[2] Iced tea for dessert? (Photo courtesy The Maple Guild.)

It’s a scorching day today, so we’re alternating glasses of ice water with glasses of iced tea.

If you brew your own tea, you can give iced tea the “sangria treatment” by adding fresh fruit to the pitcher (photo #1).

It can be black, green, herbal or white tea.

You can add any fruits; just be sure they’ll fit in the glass when you pour the tea. A large orange slice might not, for example, but you can cut it in half.

Here are popular fruits; three varieties (more if you like) is a good mix.

 
The key to fresh fruit flavor is to infuse the fruits in the tea for several hours, preferably overnight.
 
Preparation

You can make the tea up to two days in advance.

1. BREW the tea (here’s how to brew iced tea).

If you sweeten your tea, now is the time to add the sweetener. But the fruits add sweetness, so use less sweetener. We don’t use any, but provide different sweeteners for individual tastes: agave, honey, maple syrup, superfine sugar or simple syrup.

3. CUT the fruits. How much fruit do you need? We use 1/8 cup fruit per cup of tea. But you can turn the infusion into an infused fruit salad by packing a glass or Mason jar with fruit (photo #2), and using the tea as the “fruit juice.”

4. ADD the fruits to the pitcher while the tea is still warm, for the best infusion. Refrigerate, covered, overnight or until you’re ready to serve.

Consider making iced tea ice cubes for serving: They keep the tea extra-cold without diluting it.

5. SERVE: Add ice to the glass. Scoop in some fruit. Add the iced tea. Serve with straws or iced tea spoons for eating the fruit.

To make a non-alcoholic sangria, top off the glass with ginger ale.
 
 
ICED TEA TIPS

________________

*The fruit needs a cut surface so the flavor will infuse.

We traditionally serve cheese on a platter; sometimes on a cutting board, especially one that looks great because we’ve never used it for cutting.

(The rustic look, using a well-worn cutting board like the one in the photo, doesn’t look right with our fancy decor.)

Our crudités have always been arranged on a large plate, platter or bowl.

But when we saw this cheese and veggie arrangement from Vermont Creamery, we said: whoa! Colorful crudités look great on a cutting board.

Today’s tip may be obvious but we’d simply never done it.

So we dug out one of our more attractive cutting boards and shopped the market for colorful veggies.
 
SELECT VIVID VEGGIES

Don’t the striped chioggia beets and watermelon radishes look great next to the sugar snap peas and asparagus?

Add some carrots and scatter a box of multi-colored cherry or grape tomatoes, and you’ve got a nutritious explosion of color—so much so that even the white radishes look colorful!

Grab the cutting board and the crudités (photo courtesy Vermont Creamery).

If you don’t want to make a dip, buy one. In our home, hummus is the better dip option: protein-packed, lactose-free, vegan and most importantly, popular.

Now, all we need is a Martini with a pick of olives.

[2] The handsome packaging requires no gift wrap—not even a bow!

[3] You can buy boxes of 6, 12, or 1. But who can eat just one?

When Edible Arrangements offered a sample of their new donuts, we thought they were going to be…donuts.

Instead, they turned out to be something even better (and we say this as a donut lover) and less guilty:

Thick slices of fresh-cut Granny Smith apple coated in top-quality semisweet chocolate that look like donuts.

They can fool you, as they fooled us—until the first crunchy bite. What did we expect from a company known for its beautiful arrangements?

They were launched on National Donut Day (June 1st) and are a new part of Edible’s collections.

We urge you to get some!

The donuts are hand dipped and hand decorated, with:

You can order them online or head to your nearest Edible Arrangements store (store locator).

They are sold nicely boxed:

 
They are:

 
For Father’s Day, there’s an option that includes blue plaid-decorated donuts and mustache-shaped pieces of chocolate.

One note: Because they contain fresh-cut apples, plan to eat the donuts within a day of purchase.

Placing them in the fridge will give you an extra day or two.

The final word: Irresistible. Head to the website to order yours!

Or find your nearest store.

This week’s featured products are a trio of beverages, from zero-calorie sparkling water to low-calorie iced teas to an exciting IPA (240 calories pee 12 ounces, and worth it).

Here they are, in alphabetical order.
 
 
1. BEER: BALLAST POINT SCULPIN IPA

IPA is the hottest category in craft beer, and it’s been our favorite style—hoppy and robust—for more than a decade.

