THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


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RECIPE: Fusion Sushi & Prosciutto Box Sushi

Beautiful and delicious Prosciutto Sushi.
Photo courtesy MaiCuisine.com.

Fusion food refers to the combination of widely differing ethnic or regional ingredients or techniques: French-Thai fusion cuisine, for example. In sushi, there’s a lot of Japanese-American fusion.

The California Roll, for example, is not a traditional Japanese roll in the manner of tekka maki (tuna roll) and kappa maki (cucumber roll). There were no avocados in Japan.

California roll was invented in Los Angeles, land of the avocado, about 1973 by a sushi chef.

Similarly, cream cheese is not a Japanese ingredient. Philadelphia Roll, cream cheese and smoked salmon, was subsequently born in the U.S.A., along with Spider Roll and most of the fancy, multi-ingredient rolls on sushi menus (except for Futomaki, a Japanese tradition).

We’ve seen our fair share of Japanese-American fusion sushi (Boston Roll with Boston lettuce, Pumpkin Tempura Roll). Tuna tartare was created in Beverly Hills by Shigefumi Tachibe, a Japanese-born, French-trained chef, in 1984. Here’s the original recipe. The spicy roll group—spicy tuna, salmon, and others—followed.

Asparagus, spinach and other ingredients that originated in the Mediterranean basin are “fusion sushi.” Yet, while sushi chefs in competitions use fusion ingredients from reindeer tenderloin to mozzarella, we’ve never seen meat-based sushi or Italian fusion sushi in restaurants—until now.

This novel and delicious Prosciutto Sushi is an easy-to-make box sushi. The only “extra” you need is an inexpensive sushi press.

Prosciutto Sushi is a great pairing with white, red or sparkling wine. Get the recipe and serve up a storm.

See all the different types of sushi in our Sushi Glossary.

 

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GOURMET GIVEAWAY: Edy’s Ice Cream

Whether you prefer your ice cream slow churned, with no sugar added, light or rich and creamy, there’s an Edy’s ice cream for you.

This week, four winners will each receive four store coupons for 1.5-quart cartons any Edy’s frozen dessert.

Use one a week and you can have a month’s worth of ice cream in popular flavors that include Butter Pecan, Cookie Dough, Espresso Chip, French Silk, Mint Chocolate and so many more. (To feed our ice cream habit, we eat a lot of the Slow Churned Rich & Creamy Light.)

  • To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Ice Cream Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, December 13th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!

Four winners will enjoy Edy’s Ice Cream for a month.

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GOURMET GIVEAWAY: Mandi Foods’ Cheese Of The Month Club Subscription

The winner will enjoy three special
cheeses each month. Photo
courtesy EatWisconsinCheese.com.

One cheese lover will have several delicious cheeses to enjoy during the cold winter months.

Mandi Foods is providing the lucky winner with a three-month subscription to its Cheese Of The Month Club. The club is one of the best cheese club values on the Web and a terrific holiday gift for the cheese lovers on your list.

Each month, Mandi Foods’ cheese buyers will select three special cheeses for club members. You’ll have the opportunity to enjoy some of the world’s great cheeses—as well as realize what an enjoyable gift the Cheese Of The Month Club is.

Retail Value Of Prize: Approximately $75.00.

  • To learn more about Mandi Foods’ Cheese Of The Month Club, visit MandiFoods.com.
  • To Enter This Gourmet Giveaway: Go to the box at the bottom of our Gourmet Cheese Section and click to enter your email address for the prize drawing. This contest closes on Monday, December 20th at noon, Eastern Time. Good luck!

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GIFT OF THE DAY: Baseball Shortbread Cookies

Your favorite slugger will be delighted to receive a box of baseball-shaped shortbread cookies from Cooperstown, New York—home of the National Baseball Hall Of Fame.

Delicious, buttery shortbread is packaged into a tin representing the recipient’s favorite team, or in this National Baseball Hall Of Fame commemorative baseball tin, for as little as $14.95.

Many gift variations, including gift towers, are available. If you’re a shortbread lover, you’ll want to get some for yourself (a cellophane Bag O’ Bunts with a team sticker is just $5.99).

A commemorative tin full of baseball-
shaped shortbread. Photo courtesy
Cooperstown Cookie Company.

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TIP OF THE DAY: Things To Do With Candy Canes


[1] The harbinger of Yuletide (photo © Candy Warehouse).


[2] Multicolor candy canes from Hammond’s Candies, producer of “gourmet” candy canes (photo © Hammond’s Candies).

  A candy cane is more than a snack or Christmas tree decoration.

We also like to use them as dinner table decor: Fold a candy cane into each napkin, or tie it with a ribbon as a place setting.

Here are other ways to use them.

This is also a good list for what to do when you’ve purchased too many candy canes, or what happens to them after the holidays.

These “leftover” candy canes add bright peppermint flavor to beverages and desserts, throughout the gray winter days.

  • Use as a stirrer for hot chocolate or crush to use as a cup rimmer or a garnish atop the whipped cream.
  • Mix into brownie batter, chocolate cookie batter, or other favorite recipe.
  • Make peppermint ice cream. You can do it from scratch, or soften a container of chocolate or vanilla ice cream just enough to stir in crushed candy cane pieces. Or more easily…
  • Use crushed pieces as a garnish, to turn plain vanilla or chocolate ice cream into holiday ice cream.
  • Make peppermint whipped cream to use as a garnish for hot chocolate, ice cream, chocolate cake or other dessert.
  • Grind three candy canes or eight 1-inch peppermint candies to a fine powder in a food processor or spice mill.
    Set aside 3 to 4 tablespoons of the powder, depending on how strong a flavor you like, and reserve the rest in a small container for future use.
    Beat two cups of cold heavy cream in a small bowl until soft peaks form; fold in the peppermint powder.
     
    How do you use candy canes? Please share!

     

    CANDY CANE HISTORY

    Candy canes were created in 1670 in Germany, by the choirmaster of the Cologne Cathedral. He created sugar sticks for the young singers in the choir, to keep them quiet during the long Living Crèche ceremony. He bent the sugar-sticks to represent a shepherd’s staff.

    At this point, candy canes were all-white and had no flavoring. They remained this way for more than 330 years. White candy canes can still be seen on Christmas cards dating to 1900.

    Shortly after then, the first red-and-white striped candy canes appeared. The name of the innovator is lost to history. At about the same time, confectioners added peppermint and wintergreen flavors to create the “modern” candy cane.

    December 26th is National Candy Cane Day.

      

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