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


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.





TIP OF THE DAY: Pepper Jelly Uses

frank-fork-230

This hot dog needs garlic pepper jelly!
Photo by Sarah Lewis | SXC.

If you’ve never discovered the charms of pepper jelly, don’t put it off. Supplying sweet heat from chiles (which can range from mild to hot), it’s a very versatile condiment.

While one of the most popular recipes is to serve the glistening jelly on top of a block of cream cheese or Brie with crackers, we have dozens of suggestions in our review of Aloha From Oregon pepper jellies, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.

Just a few mouthwatering uses: serve pepper jelly with omelets, spread it on roast meats, add it to any salad with mayo (chicken, potato, tuna, etc.), use it as a spicy topping for cheesecake.

Read the review and you’ll learn not just about the products and uses, but where the quirky name came from.

Since April is National Garlic Month, we’ve got to call out Aloha’s Garlic Pepper Jelly and one of our favorite uses for it: on a hot dog! The garlicky jelly pairs with the garlic in the hot dog and is quite the gourmet touch—no mustard required.

Get some pepper jelly for Mom for Mother’s Day, and for any other small gift needs you have (they’re great teacher gifts).

 

Comments off

MOTHER’S DAY: Another Gift Idea

If you didn’t find what you were looking for in our five pages of Mother’s Day gifts, we’d like to highlight one that every woman should have:

A frilly, retro Flirty Apron. It:

  • Fits everyone
  • Comes in colors and patterns to suit every woman (and every kitchen)
  • Is so cute that it makes a fashion statement (we’re going to wear ours out on the street)
  • Also makes a great shower gift, bridesmaid’s gift, etc.FlirtyAprons.com even has mother-daughter aprons—and we mean for little girls, although your mom would probably love it if the two of you had matching aprons.

    Check out the selection at FlirtyAprons.com. There’s still time to send Mother’s Day gifts.

    And don’t forget to pick up a few pairs of those fetching rubber gloves: so nifty you’ll enjoy scrubbing pots and pans.

sassy_black-230

There are lots of colors, but we like
our apron in “basic black.” Photo courtesy FlirtyAprons.com.

Comments off

TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Peanut Soup From Montebello Kitchens

carrot-soup-wmmb-230

Another way to enjoy peanuts! Photo
courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.

Peanuts, peanut butter, peanut butter cookies, peanut brittle, satay…. peanut soup?? Indeed!

Peanuts, which originated in South America, actually came to the U.S. with African slaves. Brought to West Africa by Portuguese and Spanish traders, peanuts were a staple crop for West Africans.

We first had a bowl of peanut soup at the King’s Arms Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia. We were a young teen who liked peanut butter, but the concept of peanut soup seemed an oddity. So we had to try it.

It was love at first slurp. But in the ensuing decades, it’s been pretty hard to come across a bowl of peanut soup north of the Mason-Dixon line.

Thanks to Montebello Kitchens, purveyors of Virginia artisan foods, anyone can now have peanut soup three ways: Traditional, African Piri Piri (spicy) and Thai Curry (hot). All three simple-to-make varieties are delicious. As a bonus, they’re made from defatted peanut flour, are fat-free and only 145 calories per serving!

 

Comments off

TIP OF THE DAY: Easy, Great Dessert

If you need a quick-and-easy yet sumptuous dessert, serve store-bought biscotti and mascarpone.

The crunch of the biscotti and the luxuriousness of the super-creamy, slightly sweet mascarpone will be an instant hit.

They’re perfect with coffee and tea.

Who’d have thought that something so simple could be so addictively good?

Find more of our favorite dessert ideas and recipes.

mascarpone-vbc

Photo courtesy Vermont Butter & Cheese.

Comments off

Mint Julep Cocktail Recipes & Mint Julep History

Mint Julep
[1] A traditional Mint Julep (photo © Arch Rock Fish | San Diego [now closed]).

Mint Julep
[2] You don’t need silver julep tumblers. A rocks glass is just fine (photo © Distilled New York).

Mint Julep Recipes With Flowers
[3] For a special-occasion Mint Julep, add some edible flowers (photo © Woodford Reserve).

 

There’s no better way to watch the Kentucky Derby on Saturday than with a Mint Julep in your hand.

A Mint Julep is made of spearmint, Bourbon, sugar, and water. It’s similar to a Mojito, but substitutes Bourbon for rum. The fresh mint leaves are used very lightly bruised to release more of the aroma and flavor.

Traditionally, Mint Juleps are served in silver or pewter cups (shown in the photo). However, few of us have the space to keep a collection of julep cups, so any tall glass is fine.

More opportunity to celebrate: May 30th is National Mint Julep Day.

The history of the Mint Julep is below..
 
