[1] Make this in your blender with just three ingredients (photos #1, #3, #4, and #5 © Beyond Good).

[2] Your blender will turn heavy whipping cream into ice cream (photo © Organic Valley).

[3] Check out this great ProKeeper+ Powdered Sugar Storage Container. Get yours from King Arthur Baking (photo © King Arthur Baking).

[4] Vanilla powder has a more intense vanilla flavor than vanilla extract.

[5] Three types of vanilla: powder, extract, and beans.

Get ready for National Soft Serve Day, August 19th. You can whip up a dessert or snack of vanilla soft serve with just three ingredients.

The third ingredient is ground vanilla, a form of vanilla that many kitchens may not have (photo #4). But it’s well worth getting a jar of it, as you’ll see below.

You can also make your own vanilla powder.

> The different types of vanilla.

> The history of soft serve (frozen custard).

> The history of vanilla.

> See more uses for vanilla bean powder below.
 
 
RECIPE: BLENDER SOFT SERVE
 

Thanks to Beyond Good for the recipe. Beyond Good is a company with a mission not only to source the best quality vanilla and cocoa in the world but to buy it directly from the farmers who grow it. In this way, the farmers make a good living, without giving a large share of their income to middlemen.

The company hopes that its business model has the power to change the food industry, forever.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the cream, sugar, and vanilla powder in a Ziplock bag. Seal the bag well and shake to combine.

2. PRESS out all the air and lay the bag flat on a baking sheet. Freeze until firm.

3. BREAK the ice cream into chunks and place it in a blender or food processor. Process until the ice cream reaches a soft-serve consistency.

4. SERVE immediately or transfer the ice cream to a freezer-proof container and freeze until firm.

Variations

Mix in berries, chocolate chips, toffee bits, etc.
 
 
WHAT IS VANILLA BEAN POWDER?

Vanilla bean powder, also called vanilla powder and ground vanilla, is simply dried whole vanilla beans ground into a fine powder*. It has the consistency of powdered sugar (photo #4).

It’s an easy way to add vanilla flavor to your recipes. You can use it instead of vanilla extract, vanilla bean paste, or whole vanilla beans.

Vanilla powder flavor provides a much more concentrated vanilla flavor than either vanilla extract or vanilla paste, so you can use a bit less than these ratios—or enjoy a more intense vanilla flavor with the full ratio:

 
 
WAYS TO USE VANILLA BEAN POWDER

Once you have a jar of vanilla powder, you’ll find a lot to do with it in both sweet and savory preparations.

Cooks love to use it instead of vanilla extract when they don’t want to add additional liquid to a recipe, or when they don’t use alcohol†.

Try it in:

 
 
HOW TO MAKE VANILLA BEAN POWDER FROM SCRATCH

1. DRY vanilla beans. You can either (a) leave the beans (pods) on a counter for a few weeks or (b) place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet or pan in a 125°F oven (50°C) for 1.5 hours.

2. GRIND the dried beans to a fine powder in a spice grinder.

3. STORE in an airtight container in a cool, dark place for up to a year.

*Some brands may add sugar or dextrose. Check the label to see that you are buying unsweetened vanilla powder. Some add cornstarch, dextrose, or maltodextrin, which helps keep the powder from clumping.

†The FDA stipulates that vanilla extract must contain 35% alcohol, although much of it cooks out. However, since vanilla extract is made by soaking vanilla beans in alcohol, some of the vanilla flavor will bake out along with the alcohol. Vanilla powder retains the bean’s flavor compounds, while some of them in the vanilla extract will evaporate.
 
 

What’s a Frozen Hot Chocolate? It’s an icy cold version of hot chocolate, of course. Depending on how you make it, it’s a chocolate milkshake with added cocoa powder. There are many variations of the recipe.

Some recipes start by blending melted chocolate with hot cocoa powder, milk, and ice, and garnished with whipped cream (like this recipe).

Others are minimalist, blending ice with cocoa powder, sugar, powdered non-dairy creamer, and milk (like this Hershey’s recipe).

The original Frrrozen Hot Chocolate [not a typo] from Serendipity 3 in New York City uses a recipe similar to the one below but with chocolate ice cream, sprinkles, and a maraschino cherry (the recipe).

The following recipe is our go-to.

It uses a packet of hot cocoa mix, milk, and ice, plus the added richness of vanilla ice cream.

> National Hot Chocolate Day is January 31st.

> National Milkshake Day is September 12th.

> The history of hot chocolate.

> The history of frozen hot chocolate is below.
 
