Sprouted bread is typically a product sold in natural food stores. In our little municipality—the island of Manhattan—the supermarkets are very small and you have to go to a natural foods store to find anything sprouted.

Fortunately, we have more than a few Whole Foods Markets which carry sprouted breads (check both the fresh bread and freezer sections).

And Silver Hills Bakery is a sprouted brand worth seeking out. Their whole grain products are so much more delicious and nutritious than conventional whole-grain breads.

And tastier than other sprouted brands we’ve tried.

So if you’re already a whole-wheat guy or gal, try sprouted. And if you eat supermarket white bread (with allowances for baguettes, challah, focaccia, rustic Italian loaves, and artisan breads from bakeries)…you’re in for a taste treat.

One that’s good for you!
 
 
WHAT ARE SPROUTED FOODS?

Sprouting, also known as germination, is a common practice used to improve the digestibility and nutritional value of :

 
The sprouting process involves soaking the food for up to 24 hours, then draining and rinsing repeatedly over several days.

It’s labor-intensive, but beneficial nutritionally (more about that in a minute).

To make sprouted bread, sprouted whole grains are milled into flour. It’s that simple.

We typically consume whole-grain breads instead of refined grains, but we’ve taken the next step.

Beyond conventional whole-grain bread, we’ve become a convert to sprouted grain bread because… we’ve discovered that it’s delicious!

In particular, a sample of sprouted breads from Silver Hills Bakery arrived, and we couldn’t stop eating them—especially the most textured, seed-loaded varieties.

Silver Hills Bakery has converted us to sprouted-grain bread and is our Top Pick Of The Week.
 
 
THE BENEFITS OF SPROUTED BREAD

It’s great that a slice of sprouted bread has 22g or more of whole grains (depending on variety) and 6g of protein (there are 3.6g in regular whole-wheat bread).

The USDA’s 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines recommends that Americans consume at least 3 servings of whole-grain foods daily, which adds up to 48 grams of whole grains. Two slices of Silver Hills bread will get you there, almost.

Sprouted bread has 47% less gluten than regular bread, 75% of the carbohydrates, and about 40% of the fat of even conventional whole-grain bread. There’s a greater amount of naturally occurring fiber, vitamins, proteins, and other nutrients.

As a bonus, sprouted bread is low glycemic, and more easily digestible.

But we’re in it for the great flavor.

Whether it’s avocado toast or toast with cream cheese or jam for breakfast, in a ham and Swiss or grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, or in the dinner bread basket, give us sprouted grains!
 
 
ABOUT SILVER HILLS BAKERY

Silver Hills Bakery is a Canadian-based company that sells in Canada and the U.S. Its lines include loaves of bread, bagels, buns, and tortillas.

They’re better-for-you bread options: sprouted whole grain nutrition, low-carb, gluten-free, and allergy-friendly.

The products are:

 
We’ve tasted the breads and bagels:

The Loaves: There are 16 different loaves, of which the majority are organic. For the texture we love, pick Squirrelly (sprouted wheat stuffed with sesame and sunflower seeds) and The Big 16 (oat-topped sprouted wheat stuffed with 16 seeds and grains). A fan favorite we haven’t tried is Mack’s Flax (sprouted whole wheat with whole flax and ground flax).

The Bagels: While the bagel textures are conventional—you wouldn’t know they’re sprouted, since the crumb* is smooth—we enjoyed them for their lower carb, low-glycemic profile. And the flavor is far better than the leading brand of frozen bagels! The flavors: Cinnamon Raisin, Everything, Plain, and Sesame Sunflower.

Silver Hills products are sold fresh and frozen, depending on the variety and the store. Look for them at Target, Whole Foods, and on Amazon. Here’s a store locator.
 
We’ve tried some other sprouted brands, but nothing tastes as good as Silver Hills. It’s worth seeing out.

There are plenty of recipes on SilverHillsBakery.ca.
 
________________

*Bakers use the term “crumb” to describe the interior consistency of breads and cakes. They can be light or dense, smooth or textured, etc.

[1] Sprouted power! Silver Hills Bakery’s lines are loaded with it (all photos © Silver Hills Bakery).

