An overly-enthusiastic purchase of a huge bag of walnut halves at a warehouse club led us to think:

What on earth were we thinking? There are just so many walnut pies, salad garnishes, pasta sauces, cookies and brownies we can eat.

But we hit the jackpot with what the California Walnut Board calls walnut “cream.” To avoid any relation to dairy, we call it walnut spread.

It’s like hummus that tastes like nuts instead of chickpeas and tahini. It is also dairy-free, gluten-free and vegan.

And like hummus, walnut spread has its own arsenal of nutrition, including heart-healthiness.

Best for our jumbo bag of walnuts, you can turn it into a spread that can be used every day.

The walnut spread has a rich, velvety texture and a lightly nutty flavor profile. You can use walnut spread in the same way as hummus:

 
 
RECIPE: WALNUT SPREAD

This recipe (photo #1) is simply a 2:1 ratio of raw walnuts to water. Walnut pieces are less costly than walnut halves.

The spread is flavorful and nutty. But like hummus, you can add more dimensions of flavor with everything from chiles to olives.

Ingredients For 1-1/2 Cups

 
Preparation

1. BLEND the optional add-ins first, in a food processor. Add the nuts, pulverize and slowly add in the water.

2. TASTE and season as desired. It will keep in the fridge for several days.

Here are more recipes to start you off:

 
Here are lots of walnut recipes, from the California Walnut Board.

And one of our favorites, candied walnuts (photo #4), are great for dessert garnishes, trail mix, snacking and more.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF WALNUTS

[2] Whole walnuts. You can plant a tree and grow your own (photo courtesy Stark Bros.)

[3] Walnuts grow inside green hulls like these (photo courtesy The Sleuth Journal).

[4] One of our favorite ways to enjoy walnuts: candied! Here’s the recipe (photo courtesy Babble).

The cultivation of walnuts in ancient Persia dates to at least 7000 B.C.E., in the Neolithic period. There, they were reserved for royalty.

The Romans called walnuts Juglans regia, “Jupiter’s royal acorn,” after the supreme god of the Roman pantheon.

Neolithic peoples cultivated walnuts at least 7,000 years ago, but they were not widely cultivated in the Mediterranean until ancient Greek and Roman times. Walnuts were an item of trade, and amphorae filled with walnut residue have been salvaged in Roman ships that sank in the Mediterranean.

Their significant nutrition made them an important part of the diet. By the first century C.E., Greek and Roman physicians extolled walnuts’ medicinal virtues.

Walnuts were traded along the Silk Road between the Middle East and Asia.

Walnut trees flourished throughout Europe during the Middle Ages, and from then until modern times, physicians described them for a variety of illnesses.

When seafaring English merchants traded the product in ports around the world, the nuts became known as English walnuts, although England is not a grower of commercial walnut crops.
 
Modern Walnuts

But California is. The Golden State has become the source of the world’s best walnuts, first cultivated there by Franciscan fathers in the late 1700s.

California walnuts are harvested in the fall, typically from mid-September to early November. They’re ready to harvest begins when the green hulls (photo #3) split.

In modern farming, the nuts are removed from the tree using a mechanical shaker, a machine that grasps the trunk and shakes the whole tree. The nuts drop to the ground, are swept into rows (windrows) and gathered up with harvest machinery.

The green hulls are then removed with a huller, exposing the familiar hard brown shell (photo #2). The shells are cleaned with wet scrubbers and dried in gas dryers.

While some consumers buy the nuts in the shell, most are cracked, graded and packaged and sold sold to consumers as nutmeats (source).
________________

*Think of great pairings, like mushroom soup with walnut thickener, or chicken with walnut sauce.

[2] A quality tallow made from grass-feed cows. You can buy it directly from Fatworks Foods. They also sell duck fat, lard and leaf lard, which is the highest grade of lard.

[3] Threestone Hearth recommends adding a bit of beef tallow to bone broth, and for making homemade potato chips.

The popularity of the Paleo Diet has brought more animal fats to the table. The movement endorses minimally processed, unrefined fats and oils, including animal fats (THE NIBBLE takes no position on the merit of any particular eating plan).

