What are you doing this Saturday?

It’s National Rosé Day, held on the second Saturday in June (plus, two more rosé holidays—February 5th, the second Saturday in June, and the 4th Friday in June. See more about them in the ‡footnote.

We have an idea: Have a rosé tasting party. The pink wine is just right for warmer weather.

You can host the entire event, or invite friends to BYO get-together.

> Here’s how to host a rosé tasting.

> Here are more rosé entertaining ideas.

> And here are rosé and food pairings.

> The year’s 40+ white wine holidays.
 
 
WHAT IS ROSÉ WINE?

There is no grape called rosé: Rosé refers to the pink color of the wine.

The wines get their rosy color from contact* with the red grape skins during vinification.

Depending on the grape, terroir† and wine-making techniques, the color can range from the palest pink to deep ruby red to hues of orange or violet.

Still rosé wines can be made from almost any red grape varietal, or from a blend of varietals.

Sparkling rosé wines, including rosé Champagne, are exceptions because they also can be made with white grapes.

Styles range from bone dry Provençal rosé to sweet White Zinfandel and other blush wines from California.

Note that rosé wines are not made to age, and should be drunk at 1-3 years old.

The exception is top-quality rosé Champagne. A 15-year-old Dom Perignon Rosé, for example, is a joy. But, we can only dream…

Currently, the 1996 vintage—perfect for drinking now—is selling from $818 to $1,099.

But don’t be concerned: You can enjoy a perfectly lovely $10 bottle of rosé.
 
 
MORE ABOUT ROSÉ WINE

 
 
RECIPES WITH ROSÉ WINE

 
Ready to party?

Head to your nearest wine store for a selection of rosé wines.
 
 
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After the juice is pressed from the red grapes, the grape skins are added back to the juice for a certain amount of time. This is known as skin contact. The length of skin contact (chosen by the wine maker) and the particular grape varietal influence the color.

Here’s some wine trivia: The juice from red wines is white, the same as the juice from white grapes. Red wines get their color from extended skin contact.

†Terroir, pronounced tur-WAH, is a French agricultural term referring to the unique set of environmental factors in a specific habitat that affect a crop’s qualities. It includes climate, elevation, proximity to a body of water, slant of the land, soil type and amount of sun. These environmental characteristics give a fruit, vegetable, cheese, olive oil, etc., its unique character.

‡The three rose holidays: February 5th is National Rosé Day in Australia and New Zealand. The Second Saturday in June is National Rosé Day founded in the U.S. in 2014 by Bodvár House of Rosés, a Swedish brand, as a U.S.-focused promotional holiday. The fourth Friday in June, International Rosé Day, was established in 2018 by the Provence wine region in France, which is essentially the global home of rosé.

[1] While people think of rosé as a French wine (it outsells white wine in France), there are excellent rosés from California and elsewhere (photo © Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards).

[2] There are delicious rosés in cans, too. Here’s more about them (photo © Bonterra Organic Winery).

[3] A special treat: rosé strawberry ice pops served in a glass of rosé wine (photo © California Strawberries).

[4] Make a Frosé. Here’s a recipe (photo © Kindred Restaurant | Davidson, North Carolina).

[5] Rose goes well with younger cheeses (photo © Sonoma Cutrer Vineyards).

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[1] Start the day with scrambled egg quesadillas with Johnsonville Sausage Strips (all photos © Johnsonville).

[2] However you like your morning eggs—or pancakes, for that matter—serve them with Sausage Strips.

[3] Lunchtime: How about grilled cheese and tomato with Sausage Strips? You can also add the Strips to egg salad, ham, turkey and other sandwiches.

[4] Pimp your cheeseburger with Sausage Strips.

[5] Sausage Strips are naturals with salads, from a Caesar salad or spinach salad to this Mexican “Cobb” Salad (recipe at right).

[6] How about an SLT, the Sausage Strip version of a BLT? Add avocado slices or guacamole for a SLAT.

[7] Need a snack? Make about nachos with diced or crumbled Sausage Strips. BYOB.

[8] Johnsonville Sausage Strips are available in four varieties.

Here’s a great idea: sausage strips shaped like bacon, that are much more versatile than whole or sliced sausage links. Such are the innovative new Johnsonville Sausage Strips, made from product made from delicious, high-quality sausage that is fully cooked, crisps in a minute or two in the microwave, and add protein, however you serve it.

For breakfast, lunch or dinner, these Sausage Strips can be used whole, crumbled, chopped or minced:

There are four different flavor profiles:

 
We’ve been using the Sausage Strips to replace bacon. It’s a different flavor, of course; but since the Strips are already cooked, they just need to be heated for 1-2 minutes in the microwave—or in a stove top pan if you prefer.

