. for wines. It encompasses the entire island of Lanzarote, in the Canary Islands. The Canaries are a Spanish region and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are 62 miles west of Morocco.

World Paloma Day is May 22nd. We recently featured a classic Paloma recipe for Cinco de Mayo, but you can take this popular and refreshing drink a step further—and give it a global spin.

Like all classic cocktails, the Paloma invites you to play with the recipe and customize it—perhaps create your signature Paloma.

Today’s inspiration is this Spicy Thai Paloma recipe, which brings a bit of heat to the cocktail (photo #1). It’s a natural extension for a cocktail from Mexico, where chiles infuse the cuisine.

The recipe uses chili tincture. What’s a tincture?

Tinctures are concentrated alcohol infusions used to season cocktails, similar to, but different than, bitters‡.

 
> Here’s the classic Paloma cocktail recipe and the history of the Paloma.

> The different types of chiles.
 
 
RECIPE #1: THAI CHILE PALOMA COCKTAIL

This cocktail is a classic at the acclaimed Bluebird Restaurant in London. We thank them for the recipe.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE the glass with half of a salt rim. Place coarse salt in a saucer, wet half of the rim of a Tom Collins (highball) glass with a lime wedge, and roll the rim in the salt. Brush off any salt that may have adhered to the other half of the rim.

2. COMBINE the first five ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake and strain over fresh ice in the prepared glass.

3. TOP OFF with the grapefruit soda. Garnish with a kaffir leaf and a Thai chile—if you can find them—or default to a lime wedge or wheel.

 
 
RECIPE #2: THAI CHILI TINCTURE

This recipe uses navy strength gin, a higher-proof gin (at least 57% A.B.V., 114 proof, as opposed to the 80 proof of standard gin.

The name dates to the 18th century when the gin was stored on British Navy ships next to the gunpowder. If the gin spilled into the gunpowder, the damp gunpowder would still explode thanks to the higher proof of the gin.

If you don’t want to buy navy strength gin, you can use regular proof gin—but let the tincture sit for an extra week or two. You can also substitute vodka.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the ingredients in a jar, seal tightly, and shake vigorously. Store at room temperature for 2 weeks.

2. SHAKE the jar often. Shaking every day is fine—then you’ll remember to do it! After 2 weeks…

3. STRAIN into another container and store at room temperature.

[1] A Spicy Thai Paloma, made with some drops of Thai chile tincture (photo © Bluebird Restaurant | London).

[2] Thai chiles (photo © Anna Nekrashevich | Pexels).

[3] There are quality brands of grapefruit soda (see the footnote*), including Fever Tree (photo © Elemental Spirits).

[4] You can buy chili tincture or make your own (photo © Florida Herbs).

________________

*Grapefruit soda brands: There are many brands from which to choose, including good brands like Fever Tree, Jarritos (the brand used in Mexico), Q Sparkling Grapefruit, San Pelligrino, Spindrift (no sugar added), Ting, Whole Foods Market Pink Grapefruit Sparkling Italian Soda; and as the default, Fresca.

†Alternative salt: While most of us have coarse sea salt or kosher salt, if you have smoked salt or another flavored salt that works with the Paloma cocktail flavors, (chile or citrus, e.g.), feel free to substitute it.

‡The difference between tinctures and bitters: Both infuse botanicals—plants or plant parts valued for their flavor, scent, medicinal or therapeutic properties—into alcohol. However, bitters are distinctively bitter. Tinctures can be herbal, spicy, sweet, etc., without any bitterness.

[1] Chantilly, a.k.a. whipped cream, garniches a slice of pie (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[2] Clotted cream, also called Devon cream: a specialty of the U.K. and part of “cream tea” with scones and jam (photo © Cupcake Project).

[ 3] Creme fraiche, a cultured cream that is a more piquant substitute for whipped cream (photo © Vermont Creamery).

[4] A mascarpone and strawberry parfait (photo © Island Farms).

[5] Half-and-half, also called coffee cream because its main use is in coffee and tea (photo © Organic Valley).