 
RECIPE: FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE

You can opt to make this recipe with a no-sugar-added cocoa mix and no-sugar-added ice cream.

In our opinion, if you want to shave calories, it’s better to lose the sugar than the richness of whole milk.

If you use mini marshmallows, use your kitchen torch to brûlée them as in photo #3.
 
Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the milk and ice in a blender and process just until the ice is crushed.

2. ADD the hot cocoa mix and ice cream. Blend until ice cream is combined into a milkshake consistency.

3. GARNISH as desired.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF FROZEN HOT CHOCOLATE

Frrrozen Hot Chocolate has long been on the menu at Serendipity 3 in New York City (founded 1954). Back in the 1960s when we met the owner, Stephen Bruce, he told us that he invented it.

As noted earlier, he (or his chef) added cocoa powder to chocolate milkshake ingredients.

Today the restaurant serves 13 different flavors of Frrrozen Hot Chocolate, including Birthday Cake, Peanut Butter, and Salted Caramel.

While many celebrities have graced Serendipity’s tables, one, Selena Gomez, became a partner and investor in 2021 (which should make it Serendipity 4*).

If anyone knows a different origin, speak now or forever hold your peace.

We have seen references that:

 
While Herrell may have had Frozen Hot Chocolate on the menu, Bruce beat him to it by a decade or more.
 
 
________________

*The Serendipity 3 founding partners were Stephen Bruce, Patch Caradine, and Calvin Holt. The “desirable discoveries made by accident” include not just frozen hot chocolate, but a foot-long hot dog and a caviar omelet (the latter created by chef James Beard).

[1] The original Frrrozen Hot Chocolate. Here’s the recipe from Chef Joe Calderone (photo © Serendipity 3).

[2] This version doesn’t use ice cream but does use high-quality melted chocolate. Here’s the recipe (photo © Lauren Allen | Tastes Better From Scratch).

[3] Surprisingly, Hershey’s version is the most spare: no ice cream, but powdered dairy creamer. Here’s the recipe (photo © The Hershey Company).

[4] How about a Peanut Butter Frozen Hot Chocolate? Here’s the recipe (photo © Chocolate Moosey).

[1] Serve pineapple juice on the rocks with a wedge of fresh pineapple (photo © Denys Gromov | Pexels).

[2] Make a no-bake pineapple cheesecake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Kraft Recipes).

[3] Spiced Pineapple Rum Punch. Here’s the recipe (photo © Koloa Rum).

[4] Pineapple Pound Cake. Here’s the recipe (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[5] Canned pineapple juice from Dole enabled people in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere to experience it (photo © Dole Food Company).

August 14th is National Pineapple Juice Day. While we don’t think we’ve had a glass of pineapple juice in our adult life, we have had it in cocktails, desserts, glazes, marinades, and other recipes.

Here are some of them. We’ve also included a few that include pineapple chunks or slices but no added juice.

> The history of pineapple.

> The history of pineapple juice is below.
 
 
DRINKS WITH PINEAPPLE JUICE

 
 
DESSERTS WITH PINEAPPLE JUICE

 
 
USES FOR LEFTOVER PINEAPPLE JUICE

 
 
PINEAPPLE JUICE TRIVIA

Pineapple juice is rich in nutrients, particularly copper, manganese, and vitamins B6 and C. These nutrients play an important role in bone health, immunity, wound healing, energy production, and tissue synthesis.

Some research suggests that pineapple juice may contribute to a stronger immune system.

In 1932, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company successfully developed a process of clarifying the juice, while capturing the aroma and flavor of the fruit.

Countries consuming the most pineapple juice:

 
Pineapple juice can be used as a meat tenderizer.

Pineapple juice powder can be used in baked goods (cakes, muffins, pies, scones), candies, condiments (barbecue and chili sauces, chutneys, jams), and savory recipes like sauces and stews.

Pineapple juice powder can also be used in marinades for chicken and fish.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PINEAPPLE JUICE

The pineapple Ananas comosus var. comosus) originated in South America, thousands of years ago. It is believed to have originated in what is now southern Brazil and Paraguay.

The natives of those regions carried it throughout South America via trade. It eventually reached the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico, where it was cultivated by the Mayas and the Aztecs.

The first Europeans to see pineapples were Christopher Columbus and his crew, on the Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, in 1493. Columbus called them piña de Indes, “pine of the Indians,” because their shape was reminiscent of Europe’s pine cones.

He brought them back to King Ferdinand in Spain, and the exotic fruit was an instant hit in the royal court.

