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


Also visit our main website, TheNibble.com.

TOP PICK OF THE WEEK: Bacon And Chocolate

November 23, 2011 at 7:35 am · Filed under Chocolate, Giftable, Top Pick Of The Week


Chocolate with bacon and pistachios, chocolate bacon peanut butter cups and spicy bacon toffee. Photo by Elvira Kalviste | THE NIBBLE.

   From coast to coast, from farmers’ markets to fine restaurants, the pairing of chocolate and bacon is the hottest combination to come along since salted caramels. Artisan confectioners have hopped onto the chocolate-and-bacon bandwagon.

For this week’s Top Pick, we sampled 37 products from 27 confectioners who make chocolate and bacon confections.

We tasted bacon chocolates, bacon-chocolate cupcakes, chocolate bacon caramels, chocolate bacon marshmallows, chocolate bacon marshmallows, chocolate-covered bacon strips and other chocolaty, bacony confections.

What did we discover?

Six winners and five runners up that make for delicious eating and gifting.

Just about everything we tasted was good; but we sought a balance of chocolate and bacon. In more than a few examples, you couldn’t taste the bacon. In others, the bacon element was too salty (and we love salted chocolate and caramels).
 
So take a look and discover a new way to enjoy chocolate…and bacon:

  • The history of bacon chocolate.
  • Why the flavor combination works.
  • What we reviewed: contestants, winners and runners up.
  • The individual product reviews.

    •  
    Find more of our favorite chocolates in our Gourmet Chocolate Section.

    Find our favorite chocolates in TheNibbleGourmetMarket.com.
      

    Comments off

    TIP OF THE DAY: How Not To Overeat On Thanksgiving

    November 23, 2011 at 7:01 am · Filed under Diet Nibbles, Thanksgiving & Fall, Tip Of The Day

    Thanksgiving dinner has some favorite foods that we only have once a year. The temptation is to have your fill on this special occasion.

    However, no one gives thanks for the opportunity to overeat. Here’s how to avoid stuffing yourself while still enjoying a great holiday meal:

  • Avoid finger foods, which tend to be the highest in calories and fat. Stick to raw vegetables. We find that one way to avoid the hors d’oeuvre is to chat with everyone there instead of obsessing about the food. Besides, eating the hors d’oeuvre fills you up for the main event.
  • Stick to wine, sparkling water or other judicious choice during cocktail hour. Mulled wine, toddies and other tempting choices may be loaded with sugar.
    		•   
    Freedom From Want by Norman Rockwell.
     

  • Don’t eat the turkey skin. While most advice suggests white meat over dark meat, if you eat the skin on one but not on the other, and add cholesterol- and carb-laden gravy to moisten the white meat, the difference washes out (see the chart below).
  • Have a roasted sweet potato (no butter—the potato doesn’t need it) instead of candied yams.
  • Eat all the vegetables. Lay off the heavy sauces and salad dressings. Eat seconds of vegetables and salad before having any other seconds.
  • Avoid the bread basket. If you love biscuits, cornbread, etc., you probably just can’t have just one piece. Pass them by and treat yourself to a biscuit or some corn bread on another day of the year that doesn’t include a huge holiday meal.
  • Have a small piece of pie. By the time dessert comes, you may only have room for a small piece, anyway. Skip the whipped cream or ice cream.

    •  
    TURKEY MEAT: CALORIES & FAT

    Per 3-1/2 ounce (100 gram) portion:

    Image courtesy University Of Illinois.

    Now that we’ve given our “public service announcement,” have a great holiday and enjoy a spoonful of anything—just don’t pile it onto your plate.
      

    Comments off

    TIP OF THE DAY: American Cheeses For Thanksgiving

    November 22, 2011 at 8:57 am · Filed under Cheese-Yogurt-Dairy, Thanksgiving & Fall


    A tempting selection of cheeses from Jasper
    Hill Farm     in Greensboro, Vermont.

    		   We’ve gotten a spate of emails from cheese purveyors, recommending cheeses for Thanksgiving dinner.

    Amazingly, not one of them has suggested an American-made cheese! American cheeses have taken top honors in competitions worldwide. Attention must be paid!

    So we say to those vendors: On this most American of holidays, why serve something from France or England when there are so many magnificent cheeses made in America?

    Go to your town’s best cheese store and ask for recommendations for an all-American cheese plate.

    While we love every cheese produced by these cheesemakers, we picked our favorites to serve on Thanksgiving, as a dessert cheese plate:
     

  • Some of the heavenly goat cheeses from Vermont Butter & Cheese Creamery—and their butter, too (the butter is amazing, and the salted variety is the only salted butter we eat).
  • Truffle Tremor goat cheese from Cypress Grove Chevre of Arcata, California. Truffle Tremor and Humboldt Fog are icons to goat cheese lovers.
  • Red Hawk from Cowgirl Creamery, of Point Reyes Station, California.
  • The brilliant Point Reyes Original Blue, blue cheese made in Point Reyes, California (the blue cheese dip is to-die-for, too).
  • Barely Buzzed Cheddar, rubbed with ground coffee, from Beehive Cheese of Uintah, Utah.

    •  
    The great state of Wisconsin makes so many great cheeses, they could fill an entire cheese store (and in Wisconsin, they do!).

    On Thanksgiving, among our many blessings, we’ll give thanks for American cheeses.

    Find more of our favorite American cheeses in our Cheese Section.

      

    Comments off



    © Copyright 2005-2026 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. All images are copyrighted to their respective owners.