How many ways can you think of to use this
crunchy, colorful garnish? Photo courtesy
Bemka.com.

They’re served in a gunkan-maki (battleship roll), on uramaki (reverse rolls) and as a sashimi garnish.

Originally available in orange, the popularity of tobiko has led to a rainbow of options: flavored tobiko in black (colored with squid ink), green (wasabi), pale yellow (yuzu) and red (ume plum), as well as spicy orange.

Tobiko is an asset in the kitchen, where you can use it to add instant festivity:

Tobiko caviar comes from the flying fish of Iceland and the Pacific Ocean. It’s available at better supermarkets, at specialty food stores and online.

So for special occasions, pick up a jar. You’ll get a lot of bang (or is that crunch) for the buck.

Check out other types of caviar in our Caviar Glossary.
  

New York Style is known for its bagel chips, available in seven flavors.

The company has recently launched mini bagel chips, in BBQ, Cheddar, Garlic and Sea Salt.

For us, the standout is Garlic: a buttery, garlicky chip that’s delicious:

The line is certified kosher by OU.

Find the store nearest you with the company’s store locator.
 
Find more of our favorite crackers and snacks.

There’s no need to boil water to home-brew iced tea (photo © Kelly Cline | iStock Photo).

 
Results are more noticeable depending on the type of tea used. Cold infusion shows Darjeeling tea to better advantage, for example.

You can add another layer of flavor by infusing herbs or fruits with the tea.

Mint is the herb standard-bearer for tea; but if you have other sweet fresh herbs at hand (such as basil, lemon basil or rosemary), use them. Crush the herbs in your hand first, to release the aromatic oils.

Or, slice in some stone fruits—cherries, nectarines, peaches, plums or nectarines.
 
 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COLD INFUSION TEA & SUN TEA

Sun tea is a similar process: tea made with cold water instead of hot water. The difference is that it is placed in a sunny location to steep, and the warmth of the sun speeds up the steeping process.

To make sun tea, follow the same instructions as for cold infusion, but let the tea steep in the sun for four hours—on a window ledge, the porch or other sunny spot. Then refrigerate.

As with cold infusion tea, experts note that the gently slow-brewed, tea has stronger flavor than conventionally hot brewed tea.

Let us know how you like it!
 
 
Find more iced tea recipes by pulling down the menu at the upper right of this page.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF ICED TEA

> THE HISTORY OF TEA

But Americans are more familiar with green tea ice cream is made with matcha tea, one of the finest Japanese teas.

It’s not just delicious: It’s full of antioxidants. Matcha delivers much more of them: 1385 ORAC units per gram, compared to 253 for goji berries, 105 for pomegranate, 93 for wild blueberries and 60 for açaí (details).
 
 
RECIPE: MATCHA ICE CREAM

Here’s a super-easy recipe to make green tea ice cream at home, no ice cream maker required:

1. Soften a pint of high-quality vanilla ice cream until it is malleable.

2. Place the ice cream in a large mixing bowl. Stir in two tablespoons of matcha tea and blend well with a large spoon.

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or refill the carton.

4. Return to the freezer and chill until set.

You can enjoy cup after cup of hot or iced matcha tea, or use it in these everyday foods:

Matcha tea is expensive, but worth it if you love the flavor of green tea.

According to Matcha Source, Japanese tea, in general, tends to be more expensive than teas produced in other countries. It’s the rule of supply and demand: Japan is a small country (think of how much agricultural land there is in China and India, by comparison). The country only exports about one percent of its teas.

Production is also more expensive. Only the youngest, sweetest leaves are used. Covering the fields with bamboo mats (tarps) to create the shade-grown tea weakens the tea plants, and a longer recovery period is needed before they can be harvested again.

And at the factory, the stone grinders work slowly in order to maintain the nutrients in the tea, including the amino acid, L-theanine, which focuses the brain; ir may help the body’s immune response to infection. Each grinder produces only about 40 grams of matcha in an hour.

For too many years, we’ve been hearing “health food” claims for dark chocolate—without any support as to what intensity of cacao (dark chocolate can range from 50% to 100% cacao) how much chocolate, and oh, by the way, how the healthfulness is offset by all the sugar (the remaining percentage, that isn’t cacao, is largely sugar).

Chocolate bars also include fat, but the fat is cocoa butter, a heart-healthy fat.(details).

And what about that industry-insider knowledge that, using conventional roasting methods, most of the flavanols (the antioxidant compounds) are roasted out of the chocolate?

There’s hope on the horizon for those who want to see chocolate as a healthy food—but it’s not going to be your basic Hershey bar.

Barry Callebaut of Switzerland, world’s largest chocolate manufacturer, has received support from the European Food Safety Authority for its claim that cocoa flavanols, the antioxidant compounds that are found in cocoa powder and dark chocolate, can be good for blood circulation (more about antioxidants).

The chocolate tested was made with a special high flavanol cocoa produced by the company. If the health claim receives final approval from the European Commission later this year, European manufacturers that use high-flavanol cocoa may soon be able to make health claims on everything from candy to chocolate drinks, cereal bars and cookies.

A final decision is expected at the beginning of next year.

Since 2005, Barry Callebaut has conducted more than 20 clinical studies looking at effects of cocoa flavanols on people. The tests used cocoa powder and chocolate products made through a special process developed by the company. The process preserves up to 80% of the flavanols that normally would be destroyed in the conventional chocolate-making process.

Flavanols have been shown to lower blood pressure, improve blood flow and reduce the risk of heart disease by stimulating production of nitric oxide, which relaxes vessels.

Barry Callebaut submitted evidence from its studies, showing that the intake of 200 milligrams of cocoa flavanols a day contributes to normal blood flow. This amount can be consumed in 10 grams/.35 ounce of the specially-produced high-flavanol dark chocolate. The standard Hershey bar weights four times as much: 43grams/1.5 ounces.

Here’s the full article.