We were thrilled to receive sample bags of Maddy & Maize, small batch gourmet popcorn handmade in St. Paul, Minnesota.

More accurately, we were thrilled when we tasted them. Could they be the best flavored popcorns anywhere?

The line is all-natural, which means no artificial flavors and color, no HFCS, non GMO, peanut-free. And most flavors are vegan.

But none of that would mean much to us if it weren’t so very delicious. We couldn’t stop eating it (justifying to ourselves that popcorn is a whole grain).

The popcorn is sold in four-ounce bags for $6.00, and worth every cent. For party favor boxes, custom wraps are available for wedding, corporate gifts and other occasions.

The only challenge is where to start.

As a professional taster, we always recommend the sweet-to-savory transition. By the time you’ve had enough sweetness, you need the savory to balance it out.

And while we don’t want to single out a particular flavor because all are stellar, the Bourbon & Barbecue is the best BBQ popcorn we’ve ever had. It has a touch of heat that makes it memorable.

Similarly, Lemon Raspberry Layer Cake won the sweet flavors for us; but as we often say, it’s like the Miss America pageant. Any one of them could be the winner.
 
 
MADDY & MAIZE: GLORIOUS FLAVORS

Sweet Flavors

 
While the Dark Chocolate Caramel corn has the drizzles you’d expect, the other sweet flavors have a drizzle of icing that truly is, the icing on the [popcorn] cake.
 
Savory Flavors

 
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*While the bag ingredients say only “natural flavor,” which is par for the course, we picked up a flavor that we could swear is rum extract. It’s more complex than the typical “birthday cake” flavor: tasty for adults, probably not right for kids.

Maddy & Maize is available at retail largely on its home turf, Minnesota. But it deserves to be everywhere.

Until then, order it online at MaddyAndMaize.com.
 
 
WHAT’S IN OUR EASTER BASKET?

Bunnies and eggs, plus Maddy & Maize!

The colorful bags and happy flavors fit right in.

[1] Lemon Raspberry Layer Cake Popcorn. The fruit flavors are so fresh, the popcorn can substitute for a slice of cake. (photo @TheCuratedLiving | Maddy & Maize | Instagram).

[2] The lineup, taken at the Golden Globes, shows bright and cheery packages that are ready to go into an Easter basket (photo courtesy Maddy & Maize).

[3] Birthday Cake popcorn, with icing and sprinkles (photo People And Things Magazine).

[2] Note how these French loaves are shorter than baguettes. On the top shelf, slender ficelles appear to the left of batards, which are wider than baguettes. On the lower shelf, smaller bâtons in the front are wider than ficelles, but narrower than baguettes.

[3] Boule is a round, crusty loaf, similar to peasant bread (photo courtesy Artisan Bread In Five).

[4] French rolls (photo © La Rose Noire).

March 21st is National French Bread Day.

Every country makes a variety of different breads: harder and softer, rounder and flatter.

In France, the focus is on loaves (as opposed to flatbreads): different-shapes that have crusty exteriors and a chewy crumb.

In addition to the iconic baguette, other loaves—more wide or narrow, shorter or longer—include bâton, boule, ficelle and flûte.

It’s not easy for most of us to distinguish between French bread and Italian bread.

The situation is not helped by American supermarket breads, which often use generic labels like “French bread” and “Italian bread.”

Even with those labels, the actual loaf can be neither—i.e., a generic loaf.

Generic is not a pejorative title; it simply means that the features to not conform with the standards of a particular style of bread.

Consumers also can speak a generic language, seeking “French bread” when they mean “baguette,” or “Italian bread” when they mean a Sicilian-style loaf.

For National French Bread Day, we’re putting a toe in the water to provide some basic distinctions.

Thanks to Simmer & Zest for some of these distinctions.

Note that a discussion of every type of bread these two countries produce would take a vast amount of space. Our purpose is to provide a top line.
 
 
FRENCH BREAD VS. ITALIAN BREAD: THE DIFFERENCE
 
Geography

 
Ingredients

 
Shape

 
Texture

 
Baking Method

 
Now we’re going to the kitchen to butter a few slices!
 
 
> THE HISTORY OF BREAD
 
 
> THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BREAD

Celebrate spring with a beautiful bowl of crudités, artistically arrayed.

