[1] These shimmering Easter eggs are filled with chocolate ganache. They are currently available online (photo © Markham + Fitz).

[2] Your local artisan chocolatier may sell beautiful rabbits like this one from Woodhouse Chocolate. This style is no longer available, but check out this rabbit couple on a motorcycle and this white rabbit with an umbrella (photo © Woodhouse Chocolate).

[3] This beautiful Easter egg comes in a variety of flavors, including Dulce de Leche, Milk Chocolate with Sea Salt, Milk Chocolate Pão de Mel (after a Brazilian dessert made with honey and spices), and Two Rivers single origin 70% cacao (photo © Mission Chocolate).

[4] This stunner from Parisian confectioner Pierre Hermé is our favorite from Easter past, but check out this year’s sculpted chocolate Easter eggs (photo © Pierre Hermé).

[5] An elegant bunny sold out quickly, but check your local artisan chocolatiers for equally elegant options (photo © Chocolat By Adam Turoni).

[6] A beautiful Easter basket designed for a sophisticated grown-up. Here are 21 more designs from Martha Stewart (photo © Martha Stewart).

[7] We also love a moss Easter basket. It can be filled with seasonal items year-round. We keep ours on the table near the front door for keys, gloves, etc. (photo © Good Housekeeping).

Ah, the days when we were satisfied with a Cadbury buttercream Easter egg, available at just about any store that sold chocolate. Today, only gourmet chocolate Easter eggs please our palate.

Take these gourmet chocolate Easter eggs (photo #1) from Markham + Fitz Chocolate Makers in Bentonville, Arkansas (birthplace and headquarters of Walmart).

Two University of Arkansas alumni pooled their savings in 2014 to buy their first pieces of chocolate-making equipment.

The result: beautiful chocolate of the highest quality. Their Easter BonBons are shiny examples of the artisan’s craft: colored chocolate shells with different fillings:

 
All are gluten- and soy-free. Golden Egg is also dairy-free.

Easter BonBons are sold in boxes of 15 (BYO nest). Get yours at MarkhamAndFitz.com.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF EASTER CANDY & THE EASTER BASKET

Easter is the second-bestselling candy holiday in America after Halloween—and Easter candy is often much better than that which is collected by trick-or-treating.

While spring lamb, dyed eggs, and hot cross buns all trace their origins to the pagan spring festivals of ancient times, candy is a newcomer, dating back just to the 1800s.

It was then that European candy-makers first hand-crafted chocolate eggs for the holiday. They were wildly popular.

Each Easter in our youth, we’d look forward to an Easter basket chock-full of candy: chocolate eggs filled with buttercream and marzipan, chocolate bunnies, jelly beans, marshmallow chicks, and other goodies, nestled in shredded paper “grass” and tied with a big bow.

Children around the world received Easter baskets like this. As the tradition evolved, even adults got Easter gifts.

But how did the tradition begin? Let’s start way back.

To ancient cultures, the spring equinox marked the transition from the cold, dark days of winter to the warmer, sunny days of spring.

Farmers planted their crops (most people were farmers or hunters, or otherwise relied on those who were) and prayed to their gods for a bountiful harvest.

There would be rituals and festivities honoring the gods. Anglo-Saxons, for example, held feasts in honor of the goddess of spring and fertility, Eostre. The Christian holiday of Easter was named for her.

In early Christianity, fasting was common practice. The tradition of Lent evolved, a fasting period leading up to Easter.

As Christianity spread through Western Europe from the fifth through 12th centuries, the observance of Lent did as well [source].

As some Christians gave up sweets as their Lenten sacrifice, the return to eating them after 40 days without it was a nice reward. The stage was set for Easter sweets.

Easter basket. The symbolism of the basket stretches back thousands of years prior to the Easter celebration of the Ressurection of Jesus Christ.

In an eighth-century book “The Reckoning of Time,” Eostre was depicted cradling a woven basket in the crook of her arm—the beginning of the Easter basket tradition.

The concept of Easter baskets and the Easter bunny (called Easter hare, Osterhase, in German) was brought to America in the 18th century by German immigrants.