While the classic British IPAs were our first foray, once American craft brewers started brewing with Pacific Northwest hops, we were hooked. Goodbye, Old World IPA.

While a discussion of hops requires a long session, American craft brewers use Pacific Northwest hops, known for their fruitiness: their ability to generate flavors of apricot, grapefruit, mango, orange, peach, and tropical fruits.

We try every American IPA that comes our way. Most recently, Ballast Point, a San Diego brewery, has stolen our heart.

The brewery began in 1996, in the back of a homebrewing supply store: a small group of San Diego home brewers who wanted to make a better beer. It is now owned by Constellation Brands, but the beers still taste like loving artisans fuss over the tiniest detail to coax exciting flavors from each ingredient.
 
Ballast Point’s flagship beer, the first Sculpin IPA (sculpin is another name for the California scorpionfish, photo #2), has hints of apricot, lemon, mango, and peach.

The newest, our beloved Aloha Sculpin (photo #1), develops even more flavor by using a different strain of yeast called Brux Trois for short*. It contributes to the layers of flavor from the hops: guava, mango, and pineapple (hence “Aloha,” from the tropics). It’s the first Brux Trois IPA to be distributed nationally.

IPA lovers: Seek it out!

Discover more at BallastPoint.com.
 
 
2. ICED TEA: HONEST TEA

We applaud reduced-calorie iced teas and are fans of Honest Tea’s Just A Tad Sweet Line. An entire 16-ounce bottle is just 60 calories.

The line is naturally flavored, USDA organic-certified, and the tea and sugar are Fair Trade.

There are philosophical-inspirational quotes on the undersides of the caps. An example from Charles Darwin: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one that is most responsive to change.”

We enjoyed the three newest flavors (photo #3) immensely: Lemon Grove Maple Black Tea, Mango Maté Black Tea and Moroccan Mint Green Tea. But then, we’ve enjoyed every flavor we’ve tried (there are 15+ at last count).

Even the aroma of the empty bottles was intoxicating!

Discover more at HonestTea.com.

[2] The brand “ambassadorfish,” the sculpin (California scorpionfish, Scorpaena guttata). Watch out for the venomous fin spines (photo © Ken Jones Fishing).

[3] Three flavors from the Just A Tad Sweet line of Honest Tea, certified organic and Fair Trade (photo © Honest Tea).

[4] Just peachy: new peach-flavored Perrier (photo © Perrier).

Peach is the latest of Perrier’s flavored sparkling waters (photo #4). Its formal name is PERRIER Carbonated Mineral Water Peach Flavor, but Peach Perrier works fine for us.

Peach joins the other Perrier flavors: Green Apple, Lemon, Lime, L’Orange, Pink Grapefruit, Strawberry, and Watermelon.

We’re going to try to assemble them all and have a Perrier tasting. It sounds great for light summertime dining, with an assortment of salads including fruit salad, of course.

Discover more at Perrier.com.
Three new flavors join the lineup: Lemon Grove Maple Black Tea, Mango Maté Black Tea and Moroccan Mint Green Tea.

They join 13 other flavors, which gives us an idea…for another tasting lineup!
 
 
________________

*The full name is Saccharomyces “Bruxellensis” Trois.
 
 

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

[2] Fancy or casual roulades: julienned cucumbers rolled in prosciutto. You can soak the cucumbers in gin! Here’s the recipe from Parma Crown (photo © Parma Crown).

[3] Cucumbers, yogurt, garlic, and dill are the ingredients of Greek tzatziki, but can also be served as a dip (photo © Ausport | Australia).

[4] Chilled cucumber soup is a summer refresher. Here’s a recipe for Chilled Cucumber Yogurt Soup (photo © Chocolate Lab |San Francisco [now closed]).

[5] Cucumber ice pops, here accented with green tea and mint. Here’s the recipe from Cake Over Steak (photo © Cake over Steak).

[6] Spiralized cucumber salad with sesame. Here’s the recipe from Bowl Of Delicious (photo © Bowl of Delicious).

[7] These heirloom cucumbers have a yellow peel, not green (photo © Baldor Specialty Food).

[8] You may be able to find Armenian cucumbers at a farmers’ market—or grow your own. Its creamy flesh has good crunch, superb flavor, and few seeds (photo © Burpee).

But what else can you do with them? Here are nine more ways to go beyond “the usual.”

