Celebrate National Strawberry Ice Cream
Day by tasting 4-6 different brands. Your
favorite may surprise you. Photo courtesy
Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Today is National Strawberry Ice Cream Day, a good excuse to have an ice cream tasting.

Most of us keep buying Brand 1 out of habit; but perhaps we’d prefer Brand 2, 3 or 4. Manufacturers can change their recipes over time, and new brands pop up. Your own tastes change, as well.

Pick up different brands of strawberry ice cream and treat family or friends to an ice cream tasting. Analyze the different components: creaminess, berryness, density, mouthfeel, texture, sweetness.

Take notes and rank your favorites. The results may surprise you.

For Your Ice Cream Tasting

While we’re happy with just the ice cream, we wouldn’t turn down some shortbread or butter cookies on the side. You want a simple cookie that complements the ice cream.
 
Also feel free to set up a toppings bar: chocolate chips, fruits, nuts, granola and other favorites.

Another tip about ice cream: Don’t serve it rock-hard. A good part of the flavor will be frozen solid as well. If your freezer has hardened the ice cream to the max, set the pints on the counter for 15 minutes before scooping and serving.

The original frozen desserts were fruit ices, or sherbets, which date back to China, as early as 3000 B.C.E.

Ice cream as we know it was most likely created in Florence in the 1500s for a Medici banquet (details). While no details survive of the creation, according to FoodTimeline.org, cooks began to make summer desserts by taking the richest part of the milk, the cream, flavoring it with seasonal fruits—like strawberries—and cooling it down with ice. The chillier the cream, the more solid the product.

Thus, the dessert’s name was a description of the process by which it was made. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, “iced cream” first appeared in print in 1688; “ice cream” appeared in 1744.

Before modern refrigeration, ice cream was a rich man’s treat. Only wealthy people had access to ice in the summer (it was cut from lakes in the winter and stored in cellars and caves).

And wealthy people had the staff needed to make ice cream: those to hold down the ice-filled bowl and those to hand churn the bowl of cream set in it, until it solidified—constant stirring for up to an hour!

It was not until the late 19th century that commercially-manufactured ice cream was accessible to people across socioeconomic levels.

Check out the history of ice cream, which began with flavored ices in China, as early as 3000 B.C.E.

Sea salts are dehydrated from ocean water. They are not refined like table salts, so contain traces of calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, potassium, zinc and natural iodine present in the waters from which they were harvested. These individual ocean “terroirs” (tur-WAH) give each sea salt its own unique flavor and appearance.

This makes them more healthful as well as tastier. And many sea salts are beautiful, sprinkled atop foods for visual as well as flavor notes. (Garnishing salts cost more. Inexpensive sea salts are available for cooking—we use La Baleine.)

Imported from all over the world, there are scores of different sea salts available in the U.S. Each has its own flavor and beauty.

Some of our favorites are elegant grey Celtic salt from France; coral-hued alaea, a volcanic Hawaiian sea salt (with a mellower flavor than other sea salts); the crunchy crystals of Angsley salt from Wales; the pyramid-shaped crystals of Maldon salt from England; and Himalayan pink salt.

For table use, sea salt grains are generally too large for most salt shakers. Just treat yourself to a salt mill. This stylish salt mill from Oxo Good Grips also has a matching pepper mill.
WHAT ABOUT IODIZED SALT?

Many of us were taught in school that it is important to consume iodized table salt to prevent the development of goiter, an enlargement of the thyroid gland caused by iodine deficiency

American salt manufacturers began iodizing salt in the 1920s, in cooperation with the government, after people in some parts of the country were found to be suffering from goiter due to an absence of iodine in their diets.

Humans require fewer than 225 micrograms of iodine a day. Seafood, cruciferous vegetables*, and sea salt contain iodine naturally and iodized salt is unnecessary if there are sufficient quantities of these items in one’s diet.

*The cruciferous vegetable group includes bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, mustard greens and turnips, among other veggies.

HOW MANY TYPES OF SALT HAVE YOU HAD?

Take a look at all the lovely salts in our Salt Glossary. You’ll be inspired to run out (or click) for some.

SPECTACULAR SALT BOOKS

Love food? Love history? One of our favorite food books is Mark Kurlansky’s Salt: A World History.

Mark Bittman fans should also pick up a copy of Salted: A Manifesto on the World’s Most Essential Mineral, with 50 Bittman recipes that showcase the different aspects of salt.

January 13th is National Peach Melba Day, but why? Peaches aren’t in season until June. It was invented for a summer celebration!

But, if you must have one out-of-season, you can forge ahead in the recipe below with frozen peaches.
 
 
PEACH MELBA HISTORY

Peach Melba (its original title was in French, Pêche Melba) was created in the summer of 1892 at the Savoy Hotel, London by the the great French chef Auguste Escoffier. It honored the renowned Australian soprano, Dame Nellie Melba (Escoffier also created Melba toast for her).

