March 4th is National Pound Cake Day—one of our favorite cakes.

Our “personal spin” on it is a pound cake hot fudge sundae: a slice of pound cake topped with ice cream, fudge sauce and whipped cream—hold the cherry unless it’s an adult-worthy one from Tillen Farms.

Here’s how to make a pound cake ice cream sundae.

The original recipe was developed in England in the 1700s. Here’s the history of pound cake.

Vanilla or lemon are the classic pound cake flavors, but in the 20th century, creative bakers made flavored versions:

 
Today, we offer you yet another flavor: Sweet Potato Pound Cake (photo #1).

Who says that sweet potato desserts start and end with pie?

This recipe is deliciously moist, with the naturally sweetness of the potatoes, plus coconut. It was developed by Superman Cooks for the North Carolina Sweet Potatoes.

Look at the Superman Cooks website for more tempting, beautifully photographed recipes.
 
 
RECIPE: SWEET POTATO POUND CAKE

Prep time is 10 minutes, cook time is 1 hour 5 minutes, cooling time is 15 minutes.
 
Ingredients For 12 Servings

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl.

2. ADD the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each one. Add the mashed sweet potatoes and mix well.

3. COMBINE the flour and pumpkin pie spice in a separate large mixing bowl. Gradually add the sweet potato mixture to the flour mixture, while beating.

4. STIR in the coconut. Spoon the batter into a well-greased bundt pan.

5. BAKE for 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes and then invert the pan to remove the cake.

6. DUST with the optional powdered sugar.
 
 
MORE POUND CAKE RECIPES

[1] Mmmm, Sweet Potato Pound Cake (photo © Superman Cooks | North Carolina Sweet Potatoes).

[2] Firm, sweet North Carolina Sweet Potatoes (photo © North Carolina Sweet Potatoes).

[3] Shredded coconut. You can get it at Gourmet Food World (photo © Gourmet Food World).

*If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, it’s easy to blend yourself with these ingredients.

†Powdered sugar is a pretty garnish, but it falls onto clothes and furnishings. We’ve learned to live without it. If you want decoration, try this vanilla glaze.

[1] Slow cooker mulled wine. The recipe is below (recipe and photos #1 and #2 © Hello Fresh).

[2] It takes just 90 minutes in a slow cooker.

[3] If you have stemmed glasses, by all means use them (photo © Edward Howell | Unsplash).

March 3rd is National Mulled Wine Day.

Where we live, there’s enough of a chill in the month of March to warrant a cup of warm mulled wine.

“Mulled” means to heat, sweeten and flavor with spices for drinking. Cider and ale are also mulled.
 
 
MULLED WINE HISTORY

Mulled wine is a wine drink typically made from a hearty red wine, honey and spices.

It originated as a way to save wine that had gone bad, and became a traditional winter drink in northern Europe.

 
Preparation

1. POUR the wine into a slow cooker along with the cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, orange juice, honey and pear slices. Stir to combine.

2. TURN ON the heat and let simmer on low heat about 1 hour. Add the lime and orange slices and let the wine infuse for another 30 minutes on the “keep warm” setting.

3. STRAIN the mulled wine, leaving out the cinnamon sticks and star anise.

4. GARNISH with a few slices of pear, orange and lime.
 
 
> MORE ABOUT MULLED WINE

One of our favorite olive oil producers, California Olive Ranch, is having a 30% Off sale on its Roasted Garlic EVOO!.

The sale runs through the month of March, and is an opportunity to pick up some great flavored olive oil, not just for yourself, but for gifting (St. Patrick’s Day? Spring? Mother’s Day?).

To make its Roasted Garlic Oil, California Olive Ranch’s EVOO is infused with roasted garlic.

The result: a robust, flavorful oil that is perfect for adding extra flavor to your cooking.
 
 
WAYS TO USE ROASTED GARLIC OLIVE OIL

We use it:

California Olive Ranch’s Roasted Garlic EVOO is so versatile, you can use it from breakfast through dinner (photo © California Olive Ranch).

Head to CaliforniaOliveRanch.com.

No promo code is required. The sale price of $8 is reflected on the website. The sale price is in effect through 3/31/21.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF OLIVE OIL

> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF OLIVE OIL

[1] Slane is a relative newcomer to Irish whiskey. Irish whiskey was one of the earliest distilled drinks in Europe, arising in the 12th century (photos #1 through #4 © Slane Irish Whiskey| Brown-Forman).

[2] Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Irish Coffee. Here’s the original recipe and history of the drink.

[3] Slane’s unique triple-casked maturation process creates a bolder Irish whiskey.

[4] Enjoy Slane on the rocks…

[5] …or in a cocktail. Here are recipes for this cocktail and 9 more from prominent mixologists (photo © Thirsty Media).

St. Patrick’ Day is coming up. Whether you’re a Scotch fan, prefer other whiskies, or no brown goods** at all, St. Patrick’s Day demands that you pay attention to Irish whiskey.

What are the differences between Irish whiskey, Scotch whisky, and whiskies from America, Canada and the rest of the world?

Check out our Whiskey Glossary.

But a brief summary of the differences between Irish and Scotch whiskies:

 
While some people prefer one to the other, you can easily enjoy both types (we do!).
 
 
WHAT IS IRISH WHISKEY?

Distilled since the 12th century (earlier than Scotch, in the 15th century), Irish whiskey is one of the oldest spirits in the world. Some people think of it as the father of all whiskey.

