[2] Murasaki oven fries with wasabi aïoli. Here’s the recipe from Bonjon Gourmet.

“As sweet as sugar.” That’s what we thought when we first tasted murasaki sweet potatoes.

The next day we ran out to buy some (at Trader Joe’s).

With an attractive violet-colored skin (murasaki is Japanese for violet) and a pure white interior [photo #1] we didn’t realize we were eating mashed sweet potatoes (they were peeled) until the first bite.

If we had been cooking, we’d have added the peel for a new take on skin-on mashed potatoes.

The murasaki, which is grown in California, has a sweet, nutty, full-bodied flavor.

 
You can cook murasaki in every way a potato can be cooked:

 
MURASAKI NUTRITION

A medium potato (five inches long) is 120 calories, and is fat and cholesterol free.

It has 500% DV of vitamin A, 40% vitamin C, 18% of potassium, 16% dietary fiber, 6% iron, 4% calcium and 2% sodium.

If kept dry and cold, murasaki potatoes will remain fresh in the fridge for three weeks.
 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF POTATOES

STOKES PURPLE FLESH SWEET POTATOES

THE HISTORY OF POTATOES

September 5th is National Cheese Pizza Day.

Pizza is one of America’s favorite foods, tied at the top with hamburgers. In the U.S., there are more than 70,000 pizzerias.

A standard visit to a pizzeria will get you a layer of mozzarella on top of the crust, plus toppings of choice.

But what if your toppings of choice included additional types of cheese? If you’re a real cheese lover, you owe it to yourself to experiment.

A few years ago, we went to the annual trade show for pizzeria owners (it was pizza paradise!). A large cheese company had set out all of its cheeses, and would top a slice with the cheese(s) of your choice.

We tried blue cheese, colby, goat cheese and Swiss (and then we had to sit down and rest). It was fun, delicious, and a lament that we couldn’t go into a real pizzeria and do the same.

For National Cheese Pizza Day, we have numerous cheesy options.

Let’s take a look, starting with the most popular pizza cheeses, mozzarella, parmesan, provolone, ricotta and yes, cheddar.
 
 
>>CONVENTIONAL PIZZA CHEESES<<

MOZZARELLA CHEESE PIZZA

Mozzarella, creamy and stretchy, is the basic cheese option for Italian pizza. The classic Margherita pizza is simply red sauce, mozzarella and fresh basil.

If your pizzaria is high end, you may get bufalo mozzarella—Americans spell it buffalo—a tastier version. If it’s ultra-gourmet, you’ll find burrata on top of the mozzarella.

Things to know about mozzarella:

 
 
CHEDDAR CHEESE PIZZA

Every cheese-eater is familiar with cheddar, which is made in different levels of sharpness, plus orange or white color (the orange color is the addition of annatto.

 
 
PARMESAN CHEESE PIZZA

Parmesan, or parmigiano-reggiano for the authentic Italian cheese, is a “finishing cheese,” meaning that it’s added when the pie comes out of the oven.

 
 
PROVOLONE CHEESE PIZZA

Provolone is a semi-hard Italian cheese and the cheese that’s most often blended on a pizza with mozzarella. You’ll find it in a shredded mix, although you can shave or shred it on top of the mozzarella or the toppings (provolone doesn’t grate well).

Provolone can be mild or strong, depending on how long it’s been aged. Start with a younger provolone: It’s sweeter, creamier and less expensive.

 
 
RICOTTA CHEESE PIZZA

Ricotta is the base cheese used for white pizza, but can also garnish red sauce pizza (photo #2). The ricotta is typically blended with mozzarella, or, for a deeper flavor, with fontina, gorgonzola or gruyère.

 
 
>>UNCONVENTIONAL PIZZA CHEESES<<
 
 
BLUE CHEESE or GORGONZOLA CHEESE PIZZA

When we had our first slice of blue cheese pizza, it was made with average-quality cheese and could have been better. When we sprang for pricey roquefort, we used too much and it was way too “blue.” The lesson: Sprinkle rather than slather the pie with it. Try:

 
 
FETA CHEESE PIZZA

Like Greek salad? Make a Greek pizza (photo #4).

 
 
GOAT CHEESE PIZZA

Goat cheese lovers can enjoy it on top of a red or white pie. Although goat cheese doesn’t melt flat like mozzarella and provolone, it softens up when baked. Cut circles from a log of fresh goat cheese, or use a spoon to pull it into small chunks. Place either option across the pie’s.

 
 
GOUDA CHEESE PIZZA

This semi-hard Dutch cheese is good complement to pizzas with barbecue chicken, pulled pork or sausage. It’s available in traditional or smoked. Pick the variety that goes best with the toppings (photo #8).