[2] Breakfast or snack? A sprouted bagel with peanut butter and fresh strawberries.

[3] French toast with Silver Hill’s Cinnamon Raisin sprouted loaf.

[4] Sprouted power for lunch. Your sandwich will taste better, too.

[5] Snack or first course: cheesy cauliflower spread on toast. Here’s the recipe.

[6] There are also sprouted hot dog and hamburger buns.

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[1] The three main types of onions: red, white, and yellow. But that’s just a start. Here are the different types of onions (photo © National Onion Association).

[2] A hot dog with raw onions, cilantro, and melted Swiss cheese (photo © Murrays Cheese).

[3] Beer-batter onion rings wih horseradish dipping sauce. Here’s the recipe (photo © QVC).

[4] A caramelized onion, potato and Gruyère pizza with rosemary. Here’s the recipe (photo © Domestic Gothess).

We’ve got onion uses and onion trivia for June 27th, National Onion Day. Onions are a vegetable we may not think a whole lot about. But Americans eat an average of 20-21 pounds per year.

“It’s hard to imagine civilization without onions,” quoth Julia Child. How do we enjoy them?

 
Here’s a recipe you may not have made before, but it couldn’t be easier: Baked Onions.

> The different types of onions and when to use which type.

> The history of onions.

> The year’s 6 onion holidays.

> More uses for onions.
 
And now…
 
 
ONION TRIVIA

Why do onions make you cry?

Sulfuric compounds are released when the cells of the onion’s flesh are cut. To cut down on the crying, chill the onion and cut into the root end of the onion last. Our special tip: Wear swim goggles when cutting onions! The reason sweet onions don’t make you cry is because there’s little sulphur in the soil where they’re grown.

One medium onion contains how many calories?

Just 45 calories. A one-cup serving of raw onions contains 64 calories.

What cocktail is garnished with an onion?

The Gibson is garnished with a pickled pearl onion, called a cocktail onion. According to The Webtender, these lesser-known cocktails are also garnished with a cocktail onion: Gent Of The Jury, Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster #2, Patton Martini, and the Yellow Rattler.

What should you eat to get rid of onion breath?

Chew on parsley.

What city was known as The Big Onion?

Before it was known as the Big Apple, New York City was called the Big Onion because it was “a place from which you could peel off layer after layer without ever reaching the core” [source]. However, Chicago is more rightly called called the Big Onion: “Chicago” is the French interpretation of the local Miami-Illinois Nation’s word shikaakwa, which means “stinky Onion” after garlic (not onion) plant that grew along the Chicago River [source].

More Onion Trivia

 
We close with an old English rhyme:

“Onion skins very thin, Mild winter coming in. Onion skins very tough, Coming winter very rough.”

Onion trivia is courtesy of the National Onion Association.

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Updated June 2026

The last Friday in June is National Cream Tea Day, which begs the question: What is cream tea?

Most Americans might think the obvious: It’s adding cream to your tea. But no.

Cream tea is a light British afternoon snack of a pot of black tea, scones, clotted cream, and fruit jam—typically strawberry (photo #1).

The more elaborate afternoon tea, which originated as a more substantial snack*, additionally includes finger sandwiches and a variety of cakes (photo #2). For cream you need only prepare tea and scones.

Long before tea arrived in England—and long before farmers created clotted cream—people put cream and jam on bread.

The custom appears to have begun in the 10th century, and we posit that in addition to being delicious in itself, it may have been a way to use cream to soften yesterday’s bread.
 
Below:

> The history of tea in England.

> What did the English drink before tea arrived?

> Clotted cream is created, to later become the “cream” of cream tea.

> The history of cream tea.

> A recipe for homemade clotted cream.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The different types of tea: a photo glossary.

> The history of tea.

> The year’s 23 tea holidays.

> The history of jam, jelly, and preserves.

> The numerous types of jam and preserves: a photo glossary.

> The different types of cream: a photo glossary.
 
 
TEA ARRIVES IN ENGLAND

Tea from China arrived in the early 17th century, when Dutch traders from the British East India Company and the Dutch East India Company sailed home to Europe with chests of it.

The precious leaves arrived in England in the 1650s.

