Raspberry-colored flesh and raspberry flavor nuances make blood oranges a very special fruit.
From the name, blood oranges should be in season at Halloween. But these wonders are in stores right now. Even our local supermarket has them (but if you can’t find them, you can order them from Melissas.com). They look exactly like regular oranges on the outside, but their inside flesh is a deep rosy red color; and the flavor is a cross between orange and raspberry—some people call them “raspberry oranges.” There are three main varieties; the Tarocco, native to Italy, tends to have a partial raspberry flesh rather than the full-raspberry-hued Moro shown in the photo (the third variety, the Sanguinello, discovered in Spain in 1929, has a reddish skin, few seeds, and a sweet and tender flesh). Whatever you call them, be sure you buy some before the season is over. The Tarocco and Moro are now grown in California—no need to hope for imports. Buy them up and go bloody crazy.
Eat them for breakfast instead of grapefruit (or squeeze them for heavenly juice); add them to fruit salads, green salads, and seafood and chicken salads for beautiful color and flavor; use sections to garnish grilled fish or to create a concasse; enjoy them for dessert and snacks; and make a memorable blood orange sorbet (Ciao Bella Gelato has one available year-round for sale, and we buy plenty of it).
Coincidentally, today’s tip rides on the tail of yesterday’s goat’s milk food find. If you’re lactose intolerant, or have guests who are, it’s generally due to the larger protein molecules in cow’s milk that are more difficult to digest. Goat’s milk and sheep’s milk have smaller, more easily digestible molecules. Serve those cheeses along with mozzarella di bufala, made from water buffalo’s milk. The same principle applies to yogurt. Redwood Farms (goat), Old Chatham Sheepherding Company (sheep) and Spoondance Creamery (it can still be found under its former name, Woodstock Water Buffalo Yogurt) make delicious yogurts. Read more about these products in the Cheese Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.
A fresh goat cheese round covered with chives from Cypress Grove Chevre, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week. Read our review—we’re maaad about it.
We just flew in this morning from the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Diego. Departing at 10 p.m. Pacific Time on the “Red Eye,” we ended up at Newark Airport at 6 a.m., in time to find our luggage and fight rush hour traffic into New York City, where we arrived at our desk at 8 a.m. Eastern Time. As always, there was lots of good food to be had at the Fancy Food Show, much fodder for upcoming reviews in THE NIBBLE online magazine. But here’s one of our favorites that we don’t think will end up as a review: Meyenberg Goat Milk. If you love fresh goat cheese, you’ll want to track down a carton, which is available in whole and low fat milk. (For years, it’s been available in canned and powdered form for people who are allergic to cow’s milk—but go for the fresh).
The Meyenberg goat’s milk line includes fresh quarts (at left), canned and powdered milk, plus our passion, the goat’s milk butter (silver square). The company also makes cheese.
This is a gourmet beverage: Fresh goat’s milk has a creamy, gourmet taste for drinking and cooking. If you smile with pleasure when you eat a delicious piece of fresh goat cheese, you’ll be maaad about the fresh milk. We loved it straight; now we can’t wait to buy several quarts to use it in everything requiring milk. Meyenberg’s exquisite goat’s milk butter was a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week and likewise, should not be missed—it turns triers into converts. Meyenberg products are completely natural—no preservatives, no antibiotics, no bovine growth hormones (rBGH). Goat’s milk is an excellent alternative for people who cannot digest cow’s milk and/or soy products. Goat’s milk also is higher in calcium, potassium and vitamins A and B than cow’s milk (the calories are similar.) The products are also certified kosher. You can find them at leading health food and grocery stores nationwide, and there is a list of retailers on the Meyenberg.com. Find reviews of some of our favorite goat’s milk cheeses in the Cheese Section of THE NIBBLE online magazine.
G’Day Gourmet Canned Tuna & Salmon: Great taste and nutrition.
It’s easy to keep healthy, tasty foods at work to snack on. The temptation to grab for fat-and sugar-loaded foods can be offset with a little planning. Pack a drawer with palate-pleasers like delicious teas, fine low-sugar or sugar-free spreads and peanut butters, and 35-calorie crispbreads like Wasa. Peeled Snacks dried fruit and nut mixes are a nutritious snack that hits the spot any time of the day. Read the full story on nutritious gourmet snacking, and check out our NutriNibbles and Diet Nibbles sections of THE NIBBLE online magazine for other smart choices.