 
 
GRUYÈRE CHEESE PIZZA

Gruyère is a higher form of what American think of as Swiss cheese. It’s a good melter and adds nutty and earthy flavors.

Almost any topping works with gruyère is great on pizzas with almost any topping. How about:

[1] Cheddar cheese pizza with roasted vegetables. Here’s the recipe from A Latte Food.

[2] Ricotta is used as the base for white pizza, but can also top a red pizza. Here’s the recipe for this ricotta and sausage pizza from Emily Bites.

[3] Gruyère pizza with new potatoes, caramelized onions and rosemary. Here’s the recipe from Domestic Gothess.

[4] Greek pizza, with feta cheese and other Greek salad ingredients. Here’s the recipe from Cooking Classy.

[5] White cheddar pizza with bacon and walnuts (photo courtesy Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board).

[6] We’ve got the blues: gorgonzola, potato, caramelized onions and rosemary. Here’s the recipe from Port And Fin.

[7] Turn wings into pizza: Buffalo chicken pizza with blue cheese, mozzarella and hot sauce. Add some sliced celery if you like. Here’s the recipe from The Optimalist Kitchen.

[8] Gouda and chorizo pizza. Here’s the recipe from Vikalinka.

HISPANIC MELTING CHEESES

Several Hispanic cheeses that are commonly available in the U.S. are great melters, and can be used on pizza. Look for asadero, queso manchego, queso oaxaco, queso de papa and queso quesadilla.

 
 
OTHER POTENTIAL PIZZA CHEESES

Soft-Ripened Cheeses: Cheese board favorites like Brie and Camembert have naturally runny centers. They also have subtle mushroomy notes, so are delicious topped with sautéed mushrooms on pizza or a burger. Soft-ripened cheeses are uncooked, unpressed cheese, which, as a result, are creamy or even runny when fully ripe. They melt very easily. You don’t need to trim off the rind—it’s considered a choice part by cheese connoisseurs.

Semisoft Cheeses: These cheeses, springy to the touch, melt easily. Some we’ve already mentioned.

Brick, fontina and port salut are popular examples, as are blue cheeses, butter käse, edam, young gouda, havarti, limburger, some monterey jacks, muenster, young provolone, yeleme and some tilsits.

More Cheeses To Try

Colby, edam and emmental, along with cheddar, gruyère, mozzarella and provolone, are recommended based on a scientific study of the perfect combination of cheeses based on each type’s elasticity, free oil, moisture, water activity and baking temperature.

Here’s the scoop.
 
 
Thanks to Web Restaurant Store for some of these recommendations.

[2] Six varieties of Nespresso-compatible capsules from Rosso Caffe (photo courtesy Rosso Caffe).

[3] There’s liquid cold brew inside these K-cups. Use them in the machine, or pour over cold water and ice for iced coffee (photo courtesy Java House).

Boxes of K-cups for single-serve coffee makers are not inexpensive. You may be buying the same variety over and over again, because you don’t want to risk $10 or $12 on a box of K-cups you may not like as much (or up $38 on a box of Nespresso capsules).

Here’s an idea for picky palates: Create a K-cup club with a group of friends or co-workers. At regular intervals (monthly? quarterly?), a different selection of K-cups are purchased, the pods divided, and the cost split among participants.

With 10 K-cups in a box, each box can be split in half, among five people, or any other way you want to apportion.

If you want to try Illy’s new single origin coffees, for example, but aren’t sure if you’d prefer Columbia or Brasile, the group can try both—or perhaps, all four options, adding in the medium roast and dark roast blends.

You can have a “theme month,” for example, trying different brands of pumpkin or spice coffees, or all the Christmas blends.

It’s also an opportunity to try your regular pod variety across brands; for example, the dark roasts of Green Mountain, Illy, Starbucks, etc.

You decide how often it makes sense to meet or otherwise exchange. If you meet only quarterly for most of the year, it may make more sense to meet more often during the fall season, when so many specialty flavors are stocked.

How you structure your exchange is as simple as “whatever works for you.” Get the group members together and decide.

The goal remains: Try more varieties of coffee with minimized financial outlay. And the related benefit: Discover new favorites you wouldn’t have purchased on your own.
 
AN INNOVATION IN K-CUPS: COLD BREW FROM JAVA HOUSE

We’d also like to suggest an innovative K-Cup, Java House Cold Brew.

The brand recently launched new Dual-Use Liquid Cold Brew Coffee Pods [photo #3]. The pods hold cold brew concentrate instead of the conventional coffee grounds.

