But soft cheeses have their place as well. Today‘s tip is to consider how to use them in your favorite soups…and beyond.

Fresh cheeses also have a place in salads and other everyday dishes. As you peruse the list below, think of how you can add them to everything from eggs to vegetable dishes.

Depending on the texture, fresh cheeses can be crumbled, diced, sliced, shredded or, in the case of very soft cheeses, scooped/spooned.
 
 
WHAT ARE FRESH CHEESES
Fresh cheeses are those that are not aged (some are aged for a very short amount of time) and do not have a rind, which is a result of aging.

Jennifer Meier, an About.com Guide, has grouped fresh cheeses by similarity of texture.

[1] A scoop of fresh fromage blanc, flavored with herbs, makes an impressive (and delicious!) soup garnish (photo courtesy BigFoto.com).

GROUP 1: SALTIER FRESH CHEESES WITH A DRIER, CRUMBLY TEXTURE

GROUP 3: MILD, CRUMBLY FRESH CHEESES THAT DO OT MELT

GROUP 4: SOFT, SPREADABLE CHEESES

This group of spoonable, smooth cheeses looks similar to sour cream, and each makes an excellent soup garnish. Some might wonder why they are classified as cheeses. The answer is in the recipe: Production techniques differentiate between what is cheese and what is cream.

GROUP 5: SOFT CURD CHEESES

This last group of fresh cheeses doesn’t work well with soup or salad. But the cheeses are very versatile in other recipes.

 
MORE ABOUT FRESH CHEESES.
 
DISCOVER MORE OF OUR FAVORITE CHEESES IN OUR GOURMET CHEESE SECTION.

Although peanut butter makes up a large percentage, 67% of American nut consumption comprises peanuts. Almonds are second at 13%, with the remainder filled out by pecans (4%), pistachios and almonds (each 2%) and other tree nuts (12%).

Yet, the grand winner in the nut category is not an actual nut, but a legume—a botanical group that includes alfalfa, beans, carob, clover, lentils, mesquite, peas, soybeans and climbing vines like wisteria.

Peanuts actually grow underground,* as opposed to true nuts, which grow on trees (and in recent times have engendered the differentiating term, “tree nuts”). Tree nuts are packed with protein and other excellent nutrition; legumes, as a group, provide the best source of concentrated protein in the plant kingdom.

Today’s tip covers ways to use this nutritious nut/legume in cooking.
*As the budding pod begins to enlarge, it grows down away from the plant, into to the soil.

The most common way to eat whole peanuts is as a snack. But add them to your recipes as well. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

TYPES OF PEANUTS

There are four categories of peanuts; if you taste them side-by-side, you’ll notice subtle flavor differences.

 
Peanuts are grown mainly in southeastern U.S., Texas and Oklahoma; New Mexico grows the small crop of Valencia peanuts.

There’s a world of peanut-liciousness beyond peanut butter, which is terrific in baked goods, sauces, and delicious peanut soup (try these peanut soup recipes). Many Asian cuisines add nuts to cooked dishes, from curries to stir frys.

 
We love the Thai Beef Salad recipe below. It’s just one example of how to add peanuts to dishes; serve it as a first course or main course. The recipe makes six first-course servings. Is from The Peanut Institute, which has many more peanut recipes.

Ingredients For Dressing

 
Ingredients For The Salad

 
Preparation

1. WHISK together all the dressing ingredients except peanuts. Stir in peanuts just before mixing with salad.

2. COMBINE the beef, cucumbers, snow peas, bean sprouts, peppers, cabbage and onions with dressing.

3. ARRANGE salad on lettuce leaves. Sprinkle with peanut garnish. Serve.
 

A BRIEF PEANUT HISTORY

Today, peanuts are grown in tropical and subtropical regions around the globe, but they most likely originated in South America. When the Conquistadors returned to Europe from Mexico in the early 1500s, peanuts went with them.