Easter baskets began a widespread tradition in the late 19th century, around the same time as the German “Osterhase” became the Easter Bunny.

Easter eggs. Eggs have historically been mythological motifs for new life. Ancient Egyptians, Asians, and Greeks all believed in the premise of the world being born from a cosmic egg.

According to many sources, the Christian custom of Easter eggs was adopted from Persian tradition following the early Christians of Mesopotamia, who stained them red in memory of the blood of Christ.

When they are cracked open, the eggs are said to represent Jesus’ emergence from the tomb and His resurrection.

The Christian Church officially adopted the custom [source].

Easter rabbit. The Easter Bunny has been the recognizable symbol of Easter since the 1700s [source].

Originally called a hare, from medieval times the prolific rabbit was a symbol of fertility.

German immigrants continued the concept of the egg-delivering white hare, along with the tradition that children would prepare nests in which the hare could leave brightly colored eggs.

The rabbit’s Easter morning deliveries expanded to include chocolate and other types of candy and gifts, while decorated baskets replaced nests [source 1] [source 2].

Jelly beans. The modern jelly bean is believed to have been invented in the U.S., sometime after 1850. Due to its egg shape and festive colors, it became an Easter tradition in the 1930s. Here’s the history of jelly beans.

Easter egg hunt. The custom of the Easter egg hunt comes from Germany. Its origins may date to the late 16th century, when the Protestant reformer Martin Luther organized egg hunts for his congregation.

The men would hide the eggs for the women and children to find [source].

In Germany and then in the U.S., children would leave out stockings and hats to be filled by the Easter Bunny. Children also built nests out of leaves and sticks.

This brought the tradition outdoors—and later engendered the Easter egg hunt in the U.S. [source].
 
 
MODERN EASTER CANDY

German immigrants were also the originators of the candy Easter egg, which was first made of sugar and pastry in the mid-1800s.

Candy eggs became wildly popular in the mid-1800s.

By the late 1800s, U.S. candy makers sold hollow and filled chocolate eggs, jelly eggs, and exquisite panorama sugar eggs, hollow egg-shaped sugar shell with an open end that revealed an Easter panorama made from paper [source].

By the early 20th century, improvements in equipment and processes led chocolate makers to produce Easter candy on a much larger scale: molded rabbits, birds, nests, and other designs appeared.

Soon, Easter candies of every description were being mass-produced: rabbits and chicks in every pose, for starters, became Easter basket staples, and affordable to most consumers.

Malted milk eggs, peanut butter eggs, marshmallow eggs, white chocolate carrots colored orange…so many Easter treats, so little time.

The early 20th century also saw jelly beans be added to the Easter basket.

While chocolate-covered marshmallow eggs had existed for some time, in 1953, Peeps marshmallow chicks in yellow and white debuted in Brooklyn.

With the 21st century, big snack brands got the message and began to produce, for example, Almond Joy, Cadbury, Hershey’s, M&Ms, Nerds, Oreos, Reese’s and Tootsie Rolls in Easter colors and/or wrappers.

And the rest is history (although our history is to stick with artisan chocolate).
 
 
________________

*We’re not totally snobby. While we dislike most mass-marketed chocolate because it’s overly sweet, we have two exceptions: York Peppermint Patties and Twix bars.

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March 24th is National Cocktail Day, a day we’re using to revisit cocktail garnishes. Many standard garnishes have been used since the advent of the particular cocktail—they’re what that first bartender used when he mixed the first Sazerac (America’s first cocktail) or Gin Fizz. We’ll look at them as well as modern cocktail garnishes.

Citrus garnishes, perhaps the most popular (or the most available), took different forms depending on the bartender: twist, slice, wedge, wheel. Still other garnishes have evolved to modern forms—blue cheese- and jalapeño-stuffed olives in a Martini, for example.

Here’s what you’d need for a retro cocktail party (we’ve included some new “classics” with the old).

> The world’s Top 10 most popular cocktails.

> The history of the cocktail.
 