To be classified as Irish whiskey, it must be:

 
Within these criteria, there are 4 distinct types of whiskey produced in Ireland.
 
 
TYPES OF IRISH WHISKEY

 
Some people have preferences for one style over another; others drink all types. The analogy to Scotch is that some people prefer the style of whisky from a particular production region (Campbeltown, Highlands, Lowlands, Islands, Islay, Speyside); others have broader tastes.
 
 
SLANE IRISH WHISKEY

Slane Irish Whiskey is a blended† Irish whiskey with a unique take on aging. It creates a more robust and complex flavor than a traditional blended Irish whiskey.

Slane is owned by Brown-Forman, one of the largest global spirits business.

Slane’s tripled casked method was developed with the Conyngham family in the village of Slane in County Meath—just north of Dublin, in eastern Ireland.

The technique uses a blend of virgin oak, seasoned oak from the Tennessee whiskey barrels of Jack Daniel’s, and oloroso sherry casks from Jerez, the sherry-making city in southwestern Spain.

The distilled whiskey is divided among the three different types of barrels for aging. At the end of maturation, they are blended [source].

The resulting whiskey is bold yet smooth and nuanced:

 
Slane Irish Whiskey is produced using both pot stills and column stills, and is chill filtered.
 
So for St. Patrick’s Day, for yourself or as a gift, treat yourself to a bottle of Slane’s.

*Sherry is a wine that is fortified with a distilled grape spirit. It is then aged in the solera system, and blended before bottling. Here’s more about it.

**Brown goods is an industry term for brown-colored spirits: bourbon, whiskey, etc. White goods are the clear spirits: gin, rum, tequila, vodka, etc.

†A blended Irish whiskey is a mixture of two or more styles. For example, it could be a blend of whiskeies made from malt and grain, pot still and grain, malt and pot still, malt, pot still, and grain, etc.

‡A.B.V., alcohol by volume, is a standard measure of how much alcohol (ethanol) is contained in a given volume of a spirit (or other alcoholic beverage). It is expressed as a percent. The proof of a spirit is two times the A.B.V. For example, 40% A.B.V. equates to 80 proof.

The Saucy Ladies have created a line of deliciously crunchy, old-fashioned kettle chips.

First, let’s take a minute to compare kettle chips—the original potato chips—to the modern, continuous-process chips.
 
 
WHAT ARE KETTLE CHIPS?

As their name might suggest, what we now call “small batch” potato chips were originally cooked in a large kettle.

The term “kettle” is relative.

The original kettle is a pot made for boiling or stewing food, that would be found in a home kitchen.

Over time, the kettles were made in larger sizes to feed larger audiences. For commercial production, it became a large vat.

The term cetel appears in Old English before 900 C.E., derived from the Latin catīnus, a food vessel.

Potato chips as we know them—thin slices of potato fried to a crisp crunch—were not invented until 1853—and then not intentionally (the history of potato chips).

To make chips, the potato slices were added to a kettle (vat) of boiling oil on a stove. When the batch was done cooking, the chips were removed and a new batch of potato slices was added.

The potato chips made in a pot on your own stove are also kettle chips.

The continuous fryer was invented in 1929. A continuous stream of potato slices was moved through a current of oil.

This created tremendous economies of scale and drove most of the small kettle cookers out of business. By the 1940s, automation had evolved to change much of America’s artisan food production into mass production, including potato chips.

Here’s more about the difference between kettle chips and continuous fryer chips.

Here’s how continuous processing changed potato chips:

 
We’ll take small-batch kettle chips over continuous fryer chips every time!
 
 
THE SAUCY LADIES KETTLE CHIPS

The Saucy Ladies kettle chips took their brand name from the first flavors, which used spices that emulated classic pasta sauces: Arrabbiata, Five Cheeses, Marinara, and Tomato Basil.

Why? Sharon Straci, the founder of The Saucy Ladies, spent more than two decades creating pasta sauces for commercial use.

The “sauce” flavors were joined by Old Fashioned With Sea Salt, Sweet & Salty and Truffle, for a total of eight flavors.

We were pleasantly surprised by Sweet & Salty. The sweetness is caramel flavor—a “salted caramel” potato chip.

In fact, we’d call it a “dessert” chip.

Of course, you can nibble on them anytime. But serve them with a sweetened ricotta dip (like cannoli filling) for a sweet treat.
 
 
GET YOURS!

The chips are sold in two-ounce and six-ounce bags, and can be purchased on the website in:

 
You can build your own box, selecting your flavors of choice.

These are great gifts for chip lovers, too.

There are also gift certificates.

Get yours at SaucyLadiesUSA.com.
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF POTATO CHIPS
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF THE POTATO

[1] Kettle chips—the original potato chips—are a bit thicker and a lot crunchier (photo © Mazza | Panther Media).

[2] In addition to the classic, simply-salted “Old Fashioned” kettle chip, there are seven more flavors. All are available in 2-ounce (above) and 6-ounce bags (below—photos #2 through #5 © The Saucy Ladies).

[3] The Truffle flavor is very lightly truffled—not intense like some other brands we’ve tasted.

[4] Like heat? Try the Arrabbiata flavor, named after the pasta dish made with crushed red chili flakes.

[5] Our idea of a “dessert” chip: It’s the chip version of salted caramel.