Turn this bottle-decanter combo on its
side and it turns into a long-neck decanter
that oxygenates the wine. Photo courtesy
Cantine Ceci.
Congratulazioni to the designers at Cantine Ceci in Torrile, Italy (outside Parma). Their patented wine bottle innovation, “Decanta 68.2” has won an award at the International Packaging Competition at Vinitaly 2010. It will be presented to consumers during the large Italian wine fair, which runs from April 8th to the 12th in Verona.
This “evolution of the species” is the first combination wine bottle-decanter: useful to decant wine with sophistication in design. Decanta 68.2 can serve as a gift, a table decanter and a tabletop objet d’arte.
When set on its side, the degree of tilt enables perfect oxygenation. The label side is placed down on the table, so the line of the design is not interrupted. The cork is made from silicone so you it can be easily recorked (and reused with other wine!).
In addition to Decanta 68.2, Cantine Ceci is introducing Rock Otello Dry², the first sparkling wine in a square bottle. Now the practical question: Can smaller retailers easily fit these larger-footprint bottles on the shelves?
The wine that inhabits these bottles is Lambrusco, one of the most ancient wines, with archaeological evidence dating back to the Etruscans. Today this red wine is made in the Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy regions of Italy (Mantua, Modena, Parma and Reggio nell’Emilia).
The gauntlet has been thrown.* It’s no longer good enough to create a wine with a nifty name and label design. The challenge now is to out-bottle-design your competitors. Winemakers of the world, take heed!
*If you don’t know what a gauntlet is: It’s a knight’s glove, made of mail or plate, worn to protect the hand in combat (hopefully, it matched one’s armor!). When one knight wanted to challenge another, he threw down his gauntlet, which landed at the feet of the prospective combatant. If the second knight accepted the challenge (and he was generally honor-bound to do so), he picked up the gauntlet. Now for the big question for Medieval historians: Did the challenger get his gauntlet back when his challenge was accepted, or did the challenged knight get to keep it?
Reminiscent of Cosmo Kramer’s coffee table book on Seinfeld,* Carla Bardi has published a book of spaghetti recipes that looks like a box of spaghetti.
At first glance it seems to be a spaghetti package from a supermarket shelf. If you hand it to someone, they’ll think you’re giving them a box of spaghetti.
But look again: It’s a spaghetti cookbook with more than 130 ways to prepare a plain box of spaghetti. The recipes are divided into five separate sections, each one named for the main ingredients:
Fresh Herbs, Flowers and Fruit
Vegetables
Eggs, Cheese and Cream
Seafood
Meat
The recipes are creative and generally easy; the photos are tempting. The pasta is varied—not just spaghetti but bucatini, linguine and ziti. The gimmick is cuter-than-cute.
*If you didn’t see the episode, Kramer authors a book on coffee tables that looks like a coffee table. The “table legs” pull out of the four corners of the book, and the book can stand on its legs. He showed this as a guest on “Regis and Kelly” (who were fascinated).
April Fool’s: It’s a book about spaghetti.
The only problem is that reading the book—much less keeping it open as you cook the recipe—is like trying to read the newspaper when it’s folded into quarters. People who commute via the New York City subway have mastered this system (as there’s no place to unfold your paper in a packed subway car). It isn’t the optimal way to read, but it is what it is. People who want to use this cookbook will have to develop their own system.
But, the incentive might be recipes such as spaghetti with fried meatballs in a sauce of onions and chopped tomatoes, or an exotic spaghetti with red rose and sunflower petals in a basil-wine sauce. A red ribbon place marker is bound into the spine, but perhaps the publishers should have taken a tip from Kramer and made the covers bend back into a cookbook stand.
Still, the book sold out on Amazon. You can place an order for the new shipment, arriving soon, or head to your nearest bookstore.
When we were an agrarian society, every farm or homestead had its own smokehouse to smoke the family’s food. In the days before refrigeration, smoked food was a key way to preserve meat and fish.
Over Lent, when no pork was consumed, hams were left to cure. The hams were ready by Easter, and ham became a popular Easter tradition.
Today, many households look forward to their “Easter ham,” but the decision is more complex: There is quite an array of different ham types and styles.
Do you know your ham? If not, you might not be purchasing the type that’s best for you. You need to know why:
You’d want a bone-in ham over a boneless ham, or vice versa.
If a spiral cut ham is your best bet.
If you should consider a fresh ham versus a cured ham.
If you’d prefer a city ham or a country ham.
Even if you’ve already purchased your Easter ham, there’s lots to learn for your next ham. Read our article on ham types and you won’t be hamstrung.
We couldn’t let Oranges & Lemons Day end without introducing our latest food glossary: the Lemon Glossary.
It has (almost) everything you want to know about lemons:
Lemon history (they originated near the foothills of the Himalayas)
The different types of lemons (can you name even two?)
Nutrition and health benefits, plus kitchen tips.You’ll even find our favorite recipe for homemade lemonade.
The Lemon Glossary is one of more than 70 food glossaries developed by THE NIBBLE editors. You’ll find everything from an Antioxidant Foods Glossary and Artificial & Natural Sweeteners Glossary to a Waffle Glossary and Yogurt Glossary.
Can you name this type of lemon? It’s one of
the two “supermarket lemons.” There’s no
generic “lemon” any more than there is a generic “apple.”
March 31, 2010 at 4:43 pm
· Filed under Easter, Giftable
People will beg for these veggies!
Photo courtesy WoodhouseChocolate.com.
What does a chocolate Easter bunny eat? Chocolate carrots, of course!
Carrots—in dark, milk and white chocolate—and chocolate asparagus are the adorable chocolate vegetables made by Woodhouse Chocolate, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.
No children—or adults—will refuse to eat these vegetables. (And here’s a trick: Proffer the chocolate veggies as a reward for eating the real veggies—for the rest of the month.)
The solid chocolate veggies are $6 each, with bundles of five milk or dark chocolate asparagus (tied with a ribbon) for $25.00.