A bonus: There’s no bacon grease spatter or a greasy pan to clean.

There’s also less shrinkage than with bacon.

Find a store locator here.

And take a look at these yummy ways to use Johnsonville Sausage Strips for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks.
 
 
20 WAYS TO USE JOHNSONVILLE SAUSAGE STRIPS

> BREAKFAST

 
 
> LUNCH

 
 
> COCKTAILS & SNACKS

 
 
> DINNER

 
 
> DESSERT?

We haven’t tried dipping sausage strips in chocolate, as confectioners have done with bacon and called “pig candy.” Nor have we used such confections to top ice cream.

But there’s no harm in trying!

 
RECIPE #1: TEX-MEX “COBB” SALAD

While not a Cobb Salad per se, this salad is arranged with the ingredients grouped together, as in a classic Cobb.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the dressing.

2. TEAR the lettuce into bite-size pieces.

3. DICE the tomato and slice the avocado, onion, Sausage Strips and optional ingredients.

4. WASH the cilantro, remove the stems and pat dry the leaves. Set aside.

 
WHAT TO DO WITH CILANTRO STEMS

Cilantro stems have just as much flavor as the leaves, but are too chewy to use as is.

Instead, you can:

 
Here’s a recipe for a green sauce made with cilantro stems.

 
RECIPE #2: LIME VINAIGRETTE DRESSING

The lime juice in this recipe replaces vinegar, and has a distinctly Mexican flavor.

The recipe also has honey, which our Mom preferred. We, instead, leave it out to cut down on our daily sugar intake.

If you wish to do the same, you can add a pinch of sugar or a drop of honey.

And if you like heat in your food, you can add red chile flakes instead of the black pepper.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all ingredients in a blender and emulsify. Alternatively, whisk together the first five ingredients. Then add the olive oil, whisking continuously. Set aside.

2. WHISK as needed to emulsify before serving.

Glenmorangie’s stills are the tallest in Scotland—as tall as an adult giraffe!

Such tall stills create more space for taste and aroma to imbue the spirit.

The “giraffe-tall” stills are why they company has chosen to support Africa’s giraffes.

The iconic species needs help to conserve dwindling numbers for the next generation

Each purchase of Glenmorangie’s Original Gift Tin will support the Giraffe Conservation Foundation. It’s a gift with a bonus give-back to make the recipient feel even better.

Not to mention the beautiful “keeper” tin, with cut-outs patterned after giraffes.

It’s a beautiful gift, for $39.99.

Buy it here.

And if you don’t want Scotch but do want to help the giraffes, head here.
 
 
ABOUT GLENMORANGIE ORIGINAL

First released more than 175 years ago, Glenmorangie Original 10 Year Old has long been known for its mellow tones and delicacy of flavor.

The Giraffe Gift Tin, a special packaging, includes a 750ml bottle of Glenmorangie Original 10-Year-Old Scotch.

The metal is laser cut with a pattern of giraffe patches (spots).

The Bourbon Cask Matured Highland Single Malt Scotch Whiskey is the original expression of the distillery’s elegant, floral spirit.

The casks are American white oak and have been (as the name indicates) previously used in Kentucky to age Bourbon. Bourbon cask aging adds notes of citrus (orange), honey, vanilla and a burst of peach sweetness.

Enjoy it:

 
 
> Here’s more about Glenmorangie, including a broad selection of expressions.

> The different types of whiskey.

> The difference between “whiskey” and “whiskey.”

[1] Glenmorangie Original 10 Year Old Scotch in a keepsake giraffe tin (all photos © Glenmorangie).

[2] The beautiful giraffe, which ranges from 15 to 18+ feet in height.

[3] Glenmorangie pot stills: at 16 feet and 10 inches, they’re as tall as giraffes.

[1] A vanilla ice cream donut with a pink “magic shell” and sprinkles (photos #1 and #2 © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[2] A cinnamon crumb coating made from waffle cones and cinnamon. Great with an iced coffee!

[3] A traditional take on an ice cream sandwich: Apple cider donuts with apple cider ice cream (photo © Tillamook Dairy).

[4] This ice cream sandwich uses glazed donuts. Here’s the recipe (photo © Paper & Stitch).

[5] Take the next step: Top a donut ice cream sandwich with chocolate sauce to make a sundae (photo © Emily B. Hall | The Mockingbird Diner | Nashville).