Traders brought peanuts to Asia and Africa, and the versatile legume made its way to North America on sailing ships in the 1700s. Yet, peanuts were not grown extensively in America; harvesting techniques were slow and difficult. Until the Civil War, the peanut was a regional food in the southern U.S. (It’s the “goober” in the famous Civil War song, “Eating Goober Peas”; and why Nestlé calls its chocolate-covered peanuts Goobers.)

After the Civil War, the demand for peanuts increased rapidly. According to PeanutsUSA.com, by the end of the 19th century, the development of equipment for production, harvesting and shelling peanuts, as well as processing techniques, led to the expansion of the peanut industry. Twentieth century labor-saving equipment resulted in a rapid demand for peanut oil, roasted and salted peanuts, peanut butter and confections.

The proliferation of flavor-infused vodkas provides a ready-made “cocktail” that you can enjoy straight (and straight 80 proof!). But you can also create more complex-flavored drinks with them; every distiller has a website full of tempting recipes.

The next time you’re at the liquor store, take a look at what’s available in the infused vodka category, and consider experimenting with your favorite flavor.

If you like all things (a) fizzy, (b) with vodka, and (c) with grapefruit, Belvedere Vodka has created this very simple and refreshing Pink Grapefruit Fizz.

 
GRAPEFRUIT FIZZ COCKTAIL

Ingredients For 1 Drink

 
Preparation

1. BUILD drink over cubed ice in a highball glass.

2. GARNISH with a wedge of grapefruit.

Rum, tequila and vodka distillers are launching more and more infused or flavored options. What‘s the difference?

Some things don’t mean what you think they do. Unless regulations limit them, manufacturers choose words that are less accurate or explanatory but better for marketing; consumers and the media change the meaning of words via ignorance, and the usage proliferates. (The most egregious example is the use of the word decadent. It doesn’t mean delicious or anything positive, but the vast number of people who pick up the erroneous meaning couldn’t care less.)

In the old days—which may be as old as 10 years ago—infused olive oil, honey, etc. meant that the flavor being infused (steeped or soaked)—herbs, citrus, etc.—was crushed or placed into the vat with the main ingredient, and the flavors melded. That was the expensive, old-school way of doing things.

A less expensive way is to simply add an extract—the way you can use lemon extract in a recipe instead of infusing slices of lemon or adding fresh lemon juice.

With spirits, all bets are off: “Infused” has no meaning to those who govern the industry. The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), the department of the U.S. Treasury that is responsible for controlling the labeling standards of spirits (and collecting taxes on every bottle sold), neither defines the term nor holds distillers accountable for how they label the products. For example, a bottle can declare that it is “infused with the flavor of Seville oranges” when the contents have never been anywhere near a piece of fruit. No seller wants to declare a product “infused with the flavor of Seville oranges via orange extract.”

The current trend among whiskey distillers is to add honey flavor, as in the case of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey, Jim Beam Red Stag, Wild Turkey American Honey and Bushmills Irish Honey. We don’t know where the honey flavor comes from in those bottlings, but Dewar’s new Highlander Honey Scotch incorporates real honey from their own hives. It restores our faith.

FIND MORE OF OUR FAVORITE COCKTAIL RECIPES.
  

[1] Cold soba noodles typically are served on a flat plate like pasta; but here, they’re swirled into a stylish dome (photo © Lulu Durand | iStock Photo).

[2] Hot soba ingredients with fried tofu cubes and edamame are American-inspired (photo © Sun Basket).

[3] A classic preparation: cold soba noodles topped with shredded daikon (suzushiro) (photo © Soba Yamagata).

[4] Hot soba noodles topped with salmon, sweet potatoes, baby bok choy, scallions, black and white sesame seeds (photo © Vital Choice | Facebook).

[5] Serve soba noodles as a side, instead of rice or pasta. Here, it’s served with slices of panko-coated fried chicken roll, stuffed with asparagus and carrots (photo © Between The Bread).

Uncooked soba (buckwheat) noodles (photo © Maria Lapsha | Fotolia).

Unless you live in an area with good Japanese restaurants, it may be difficult to find a dish of soba noodles. But if you check in a natural foods market or online, you should be able to pick some up and cook your own. Soba noodles can be enjoyed so many ways, hot or cold. You can even set them out as a buffet, with pick-your-own toppings (see hiyashi soba, below.)