The dish combined two summer fruits, peaches and raspberries, with vanilla ice cream. Escoffier poached the peach and topped it with ice cream and raspberry purée. Essentially, it’s an ice cream sundae with poached peaches.

But the original Pêche Melba was a bit more elaborate. At the time, Dame Nellie was performing in Wagner’s opera, Lohengrin, at Covent Garden. She was the guest of honor at a dinner party hosted by the Duke of Orléans at the Savoy.

For the party, Escoffier displayed the dessert in a swan ice sculpture. In the opera, the knight Lohengrin arrives and departs in a boat pulled by swans. Here, the ice swan held a bed of vanilla ice cream topped with peaches and spun sugar.

Needless to say, the dessert was the talk of the town—or at least, that portion of town interested in opera and Escoffier.

In 1900, for the opening of the Carlton Hotel in London, Escoffier created an easier version of the dessert. He ditched the ice swan and topped the peaches with raspberry purée.

Light yet delicious, Pêche Melba became a classic dessert.

The question is, why is National Peach Melba Day in January, when fresh peaches are out of season? Fresh raspberries are almost always available and you can use canned or frozen peaches, although to do so counters the wisdom of eating seasonally. Frozen peaches, are a good substitute.

But celebrate we will, by poaching some Dole frozen peach slices. We actually prefer the slices to Escoffier’s half-peach “cap” atop the ice cream.
 
 
PEACH MELBA RECIPE

Elegant as it sounds, Peach Melba or Pêche Melba, as the French chef Escoffier called it, is an ice cream sundae with raspberry sauce and peaches, instead of hot fudge and whipped cream or other current favorite.

Ingredients For The Poached Peaches

You can substitute frozen peaches when fresh ones are out of season.

 
For The Raspberry Purée

 
Plus

[1] Peach Melba, an ice cream sundae served in a stemmed dish (photo © Alex 9500 | Panther Media).

[2] You can plate it however you like. Here, the cook added some fresh raspberries (photo © Danilova Janna | Panther Media).

[3] Don’t worry if you don’t have stemmed dishes or goblets. Use a casual presentation, like this one from Food Network (photo © Food Network).

[3] The great British chef Marco Pierre White re-interpets Escoffier by placing the sauce on the bottom of a plate and the ice cream in a marzipan tulle. Chef Marco tops the peach with a spun sugar cage (photo © White Heat – The Recipes).

1. POACH the peaches. Wash, dry and halve the peaches and discard the pits. Combine all ingredients in a large pot. Cover, bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until the peaches are slightly softened but not mushy. Frozen peach slices may be ready quickly; whole, less ripe fresh peaches may take 7-10 minutes.

2. MAKE the purée. Wash the raspberries, pat dry and purée with the other ingredients. Set aside until ready to serve.

3. ASSEMBLE. Place a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a bowl—or better yet, make it a glass dessert bowl, a Champagne coupe, a round wine goblet, or a parfait or sundae glass. Top with a peach half or sliced peaches.

4. DRIZZLE with raspberry purée. Garnish as desired and serve.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF PEACHES

> THE HISTORY OF ICE CREAM

Entertain with tapas: Start with a good
cookbook. Photo courtesy Knopf.

You can serve a multicourse dinner of small tapas plates. It’s the opposite of our recent tip on buffets, but is just as much fun.

Spain is full of tapas bars, which feature a wide variety of hot and cold appetizers and snacks. From foods as basic as a bowl of mixed olives and a plate of cheese to fried baby squid, what was originally a menu of Spanish bar foods evolved into an entire meal.

Mixed seafood; ragouts of meat, sausages and beans; colorful salads; tortillas (Spanish omelettes) with ham and peppers; banderillas, or Spanish skewers; and empanadas, savory filled pastries, are just a few items found at a typical tapas bar.

But tapas aren’t limited to Spanish specialties. They can be Asian- or Greek-inspired, or gourmet dishes with foie gras and escargots. Goat cheese and arugula join Spanish Manchego cheese and olives. Pretty much any food you like can be served tapas style: a small portion on a small plate.

Tapas are an exciting eating experience for people who like a variety of foods, but don’t want the temptation of a buffet meal.

TAPAS COOKBOOKS
To get started, peruse a tapas cookbook:

 
TAPAS: THE NAME

The word “tapas” comes from the Spanish verb tapar, “to cover.” Why a “cover”?

According to the leading interpretation, a piece of bread would often be placed on top of a drink as a cover, to protect it from fruit flies. At some point the bread was covered with chorizo, ham or other food. Soon, drinkers would order a glass of sherry or wine specifically “with a cover.”

Thanks to an innovation from Fusion Brands, you can now elevate a cake plate or fruit bowl with Serveitup, a white porcelain base with a suction cup that provides a secure lift.

In an instant, you can put a fancy or everyday plate or bowl, up to 12 inches in diameter, atop the Servitup pedestal and serve with panache. There are two sizes: You can stack a smaller plate atop a larger one for a multi-tiered plating presentation.

Want to put your food on a pedestal? There’s a store locator on the website. Or, head to Amazon.com for the: