We’ve made a lot of red, white and blue recipes for July 4th, and have cut out cake and pie decorations, cheese and cookies and with a star-shaped cookie cutter.

But this recipe, from Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, raises the bar:

Using that cookie cutter to make star-shaped tortilla chips.

It’s paired with a red, white and blue salsa made with Wisconsin mozzarella cheese from Burnett Dairy.

Ready to roll up your sleeves and make your own tortilla chips?
 
 
RECIPE: JULY 4TH TORTILLA CHIPS & SALSA

Ingredients For The Star-Spangled Salsa (3 Cups)

 
For The Star-Shape Tortilla Chips

[1] A great July 4th snack: star-shaped tortilla chips with red, white and blue salsa (photo © Wisconsin Dairy Farmers).

[2] Blueberries add sweetness to the spicy salsa (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] If you can find tiny mozzarella perlini (“pearls”), they’re more decorative than diced mozzarella (photo © The Nibble | Melody Lan).

[4] This recipe substitutes roasted red peppers for the traditional tomatoes (photo © Monjardin.

[1] Serve blooming tea iced in a wine glass or a Collins glass (photo © LWXLJMJZC | Amazon).

[2] A glass teapot is the way to showcase hot blooming tea. You can typically buy them where you buy the tea (photo © Davidson’s).

[3] If you don’t have a glass pot for hot tea, unfurl the blossom in a glass mug (photo © Teasenz).

[4] We prefer the appeal of a wine glass, but you can use any tall glass for iced blooming tea (photo © Joy Buy).

[4] A gift box of blooming teas from Blooming Tea Garden.

June is National Iced Tea Month. How about something different?

We love to serve our guests blooming tea, hot or iced.

Blooming tea is not just a beverage. It’s a feast for the senses, and a treat that no one will soon forget.

Blooming teas, also known as flowering teas and presentation teas, are hand-crafted balls of white tea leaves (sometimes green tea leaves), arranged to blossom into a beautiful flower.

The magic comes when you place the ball into hot water. Over a few minutes, it unfurls its leaves into a floral presentation.

The tea balls (photo #1) comprise the leaves that infuse in the hot water, as well as flower blossoms that add floral notes to the tea.

Many flowers, since each artisan company has its own flower designs and flavor combinations.

The teas, typically green or white tea, are fragrant in addition to eye-appealing.
 
 
HOW ARE BLOOMING TEAS MADE?

Blooming teas are hand-sewn balls of tea leaves and flower petals, cleverly stitched together with thread by Chinese artisans.

In addition to the tea leaves, the flowers used include globe amaranth, chrysanthemum, hibiscus, jasmine, lily and osmanthus, among others. They add flavor and aroma as well as beauty.

Here’s how the tea balls are made.

If you don’t want to see how the tea is grown and picked, just fast-forward to the middle of the video, when the tea has been picked and is about to be made into balls.
 
 
YOU CAN STEEP THEM MORE THAN ONCE

The tea blossom can be re-brewed twice more within 24 hours, so don’t throw it away after a single brewing.

The second and third brewings taste much more delicate, but are still worthy of enjoying.

The number of times the blossoms deliver flavor depends on the particular tea. Keep trying until there’s no more flavor.

Refrigerate brewed blossoms in a sealed container for up to 48 hours (remove water prior to storage).

If the bloom is still in good shape after three brews, you can add it to a cup or glass of regularly-brewed green or white tea.

We also use blooms that no longer have tea flavor in a glass or pitcher of iced water. The blooms will keep for a couple of weeks.
 
 
HOW TO SERVE BLOOMING TEA

To enjoy the beauty of flowering teas, prepare them in glass—a mug, a glass or a teapot like the ones in the photos.

If you want hot tea, the loveliest way to serve it is in a glass teapot, or individual glass mugs (photos #2 and #3).

For iced tea, a tall glass or a wine glass is the way to go.

You’ll have to brew the tea in hot water to open the blossom; then ice it in the fridge.

Guests miss out on the unfurling, but the presentation is nevertheless impressive.