Cold brew, as its fans well know, creates a less bitter, less acidic, smoother cup of coffee. Now, cold brew buyers will be able to make their coffee in single-serve machines.

The all-natural concentrate is available in Columbian medium roast, Ethiopian light roast, Sumatran dark roast, and decaf medium roast..

Get yours at JavaHouse.com.
 
 
FOR MORE ABOUT COFFEE, CHECK OUT OUR COFFEE GLOSSARY
 
THE HISTORY OF COFFEE

Today is the last day of August, the last day of National Peach Month, and the last day—or rather, weekend—we’ll have to make peach ice cream.

We’ve been meaning to it make all summer.

Growing up, peach was our favorite ice cream flavor. Available seasonally at Howard Johnson’s, we indulged as often as we could get someone to drive us there.

(When summer ended, we switched to Howard Johnson’s pistachio ice cream.)

Peach is one of those flavors that have fallen off the flavor board, along with butter brickle, maple walnut, mocha and tutti frutti.

They’ve been replaced by au courant flavors: cheesecake, chocolate chip cookie dough, cookies and cream, ginger, green tea, and a host of fringe flavors from bacon to charcoal.

O.K.: Time marches on, and with it, consumer tastes. But we still miss peach ice cream, more than any other food from our past.

Artisan ice cream companies that make peach as a summer specialty are located nowhere near us.

And we just haven’t been able to grapple with the $79.95 to get six pints shipped overnight from Graeter’s.

(It’s not the money; it’s the challenge of being alone with six pints of peach ice cream.)

So, plan B: Make our own peach ice cream.
 
PEACH ICE CREAM RECIPES

Here are three recipes we’ve used in the past.

For variation, we’ve added peach schnapps to the classic recipe—a nice occasional touch. We add it straight, or marinate diced peaches in it before adding to the mix.

We’ve also made a variation with chopped fresh raspberries.

One advisory about including chunks of peach: It looks exciting, but the peaches freeze much harder than the ice cream. So you don’t have to sink your teeth into a rock-hard chunk of peach, dice them as small as you can.

 
Plus:

You can make peach ice cream year-round with frozen peaches, but it’s simply heavenly made with fresh summer peaches (photo courtesy Bourbon And Honey).

Organic California peaches, straight from the tree (photo courtesy Frog Hollow Farm).

[2] Wheatberries after processing (photo courtesy Ben Hon).

[3] Wheatberries become Triscuits, currently in 20 flavors/varieties (photo courtesy Triscuit).

[4] Two of the three new organic Triscuit flavors: Original, Thin Crisps With Sea salt and Cracked Pepper & Olive Oil (photo courtesy Triscuit).

That’s why in July, we were delighted to accompany several food lovers and writers out to the “thumb” of Michigan to meet the Triscuit team, a dedicated group of agronomy experts and product professionals who make the tasty little squares in the yellow box such an addictive treat.

The first thing we were surprised to learn is that your basic Triscuit has but three (the “tri” in Triscuit) simple ingredients: wheat, canola oil, and a touch of salt. But what wheat! You can’t just toss any wheat into a Triscuit hopper and have it come out a star.

Traveling to Pigeon, Michigan, we were invited to the Kretzchmer* family farm, one among hundreds of select wheat growers who comprise the Cooperative Elevator Company. These growers work hand-in-hand to seed, care for, implement, and harvest the most perfect crop possible. (The “Elevator” is what brings wheat up to be processed.)

Join us on a trip to the farm, and a perspective on how a Triscuit ends up in the box on your table.
 
 
IT STARTS WITH WHEAT

Wheat has come a long way since its start in faraway lands, mainly Syria, Jordan, and Turkey, about 9,000 years ago.

Triticum wheat, which is what we are most familiar with today, likely evolved from natural crossings with other ancient grains, such as spelt and durum. Today’s version is hearty enough to withstand harsh climates, and it is now the third most-grown crop in the world.

The Kretzchmer family owns 900 beautiful acres of white winter wheat (photo #1), also known as “soft white wheat.” (Harder wheat varieties are more favorable for making pastas, noodles, and grinding into baking flour.)

In Michigan, wheat is seeded in April and harvested in July. How do wheat growers know when it’s time to reap? By simply plucking a shaft of wheat from the ground, rolling it between their hands to get rid of the chaff, and biting into the kernel.

Every drop of dewy moisture has to have evaporated, and the kernel must provide a nice crunch before the wheat is harvested by GPS-enabled combines. Each combine’s header is 40 feet wide, equipped with dozens of frighteningly long steel teeth.