At first, tea was a novelty, served in London’s relatively new coffee houses. Few people drank it.

The famous diarist Samuel Pepys wrote about his first tea experience in 1660: “…and afterwards I did send for a cup of tee (a China drink) of which I had never drank before, and went away.”

That’s the first written documentation of tea drinking in England.
 
 
Tea Becomes Popular

Tea drinking got a boost in 1662 with the arrival of Portugal’s Catherine of Braganza, who became the wife of King Charles II.

When her ship docked in Portsmouth on May 14, 1662, the travel-weary royal asked for a cup of tea. There was none to be had in Portsmouth.

But among the goods she brought from Portugal was a chest of tea, the favorite drink of the Portuguese Court.

Catherine popularized the drink at the English Court and among the British nobility, which was then embraced by the wealthy gentry. It was a luxury.

As the East India Company ramped up imports and competition drove prices down—roughly the 1720s–1750s—tea became accessible to the middle classes: tradespeople, prosperous farmers, and yeomen‡. By around 1750, a yeoman household drinking tea daily would not have been remarkable.

But it was still so pricey, that it was kept in small locked tea chests, with the key carried on her person by the lady of the house.

At time, punishingly high import duties meant that the majority of tea consumed in England through much of the 18th century was smuggled. This actually accelerated tea’s spread down the social ladder, since smuggled tea was far cheaper than legal tea.

It’s estimated that by mid-century, smuggled tea outsold legal tea substantially.
 
 
Tea Reaches The Working Class (1780s Onwards)

Prime Minister Pitt the Younger’s Commutation Act of 1784 slashed tea duties from around 119% to 12.5%. This collapsed the smuggling trade overnight and made legal tea genuinely affordable.

By the early 19th century, tea was considered the “national drink” of England—effectively the working-class drink—although costlier than ale.

It’s important to note that ale was the safe alternative to the potentially harmful water supply; the brewing process killed many pathogens, making it far safer than drinking the untreated water of the time. However, boiling water for tea also killed waterborne pathogens.

Plus, while an agricultural laborer could function adequately with ale in his system, a factory worker operating machinery could not do as well. Employers increasingly discouraged or forbade drinking ale during working hours. Tea had the extra advantage of caffeine.

Finally, cheap Caribbean sugar transformed tea from a slightly bitter curiosity into something genuinely pleasurable and calorie-providing for people whose diets were often inadequate. The sweetened cup became a small daily comfort.

By the late 18th century, tea was [source].
 
 
WHAT DID THE ENGLISH DRINK BEFORE TEA?

Before tea arrived, there was coffee. But coffee was also a relatively recent arrival.

Coffee became available in England, also via the Dutch traders, no later than the 16th century.

According to a 1583 account, the first coffeehouse in England was opened in St. Michael’s Alley in Cornhill, the historic nucleus and financial center of modern London.

In 1650 The Grand Cafe opened in Oxford. It’s still open today but as a wine bar.

Oxford’s Queen’s Lane Coffee House, established in 1654, is still serving coffee today.

By 1675, there were more than 3,000 coffeehouses throughout England.

However, women were banned from them in England, and other countries as well [source].

According to this British wiki on coffee culture, “as their husbands, brothers, fathers and friends began to spend more and more time in coffeehouses,” they became something of a clubhouse, open to all…except women.

Although the lower and middle-class men were getting a chance to speak up and discuss current issues with scholars and journalists, women were still excluded from this vital part of society [ibid.].

[1] Cream tea: a pot of tea, a scone, clotted cream—the “cream” in cream tea—and preserves (photo: The Nibble).

[2] Afternoon tea is a more elaborate affair adding finger sandwiches and cakes to the cream tea (photo © Perth Product Photography | Pinterest).

[3] You can serve any flavor of preserves or jam you prefer. While strawberry remains the favorite, apricot and raspberry are popular. Above: blueberry preserves (photo © Alexandra Kusper | Unsplash).

[4] Clotted cream, one of the four components of cream tea (with scones, preserves, and tea). Here’s how to make your own from heavy whipping cream (photo © Cupcake Project).

[5] You can purchase a jar of clotted cream, which does well in a pinch, if not as good as fresh (photo © iGourmet).