In the tradition of dairy- and beef-centric countries, the cooking fats were butter and beef tallow, plus lard from pigs. Beef tallow and lard are made from the rendered fat trimmed from the butchered carcass.

Along with pure lard, duck fat, goose fat and other animal fats, beef tallow is enjoying a resurgence within America’s food culture. The movement was first led by chefs seeking new punches of flavor, before Paleo and related diets emerged.

An organization called The Healthy Fats Coalition (HFC) has proclaimed July 13th the first annual National Beef Tallow Day, a celebration of beef tallow, rendered beef fat, as a cooking fat.

HFC is especially committed to raising awareness about the health benefits of natural animal fats like beef tallow. Their home page quotes family physician Dr. Cate Shanahan:

“Nature doesn’t make bad fats—factories do.”

[Editor’s note: If you have any questions about the best fats for you, don’t hesitate to contact your healthcare provider.]
 
BEEF TALLOW & FRENCH FRIES

July 13th is also National French Fry Day, and the message from HFC is clear: Fry those fries in beef tallow, duck fat or goose fat. All get very high marks from top chefs.

Browsing online, we found listserve comments that Outback Steakhouse makes beef tallow fries; and on the high end, Peter Luger in Brooklyn fries in beef tallow.

A 1985 article in The New York Times noted that eight of the country’s largest fast-food chains used beef tallow to fry their fries.

At that point, healthy fats like olive oil were beginning to get press. McDonald’s and others moved to vegetable oil beginning in 1990, when the press began to slam saturated fats as cardio-hostile. The word “hostile” might be better applied to fans who didn’t like the change.
 
FRESH BEEF TALLOW

The best tallow is fresh from the farm, with absolutely nothing added—no preservatives, no hydrogenation (which produces trans fats).

After the cows are butchered, the fat is rendered into pure tallow. The rendering process slowly heats the beef fat in a large kettle. Any solids, like bits of meat, are removed, and the pure tallow is packaged.

At room temperature, lard looks like butter or other dense animal fat. When heated, it has the appearance of oil.

Rendered fat will keep for about 12 months in the freezer, 6-8 months in the fridge and several weeks at room temperature.

Not all beef tallow is created equal.

You may have come across the word suet in older books. It is a special type of fat.

Suet is the hard white mass of fat surrounding the kidneys and loins of cattle (plus sheep and other animals). It has long been used in European cooking to make puddings, pastry and mincemeat.

Suet has the the cleanest and mildest taste of all the animal’s fat, and is what is sold by quality brands. Fat from grassfed beef fat is the best (although in the suet-loving past, all beef was grassfed!).
 
 
RENDER YOUR OWN BEEF TALLOW

It’s very easy in a stock pot or slow cooker (here’s how). The biggest challenge is to get hold of the fat.

Before you start saving up your steak trimmings, note that the best-tasting tallow comes from the suet.

July 9th is National Sugar Cookie Day.

Don’t all cookies have sugar? Yes.

But look at three basic cookies types. All are made with sugar (or sugar substitute), plus fat (butter, margarine, oil) and flour, and there are distinct differences.

It’s the ratio of ingredients and the preparation instructions that determine the cookie’s texture (chewy, crunchy, etc.) and butteriness.

Take a look at these three basic cookie types:

 
The easiest way to tell them apart is to bite into them, of course. For example, although chewy chocolate chip cookies are typically butter cookies, the harder, crunchy variety may be sugar cookies.

But there are also chocolate chip shortbread cookies! With a bit of focus, you can learn to tell the difference upon sight.

Note that many published recipes get the names wrong, calling butter cookies sugar cookies, and vice versa. But who cares, if you’re enjoying the cookie recipe.
 
NOW TO COMPLICATE THE ISSUE…

Here are the eight basic types of cookies:

Bar, drop, molded, no-bake, pressed, refrigerated, rolled, sandwich and fried. Take a bite!

[2] Coco-Ancho Chile Butter Cookies. Here’s the recipe from Cook’s Recipes.

> The history of cookies.

[2] Want something more substantial? Fill an avocado half: Here’s the recipe (photo © Avocados From Mexico).

[3] Want something more elegant? Get out your Martini glasses (photo © Elegant Affairs Caterers).