[6] Strawberries and cream is typically served with heavy cream, but clotted cream, whipped cream or many of the types of cream in this glossary work fine (photo © Jacek Kadaj | Fotolia).

[7] A container of mascarpone (photo © Vermont Creamery).

[8] Sour cream (photo © Yelenay Echuk | Panther Media).

[9] Whipped cream. Only heavy cream and whipping cream can be whipped (photo © Kuhn Rikon | Facebook).

[10] This strawberry genoise is made with stabilized whipped cream, which does not deflate. Here’s the recipe (photo © Fun Cooking).

[11] All cream begins with whole milk. One gallon of milk will yield 1 to 1.5 pints of cream (photo © Pixabay | Pexels).

May 21st is National Strawberries and Cream Day. But what type of cream? Heavy, light, crème fraîche, sour cream, whipped cream..there are so many types of cream, and you can use any one of them.

We have our glossary of the different types of cream below, but first: what is cream?

You know what it is when you buy a carton, but before it becomes cream it is milk from the cow.

 
> Tip: You can make cream from milk at home. Here’s the recipe.
 
 
WHAT IS CREAM?

Cream is a form of milk in which the fat globules have become more concentrated than usual, whether by rising to the top in a bottle or spinning off from the heavier water phase in a centrifuge. There are several grades of cream marketed today, including heavy cream, light cream, and half-and-half.

The word cream first appeared in Middle English from Old French cresme, which was a blend of late Latin cramum (probably of Gaulish origin) and ecclesiastical Latin chrisma.
 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF CREAM

We include some cream-related terms (like the first entry), plus some terms that are more common in the U.K.

Also check below for the comparitive milfat content of all dairy produxts.

BUTTERCREAM or BUTTER CREAM
Not cream per se, but light, uncooked frosting made of butter, sugar and egg yolks, and sometimes milk or light cream, that is used to fill and frost cakes and pastries.

CHANTILLY CREAM
Chantilly is the French term for vanilla-flavored whipped cream. In Italy, “crema chantilly” is made by folding whipped cream into crema pasticcera (pastry cream) to make a wonderfully indulgent, extra-rich concoction (photo #1).

CLOTTED CREAM or DEVON or DEVONSHIRE CREAM or CLABBER CREAM
Clotted cream is the thickest and richest type of cream, with 55% to 63% milkfat, creating flavors that are both creamy and buttery. It has a spoonable consistency and does not need to be whipped before serving. It is traditionally made in Cornwall or Devon, counties at the far southwest tip of England, jutting out into the Atlantic ocean. Heavy whipping cream is scalded or cooked over a bain-marie, so the fat globules float to the top and form a firm layer and the cream takes on a golden color. It is then left to cool for a day. Traditionally served as part of a cream tea with scones and jam, with fruit desserts, and as a cake filling. It is not used for cooking because it tends to separate when heated. “Clabber” is an archaic English word for a cupboard or pantry (photo #2).

COFFEE CREAM (see Half-And-Half)

CRÈME FRAÎCHE
Crème fraîche is heavy cream that is treated with a bacteria culture. The culture thickens the cream and gives it a slightly tart, elegant flavor—a thinner alternative to sour cream with a higher milkfat content—39%. To make it, cream is gently heated and then inoculated with bacterial cultures. The bacteria consume the cream’s natural sugars, producing lactic acid. The gentle acidity thickens the cream and imparts a mild, delicious tang. Crème fraîche has less tang than sour cream because a far lower amount of bacterial cultures is used. It is stable when heated but cannot be whipped, despite the high milkfat content. Used as a dessert topping, it can also be used to make dips, salad dressings, sauces, and soups; it can be heated without curdling. In France, it is unpasteurized. In the U.S., it is often made by adding buttermilk (cultured milk) or sour cream (also cultured) to the cream (photo #3). And, you can make it at home. Here’s a crème fraîche recipe; a quicker alternative is to blend equal amounts of heavy whipping cream and sour cream.

CULTURED CREAM
Cultured cream is made with the addition of bacteria or by boiling. The four principal types have a delightful, piquant edge. You may like them even better than the simple, often-too-sweet whipped cream, to garnish chocolate cakes and other sweet, rich desserts.