 
CLASSIC COCKTAIL GARNISHES

 
 
MODERN COCKTAIL GARNISHES

Today, bartenders are called mixologists, and they’re expected to be creative in both new cocktail recipes and cocktail garnishes. Now, the garnish lineup can include:

 
 
Cocktail picks have evolved from holding 2 or 3 olives, cocktail onions or blueberries to skewers with sky-high combinations of cheese, gherkins, ham, shrimp and the more unusual, such as the Japanese California roll and dumplings atop a Bloody Mary in photo #5.

Also see the mini cheeseburger Bloody Mary skewers in photo #7, below.
 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF COCKTAILS

Cocktails, as we know them today, have existed since the early 1800s. A reader wrote to “The Balance and Columbian Repository,” a newspaper in Hudson, New York, asking “What is a cocktail?”

The reply, published in the May 13, 1806 edition: “Cock-tail is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters—it is vulgarly called bittered sling….”

The first published bartenders’ guide with cocktail recipes was “How to Mix Drinks; or, The Bon Vivant’s Companion,” by “Professor” Jerry Thomas, in 1862. In addition to recipes for “cocktails,” there are cobblers, flips, punches, shrubs, slings, and toddies. Bitters was a key ingredient that differentiated cocktail recipes.

Bitters are combinations of herbs, fruits, spices and/or roots, distilled in a base liquor. As with spirits, they began as medicinal tonics. Classic cocktails with bitters include the Manhattan, Negroni, Old Fashioned, Pisco Sour, Rob Roy, Rum Swizzle, Sazerac, and Singapore Sling. The recent renaissance in artisan bitters has led to more of their use in new creations.

[1] This Aperol Spritz still has the orange slice, but tops the cocktail with a cucumber ribbon (photo © Nerai Restaurant | NYC).

[2] A Tajin spice rim and jalapeños add some spice to a sweet cocktail (photo © STK | Los Angeles).

[3] Fresh herbs are beautiful and aromatic. Look in farmers markets for flowering herbs, like this purple basil (photo © Sid Wainer & Sons).

[4] Edible flowers scattered on a frozen Margarita (photo © Discover California Wines).

[5] This Bloody Mary garnish serves as an appetizer as well, with a slice of California roll and some gyoza dumplings (photo © Campbell Soup Company).

While the record is mum on the subject, the cocktail event may have followed the Sunday church service. Now there’s an idea ready for revival: church followed by cocktails with friends
 
 

[6] Serving cocktails in wine glasses makes it easy to show off multiple garnishes (photo © Pasta Eater | NYC).

[7] How about a pair of mini bacon cheeseburgers atop your Bloody Mary (photo © Johnsonville Foodservice).
 
 

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

[1] You can have these tamales shipped to you: Beef Tenderloin, Ancho Chile Pork, and Chicken Tomatillo (photo © Mackenzie Limited).

[2] The masa filling is wrapped in a corn husk or banana leaf. In a pinch, in the old days, even tree bark was used (photo © Broken Spanish | Los Angeles).

[3] Open the husk and savor the aroma. These pork tamales with red chile guajillo sauce are among the most popular varieties (photos #3 and #4 © Allen Brothers).

[4] A chicken tamale with a side of green mole sauce.

[5] Cooking tamales old-school (today we personally use the microwave (photo © Adolfo Teran Teller | CC0 Public Domain).

[6] Two vegan tamales at CDT Cocina in Fresno, California (photo © Kat D. via Yelp).

[7] Chicken poblano tamale from CDT Cocina in Fresno, California (photo © CDC Cocina).

[8] A chocolate tamale from CDT Cocina in Fresno, California (photo via Happy Cow).

[9] What’s for dinner? Tamales (photo © Andy Hay | Unsplash)!

[10] “Gourmet” tamales at an upscale Mexican restaurant (photo © Broken Spanish | Facebook) .

March 23rd is National Tamale Day, and if we had to pick, tamales might be our favorite Mexican food. And what an ancient food it is! Tamales originated in Mesoamerica as early as 8000 to 5000 B.C.E. The history of tamales follows, but first:

What exactly is a tamale? It’s a firm dough filling of masa, which is nixtamalized corn*. The ground masa is mixed with water, and other ingredients can be mixed in or used as toppings (photos #3 and #4).