(If you use a glass pitcher for brewing, make sure it is heat-proof.)
 
 
WHERE TO PURCHASE BLOOMING TEA

You can find blooming tea at dozens of online merchants.

Just look for “blooming tea” in Google Images, to see the variety of styles available from different merchants.

Flavored teas work especially well when iced.

One merchant, Tea Bloom, has a flavored tea ball set that includes Açaí, Blueberry, Cranberry, Jasmine, Litchi, Orange, Peach, Pineapple and Strawberry.

Blooming teas are great for gifting, and can be purchased in individual packets for party favors and stocking stuffers.
 
 
> HAVE AN ICED TEA PARTY
 
 
> WHAT TO SERVE AT A TEA PARTY
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF ICED TEA

Summer beans like green beans, yellow wax beans and specialty beans like purple green beans and romanos, are some of the best veggies to grill.

Yet, few people think of them for grilling—perhaps because they seem like they’d fall through the grill.

They will: But a grill basket, grill pan or aluminum foil packet is the solution.
 
 
RECIPE #1: GRILLED GREEN BEANS

Grill the beans in a grill basket or a grill pan.

If you don’t have either, you can make packets with heavy-duty foil placed directly on the grill grate. Tip: Instead of oil, you can add a strip of bacon to each packet to provide the fat.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WASH the beans and trim the stem ends. Pat dry.

2. TOSS the beans in your oil of choice. We like flavored olive oil (basil, chile, garlic, rosemary, etc.).

3. ADD seasonings: salt and pepper; and optionally, your favorite spices (how about cumin, garlic powder, minced fresh garlic, onion powder, paprika or blends [e.g., Cajun, Italian, Old Bay or steak seasoning]).

The best way to add spices is to blend them with the oil in the bowl, and then toss the beans.

4. PREHEAT the grill basket or grilling pan on a hot grill. Add the green beans and cook for 6-7 minutes, shaking the basket/pan twice. They should turn bright green and have some grill marks.

5. SERVE them as is, or as a grilled green bean salad (below).
 
 
RECIPE #2: GRILLED GREEN BEAN SALAD

Toss these ingredients together and serve the salad warm or chilled.

Ingredients

 

WHAT ARE ROMANO BEANS

These Italian flat beans are a farmers market favorite (photo #2).

[1] Mix them up for fun: green beans, purple green beans and wax beans (photo © The Pines | Brooklyn).

[2] Romano beans, flat green beans, are an Italian variety. There’s more about them below (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Rosemary-infused olive oil is one of a number of flavored olive oils that can add herb flavor (photo © Caviar Russe).

They are cooked and eaten in the same ways as other green beans.

With their delicious nutty green flavor and firm texture, romanos are excellent whether braised, grilled or steamed. In addition:

[1] A Dry Martini, stylish served at Dante Restaurant in New York City. Here’s the classic Martini recipe (photo © Dante).

[2] Add a splash to soups. Here’s the recipe for this Manhattan Clam Chowder from Eat To Love (photo © Eat To Love).

[3] Homemade fig jam. Here’s the recipe from Set The Table (photo © Set The Table).

[4] Spaghetti and lobster in a sweet vermouth sauce. Here’s the recipe from Cooking For Keeps (photo © Cooking For Keeps).

[5] A sweet (red) vermouth apéritif and nibbles (photo © Foods And Wines From Spain).

June 19th is National Dry Martini Day.

Both the original, with gin, and the modern, with vodka, have a second ingredient in common: dry vermouth.

Vermouth is an aromatized white wine, fortified with distilled alcohol and infused with various botanicals (barks, flowers, herbs, roots, seeds, spices) chosen by the producer.

Fortifying with a base spirit allows the opened bottle of wine to stay fresher, for longer (keep it in the fridge).

Even so, vermouth, though fortified, is still a wine and not a liquor. It has a shelf life. If refrigerated properly, it should keep anywhere from four to six weeks after opening.

Serve it instead of wine: chilled or over ice with a lemon peel. Or, use it to cook, as illustrated below.

Here’s the history of vermouth, which evolved from a use by apothecaries in Northern Italy and Germany, in the 16th century.