[6] Nonstick silicone donut molds are available from Amazon (photo © Bakhuk.)

Spell it donut or doughnut, it’s National Donut Day. The holiday takes place on the first Friday of June; and if that’s not enough, June is National Donut Month.

How did doughnut become donut? That impetus goes to Dunkin’ Donuts, which spelled its product “donut,” and then proceeded to expand nationally.

Here’s more donut history.

Out of respect for the classic and acknowledgement that “donut” has taken over, we’ll use both spellings in this article.

Back in 2017 we published two recipes for ice cream donuts.

Today we have two more, from our colleague Hannah Kaminsky of Bittersweet Blog.

Shape the ice cream in a donut mold.

“Thanks to the advent of flexible silicone molds,” she says (photo #6), “no food is safe from doughnut-ification.

“It didn’t take long for visually stunning sushi doughnuts to emerge as a clear winner, captivating hungry followers across all social media platforms—but the hits keep on coming.

“Ice cream doughnuts are more than just another excuse to use the molds. These frozen treats are as much fun to admire as they are to eat!

“Pretty in pink (photo #1), the glaze is actually a beet-tinted approach to Magic Shell*, flavored with vanilla and finished with those classic rainbow sprinkles. It just wouldn’t be a doughnut without them…

“Or would it? Almost as soon as the initial batch was devoured, I realized the opportunity that had been missed.

“Cinnamon sugar doughnuts, singing of warmth and comfort, are equally worthy candidates of imitation.

“Absolutely any flavor will work, so go wild and play with colors and textures, dressing up your doughnuts with edible extravagance.”

In addition to Hannah’s ice cream donuts, photos #3, #4 and #5 show creative options for ice cream donut sandwiches.

Dig in!
 
 
RECIPE #1: ICE CREAM DOUGHNUTS WITH “MAGIC SHELL” GLAZE

An easy hack here is to buy Magic Shell (which is made in caramel, chocolate and white chocolate); or to use royal icing.

Ingredients For 6 Ice Cream Doughnuts

 
 
RECIPE #2: ICE CREAM DOUGHNUTS WITH CINNAMON CRUMB COATING

For The Cinnamon Crumb Coated Doughnuts (photo #2)

 
 
Preparation

1. MAKE the ice cream doughnuts. Soften the pint of ice cream until spreadable but not melted. Smooth the ice cream evenly into the molds, taking care to fill any voids.

2. LIGHTLY TAP the mold on the counter to remove any air bubbles, and quickly slide it into the freezer. Let chill until frozen solid, at least 4-6 hours but ideally overnight. When ready to add topping…

3. MAKE the Magic Shell. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave in 30-second increments, stirring at each interval until they are melted.

Heat the coconut oil or butter to liquid state. Stir the ingredients together until the chocolate has a uniform texture. For a white shell, tint as desired with food coloring.

Store in a container in the refrigerator until needed, then microwave to melt.

4. TAKE the ice cream doughnuts from the freezer and pop them out of the mold. Either dip each one or drizzle with the Magic Shell glaze before quickly topping with sprinkles. The glaze sets up almost immediately, so you need to be fast! Serve right away or return them to the freezer until ready to enjoy.

For the cinnamon crumb coating:

5. PLACE the ice cream cones and cinnamon in a blender or food processor and pulse until very finely ground. Transfer to a shallow dish.

Place the milk in a separate dish, and dip each frozen ice cream doughnut into the milk to ensure that the topping will adhere.

Press the crumbs firmly into the doughnut until completely coated. Eat immediately or return the doughnuts to the freezer until ready to serve.
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF FROZEN DESSERTS
 
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*The Magic Shell brand is owned by The J.M. Smuckers Company, and is trademarked.

Today’s article is an “oops.” We originally found this fun pie crust idea (photo #1) in our Twitter feed. It was from The Cupcake Project, “Repost from @chefclubtv via @kitchen.tv.”

Our process for cataloguing ideas is to take a screen shot with the URL or social media handle; then, if we want to share it, go back to the site and get more information about the author and the recipe.

In this case, we couldn’t find the post for an M&Ms pie crust under @cupcakeproject, @chefclubtv or @kitchen.tv.

We looked and looked and looked. We searched Twitter, Facebook, Google Images and the Internet overall. Even A.I. couldn’t find it.

There was a video attached to the recipe (photo #2). We found it on Pinterest.

We found lots of other M&Ms pie crust ideas, but not anything like this one, which rolls the M&Ms under the rim of the crust (a relative of Domino’s hot dog pizza crust).

So we tried our best to provide instructions, below.