The masa is then wrapped in corn husks (or banana leaves) and steamed.

In fact, the tamale gets its name from the word tamalli, a Náhuatl (Aztec language) word meaning wrapped.

Language lesson: Tamales is plural. One is a tamal in Spanish, although we Americans call it a tamale.

Below:

> Basic tamales: an introduction.

> The history of tamales.

> Tamales today: modern fillings including vegetarian, vegan, and dessert.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The year’s 25+ Mexican and Tex-Mex food holidays.

> The top 10 most Googled foods in the U.S. (Mexican is #2).

Plus:

> How to reheat tamales.
 
 
TAMALE FILLINGS

Beans, cheeses, fish and seafood, meat and poultry, vegetables, chiles, herbs, and spices—just about anything that suits the tastes of the cook and her family.

Pork tamales with red chile sauce are one of the most popular, but beef, black beans, and chicken are also menu favorites.

Different types of sauces are typically served with tamales—enchilada sauce, green and red chile sauces, mole, or whatever the cook wants to pair with the particular filling.

Other toppings are those used for much Mexican and Tex/Mex cuisine: cotija/queso fresco, guacamole, marinated onions, pickled jalapeños, pico de gallo and other salsas, sour cream, and queso.

There are also tamales dulces, sweet tamales. These are made with masa tinted pink with vegetable coloring. The most common recipe simply adds sugar and raisins to the masa.

But sweet tamales can be made with berries and other fruits, chocolate, and many fillings accented with anise seed, cinnamon, or other sweet spices.

Filling types can vary from family to family and from region to region.

Both the filling and the cooking liquid of tamales may be seasoned (source).

> Check out some modern-style tamale fillings below.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF TAMALES

Tamales were the first dish made from corn in Mesoamerica. Evidence of tamales dates back to the ancient civilizations of [what is now] Mexico, as early as 8000 B.C.E. but certainly by 5000 B.C.E. This makes them one of the oldest known prepared foods in the Americas.

Although the exact beginnings are not known for certain, many historians believe that tamales were first made by the Aztecs. In the millennia preceding cookware, tamales were cooked over hot ashes in a buried fire.

Tamales are thus thought to predate the tortilla, which requires a griddle.

In the pre-Columbian era, Aztecs filled their tamales with whatever foods were available: beans, fish, flamingo, frog, fruits, gopher, honey, rabbit, salamander, turkey, turkey eggs, and squash [source]. Sometimes the masa was eaten plain, with no added filling.

The Aztec and Maya civilizations, as well as the Olmec and Toltec before them, valued tamales as easily portable food. They ate them at the home hearth, of course, but also packed them for hunting trips, for traveling, and for their armies.

Maize was the most important food source in Mesoamerica, and still is a large part of the Central American diet in the form of tamales and tortillas.

Tamales were also considered sacred, the food of the gods. Tamales played a large part in rituals and festivals, offered as religious sacrifices.

For thousands of years, the Mayans worshiped the maize god, Hun Hunahpu. According to the Maya creation story, mankind was actually created from maize dough [source].

Aztec, Maya, Olmeca, and Tolteca civilizations all considered themselves to be “people of the corn.” Corn still plays an important religious and spiritual role in the lives of the Maya people.
 
 
Enter The Spanish

When the Spanish conquistadors reached Mexico in the early 1500s, they brought new ingredients like pork, lard, olives, and raisins, which were incorporated into tamale fillings.

They also brought pots and pans, and steaming the husk-wrapped tamale packets became a more reliable method of cooking.

They also documented tamale-making in indigenous communities, showing its deep cultural roots. Over time, tamales evolved differently in various regions:

 
Later, tamales became a key part of Tex-Mex and Mexican-American cuisine, especially in the southwestern U.S. before spreading nationwide.
 
 
Tamales Head North Of The Border

Tamales were first brought to the U.S. in the 19th century, primarily through Mexican migration and cultural exchange—and much earlier in territories that were part of Mexico, such as Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas.