 
RECIPE #1: MINT JULEP

Here’s an easy Mint Julep recipe; but recipe #2, below, But Recipe #2, below, is worth the extra effort:

Ingredients Per Drink

  • 2.5 ounces Bourbon
  • 3 sprigs of mint (six to eight mature-sized leaves)
  • 1.5 teaspoons brown sugar
  • .5 cup crushed ice
  •  
    Preparation

    1. Muddle two sprigs of mint with the brown sugar and one ounce of Bourbon in a julep cup or old-fashioned glass.

    2. Add the crushed ice, the remaining Bourbon and garnish with sprig of mint.
     
     
    RECIPE #2: MAKER’S MARK MINT JULEP

    Ingredients For About 10 Rocks Glass Drinks

  • 2 large bunches fresh spearmint
  • 3 cups Bourbon
  • 1 cup distilled water
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • Clean, thin, lint-free cotton cloth
  • Empty quart jar
  • Shaved ice
  • Powdered sugar for garnish
  • Straws
  •  
    Preparation

    1. Prepare the mint extract: Remove about 40 small mint leaves, wash and place in a small mixing bowl. Cover with 3 ounces of Bourbon. Allow the leaves to soak for 15 minutes. Then gather the leaves in a clean, soap-free piece of cotton cloth and vigorously wring the mint bundle over the bowl of whiskey. Dip the bundle again and repeat the process several times. Then set aside.

    2. Prepare the simple syrup: Mix 1 cup of granulated sugar and one cup of water in a pot. Heat to dissolve the sugar. Stir constantly so the sugar does not burn. Set aside to cool.

     
    3. Prepare the Mint Julep mixture: Pour 3 cups of Bourbon into a large glass bowl or glass pitcher. Add 1 cup of the simple syrup to the Bourbon.

    4. Begin adding the mint extract a tablespoon at a time to the julep mixture. Each batch of mint extract is different, so you must taste and smell it after each tablespoon is added. You may have to leave the room a time or two to clear your nose. (Editor’s Note: Or use this trick: Put whole coffee beans in a cup and hold them to your nose. Coffee beans magically “clear the nose” so you can smell again.) The tendency is to use too much mint. You are looking for a soft mint aroma and taste—generally, about 3 tablespoons total.

    5. Refrigerate. When you think the mixture is right, pour it into an empty bottle, cap tightly, and refrigerate it for at least 24 hours to marry the flavors.

    6. Fill glass. To serve the Mint Julep, fill each glass half full with shaved ice. Insert a sprig of mint and then pack in more ice to about an inch over the top of the cup. Then, insert a straw that has been cut to one inch above the top of the cup so the nose is forced close to the mint when sipping the julep.

    7. Garnish. When frost forms on the cup, pour the refrigerated julep mixture over the ice and add a sprinkle of powdered sugar to the top of the ice. Then serve.
     
     
    MINT JULEP HISTORY

    Considered the unofficial drink of the South, the Mint Julep began as a medicinal concoction to settle the stomach. As a cocktail, it blossomed in the American South in the late 1700s.

    Some historians say that the Mint Julep dates to the Colonies in the early 1700s. If so, it may have been mixed with rum instead of bourbon, a more-available spirit from only as far away as the Caribbean.

    The Mint Julep was a drink for the well-to-do, who had access to the crushed ice and the silver or pewter cup in which the drink is served (the metal helps to keep the drink cold [source]).

    The Mint Julep cocktail first appeared in print in 1803, described as a “dram of spirituous liquor that has mint in it, taken by Virginians in the morning.”

    One visitor observed that the planters rose early and had their juleps, because a julep before breakfast was believed to give protection against malaria [source].

    The oldest record at West Virginia’s Greenbrier Hotel (then the Old White Tavern) notes that in 1816, guests were ordering “julips” at a cost of twenty-five cents, or three (!) for fifty cents.

    Prior to the Civil War (1861-1865), brandy or whiskey from Europe was commonly used in a julep. During the war, if it could be had, the less expensive bourbon from Kentucky was used.

    The word julep derives from the Persian for flower water (gol ab), referring to a rose water drink. When the concept migrated to the European Mediterranean, transliterated as julep, local mint replaced the rose petals.

    The clubhouse at Churchill Downs began mixing bourbon-based mint juleps around 1875. This Mint Julep became the racetrack’s signature drink in 1938, when the venue started to serve the drink in Kentucky Derby souvenir glasses.

    Today, the Kentucky Derby serves more than 80,000 juleps over the two-day event. The capacity of the track is 50,000 (x 2 days = 100,000), so some revelers are not having their fair share!
     
     

    CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

     
     
      

    Comments off

    The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures
    RSS
    Follow by Email


    © Copyright 2005-2024 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. All images are copyrighted to their respective owners.