If you know where we can find the original recipe, please let us know so we can link to it.

> The year’s 60+ candy holidays (National M&Ms Day is October 13th).

> The year’s 69 chocolate holidays.

> The year’s 31 pie holidays.

> The history of pie.

> The different types of pie: a photo glossary.
> The history of M&Ms is below.
 
 
RECIPE: M&Ms PIE CRUST

Surprise your friends and family when you hide M&M candies in your pie crust.

1. ROLL out your pie crust with an extra inch in diameter to roll over the M&Ms.

2. PLACE a rim of M&Ms around the bottom edge of the pie crust. (The photos show Peanut M&Ms. There are 11 flavors of M&Ms!)

3. ROLL the crust over the M&Ms. You should have enough dough to pinch or flute the top rim of the pie.

4. FILL with your favorite filling and bake as usual.
 
 
WHAT PIE FILLING SHOULD YOU USE?

Your own palate will guide you. Ours pointed us to cream pies.

There are so many different flavors of M&Ms these days, that you can conceive many more pairings.

The current M&Ms flavor lineup includes Almond, Caramel, Coffee Nut, Crispy, Dark Chocolate, Fudge Brownie, Milk Chocolate, Mint Peanut, Peanut Butter, Pretzel and White Chocolate.

Here are pairings for the two main flavors:
 
 
Fillings That Pair With Milk Chocolate M&Ms

 
Pie Fillings That Pair With Peanut Or Peanut Butter M&Ms

 
> The history of pie.

> The different types of pie: a photo glossary.

[1] M&Ms pie crust (photos #1 and #2 via Kitchen.tv).

[2] We found the video on Pinterest, on the page of ChefClubTV.app.link, a German website.

[3] Get out the M&Ms and get to work. The history of M&Ms is below (photo © Robert Anasch | Unsplash).

[4] Ripped off: The idea for M&Ms was copied from Smarties (photo © Fritish | CC By SA 2.0 License).

M&Ms were created in New Jersey in 1941 by Forrest E. Mars, Sr., son of the Mars Company founder, Franklin Clarence Mars.

During the Spanish Civil War in the 1930s, the story goes, he saw soldiers eating Smarties*, a British‡ candy consisting of chocolate pellets surrounded by a colored shell of hardened sugar syrup, which prevented the chocolate from melting.

He copied the idea and varied the product enough—both the chocolate filling and the shape of the candy, which is rounder than the flat Smarties—to receive a patent.

M&M Limited was founded in Newark, New Jersey in 1940. The M&Ms candy was ready to launch in 1941, when Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7th and the U.S. entered World War II on December 8th†.

Not surprisingly, the first customer for M&Ms was the U.S. Army. With chocolate rationing during the War, M&Ms were exclusively sold to the military. They proved an ideal way for soldiers to carry energy-rich chocolate in tropical climates without it melting.

After the war, in 1947, the candy was made available to the public. Its popularity has never waned since. Here’s more of the history.

By the way, the two Ms of M&Ms represent the initials of Forrest Mars Sr. and Bruce Murrie, son of Hershey Chocolate’s president William F. R. Murrie. Murrie had a 20% share in the profits due to his ability to provide Hershey cocoa to Mars (Hershey had control of the rationed cocoa, the prime ingredient of chocolate, at the time).

Coincidentally, both Mars and the Smarties Candy Company have always been located in New Jersey.
 
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*The brand is now owned by Nestlé, with headquarters in London.

†World War II began in Europe on September 3, 1939, following Germany’s invasion of Poland on September 1st. This act triggered the commitments made by England in France in their alliance with Poland to defend Polish sovereignty.

‡There are two different candies called Smarties. The U.S.-based Smarties Candy Company (Ce De Candy) only owns the trademark to the name Smarties in the U.S. Their product is a fruit-flavored sugar tablet. Outside the U.S. Smarties is a registered trademark of Nestlé (formerly Rowntree Mackintosh PLC, which was acquired by Nestlé in 1988 (along with their other brands, Aero, After Eight, Kit Kat, and Polo mints). When Rowntree’s Smarties (the chocolate kind) were introduced in North America, the Smarties Candy Company already owned the registered trademark name in the U.S.

So how can Nestlé’s Smarties be sold in the U.S.? Through a perfectly legal practice called parallel import (also called gray market goods). Authentic products tare legally purchased in one country and then imported into another country without the authorization of the trademark holder in that destination country. British Smarties are imported through unofficial channels rather than through Nestlé’s authorized distribution network. Since Nestlé doesn’t distribute them, they have not violated the trademark of American Smarties.
 
 

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