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


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.





NEW PRODUCT: All Natural & Delicious Maraschino Cherries From Tillen Farms

The maraschino cherry is no longer a bad-tasting joke. Tillen Farms has created a delicious, all natural maraschino cherry—no artificial colors or flavors, no sulfites or preservatives, no high fructose corn syrup. (And we’ve been feeding these “standard” maraschino cherries to kids, who gobble up all that bad stuff!)

The FDA’s Standard of Identity defines maraschino cherries as “cherries which have been dyed red, impregnated with sugar and packed in a sugar sirup flavored with oil of bitter almonds or a similar flavor.” You know how that turned out.

Now you can bring peace of mind to parents and happiness of palate to hot fudge sundaes and Shirley Temples, not to mention adult fare like a Tom Collins or a Manhattan. Tillen Farms all-natural Merry Maraschino Cherries are the way to go with maraschino, made only with cherries, water, sugar, vegetable and fruit concentrate (for color) and natural flavor.

The cherries are $6.99 for a 14-ounce jar. If you want to buy a 12-jar case for gifts, stocking stuffers, etc., the price goes down to $6.39 per jar. You can purchase Merry Maraschinos online at TillenFarms.com. Individual bottles are available at fine food stores nationwide. The product is gluten free.
 
 
MARASCHINO CHERRIES FOR ADULTS

If you happen to have some cherry liqueur/kirsch, drain 10%-20% of the liquid from the jar and replace it with liqueur. The kids may not like it, but you will. Brandy works, too.

  maraschino-cherries-230

Life can be a bowl of maraschino cherries.
Photo courtesy Tillen Farms.

 
 
MARASCHINO CHERRY HISTORY

The ubiquitous maraschino cherries were once quite elite.

The Marasca cherry (Prunus cerasus var. marasca) is a type of sour Morello cherry that grows largely in Bosnia, Croatia, Herzegovina, northern Italy and Slovenia.

With a bitter taste and a drier pulp than other cherry varieties, they are ideal to make cherry (maraschino) liqueur. The cherries were originally preserved in the liqueur as a delicacy for royalty and the wealthy.

In the 19th century, the preserved cherries became popular in the rest of Europe, but the Balkans supply was too small for the whole. Hence they became a pricey delicacy, largely confined to royalty and the wealthy.

Because of the relative scarcity of the Marasca tree, other cherries came to be preserved in various ways and sold as “maraschino,” leading to the red-dyed version we have come to know, with no liqueur but plenty of corn syrup.

The Marasca cherry tree is very fussy about where it will grow, so in the U.S., the Royal Ann cherry variety is used to make “maraschino” cherries.

  • Learn more about Morellos, Royal Anns, sweet cherries, sour cherries and other cherry facts.
  • See recipes for Black Forest Cake, whose chief decorations are chocolate shavings and…maraschino cherries.
  •   

    Comments off

    PRODUCT: Fancypants Decorated Shortbread Cookies (100% Nut Free)

    decorated-cookies-230

    Have some watermelon…cookie. Photo by
    Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

    Today is National Sugar Cookie Day. That’s O.K. for a start, but sugar cookies aren’t the most flavorable cookie around. Most of the large, fancifully decorated cookies are sugar cookies. They’re pretty, but they could be tastier. Sugar cookies tend not to have vanilla or other flavorings. They’re just sugary—and baked with a higher proportion of flour to be a sturdy platform that’s good for decorating, but not necessarily the tastiest for eating.

    That’s where Fancypants steps in. Their decorated cookies are as beautiful and varied as any bakery’s, but they’ve improved upon the bland sugar cookie by baking rich, buttery shortbread. We hoarded the entire box!

    Because the Fancypants co-founders are former educators (a middle school teacher and an education researcher, both with masters’ degrees), they know about kids and nut allergies. So their bakery is 100% nut-free. But these are welcome gifts for nut-eating grownups too. There are cookie themes for everyone, from sports to animals to baby, wedding, holiday and custom-decorated cookies for corporate logos.