Soba dishes are appealing party fare, from bowls of noodle soup meant to be slurped with gusto, to a mix-your-own cold soba noodle salad with four, six or more optional ingredients with which to customize one’s dish.

Soba is the Japanese word for buckwheat; the thin noodles are made from buckwheat flour. As with all pasta, soba noodles can be served warm or chilled (think cold sesame noodles and pasta salad). Here are some popular recipes ideas

> A full recipe for soba noodle salad with tofu is below.

> Also below is the history of soba noodles.
 
 
HOT SOBA NOODLE DISHES

 
 
COLD SOBA NOODLE DISHES

 
You can create fusion food with western ingredients: hard-cooked egg, julienned ham, and cheese, strips of roast pork or poultry, leeks or red onions instead of scallions, sliced red radishes…anything goes.

In fact, one conceit for a soba noodles party is to have each guest bring a creative ingredient to mix in.
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*Mori soba, seiro soba, and zaru soba are similar but for the serving plate or basket.
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The tradition of eating soba originates from the Tokugawa Period of Japan, also called the Edo Period, from 1603 to 1868 C.E. Every neighborhood had one or two soba establishments, many also serving saké, where locals would stop for a casual meal.

At that time, the well-to-do population of Edo (ancient Tokyo) was more susceptible to beriberi than the rural poor, due to their high consumption of white rice, from which the nutrients are removed with the bran. Low thiamine (vitamin B) consumption leads to beriberi, and it was discovered that the disease could be prevented by regularly eating thiamine-rich buckwheat [source].

Previously, people ate buckwheat in the form of dumplings or mixed with glutinous rice to make rice cakes.

Innovations made it easier to eat soba transformed into long, thin soba noodles. Using a blend of 80% buckwheat with a filler of 20% wheat made the noodles resilient and easy to slurp down. This became Edo’s famous 2:8 soba.

Soba restaurants proliferated, and the noodles became so popular that merchants and samurai families would pay to have soba restaurants delivered to their homes.


Soba noodles became a daily part of life. It was Edo-era fast food for the busy people of Edo. Convenient, inexpensive, light on the stomach, filling, versatile with a choice of toppings, and importantly, nutritous, a bowl of soba was an is a well-rounded meal. 


That Tokyo was close to key buckwheat producing areas like Nagano and Niigata helped the dish flourish.

The Japanese word soba means buckwheat, in particular, buckwheat noodles. It is an abbreviation of the full name of buckwheat, soba-mugi, which means “edgy wheat.”

Soba is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve in most areas of Japan [source]. Soba noodles have long symbolized longevity: “the thinner; the longer” in shape, the better.

Low in calories, delicious, and as inexpensive as they’re going to get: This is the season to have as much asparagus as you desire. Incorporate them into everyday dishes such as eggs and pasta, or make something more special-occasion like risotto. Steam them for a snack. Whatever you do, cook them al dente rather than soft.

Adding asparagus to a recipe is easy: Just grill, sauté, steam or stir-fry the spears.

For pasta and risotto: For a seasonally exciting change, cut asparagus into bite-size pieces, sauté or steam and mix into cooked pasta, risotto or plain rice. You can use the pasta sauce of your choice, or simply toss with good olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. For more complexity, combine asparagus with mushrooms and/or other green vegetables, including broad beans, broccoli, green beans, spinach and spring peas.

For eggs: Mix al dente cooked and cut spears into omelets or scrambled eggs, or add whole spears to Eggs Benedict, between the Canadian bacon and the eggs.

For salad: Add asparagus to your favorite salad recipe, or create a composed salad of asparagus, beets, hard-cooked eggs, mozzarella and any other appealing ingredients.

 
ASPARAGUS TIP

The thickness and size of the spear has nothing to do with the tenderness of the asparagus. Tenderness is a function of how the plant was grown and how fresh it is—the longer the time since harvest, the less tender.

However, the bottom of the stalk, where it is cut from the ground, is tough. It should be removed before cooking.