[6] Catherine of Breganza, who popularized tea in England (photo via Wikipedia).

Clotted cream is a thickened cream made by heating full-cream cow’s milk in shallow pans using steam or a water bath and then leaving it to cool slowly.

As it cools, the cream content rises to the surface and forms “clots,” hence the name [source].

It is slightly yellow in hue, due to the high carotene levels in the grass eaten by the cows; and tastes like a slightly sweet blend of unsalted butter and heavy cream.

It was originally made by dairy farmers to reduce the amount of unused cream in the long era before refrigeration.

Clotted cream predates any written record of its invention. It’s documented in Devon and Cornwall from at least the medieval period, although the technique may be considerably older.

In fact, some food historians suggest the method could even have arrived with Phoenician traders, who are believed to have visited Cornwall as early as 500 B.C.E. in search of tin.

(This is speculative but not implausible: Scalded cream preparations exist in other ancient Mediterranean traditions, notably in Turkey and across the Middle East, where kaymak† is made by an almost identical process, but with buffalo milk, which makes it tangier than the cow’s milk version.)

The most plausible English origin story is that clotted cream arose in the dairy farming communities of Devon and Cornwall, where extra cream was preserved by scalding with gentle heating.

The cattle breeds in those two areas and the lush, wet pastureland that fed the cattle produced exceptionally fatty milk, conducive to this technique.

Someone, at some point, noticed that the thick, crusted top of the scalded cream was particularly delicious and it became a regional specialty, rather than merely a byproduct of food preservation.

Thus, clotted cream was likely “discovered by accident” rather than intentionally invented—and probably discovered by multiple independent farmers in Cornwall or Devon who were scalding their extra (and extra-fatty) cream.

Territorial rivalry: While it has long been disputed whether clotted cream originated in Devon or Cornwall, and which county makes it the best, the clever Cornish struck a blow in 1993 by applying for the term “Cornish clotted cream” to have a Protected Designation of Origin (P.D.O.) in the European Union, granted in 1998 (it must be made from milk produced in Cornwall and have a minimum butterfat content of 55%).

The First Appearance Of Clotted Cream?

The creation of clotted cream is believed to date back as far as the end of the 10th century at Tavistock Abbey in Devon, with the Benedictine monks of Tavistock Abbey.

After their abbey was ransacked by Vikings in 997 C.E., the monks rebuilt with the help of Ordulf, Earl of Devon, who had founded the abbey in 974. The monks fed the workers were who were helping with the restoration with bread, clotted cream, and strawberry preserves [source].

Editor’s note: They drank ale with their meal, since tea would not arrive in England until the 1650s—and remained prohibitively expense for the next 100 years.

The 1658 cook book, The Compleat Cook had a recipe for “clouted cream” [source].

So, some 370 years later, celebrate the day with your own cream tea. And pile clotted cream and jam on your breakfast toast.
 
The Clotted Cream Debate: Devon Vs. Cornwall

In the U.K., cream tea is a subject of the “Great Debate” over how to assemble the scone. The debate began between two South West England counties, Devon and Cornwall, both of which are known for their clotted cream, where the local cattle breeds produce particularly fatty milk.

Both versions are enjoyed across the U.K.:

 
Editor’s Note: We’ve tried both ways and both work. But we prefer the Cornish method—jam first—for an entirely different reason. You can load as much preserves as you like on the bottom, and as much clotted cream on the top. With the Devon method, cream on the bottom, you’re limited in the amount of preserves you can pile on without squishing the cream.

Is Milk Served With The Tea?

The customary option is a small splash of whole milk, added to the cup either before or after the tea is poured—the before-or-after debate being another minor kerfuffle, though less fierce than the Devon-Cornwall debate.

Some people take their tea black, and sugar is a matter of personal preference, but cream or half-and-half in the tea would be considered rather unusual and un-English.

The rich clotted cream on the scone would overwhelm any cream in the tea; but more to the point, the English palate developed around tea with milk. Cream was a relative luxury.

The U.S. deviated from the tradition, adding cream—generally light cream or half-and-half—to coffee and tea, although today regular milk (5% fat) is more common (not to mention 2%, 0%, and plant milk).
 