[4] Ceviche with a fried plantain garnish from Chef Todd English (photo © MXDC Cocina Restaurant | D.C.).

Originally made as a “vegan ceviche” recipe from The Chalkboard Magazine, we adapted the concept to a mix of fresh fish and shellfish (the mix is up to you).

 
> The recipe for ceviche lettuce cups is below.

> Ceviche vs. tiradito.

> Why ceviche is good for you.

> What to drink with ceviche.

> More ceviche recipes.
 
 
WHAT IS CEVICHE?

Ceviche (pronounced say-VEE-chay, also spelled cebiche, seviche, and sebiche based on region—the Spanish pronounced a “v” as “b”) is a dish of fish and/or shellfish cured by acidic citrus juice—typically lime juice. It includes onions and other vegetables.

It has been popular in Latin America for many centuries: It’s one of the national dishes of Peru, and its roots go back for millennia.

In the early 1500s, the Spanish conquistadors wrote of an Inca dish of raw fish marinated in chicha, a fermented maize beer. That recipe dates back some 2,000 years.

Other curing methods used tumbo (Passiflora tarminina, a relative of passionfruit), or salt and fermented corn.

The concept evolved into ceviche: raw fish or shellfish cured with citrus juice. Over time, fruits were incorporated; most popularly, tomatoes (native to Peru) and mango.

A chemical process occurs when the fish/shellfish is marinated in the highly acidic citrus juice, which denatures the protein. The result is similar to what happens when the fish is cooked with heat. Instead of “cooking,” however, the fish is cured in the marinade, which adds its own delicious flavors.

Both Ecuador and Peru claim to have originated ceviche; both were part of the Incan Empire. But why quibble: Today, ceviche—or seviche or sebiche—is so popular that there are cevicherias, restaurants that specialize in ceviche.

The Spanish brought to Peru the limes, onions, and bell peppers that are integral to modern ceviche. In fact, the term “ceviche” is thought to come from the Spanish escabeche, meaning marinade. Others argue that the word comes from the Quechua (Incan) word siwichi [source].

Ceviche is found in almost all restaurants on the coast of Peru, typically served with camote (sweet potato, which originated in Peru). It has been called “the flagship dish of coastal cuisine,” and is one of the most popular dishes in Peru [source].

June 28th is National Ceviche Day.
 
 
TYPES OF RAW FISH DISHES

Ceviche is part of a group of refreshing raw or cured fish dishes, including:

 
Mix & Match

As with the other dishes, ceviche welcomes almost every type of fish and shellfish. You can also vary the:

 
> Here’s the master template for how to create your ideal ceviche recipe.

> Here are more ways to present ceviche.

Bibb and butter lettuces turn into natural “cups,” while baby romaine leaves are sturdy and can be picked up to eat by hand (the different types of lettuce).

Ingredients

 
Garnishes

 
Preparation

1. PREPARE the ceviche and keep it in the fridge. You can do this a day in advance. When ready to serve…

2. PREPARE the lettuce leaves: wash and pat dry. Fill each leaf with a scoop of ceviche.

3. GARNISH as desired.
 

All you need is a sharp knife and a peeler or mandoline to decorate goat cheese logs the way John Karangis does.

Karangis is the executive chef at Union Square Events, and his job is to present dazzling foods.

Yet, this particular dazzler does not require culinary school. Here’s all you need.

August is National Goat Cheese Month.
 
 
RECIPE: DECORATED GOAT CHEESE LOGS

Ingredients

 
If your crowd likes hot and spicy, add narrow red chiles like birds-eye or cayenne; or sprinkle some red pepper flakes.

For the holidays, you can create a seasonal look with strips of pimento or minced peppadew, rosemary leaves, golden raisins (sultanas) and pink and green peppercorns.
 
Preparation

1. SLICE the vegetables as thinly as possible, ideally using a mandoline. The zucchini or summer squash should be sliced into vertical ribbons; leave the skin on. Everything else in horizontal circles.

2. SNIP the herbs as shown in the photo. Pull petals off the flowers.

Decorated goat cheese logs, shown in full and close-up (photos © Chef John Karangis).