While it is natural to buy the largest cucumbers to “get your money’s worth,” smaller cucumbers are more tender.

Should you peel them? It’s a question of how tough the peel is. Chew a slice with the peel on to decide. One of the things that we like to do is make vertical stripes with a vegetable peeler.

After you check out the different ways to use cucumbers, take a look at the different types of cucumbers.

And don’t overlook the history of cucumbers, below, plus these heirloom cucumbers.

June is National Cucumber Month and June 14th is National Cucumber Day.

The history of cucumbers is below.
 
 
1. CUCUMBER APPETIZERS

Fancy cooks have long used cucumber slices as a base for hors d’oeuvre, instead of bread or crackers. Just add the topping.

With thicker slices, you can scoop out a well in the center to stuff crab salad, goat cheese, etc.

Or, make cucumber stacks: “sandwich” bites filled with chicken salad, hummus, olive cream cheese, or whatever you like.

Here are two recipes to start you off:

 
 
2. CUCUMBER DRINKS

Use cucumbers in cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks. Serve cucumber water often!

 
 
3. CUCUMBER ICE

Make cucumber sorbet or ice pops. There are many recipes for both, accenting with coconut water, lemon, lime, matcha tea, or mint.

Here’s a recipe to start you off (photo #5).
 
 
4. CUCUMBER PICKLES WITH GLOBAL FLAVORS

You don’t need to put them up in Mason jars: Recipes for quick pickles abound.

By changing spices and vinegar types, you can create delightful “signature pickles.”

Look at your spice shelf, pass by the conventional pickling spices, and go for it. Cayenne? Cumin? Curry?
 
 
5. CUCUMBER SANDWICHES

Cucumber sandwiches on buttered bread are a perennial feature of afternoon tea. Use good butter and bread, and they’re delicious.

Use cucumber slices like iceberg lettuce, to add crunch to a sandwich.

 
 
6. CUCUMBER SAUCES & DIPS

Cucumber and yogurt are served as sides to grilled meats. The two most famous:

 
 
The major difference is the seasoning: garlic, cumin, and cayenne for raita; garlic and dill for tzatziki.

You can thin either of these for dips.
 
 
7. CUCUMBER SIDES & SALADS

You can grill cucumbers, stuff and bake them, or dredge them in cornmeal and fry them. Serve those with lemon wedges and ketchup!

 
 
8. CUCUMBER SOUP

Chilled cucumber soup, like vichyssoise, has long been made in France with a base of cream.

With the growth of yogurt fans in the 1980s, Americans have embraced soups with a yogurt base.

 
Garnishes or mix-ins for cucumber soup include avocado, feta, fresh herbs, garlic, red onion or shallots, and tomato.

Try this Gazpacho Verde recipe.
 
 
9. MARINATED CUCUMBERS

Leave the salad greens behind, and create salads with cucumbers and vinegar.

Israeli salad, a combination of cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, and parsley, is one of our favorites (here’s a recipe)

Asian cucumber salads are sweet-and-sour. Try this recipe for starters.

Our own recipe for Greek-style cucumber salad: thinly-sliced tomatoes, marinated in wine vinegar; thinly-sliced red onion; halved cherry tomatoes; drizzled with olive oil and topped with kalamata olives and diced feta.

We keep containers of it in the fridge all summer long. If you store it, hold the feta until you’re ready to serve.

And those of you with spiralizers: Make cucumber “zoodle” salad (photo #6).
 
 
CUCUMBER HISTORY

The cucumber originated in India and was cultivated more than 4000 years ago. Easy to cultivate, it spread to other parts of the Pacific.

By the first century B.C.E., it was traded to ancient Greece, Rome, the Middle East, and modern-day Bulgaria and Serbia.

The march of the cucumber was global. It is the fourth most widely cultivated vegetable in the world [source].

(The first practical greenhouse was invented by the French botanist Charles Lucien Bonaparte during the 1800s, to grow medicinal tropical plants.)

Because it is such a prolific grower (one vine grows many cukes), the vegetable was inexpensive and accessible to both the wealthy and peasants. In addition to eating, cucumbers were widely used as medicinal remedies.

After the fall of Rome, cucumbers receded for a long period, resurfacing in France at the court of Charlemagne in the late 8th and 9th centuries.

 
In 2010, worldwide cucumber production was 57.5 million tons, with the majority of the world’s production and export coming from China (40.7 million tons).
 
 

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