[8] The clotted cream debate: Devon vs. Cornish vs. It Doesn’t Matter, They’re Both Delicious (photo: The Nibble).
 
 
THE HISTORY OF CREAM TEA

The cream tea tradition in Devon and Cornwall long predates the Duchess of Bedford created afternoon tea around 1849.

It grew naturally from the monastic and agricultural traditions of the Southwest, with the monks at Tavistock Abbey in Devon credited with feeding workers bread, clotted cream, and ale as early as the 10th or 11th century, with tea eventually replacing ale as the beverage served with it once tea became affordable to rural folk in the 18th century (by the mid 1700s).

Cream tea is fundamentally a regional, rural, and ancient tradition, while afternoon tea is an urban, aristocratic, fashionable Victorian creation. The two are related but distinct in origin, with cream tea being considerably more rooted in everyday life and far older.
 
 
RECIPE: CLOTTED CREAM

Clotted cream is made by heating high-fat cream very gently and slowly over a long period. You need heavy cream with at least 36%–40% butterfat. Ultra-pasteurized cream won’t work well, as the processing interferes with the clotting.

Each cup of heavy cream yields 6 tablespoons of clotted cream (four cups of cream yields 1.5 cups of clotted cream).

While it takes one minute to prepare (just pour the cream into a pan), it takes 8 hours to cook and requires an oven, slow cooker, or rice cooker with a temperature that stays low and steady for 10 hours without turning off. This can take place overnight.

Then, you need to refrigerate it for another 8 hours and skim the thick clotted layer from the top. The whey underneath can be used in baking (we drank it!).

> Follow this recipe with step-by-step photos.

> Here’s an Instant Pot recipe.

________________

*Afternoon tea originated as an elaborate snack served between the light lunches and late dinners served in the early 1800s. It is usually served between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. It was a large spread with finger sandwiches and scones, cakes, macaroons, and other tidbits. Many people mistakenly call this “high tea,” which is not an elegant affair but a simple workman’s dinner (with a cup of tea, of course). Here’s more about afternoon tea, a tradition begun by a very hungry duchess.

†What did the English drink before coffee? Beer, cider, milk. The eater supply was often polluted and disease-bearing, so only boiled water could be safely consumed.

‡By the 18th century, the popularity of tea had grown so much that everyone wanted it. But it was still too expensive for people of modest means. Smugglers began bringing tea into the country illegally, to avoid the tea tax and thus sell it for less. Eventually, as it was estimated that more illegal tea was brought into the country than legal tea, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger slashed the tea tax from 119% to 12.5% in 1783. That eliminated the illegal smuggling trade, and with affordable tea, consumption skyrocketed [source].

‡‡In Turkey it’s eaten at breakfast, spread on bread with honey. It’s also served as a side with sweet pastries and desserts, particularly ekmek kadayıfı (a bread pudding) and künefe (a shredded wheat and cheese pastry). It’s made across the former Ottoman world: in the Balkans, the Caucasus, Iran, and the Levant, under various names and with local variations.
 

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[1] A French charcuterie board. Here’s the “recipe” (photo © Domino).

[2] A German charcuterie board. Here’s the “recipe” (photo © Schneiders).

[3] Italian charcuterie board. Here’s the “recipe” (photo © Harry And David).

[4] Spanish charcuterie board. Here’s the “recipe” (photo © My Kitchen Love).

[5] A charcuterie board doesn’t have to be as elaborate as the ones above. Here’s a simpler version for a group of four (photo © Castello Cheese).

One of the easiest ways to entertain is with beer, cocktails, and/or wine and a cheese board. Or a charcuterie board. What’s the difference?

Simply stated, a cheese board is cheese plus accompaniments (fruit, condiments, bread, etc.). A charcuterie board can be meat and accompaniments-only or can include cheese as well.

A bit of history:

Cheese. According to the Dairy Farmers Of Wisconsin trade association, cheese has been around for many centuries, potentially dating back to 1200 B.C.E. (Most recently, in 2018, a salty cheese similar to feta was found in a 3,200-year-old Egyptian tomb. Here’s more history of cheese.