It was brought to northern Europe by the Dutch, from their colony in Surinam.

Spanish traders introduced the pineapple to Guam, Hawaii, The Philippines, and Zimbabwe.

There is no record of the date when pineapples arrived in Hawaii. The fruit may have arrived with the Spanish years before the arrival of Captain James Cook in 1778. Conceivably, it could have washed ashore from a Spanish or Portuguese shipwreck or brought ashore by sailors [source].

However, the presence of pineapples was first recorded in 1813. A Spanish horticulturist, Don Francisco de Paula Marin, described pineapple planting in his journals in 1813.

When American missionaries first arrived in Hawaii in 1820, pineapples were found growing wild and in small gardens.

The pineapple canning industry began in Baltimore in the mid-1860s using fruit imported from the Caribbean. The export-based Hawaiian pineapple industry was developed by a group of Californians who arrived in Hawaii in 1898, and the well-connected James D. Dole who arrived in 1899.

The first profitable lot of canned pineapples was produced by Dole’s Hawaiian Pineapple Company in 1903 and the industry grew rapidly from there [source].

Pineapple juice is manufactured from ripe pineapples. It contributed to the success of Hawaii’s pineapple industry in the 1930s.

In 1932, the Hawaiian Pineapple Company successfully developed a process of clarifying the juice, while capturing the aroma and flavor of the fruit.

This led to the large-scale cultivation of pineapples and the canning of both the juice and the fruit (slices, chunks, crushed).

This enabled many Americans, Europeans, and consumers in other parts of the world to experience pineapple for the first time. Fresh pineapples were very costly, due to the need to pick them when ripe. and then transport them across the seas.

Most of America’s pineapple juice consumption goes into cocktails.

Otherwise, the average American drinks pineapple juice 1.4 times per year [source].

The global pineapple juice market size was valued at $2.37 billion in 2021 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.1% from 2022 to 2028 [source].
 
 

Maury Pittman, a fitness trainer and wellness professional, has reinvented the tea bag. He’s infused it with honey.

You add boiling water, steep, and sip: The sweetness of honey pleases your palate to the end. Yummy honey with no sticky mess.

How does he do it?

Maury’s tea bags include premium robust black or green tea and premium, granulated honey.

The result is both delightful and invigorating.

With 10 years in business under his belt, Maury is still making his uniquely blended tea bags, each filled with a perfect combination of whole-leaf tea and sweet granulated honey.

It’s a tea-riffic combination, says Maury, who continues to use only the best, highest-quality teas and granulated honey.

So: Steep, sip, and enjoy a cup of hot or iced tea infused with honey (and lots of love from Maury).
 
 
MEET THE TEAS

Maury’s offers two premium teas, black and green, both available in regular and decaf, both all-natural.

The specialized formula works great in both hot and cold water.

All you have to do is heat the water and allow the bag to steep. The longer it steeps, the sweeter it gets.

Maury’s Black Buzz

Maury’s Black Buzz tea bags are whole-leaf black tea uniquely blended with sweet granulated honey.

Maury’s Green Glory

Maury’s Green Glory tea bags are whole green leaf tea uniquely blended with sweet granulated honey.

Black or green, caf or decaf, every cup is pure deliciousness.
 
So, whether you’re snuggling on the couch with a hot cup of tea, or on the patio with a tall glass of iced tea, experience the delights of Maury’s Hive Tea.

Sip, sip, hooray!
 
 
GET YOUR MAURY’S HIVE TEA

A box of 15 tea bags is $9.99, with shipping and taxes included.

A box of 30 tea bags is $18.99, with shipping and taxes included.

Subscribe & Save: 30 bags delivered every 30 days is $16.99 per month.

Are you ready to join the hive?

Head to MaurysHiveTea.com.
 
 
TAKE A SIP OF THIS TEA INFO

> The different types of tea.

> The different types of honey.

> The history of tea.

> The history of iced tea.

> The history of tea bags.

> The history of afternoon tea.

> The history of honey.

> A year of world and national tea holidays.
 
 
HONEY HOLIDAYS

World Honey Bee Day is celebrated every third Saturday in August (upcoming: August 19, 2023, August 17, 2024).

National Honey Month is September.
 
 
 
 

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

[1] What’s missing from this picture? The sweetener! That’s because honey granules are in the tea bag (photo © Mark T. Wendell Tea Company | Facebook).

[2] A box of Maury’s Black Buzz (photos #2 and #3 © Maury’s Hive Tea).