To make bitter medicines more palatable, apothecaries would blend extracts of herbs and roots with wine and brandy*.

Later, in the Italian city of Turin, vermouth became an apéritif, served at fashionable cafés.

Two types of vermouth evolved—dry/white and sweet/red—with subsequent additional styles including extra-dry white, sweet white (blanc or bianco), red, amber (ambre), and rosé.

In the late 19th century, dry vermouth became popular with bartenders as a key ingredient in cocktails that are still popular today: the Manhattan, the Martini/Gibson†, the Rob Roy, and the Negroni, among others.

Sweet vermouth is typically served as a spritzer, with a bit of simple syrup and fresh lemon, lots of club soda, and a mint garnish.

But you can also cook with vermouth.

> March 21st is World Vermouth Day.

> The history of vermouth.

> Vermouth and tapas menu.

> Vermouth Spritz cocktail recipe.
 
 
COOKING WITH VERMOUTH

Dry Vermouth

In addition to being consumed as an apéritif or cocktail ingredient, dry vermouth can be substituted for white wine in cooking.

Vermouth is fortified so is a bit stronger; you can use less if you’re concerned about too much wine flavor. Also be sure that the dish you’re making can stand up to the light flavors of the botanicals.

If you open a bottle for cocktails, continue to use it in your recipes to:

 
Sweet Vermouth

Not surprisingly, sweet vermouth works better than dry vermouth in sweet recipes.

You can use it in place of other fortified red wines, such as Madeira, marsala, port, and sherry.

 
 
MARTINI RECIPES

 
 
________________

*Virtually all spirits—liquors and liqueurs—were first developed for medicinal purposes.

†A Gibson is a Gin Martini served with cocktail onions instead of olives.

CHECK OUT WHAT’S HAPPENING ON OUR HOME PAGE, THENIBBLE.COM.

June 18th is National Sushi Day.

Creative cooks have taken the sushi concept beyond fish and vegetables to sweet versions like fruit sushi and candy sushi. There are also cooked meat sushi and poultry sushi, and beef tartare sushi).

Today, how about some fruit sushi?
 
 
RECIPE: FRUIT SUSHI

This recipe (photo #1), from the Blueberry Council, uses sushi rice plus avocado (yes, it’s a fruit), peaches and blueberries for an explosion of fruit flavor.

Of course, you can substitute any fruits you like.

The rice is sweetened with coconut milk, sugar and vanilla extract.

You can use your fingers to pick up the pieces; but as with conventional sushi, you may have more fun if you pick them up with chopsticks to dip in the blueberry sauce.
 
Ingredients

 
For The Dipping Sauce

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the dipping sauce. Combine the blueberries, yogurt and honey in a blender. Purée until smooth.

2. MAKE the rice. In a medium pot over medium-low heat, combine the rice, water, sugar and salt. Cook about 15 minutes until rice has absorbed the water and is cooked through, but still firm. Stir in the coconut milk and vanilla; the mixture should be thick. Let cool.

3. SET a piece of parchment paper on a surface. With wet hands, pat half of the rice into a 7 x 5 inch rectangle. Lay half of the blueberries along the long end of the rectangle. Add half of the avocado and apple slices.

4. ROLL up the rice in the parchment to enclose the fruit while forming a long tight roll or log. Unroll the parchment; cut the rice roll crosswise into 1 inch pieces to make “sushi rolls.”

6. REPEAT with the remaining rice and fruit.

 
 
MORE DESSERT SUSHI RECIPES

[1] Fruit sushi with blueberry dipping sauce (recipe and photo © Blueberry Council).

[2] Fruit sushi with Roll Ups wrap. Here’s the recipe from Oh So Delicioso (photo © Oh So Delicioso).

[3] This candy sushi has a soft candy center surrounded by Rice Krispie Treat-style “rice” and fruit roll-up “seaweed.” Here’s the recipe from TipBuzz (photo © TipBuzz).

[4] A fruit and sponge cake gunkan maki (boat sushi) in a roll-up (photo © L’Adresse Restaurant | NYC