The U.S. annexed these parts of Mexico following the Mexican-American War (1846–1848).

From the late 19th to early 20th centuries, tamales gained popularity beyond Mexican communities.

 
 
TAMALES TODAY

With the movement towards more plant-based foods, vegetarian and vegan tamales are on the rise. The menu at CDC Cocina (formerly Casa de Tomales) in Fresno, California features:
 
The Classics

 
Fusion Flavors

 
 
Vegetarian Tamales

 
Vegan Tamales

 
Beyond National Tamale Day, consider yourself inspired to create tamales any day of the year.
 

[12] The feast begins! Happy National Tamale Day (photo © Andy Hay | Unsplash).
 
________________

*Nixtamalization is a process that prepares the maize/corn, in which the grain is soaked and boiled in an alkaline solution, usually limewater (calcium hydroxide), and hulled. The nixtamalized corn becomes softer and more flavorful, and when ground, the masa or dough has binding properties that make for great corn tortillas or tamales. Nixtamalization provides several nutritional benefits including increased bioavailability of vitamin B3 niacin, which reduces the risk of pellagra disease. It also engenders increased calcium intake, due to its absorption by the kernels during the steeping process [source 1][source 2].

March 22nd is National Bavarian Crêpes Day. What are Bavarian crêpes?

Called Palatschinke in Bavaria (Southern Germany), Austria, and Hungary (the singular is palacinka), and Pfannkuchen in Northern and Central Germany. They are typically made from wheat flour or buckwheat flour.

You’ll also see them referred to as Balkan-style crêpes, Croatian crêpes, Hungarian crêpes, Serbian crêpes, and other names.

The cooked crêpe leaves the pan, is filled, folded or rolled, and then often garnished—with powdered sugar, fresh fruit or fruit sauce, chocolate sauce, whipped cream, or a combination.

What’s the main filling?

Note that in the U.S., “Bavarian Crêpe” often refers specifically to a crepe filled with Bavarian cream (crème bavaroise)†, a sophisticated custard thickened with gelatin and lightened with whipped cream.

However, in Bavaria, this popular crêpe is known as Pfannkuchen, and can have sweet or savory fillings.

 
Our Nana’s favorite fillings were smoked salmon with mascarpone cheese, and sweetened ricotta with dash of vanilla and raspberries.

Below:

> The difference between crêpes and pancakes.

> The difference between Bavarian crêpes and French crêpes.

> A recipe for Biscoff or Nutella-filled Bavarian crêpes.

> The history of Bavarian crêpes.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of crêpes.

> The history of pancakes.

> The different types of pancakes, a photo glossary.

> The year’s 10 pancake and crêpe holidays.
 
 
CRÊPES VS. PANCAKES: THE DIFFERENCE

Both crêpes and pancakes can be served as a savory or a sweet dish. Here are their differences.

1. Batter. Both include flour, egg, milk, and a dash of salt (some crêpe recipes add sugar). But crêpe batter has more eggs and less flour, creating a much more runny batter.

Thus, when the batter is poured into the pan, it spreads out more—creating its signature wafer-thinness—about a millimeter. Crêpes are delicate, pancakes are sturdy.

2. Size. Crêpes are large in diameter to allow for filling and rolling. Crêpe pans range from 7.5 inches up to 16 inches in diameter, with 10 to 12 inches the most common size.

3. Leavening. The difference between pancakes and crêpes is that pancake batter includes baking powder or baking soda as a raising agent, while crêpe batter does not.

The result is that pancakes rise to their thick and fluffy form, while crêpes remain thin and flat.

4. Resting batter. Unlike a French crêpe, the Bavarian crêpe batter doesn’t need to rest before using. Why does the batter need to rest? For the texture.

Resting the batter allows the flour to fully absorb the milk (or other liquid), and gives the gluten a chance to relax. Relaxed gluten produces more tender, melt-in-your-mouth crêpes.

