[1] The fruit salad version of Heavenly Hash, wrapped in sour cream (photo © When The Dinner Bell Rings | Blogspot [now closed].

[2] Heavenly Hash fudge, with chocolate chips, mini marshmallows and pecans. Here’s the recipe from Small Town Woman (photo © Small Town Woman).

[3] Heavenly Hash ice cream, with chocolate chips, marshmallow swirl and sliced almonds (photo © Stewarts Shop).

February 2nd is National Heavenly Hash Day. But which heavenly hash?

If someone offers you Heavenly Hash, you may want to clarify:

Is it a fruit salad bound with sour cream or whipped cream, or a chocolate confection or baked good filled with marshmallows and nuts?
 
 
HEAVENLY HASH: THE FRUIT SALAD

The fruit salad version of Heavenly Hash is a traditional Southern dish. It began as a Christmas recipe with red maraschino cherries, green grapes, pecans and other ingredients folded into whipped cream.

Over generations the recipe evolved, with everyone inventing his or her own hash (the term, after all, indicates a jumble or muddle of ingredients).

So today the recipe for heavenly hash essentially requires some kind of fruit—fresh, canned and/or candied—in some kind of creamy white binder.

We prefer sour cream, but have also found, mayonnaise, pudding, whipped cream, even yogurt or cottage cheese and (gasp!) Cool Whip.

Here are just a few of the combinations we perused:

 
We make Heavenly Hash with fresh fruits (strawberries, bananas, pineapple, peaches) and nuts (a mix of pecans, pistachios and walnuts), folded into crème fraîche or slightly sweetened sour cream.

If the whole concept sounds odd to you, know that Heavenly Hash is very much a comfort food to its fans.
 
 
VARIATION: AMBROSIA

Ambrosia is a similar American fruit salad from the South.

While some people use the terms interchangeably, most ambrosia recipes contain coconut and pineapple, mandarin or orange sections, and miniature marshmallows.

As with Heavenly Hash, Ambrosia can also include nuts and maraschino cherries.

We dug up an old Ambrosia recipe from Emeril Lagasse that uses fresh fruits (bananas, berries [3 types], oranges, pineapple), whipped cream and toasted coconut.

And because it’s from a noted chef, there’s a chiffonade fresh mint leaves.

Folks liked the concept of heavenly hash so much—different ingredients in a creamy base—they ported it into other sweets called Heavenly Hash:

 
So enjoy Heavenly Hash Day your style, with one of the ideas above; or freestyle it to create something new.

There’s a better way to do it:

Fill a small plastic bag or even a paper envelope with the peppercorns. Snip off a corner. You’ll be able to better aim the peppercorns into the mill.

• Now that you’ve mastered filling the pepper mill, master all the different types of peppercorns.
• Pepper is not related to bell peppers or hot chile peppers. The term “pepper” was applied to the Chile by New World explorers, who related the hot and spicy flavor of chiles to the peppercorn they knew. Learn more about chile “peppers.”

Keep ‘em in the peppermill, not on the
counter. Photo courtesy SXC.

Want to serve fresh, hot chicken wings at your Super Bowl party?

In this video, the chef demonstrates how easy it is to bake chicken wings and offers options for two different sauces: one based on Peruvian peri-peri sauce, the other on Thai sriracha sauce.

Now, you don’t have to wing it.

If so, you’re tossing out a delicious ingredient: the zest.

Zest is the outermost part of the rind/peel/skin. Before you juice the citrus, remove the zest for use in other recipes. Scraping or cutting it from the skin is known as zesting.

Note that the volatile oils in citrus peels are strongest just after zesting. So if possible, remove the zest just before you use it. Another tip: Finely grated zest releases more flavor than larger strips.
 
 
USES FOR CITRUS ZEST

Zesting a lime. Zest got its name from the “zestiness” it adds to food. Photo by Villy Fink Isaksen Wikimedia.

 
The fresher the zest, the more aromatic and flavorful; so don’t let it wane in the fridge.
 
 
HOW TO ZEST

Be sure to wash and dry the fruit well before zesting. If you can, buy organic or unwaxed citrus.

While some people use a paring knife, it’s much easier to use a zester (which creates julienne strips) or a zester grater like a Microplane, or the fine side of a box grater.

First decide how you’re going to use your zest: grated or strips. If the zest will be used for flavor and then removed (marinades, steeping in tea) it doesn’t make a difference. For garnish/eye appeal, use a regular zester. To dissolve into recipes (vinaigrette, sorbet) use a zester grater. We love our Cuisipro box grater.

If you’re going to buy a zester, get a combination zester-stripper, which also creates strips of peel for cocktails or garnish.

What are your favorite uses for lemon zest?

If you enjoy grapefruit regularly, treat
yourself to this snazzy double grapefruit knife.
Photo courtesy RSVP.

But grapefruit can be difficult to peel and pith (the pith is the white membrane).

Whether you don’t like to eat it or you don’t want pith marring the look of your fruit salad, here are tricks to peeling and pithing.

• Boil the grapefruit for 5 minutes. The pith will come away with the peel. Run the grapefruit under cold water if it’s too hot to peel.
• Similarly, if the grapefruit is too difficult to peel, pour boiling water over it and let it stand for 5 minutes.
• If you’ve already peeled the grapefruit and can’t easily remove the pith with a serrated grapefruit knife, dip the grapefruit in hot water for two minutes and try again.

And you thought you were eating grapefruit for the flesh (which contains the antioxidants beta-carotene and vitamin C, plus lots of potassium)!

This tip is courtesy How To Repair Food, a handy little book.