 
DEVON CREAM (see Clotted Cream)

DOUBLE CREAM
This is a U.K. term for heavy cream, also called “country style” cream. The U.K. standard is 48% milkfat, which is higher than heavy cream in the U.S. (40%).

EXTRA THICK SINGLE CREAM
Another U.K. term, this is for the U.K. equivalent of light cream. It has the same fat content as single cream (18%) but has been homogenized to produce a thick, spoonable consistency similar to double cream. Like American light cream, it cannot be whipped, but is typically spooned onto desserts or poured into coffee and tea by people who prefer the added fat content over half-and-half.

FLAVORED CREAM
Made by some producers for the holiday season, these can be flavored with flavors such as brandy, chocolate, cinnamon, Irish cream, and peppermint.

GOAT’S MILK CREAM
You may come across a heavy cream that’s made from pasteurized goat’s milk. Very white in color, the flavor is smooth and mild. It can be whipped, poured into beverages, or simply spooned onto desserts.

HALF-AND-HALF or COFFEE CREAM
Half-and-half gets its name because it’s a mixture of half cream and half milk. The milkfat content is 10.5% to 12%, too low to be whipped. It is typically used for coffee and tea, and as a reduced-fat cream in many recipes (photo #5).

HEAVY CREAM
Heavy cream has the highest amount of milk fat of the basic creams (including half-and-half, light cream, and whipping cream). It usually has between 36% and 40% in the U.S., and as high as 48% elsewhere. Heavy cream whips into a denser product than that which is simply called whipping cream. It doubles in volume when whipped. If you’re using it as frosting and want it to hold up, make stabilized whipped cream by adding gelatin. It’s sold pasteurized and ultrapasteurized, but pasteurized whips better (photo #6).

LIGHT CREAM or TABLE CREAM
Sometimes called coffee cream or table cream, can contain from 18% to 30% butterfat but most commonly contains 20% butterfat. It cannot be whipped.

LONG LIFE CREAM (see Ultrapasteurized Cream)

MANUFACTURING CREAM
Manufacturing cream is a commercial product generally used by bakeries and professional food service operations and is not available in retail stores. It has a fat content of more than 40%, while the highest-fat retail cream (heavy cream) has a fat content of only up to 40%.

MASCARPONE
Mascarpone spreads like cream cheese, and is often called “Italian cream cheese” although it is much softer. It has a slight natural sweetness, a delicate but oh-so-rich flavor, and a milkfat content from 60% to 75%. Mascarpone is made by heating cream and acid. This actually creates a curd (as with ricotta), so mascarpone is considered a cheese rather than a type of cream (photo #7).

PRESSURE PACK WHIPPED CREAM
In the U.S. this is typically referred to as aerosol can whipped cream. A nitrous oxide gas propellant fills the portion of whipping cream when the can’s top valve is depressed. Products like Reddi-Whip typically have a minimum milkfat of 25% milk fat. However, it infuses the whipped cream with much more air than hand-whipping or using a professional whipping unit like iSi whipped cream dispensers, which aerate the entire canister at once with a nitrous oxide charger.

SINGLE CREAM
Single cream is the U.K. version of American light cream, a thin cream traditionally used for pouring and for enriching cooked dishes including sauces and soups. It contains 18%-20% milkfat. It can’t be boiled, however, because it will curdle.

SOUR CREAM
This cultured cream is thick and tangy. To sour pasteurized cream, a culture is added and the cream is heated to about 68°F/20°C for 12–14 hours. The lactic acid produced in this process creates both the slightly sour taste and the thick consistency. Sour cream has a milkfat content of 18% to 20%. It may also contain stabilizers, such as gelatin or rennin, which aid in the thickening (photo #8).

STABILIZED WHIPPED CREAM
Stabilized whipped cream added gelatin to regular heavy cream or whipping cream (photo #10). The gelatin stiffens the whipped cream and keeps it from collapsing—for days! Stabilized whipped cream is the go-to frosting for cakes, cupcakes (you may prefer it to buttercream), and layered desserts like trifles. Here’s a recipe to make it.

SWEET BUTTER
Butter is whipped from cream. Americans often use the term “sweet butter to refer to butter that has no salt, but this is a misnomer. Any butter made with sweet cream instead of sour cream is sweet butter. The appropriate terms to use are unsalted butter and sweet cream butter.

SWEET CREAM BUTTER
While in the U.S. both unsalted and salted butter can be labeled sweet cream butter, they will also be labeled unsalted, salted, or lightly salted.

TABLE CREAM or COFFEE CREAM
These are other terms for light cream, containing 18% to 30% milkfat.

ULTRAPASTEURIZED CREAM or LONG LIFE CREAM
Ultrapasteurized cream is heavy cream that has undergone ultra heat treatment (UHT): It is heated to above 280°F/138°C for at least two seconds to extend its shelf life. While that may not sound like much processing, ultrapasteurized heavy cream does not whip into peaks or froth for a cappuccino. Otherwise, it will whip well if chilled, but regular pasteurized heavy cream whips up better (and for better results with both, whip the cream in a chilled copper bowl). If you have a great palate, you’ll note that regular pasteurized heavy cream generates better flavor than ultrapasteurized. Ultrapasteurized cream has a similar level of milkfat as regular heavy cream (36% to 40%).

WHIPPING CREAM
Whipping cream falls between light cream and heavy cream in milkfat content, between 30% and 36%. Like heavy cream, it will whip to double its original volume (photo #9). It contains 30% to 38% milkfat. In two or three hours after it has been whipped, the air will dissipate and the volume will deflate. For whipped cream that holds its form for one or two days, see Stabilized Whipped Cream, above.

WHOLE MILK
Regular milk, i.e. not a reduced fat version (photo #11). Whole milk has close to 4% milkfat. See the milkfat for the milkfat in 1% and 2% reduced fat milk below. It takes 1 gallon of milk to yield 1 to 1.5 pints of cream.

These comparisons help to explain the difference among products created from milk. Note that the percentages are averages; different dairies can manage their recipes to include more or less fat. (Note that milkfat/milkfat is the same as butter fat/butterfat.)

The products are listed from the least amount of milkfat to the highest.

Terms differ by country. These terms are for the U.S., where a dairy product must contain at least 18% milk fat to be called cream. In Europe, a product called “cream” must have a minimum milkfat content of 30%.

May 20th is National Pizza Party Day (it varies yearly: the third Friday of May). Can you make a flatbread instead? Sure, we say: because pizza vs. flatbread is simply a matter of the dough.

The main technical difference between flatbread and pizza is that:

 
 
THE HISTORY OF FLATBREAD

Flatbreads were among the earliest processed foods, i.e., a product created from different ingredients that are combined such that, to paraphrase Aristotle, the whole is different than than the sum of its parts.

Flatbread is unleavened bread. It is made without yeast and thus does not rise (i.e., it remains flat). Flour, water, and salt are the main ingredients.

The flour does not need to be wheat or other cereal. It can be made with pseudocereals or legumes.

The dough is rolled out flat and baked. The result is always relatively thin, ranging from a few millimeters to a few centimeters in thickness.

Evidence of flatbread has been found at ancient sites in Egypt, the Indus Valley, and Mesopotamia.

Charred flatbread crumbs have been found in Jordan that date to 12,400 B.C.E., some 4,000 years before the start of agriculture in the region. (The ingredients included wild barley, einkorn wheat, oats, and Bolboschoenus glaucus tubers (a type of rush) [source].)

Flatbreads were first baked in enclosed earthen mounds, later in primitive brick or clay ovens all over the world.

Just a few types of flatbread that have found their way onto American tables: the arepa, bánh, bannock, chapati, johnnycake, injera, lavash, matzoh, naan, piadina, pita, puri, roti, and tortilla. There are dozens of others.

Flatbreads were used as edible plates, as spoons, and as the base for other ingredients, creating early sandwiches and pizzas (in the case of this article, flatbreads with toppings).

> Here’s an extensive history of flatbreads.

[1] A veggie flatbread with broccolini, Brussels sprouts and pesto. Here’s the recipe (photo © DeLallo).

[2] A shrimp and zucchini flatbread. Here’s the recipe (photo © Seapak).

[3] A simple flatbread with tomato sauce, cheese, and sliced olives (photo © Lucero Olive Oil).

[4] Fruits are also added to flatbread: figs and peaches on this ricotta flatbread, grapes, eaches, and others (photo © Colavita | Facebook).

[1] Black walnuts: beautiful, but with an extremely hard shell that requires a special nutcracker (photos #1 and #2 © American Black Walnut Marketing Board).

[2] The fleshy green outer covering is called the husk or shuck.(photos #2 and #3.

[3] The best source for black walnuts online is Hammons (remaining photos © Hammons Products Company).

[4] You don’t have to cook or bake to add black walnuts to a salad…

[5] …or to granola….

[6] …or to a charcuterie board.

[7] Black walnut pesto. Here’s the recipe.

May 17th is National Walnut Day. Walnuts may be the healthiest of the seven heart-healthy nuts. Here’s the scoop.

The conventional walnut in the U.S. is the English walnut (also called the Persian walnut*). But what about that other, little-known, wild American walnut, the walnut?

The taxonomical difference is in the footnote* below.

> The history of walnuts.
 
 
BLACK WALNUTS

Most of us know little or nothing about the American black walnut. Growing wild in Missouri and much of the eastern U.S., they were a part of many indigenous peoples’ diets at one time.

These days, they’re below the radar, cultivated in just a few states. More expensive to produce than the standard English walnut, black walnuts have become a specialty item for those in the know.

In addition to the expense of production, there is less meat per nut, as you can see in photo #2.

Another reason they fell out of favor: Black walnuts are truly a hard nut to crack, sporting extremely hard shells. Cracking black walnuts by hand can also result in stained hands.

But fear not: Commercial growers use large steel wheels to crack the nuts.

While subject to irrigation and some mechanical harvesting, the trees themselves are uncultivated—they have not been modified in any way over the years. American black walnuts truly are the wild cousin† of the cultivated English walnut.

The American Black Walnut Marketing Board is hoping that more outreach will convince people to try them.
 
 
Why use black walnuts when there are plenty of English walnuts available?

For the flavor!

Black walnuts have a heartier, earthier, more robust taste than English walnuts, and you’ll notice the difference as soon as you taste one.

They showed themselves brilliantly in the Toll House Cookie recipe, which is a favorite in our house.

We’ve been happily using them to replace English walnuts everywhere.

However, because the flavor is different, you can’t count on substituting them 1:1 in recipes for baking and cooking, without affecting the recipe outcome.

It’s best to start with tested recipes from black walnut websites like the American Black Walnut Marketing Board and Hammons .
 
 
For the nutrition!

We’d prefer them even if they weren’t more nutritious—and given the nutrition of English walnuts, that’s a lot of extra nutrition!

 
 
SWEET WALNUT RECIPES

 
 
________________

*The tree originated in the Middle East and these Persian walnuts became known as English walnuts. That’s because English merchant ships would trade them around the world, so they became commonly known as English walnuts. The English walnut and the Persian walnut are the same walnuts [source].

†All walnuts are members of the order Fagales an order of trees and shrubs, in the family Juglandaceae, the plant family known as the walnut family. The genus is Juglans, and that’s where the two walnuts split off. The Persian or English walnut is Juglans regia. The black walnut, also known as the American black walnut and the Eastern black walnut, is Juglans nigra. Here’s more about taxonomy, the branch of science concerned with the classification of organisms. The Latin name, Juglans, derives from Jovis glans, “Jupiter’s acorn”—figuratively, a nut fit for a god.

There are 21 species in the genus that range across the north temperate Old World from southeast Europe east to Japan, and more widely in the New World from southeast Canada west to California and south to Argentina.

There are five native walnut species in North America: black walnut, butternut, Arizona walnut and two species in California. The two most commonly found walnuts found in native locations are the black walnut and butternut [source].