Once the harvest has been reaped, it is weighed and processed in a gas-heated tower that blows warm air up until the wheat is completely dried. It is then cooled.

What’s left are the tiny firm, but chewy wheat berries (photo #2) —the very heart of every Triscuit.

 
 
HEALTHFUL SNACKING

Each of the nearly 1,000 participating wheat growers in the Cooperative adheres to Triscuit’s strictly-followed promise to consumers: all wheat used is 100% whole grain, and all ingredients used are non-GMO verified.

That includes all of those used in an irresistible variety of 20 flavor profiles: Original (photo #2) plus flavors as varied as Smoked Gouda; Rosemary & Olive Oil; Avocado, Cilantro & Lime, Roasted Garlic—and 15 other versatile flavors.

The original Triscuits have just 120 calories per 6-cracker serving. You will not find trans fats or cholesterol in a Triscuit, and because they are made of whole grain, each cracker retains its full high fiber content (review the nutritional information on each box for exact amounts).

Cooking with Triscuit? Absolutely. THE NIBBLE and other farm table guests shared a magnificent dinner prepared by Chef James Rigato, whose Detroit, Michigan restaurant, Mabel Gray, recently won Eater’s “Best New Restaurant in America” and was a semi-finalist for the James Beard Award’s “Best New Restaurant.”

Almost every dish was prepared using Triscuit as an ingredient, and the results were superb. Not just Triscuit as a base for canapés, but in cookies, trifle, and more.

Among many choice offerings, our favorite was Chef Rigato’s Lamb Meatballs with Triscuit Crackers, which also included a spicy green tomato sugo, marinated sweet peppers, and fresh herbs, but are just as spectacular when braised in a light, fresh tomato sauce. The recipe is below.

Fun Fact: The first Triscuits were made by Henry Perky, who opened his factory in Niagara Falls, New York in 1893.
Fun Fact: Triscuits got their name because the first biscuits (crackers) were triangular. Triangle + Biscuit = Triscuit.
Fun Fact: There are about 54 Triscuit crackers per 9 ounce box. Based on the recommended serving size of 6 crackers, this equates to about 9 servings.
Fun Fact: In 2017, Nabisco Triscuit sales were $341.5 million, earning it fourth place in the cracker category behind Sunshine Cheez-It, Pepperidge Farm Goldfish and Nabisco Ritz Crackers (source).
Fun Fact: Eating Triscuit is fun at every meal of the day.

—Rowann Gilman

RECIPE: LAMB MEATBALLS MADE WITH TRISCUIT

This yummy recipe (photo #5) is courtesy of Chef James Rigato, Mabel Gray Restaurant, Hazel Park, Michigan.

Hazel Park is located in the “thumb” of Michigan, the southeast corner of the state. The city is home to Hazel Park Raceway, currently the only track in Michigan offering live thoroughbred racing.

How about dinner and a race?

Ingredients For About 2 Dozen Meatballs

Chef Rigato served these meatballs to us in a green tomato sauce, but he also serves them in a light tomato sauce. Use your own homemade tomato sauce recipe or your favorite prepared tomato sauce.

Serve with pasta, rice or other grain, as you prefer.

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the crushed Triscuit crumbs with the milk in a small bowl. Let sit until crumbs have absorbed the milk. Set aside.

2. COMBINE the lamb, egg, Parmesan and Romano cheeses, and parsley in a medium bowl, combine. Use your hands to thoroughly combine the ingredients.

3. SAUTÉ the onions and garlic in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the wine, raise heat to high, and add the crushed red pepper flakes and dried oregano. Allow liquid to reduce until it is almost evaporated. Allow to cool. When cool enough to handle…

4. ADD the onion mixture to the meat mixture. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the Tabasco sauce to taste, and the Worcestershire sauce. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

5. FORM the mixture into 1½- to 2-inch balls. Add the oil to a medium skillet and heat over medium heat. Sauté the meatballs, shaking the skillet often to sear on all sides. When browned…

6. ADD the meatballs to your preferred sauce until heated through. Adjust seasonings if necessary.
 
 
MORE WAYS TO USE TRISCUITS

[5] Lamb meatballs, made with Triscuit “breadcrumbs” (photo courtesy Ben Hon)

[6] A layer of Triscuit in a trifle, for sweet-and-salty crunch (photo courtesy Ben Hon).

[7] Triscuit canapés. Here’s the recipe from Foodie Crush.

[8] Salted Chocolate Caramel Triscuits. Here’s the recipe from Dancing Through The Rain.

*No relation to the Kretschmer wheat germ family.