[3] A box of Maury’s Green Glory.

[4] With Maury’s, there’s no need to drizzle honey, or clean up dripped honey (photo © National Honey Board | Facebook).

[5] Instead, there are honey granules in each tea bag. You can also use it in brines, marinades, sauces, vinaigrettes, and drizzled on frosting. You can find granulated honey online (photo © Spice Jungle).

[1] Classic SPAM Musubi. Here’s the recipe (all SPAM photos © Hormel).

[2] SPAM Musubi Spring Roll. Here’s the recipe.

[3] Barbecue SPAM Musubi. Here’s the recipe.

[4] SPAM Musubi Pizza. Here’s the recipe.

[5] Inside-out SPAMtastic Musubi. Here’s the recipe.

[6] You can make musubi and other finger food with this inexpensive press (photo © Ayccnh Store | Amazon).

[7] Beyond musubi recipes, furikake can be used to sprinkle on rice, grains, eggs, potatoes, and other foods (photo © Eden Foods).

You may know what SPAM luncheon meat is, but do you know SPAM Musubi? It’s when a slice of SPAM is served atop a pad of nigiri sushi rice. Yes, it’s SPAM sushi. And we’ve got SPAM Musubi recipes!

August 8th is National SPAM Musubi Day, trailing July 31st, National SPAM Day.

What is SPAM Musubi? It may look like SPAM sushi, but sushi requires vinegared rice and this rice has no vinegar.

Instead, musubi is the same as onigiri, a Japanese rice ball (made in different shapes) that’s made with regular steamed rice, no vinegar. Meat, fish, or vegetables are tucked inside the rice.

Both musubi and onigiri mean the same thing, with regional differences. Some Japanese speakers use one word, some use the other.

Recipes follow, but first a bit of history as to how SPAM musubi came to be.

> The history of SPAM.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF SPAM MUSUBI

During World War II, many Pacific outposts had little refrigeration or local sources of meat. American and Allied troops were supplied with cans of SPAM, which were easily stored without refrigeration, required no cooking, and could be eaten on the go.

Hormel says more than 100 million pounds of SPAM were shipped overseas on both fronts, to help feed the troops during the war. Not surprisingly, the troops got sick of it.

Even the commander-in-chief. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, ate his share [source].

But after the war, residents of conflict-wracked countries struggled with hunger and famine, and cans of SPAM sent to them were sometimes the only protein source available. SPAM became integrated into local dishes.

In the decades after World War II, as native Koreans and Japanese migrated to Hawaii, they brought their cuisines.

Japanese immigrants to Hawaii are credited with inventing SPAM musubi, a SPAM version of a rice ball.

Musubi uses SPAM instead of the fish or other ingredients used in a rice ball (musubi or onigiri).

SPAM musubi has led to SPAM burritos and SPAM tacos. There are also SPAM banh mì, SPAM bibimbap, SPAM budae jjigae (Korean stew), SPAM corn dogs, SPAM fried rice, SPAM fries, SPAM poke bowls, SPAM ramen, and much more.

Check out all of the official SPAM recipes.

In Hawaii, where the U.S. military has long maintained a presence, more SPAM is consumed per person than in any other state.
 
 
25 MORE SPAM MUSUBI RECIPES

In addition to the original SPAM musubi recipe, below, the brand has created:

 
 
RECIPE: ORIGINAL SPAM MUSUBI

You can make this with one or two rice layers.

The rice is seasoned with furikake is a Japanese seasoning made from dried bonito, sesame seeds, nori seaweed flakes, sugar, salt, and MSG. You can find furikake in Asian food stores and online.

Its name derives from the Japanese word for sprinkles. It’s commonly served on bowls of steamed rice.

Prep time is 10 minutes and cook time is 5 minutes (plus rice cooking time).
 
Ingredients For 2 Pieces

 
Preparation

1. COOK the SPAM in a large skillet until lightly browned and crisp. Drizzle with grill sauce or cooking sauce.

2. PLACE the rice into a musubi press. Or, line the inside of an empty SPAM can with plastic wrap and add the rice. Press the rice down firmly.

3. SPRINKLE the rice with seasoned furikake and toasted sesame seeds. Place the SPAM on top of the rice. Press down firmly. Optional: top with the remaining rice and press down.

4. REMOVE the layered SPAM and rice from the musubi press or can. On a work surface, cut the nori to the desired width.

5. LAY the nori shiny-side-down. Top with the layered SPAM and rice. Wrap the nori around it. Serve immediately.
 
 
 
 

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