    Comments off

    PRODUCT: Healthy Snacking With Olive Snack Packs

    Lindsay Olives has made a welcome contribution to America’s need to eat healthier on-the-go. The company has debuted three varieties of Lindsay Snackers, small pitted ripe olives in a 1.25-ounce can (18 olives), in Original, Garlic and Italian. The cans have pull tops.

    Olives are full of olive oil, a heart-healthy fat. We tried the Italian-seasoned olives. The olive meat is mild, but the notes of garlic and oregano made these a tasty little snack. The brine isn’t salty but it’s very flavorful; we poured it over our salad.

    For a retailer near you, see the store locator on LindsayOlives.com; or you can buy them from Lindsay’s online store. Six four-pack cartons are $14.99. The olives are certified kosher by OU.

    lindsay-snackers-olives-230

    Healthy olives, garlic and oregano: much
    better than the candy machine. Photo by
    Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

    Comments off

    TIP OF THE DAY: Spinach Salad With Apples & Figs

    Popeye ate spinach because it made him strong: It’s a very good source of dietary fiber and protein, lots of vitamins (A, B6, C, E [alpha tocopherol], K, folate, riboflavin, thiamin), calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, manganese, phosphorus and potassium…and a good source of niacin and zinc.

    On top of the nutrition, spinach makes a wonderful salad.

    Here’s a recipe idea:

    COMBINE baby spinach with Granny Smith apples, pecans or walnuts (toast them briefly for even more flavor) and goat cheese or blue cheese.

    MAKE a perfect dressing from fig balsamic vinegar and olive oil; add halved fresh figs as a garnish.

    ADD protein for a main meal with Serrano ham or prosciutto, or grilled salmon.

    SERVE fine artisan bread on the side (look for semolina raisin) for fun, a flavored butter.

    Popeye never ate so well!

  • Check out these flavored butter recipes (compound butter).
  • Find more yummy salad recipes.
  •  


    Spinach salad with goat cheese, toasted walnuts (photo © Evolution Fresh).

  • How about a recipe for a delicious curried spinach tart (think crustless quiche)? The curry powder adds healthy antioxidants.
  •  

      

    Comments off

    NEW PRODUCT: Vosges Chocolate Bacon Pancakes

    vosges-bacon-pancakes-230

    Instead of bacon with your pancakes, you can now
    have bacon in your pancakes—and chocolate, too.

    What’s new in pancakes? Chocolate chip’s been done, so how about chocolate with bacon? With a chocolate bacon craze sweeping the nation, it was only time before Vosges Haut Chocolat, the makers of Mo’s Bacon Bar (our favorite bacon chocolate—applewood-smoked bacon, alderwood-smoked salt and 41% dark milk chocolate) figured out what else to do with it besides mold it into an adorable winged pig.

    You can now buy Vosges’ buttermilk pancake mix, dotted with chunks of Mo’s Bacon Bar. Or, buy the candy bar directly and chip it into your own pancake recipe. It’s a fun hostess gift, and it may even be “Man Bait,” as our friends at Das Foods, makers of the Maple Bacon lollipop (and other “shamelessly delicious” lollipops—stay tuned), might call it.

    A container of Mo’s Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix is $12.00 and makes two batches of eight, five-inch pancakes. Can you have extra bacon on the side? Absolutely! Try some artisan bacon brand, though. If you don’t already buy it, you’re in for a real treat. It tastes so much better than mass-marketed brands.

    Now we’re waiting for the chocolate bacon ice cream.

  • Love pancakes? See all the different types in our Pancake Glossary.
  • More fun with pancakes: Daddy Cakes Pancake & Waffle Mixes.
  • See our review of Vosges’ Exotic Ice Cream.
  • Check out Vosges’ Exotic Candy Bars (Mo’s brothers and sisters).
  • Comments (2)

    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.