Charcuterie. Charcuterie, on the other hand, is a more recent invention—relatively speaking.

While using salt to cure meats dates back to the Roman Empire (625 B.C.E. to its fall in 476 C.E.), the concept of a modern-style platter of different cured meats was pioneered in 15th century France.

Literally, charcuterie means pork-butcher’s shop, from Middle French chaircuiterie, from chaircutier, pork butcher, from chair cuite, cooked meat. It is both the name for the shop and its products.

It was (and is) the charcutier’s skill that turned a butchered pig into bacon, ballotines*, confit, galantines*, ham, pâtés, rillettes‡, sausages, and terrines†.
 
 
CHEESE & CHARCUTERIE MEET UP

Given the French breadth of cheesemaking, it likely didn’t take long to add cheeses to a plate of cured meats, along with some delicious French bread, fresh and dried fruits, nuts, and condiments.

While condiments included such standards as mustard, mostarda, and savory jams (e.g. onion, tomato), straight sweetness was introduced via sweet jams, honey, and membrillo (quince paste fron Spain).

Much more has been added since then. Today, you can find an even greater variety of goodies on charcuterie boards:

 
We love charcuterie boards and can easily make a meal of them.

They can serve as brunch, lunch, or a light dinner. You simply assemble the ingredients: no cooking required!

Charcuterie boards are also a great complement to wines of all types.
 
 
BEYOND FRENCH CHARCUTERIE

While Greece and the Middle East have pastirma (also spelled basturma, highly seasoned, air-dried cured beef), sujuk (dry, spiced sausage), feta, halloumi, labneh, and much more to snack upon, they have a focus on mezze (a great idea for a brunch, lunch, dinner, or party).

But other countries provide ways to create charcuterie boards from their meat and cheese specialties. Here are three of them.

 
Of course, you can mix and match national specialties. Enjoy every bite (and sip)!
 
 
> The Different Types Of Charcuterie

> The Different Types Of Cheese

> More Cheese Condiments
 
 
________________

*A ballotine is traditionally a de-boned thigh and/or leg part of a chicken, duck, or other poultry. It is stuffed with forcemeat (ground or sieved meat and other ingredients), which can include ground pork.

A galantine is a dish of boned stuffed meat, typically poultry, that is usually poached and served cold, often covered with aspic. Galantines are often stuffed with forcemeat (which can include pork) and pressed into a cylindrical shape.

The difference: A galantine is usually cylindrical in shape, making it easier to slice. Galantines are also usually wrapped in cloth and poached in their own stock. Ballotines can be either poached or braised and are usually served in a broth made from leftover cooking liquid.

†A terrine is a meat, fish, or vegetable mixture that has been cooked and set in an oblong shape container. It is typically unmolded and served in slices.

‡Rillettes are pork or other meat or fish, preserved with a method similar to confit, where the meat is seasoned then slow-cooked submerged in fat, and cooked at an extremely slow rate for several hours. The meat is then shredded, packed into containers, and covered in fat.

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Just in case you’re looking to impress someone by taking him or her to a memorable brunch spot, head to Miami. The brunch at Zuma is the most expensive “bottomless” brunch in the world, served on Saturdays and Sundays.

First, let us disclose that Zuma’s brunch is not about omelets and pancakes. It’s about some of the most in-demand Japanese izakaya* dishes in the world.

A step back: The brunch survey focused on bottomless brunches—the term is a newer and more refined—term for all-you-can-eat and drink.

The survey was commissioned by M Cash Advance (Merchant Cash Advance), which specializes in small business loans.

The research they commissioned analyzed 1.4 million global monthly Google searches.

It does come with, per some brunches, bottomless champagne, cocktails, and wine.
 
 
WHAT’S ON THE BRUNCH MENU AT ZUMA

The food appears to be similar to the even-more-expensive Asian-inspired dinner menu.

In addition to bottomless food, there are bottomless drinks: beer, cocktails, Champagne and other wines, and saké.

There is live jazz music and a river view.

Brunch is offered in three price tiers. The top tier, Premium, is $395, without tax and tip.

[1] Zuma brunch is a true feast (photo © Zuma Restaurant).

[2] A close-up (photo courtesy Food Nouveau).

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