One reason the original Bavarian crêpe-makers may have skipped this step: The batter needs to stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
 
 
THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN BAVARIAN CRÊPES & FRENCH CRÊPES

A Bavarian crêpe/palacinka is a crêpe-like thin pancake common in Central and Eastern Europe, rather than a true crêpe.

The main difference between Bavarian and French crêpe is that the batter is used right away, rather than letting it rest before using. Rested batter produces a thinner result.
 
 
RECIPES TO TRY

[1] Bavarian crêpes With Biscoff Cookie Butter. The recipe is below (photo © Lotus Bakeries).

[2] For wealthy Bavarians: savory crêpes filled with caviar, lobster, and smoked salmon (photo © Caviar Russe | NYC).

[3] Chocolate-filled crêpes a la mode (photo © St. Pierre Bakery).

[4] French crêpes can be folded rather than rolled. These are the famous Crêpes Suzette (photo © Betty Crocker).

For The Crêpe Batter

 
For The Filling

 
For The Garnish

 
Preparation
 
1. PREPARE the crêpe batter. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, eggs, milk, melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt until smooth. Let the batter rest for 20-30 minutes.

2. HEAT a non-stick skillet over medium heat and lightly grease it with butter or cooking spray (ideally use a crêpe pan for thin, even crêpes). Pour 1/4 cup of batter into the skillet, tilting it in a circular motion to spread the batter evenly.

3. COOK for 1-2 minutes, until the edges lift slightly and the bottom is golden. Flip and cook for another 30 seconds. Repeat with the remaining batter.

4. ASSEMBLE. Spread a generous layer of Biscoff spread over each crêpe. Add the sliced fruit layer, if desired. Fold the crepe into quarters. Garnish and serve.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF BAVARIAN CRÊPES

The Bavaria crêpe is part of a much older Central European tradition. While they share a common ancestor with the French crêpe, they have developed their own distinct identity over centuries of regional cooking.

The Bavarian crepe has ancient origins. The name Palatschinke (singular: Palacinka) traces back to the Ancient Greek plakous meaning flatbread. From that came the Roman/ Latin word placenta, which referred to an elaborate cake†.

Over centuries, the name shifted to refer to a thin, pan-cooked pancake, even though the original Roman dish was a baked, layered cake (food names often travel more faithfully than the recipes themselves). The etymology:

Greek plakous → Latin placenta → later forms (via Byzantine Greek and Balkan languages) → Hungarian palacsinta → German Palatschinke, the name for the crêpe in Bavaria.

The dish became a staple across the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because of this shared history, there are nearly identical versions of the “Bavarian” crêpe in Austria, Hungary (palacsinta), the Czech Republic (palačinka), and the Balkans.

The Bavarian Distinction. In Bavaria, these crêpes are a beloved comfort food. Unlike French crêpes, which often require the batter to rest for 30 minutes to an hour to relax the gluten, Bavarian recipes typically use the batter immediately.

This results in a slightly more home-style texture that is tender but substantial enough to hold heavy fillings.

Skip ahead a few centures and the holiday, National Bavarian Crêpes Day, was established in 2015‡ to celebrate this specific cross-cultural fusion of German tradition and French pastry technique.
 

[6] Rolled Bavarian crepes filled with seafood and topped with Mornay sauce (Abacus Photo).
 
________________
 
*A common modern association is the ““Bavarian Crêpe” filled with Bavarian Cream (creme bavarois in French, Bayerische Creme in German). Food historians believe Bavarian cream was created by the great French chefMarie-Antoine Carême, when he was in the employ of the Bavarian Wittelsbach princes in the 19th century.

*The Roman placenta was very different from a flatbread or flat pancake/crêpe. Cato the Elder’s De Agri Cultura (2nd century B.C.E.) described a baked, layered cake, not a thin pan-fried pancake. It consisted of multiple layers of thin dough sheets. Between the layers was a mixture of fresh cheese (often sheep’s cheese), honey, and sometimes herbs: in essence, a type of cheesecake, baked as a single, substantial cake. Structurally, it was related baklava (layered pastry with sweet filling), or a deep, layered savory pie—somewhat like lasagna in construction, although though sweet.