Stroll down the produce aisle of your best market and select the most appealing veggies, looking for different colors and textures.

Arrange them on a beautiful plate or in a shallow bowl, with a bowl of green hummus in the center (photo #1).

The hummus recipe is below.

SPRING VEGETABLES

Make a beautiful composition from a selection of these spring specialties:

 
Plus these year-round standards:

 
Add some color with:

 
MINI TIP: If you have leftovers, you can steam them or turn them into a salad. Or, use them to garnish grilled fish.
 
 
NEED GREEN HUMMUS?

Buy it or make it.

We recently reviewed Lantana Hummus, which has both edamame and cucumber varieties that are pale green.

Or, go for a deeper green. Blend avocado, green peas, or a handful of green herbs into hummus.

We adapted this from-scratch recipe from Cookie & Kate. It’s a brighter green (photo #4).
 
RECIPE: GREEN HUMMUS

Ingredients

 
Variations

Go green with whatever ingredients you prefer. For example, substitute:

 
More options: bright green olives like castelvetranos.

[2] It may look like celery, but cardoons are a spring vegetable closely related to artichokes. Peel away the outer layer, slice, and add to the crudités plate (photo courtesy Turmeric & Saffron | Blogspot).

[3] Most people wouldn’t think to put leafy greens on a crudités plate. But while they’re not as easy to dip as a hard vegetable, they’re refreshing and, in the case of these mustard greens, nicely spicy (photo courtesy Good Eggs).

[4] Green Goddess Hummus. Here’s the recipe from Cookie And Kate.

1. COMBINE the tahini and lemon juice in a food processor and whip for 90 seconds, pausing to scrape down the bowl as necessary. Add the olive oil, herbs, chopped garlic and salt and process for another minute, scraping down the bowl as needed.

2. ADD half of the chickpeas and process for another minute. Scrape down the bowl and add the remaining chickpeas. Process for 1-2 minutes, until the hummus is smooth. If it isn’t creamy enough for you, drizzle in 1 to 2 tablespoons water, with the motor running, until the hummus is the consistency you desire.

3. REFRIGERATE in an airtight container for up to one week. Top with the optional garnishes and serve.
 
 

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

[2] This flower and leaf set has cookie cutters in multiple sizes. Get it on Amazon.

What’s a spring pie?

It’s any pie that celebrates spring, which begins today.

To make a pie special for spring, use flower and leaf cutouts on the crust, as in this example from The Topless Baker (photo #1).

We are huge fans of The Topless Baker, whose cakes and pies are such works of art that he should have a museum exhibition.

Check out his Instagram feed and his YouTube channel.

You don’t have to be a gifted pastry artist like Matt Adlard, the 26-year-old “topless” Brit.

Just take a leaf cookie cutter and a flower cookie cutter (photo #2), and do your thing. The larger the cookie cutters, the faster the decorating.

You may not know it yet, but you do have an inner pie artist.
 
 
WHAT KIND OF PIE SAYS “SPRING?”

Whatever kind of pie you like: apple pie, cherry pie…you can even make a savory pie like pot pie.

Rhubarb*, that beloved spring pie ingredient, typically appears in April but you may find some now. Here’s a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie.

Spring fruits include apricots, blackberries, black mission figs and strawberries, all ready to be baked in a crust.

If you want to bake a pie without a top crusts (cream pie, key lime pie, ice cream pie, no-bake pie), use the flowers and leaves to decorate the rim.
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*Botanically, rhubarb is a vegetable, a member of the sorrel family (see the difference between fruits and vegetables). Be sure to cook only the stems; the leaves are mildly toxic (they contain oxalic acid).

If you don’t care to make egg salad from all the leftover Easter eggs, how about guacamole?

We found this suggestion from California Avocado Commission:

Paint avocados instead of eggs!

You don’t have to have ripe avocados. Today’s hard avocado is tomorrow’s ripe one, so don’t hesitate to buy hard ones for your “Easter basket.”

Even with a pebbly-skin Hass avocado, tempera paint goes on smoothly with bright, opaque color. And, it’s washable.

Head to your local crafts store, or buy it online.

It takes a big bunny to deliver these Easter “eggs” (photo courtesy California Avocado Commission).