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


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TIP OF THE DAY: Best Onion Tip

June 22 is Onion Rings Day (yes, there’s an official holiday for every food). If you’re ready to start cutting onions today or any day, try this tip: Put onions in the freezer for 15 minutes before you chop them. This helps reduce the spray of culprit onion oils that vaporize and sting your eyes when you cut into the onion.

  • Click here to read more about veggies.
  • Learn about the different types of onions.
  • Check out our recipe for Beer-Battered Onion Rings.
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    TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Hannah Banana Bread

    Some listen to Tim McGraw sing “Comfort Me.” Others dig in to a batch of Hannah Banana Bread. We fall into the latter group of comfort seekers. Lacking the time to bake our own banana bread, we have happily discovered Hannah Banana’s. While this banana bread loaf has a five- to seven-day shelf life, we have discovered that we can keep it in the freezer, making quick snacks of frozen slices à la mode (think ice cream cake) or giving them a slight nuke into extra-moist, warm comfort, enjoyed with a cup of tea or a glass of milk (or, why not, more ice cream).

    Banana bread is an all-American comfort food that has fallen too far off the radar. Unlike with chocolate chip cookies or cheesecake, home bakers need to plan ahead; the bananas need to be very ripe. If you try to buy it, banana bread doesn’t even make the Top 10 list of commercial baked goods. We rarely come across it in artisan bakeries, either. But depending on what poll you read, bananas are the most popular fruit in America. We eat 28 pounds of them a year. What gives?

    This void of banana bread means opportunity for a specialist in the genre like Hannah Banana Bread. This small, family-owned company makes banana bread in six flavors: Classic, Blueberry, Chocolate Chip, White Chocolate Caramel Walnut, Butterscotch Caramel and Walnut. For Father’s Day or any other gift occasion, the company will put three loaves in a gift box. Just don’t forget to put yourself on the gift list.

    Read the full review and find out what we thought of all six varieties of Hannah Banana Bread. Also, learn banana facts that will impress your friends!

    Very moist and naturally sweet from ripe bananas, banana bread can be eaten anytime of the day or night. Photo by Lulu Durand | IST.

    Read more reviews of our favorite cakes in THE NIBBLE’s Cake Section.

    Other “Top Pick Of The Week” Cakes.

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    PRODUCT: Annie Chun’s Rice Express ~ Black Pearl & Multigrain Rice Bowls

    We love black pearl rice, so we were happy to try Annie Chun’s new microwavable rice bowls, Black Pearl (mixed with sprouted brown rice) and Multi Grain, a mix that includes sprouted brown rice, Indian and regular millet (a grain-like seed, high in magnesium, protein and B vitamins) and the Black Pearl rice. Both products produce steamed rice in one minute—a good gluten free, whole grain snack or part of a larger meal. Steamed or sautéed veggies, tofu, poultry or seafood make quick toppers. The rice can be served in the microwavable bowl.

    Both varieties are unseasoned and require some kind of salt or other seasoning to bring up the flavor.

    Black pearl rice, with chocolaty notes, was once reserved solely for the emperors of ancient China—it is also known as “forbidden rice.” It’s rich in amino acids and high in vitamins and minerals such as iron, potassium and magnesium.

    • We added Pacific Island American Soy Sauce to the Black Pearl. Pacific Island Soy Sauce, which we discovered in our review of the best soy sauces, is a very interesting blend of soy sauce and vinegar, plus lemon, green onion and jalapeño. You get the tangy vinegar notes, as well as the soy, and it has 50% lower sodium than lite soy sauce.
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    Annie Chun’s Black Pearl Rice. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

    • The second time around with the Black Pearl rice bowl, we created mock rice pudding, adding milk and artificial sweetener, then reheating for 20 seconds. (Feel free to add half and half or cream and the sweetener of your choosing—white or brown sugar, maple syrup or honey.)
    • To the Multi Grain Rice we first added a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese and some fresh-cracked pepper. We keep grated Parmesan in the freezer. The trick is to have it grated very finely at the store, not in flakes, and keep it in an airtight container. Then, whenever you need a spoonful to season anything from soup to eggs, take it from the container—it “defrosts” instantly.
    • For our second Multi Grain sampling, we seasoned the rice with a bit of the Pacific Island Soy Sauce and topped it with a poached egg and some minced fresh parsley (any herb will do). Some salt would have been fine instead of the soy sauce, but the vinegar in Pacific Island was a nice counterpoint to the poached egg.

     

    A 6.3-ounce bowl is $3.19, a 12-pack is $31.08 at AnnieChun.com. The products are also available at retailers nationwide. We enjoyed all of these as snacks. With the whole grain goodness and comfort food warmth (especially during this three-week stretch of rainy days), we felt triumphant over our jones for ice cream.

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    NEW PRODUCT: Jif Natural Peanut Butter Spread

    It’s no surprise that all natural foods taste better—at least, to us. (We’ve ceased to be surprised when we try to proselytize. For example, we’ll bringing soda-chugging friends what we think is a far superior product, such as Boylan’s or GuS all natural cola, both of which have exciting genuine cola flavor and far less sugar. Invariably, they tell us they prefer the big-name brands that are neither natural nor, to us, flavorful). But we never tire of side-by-side tests. Recently, we sat down with jars of supermarket favorite Jif peanut butter and two new variations, Jif Natural Peanut Butter Spread and Jif To Go Reduced Fat Creamy Peanut Butter Spread.

    The new Jif Natural Peanut Butter Spread is 90% peanuts; with sugar, palm oil, salt and molasses as the only other added ingredients, it is delish. It also has half the sodium of regular stabilized peanut butter. MSRP $2.70/18 ounce jar and $4.15/28 ounce jar.

    Reduced Fat Jif is 60% peanuts and has eight grams less fat per serving than the regular Jif To Go. It also has corn syrup solids, soy protein, sugar, salt, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oils, magnesium oxide, ferric phosphate, niacinamide, copper sulfate, pyridoxine hydrochloride and folic acid. No surprise, we happily kept the Jiff Natural, and gave the Reduced Fat product to reduced-fat-buying friends. Available in 6-pack To Go cups, MSRP $2.99-$3.19, and 18-ounce jars.

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    Natural Jif and Jif To Go Reduced Fat PB spread. Photo by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

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    RECIPE: Yuzu Martini

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    Yuzu. Photo courtesy Wikimedia.

     

    If you didn’t have a chance to celebrate National Martini Day yesterday, make a splash this weekend with a Yuzu Daiquiri. Whozu, you say? If you haven’t yet discovered the joys of the Asian citrus yuzu, it may well become a favorite in sauces, beverages, desserts and more.

    Yuzu is believed to be a hybrid of the sour mandarin orange and Ichang papeda citrus, related to the kaffir lime. The fruit looks somewhat like a tiny grapefruit, and tastes like a relative, with a lot more sparkle (think grapefruit mixed with exotic citrus).

    Buy yuzu juice at your specialty food store, Asian market or online; and try this recipe, courtesy of Riingo restaurant in New York City.

    YUZU MARTINI RECIPE

    Ingredients

  • 4 sprigs of mint
  • 4 raspberries
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • Dash of simple syrup
  • 1/2 ounce yuzu juice
  • 2.5 ounces of light rum (such as Bacardi)
  • Ice and cocktail shaker
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    Preparation
    1. In a mixing glass, muddle the mint, raspberries, sugar, simple syrup and yuzu juice.
    2. Add ice and rum and shake vigorously. Strain and serve up in a martini glass.
    3. Garnish with a sprig of mint and serve.

    Learn more about yuzu.
      

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