‡For Natioonal Bavarian Crepes Day, the earliest digital trace is March 22, 2015 (Identified by tracking algorithms). The earliest preserved webpage is from September–November 2016 (archived by the Wayback Machine). The founder remains unknown.
 

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[1] A bowl of Pink-A-Boo variety pineberries (all photos © Wish Farms).

[2] You can find them at stores nationwide.

[3] Growing on the plant.

[4] Pineberry and poppyseed salad dressing. Here’s the recipe.

[5] Pineberry garnish on a vanilla butter cake. Here’s the recipe.

[6] Top a bruschetta with goat cheese or ricotta. Here’s the recipe.

[7] For breakfast have a pineberry parfait with yogurt, cottage cheese, or ricotta. For dessert, switch to ice cream or pudding. Here’s the recipe.

While there’s a current TikTok craze about “white strawberries” (a.k.a. pineberries), The Nibble first wrote about them in 2014. At that time, they were grown only in Holland, fragile to ship, and not obtainable in the U.S.

But that problem has been solved. A major U.S. grower of conventional non-GMO berries has a plentiful supply of this specialty berry, which they market as Pink-A-Boo® Pineberries.

Wish Farms, the grower, has fields in Florida and California.

Their pineberry variety grows from green bud to white berry, and turns pale pink with red seeds when ripe. Use them any way you would use conventional strawberries.

Don’t worry about running out of pineberries. Wish Farms can deliver them almost year-round. The Florida growing season begins in late November and runs through April. The California growing season begins in January and runs through September.

ALDI is selling a 10-ounce box for only $4.49. Known for its great prices, an Aldi comparison can be found on Reddit, with one poster paying $4.49 at Aldi, while another paid $9 at Sprouts.

> The history of strawberries.
 
 
WHAT ARE PINEBERRIES

Pineberries are a cultivar of strawberries that have a sweet pineapple* flavor note and aroma—thus inspiring the “pine” in its name.

The small strawberries (from 1/2 inch to less than an inch in diameter), which are white and covered with red seeds (achenes), have the same genetic make-up as the common strawberry.

Just as with conventional strawberries, they are a low-calorie food, and a good source of folic acid, phosphorus, and vitamin C. Like all berries, they are heart-healthy, have antii-inflammatory properties, and may help protect against certain types of cancer†.
 
 
THE ORIGIN OF PINEBERRIES

The pineberry originated in South America as a hybrid. Like the modern garden strawberry (Fragaria x ananassa), the pineberry is a hybrid of the wild South American strawberry (Fragaria chiloensis), which grows in some parts of Chile, and the North American strawberry (Fragaria virginiana).

The pineberry is the result of cross-breeding, not genetic engineering.

There are multiple subspecies of white strawberries to cross, creating different varieties of pineberries for different growing conditions.

Peek-A-Boo pineberries were developed through natural breeding techniques at the University of Florida, crossing a Japanese white strawberry and a Florida red strawberry.

As with other white varieties, they begin life as green berries (like regular strawberries), then become slightly white instead of red.

So where have pineberries been all this time?

The original varieties weren’t popular with growers because they had a low yield per plant and smaller-sized berries.

While they were very pretty, delicious, and aromatic, they were fragile; it was difficult to ship them. And their growing season was very limited—a brief 4-5 weeks.

Around 2007, Dutch farmers began growing pineberries on a commercial level in greenhouses. They were imported to the U.K., where they would fly off the shelves.

Strawberry growers elsewhere took notice, and began their own production.

Strawberries are a multi-billion dollar worldwide business, and, the market keeps growing.

With so much money to be made, new varieties are constantly being developed, refined, and even engineered by manipulating the genetics of the strawberry plant itself (i.e., GMO) [source].
 
 
STRAWBERRY TRIVIA

 
 
________________

*Depending on the terroir where they are grown, the flavor note can be anything from tropical fruit to apricot. The flavor is influenced by weather, variety, and ripeness when harvested. The Pink-A-Boo pineberry grown in Florida is described by Wish Farms as having hints of pineapple, pear, and apricot.