Then, we remembered that our purpose is to expand your food horizons (and impress your guests), so here goes.
 
SAVORY ICE CREAM

Savory ice cream flavored with cheese and/or herbs—no sugar or just a small amount—is not a new concept.

We published a large collection of cheese ice cream recipes 11 years ago, but the savory recipes date to way before that.

You can find recipes for formaggio gelato (cheese ice cream) and formaggio di parmigiano gelato (Parmesan ice cream) in older Italian cookbooks.

It replaced the cheese course at the end of summer lunches, or was cut into slices and served as a first course with ham and hard-boiled eggs.

We have several recipes, below; but the basic Italian recipe is simple:

1. GRATE one pound of Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano (or crumble Gorgonzola; combine with one quart of heavy cream and a pinch of salt and pepper.

2. STIR over a moderate flame until the mixture becomes creamy. This infuses the cream with Parmesan flavor.

3. REMOVE from the heat, cool, strain and process in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s directions. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can freeze the mixture in a container and stir at regular intervals (for a less creamy texture).
 
HOW TO SERVE SAVORY ICE CREAM

Use your imagination! For starters:

 
Optional Garnishes

 
RECIPE #1: QUICK PARMESAN ICE CREAM BALLS

This recipe is much simpler to make. Use it with cold vegetable soups and the other serving suggestions above.

[1] Rosemary ice cream on an herb salad (photo courtesy Rosetta Restaurant | Mexico City. [2] Cheddar ice cream on an apple crumble (photo courtesy Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog). [3] Avocado ice cream sandwiched by 34 Degrees crisps (photo courtesy Food Flirt) [4] Dill ice cream cone with smoked salmon topping (here’s the recipe from Cup Of Sugar Pinch Of Salt.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. HEAT the cream in a saucepan over medium heat; bring to a simmer.

2. STIR in the Parmesan cheese and continue stir until the cheese is melted. Stir in a dash of fresh ground pepper and remove to a small bowl to cool. When cool…

3. PLACE the mixture in a small freezer-proof bowl or plastic container. Cover the container and place it in the freezer for 1-2 hours.

4. SCOOP little balls of the frozen Parmesan ice cream, using a melon baller or a teaspoon. Place a ball of into each bowl of soup just before serving. Garnish with a sprig of fresh herb.

[1] Blue cheese ice cream (photo courtesy Yummly). [2] Goat cheese ice cream (photo courtesy Charlie Trotter). [3] Rosemary olive oil ice cream (here’s the recipe from Local Food Rocks.

 
You can turn any of these recipes into herb ice cream, by substituting fresh herbs for the cheese. Our favorites are basil and rosemary; there’s a recipe right below.
 
Bonus

 
RECIPE #2: ROSEMARY ICE CREAM

This recipe is sweetened, but you can reduce the honey to 1/8 or 1/4 of a cup for a more savory ice cream, or add just a tablespoon. You can also substitute basil. If you’d like the herb flavor to be stronger, use more next time.

You can make this recipe up to four days in advance.
 
Ingredients For 1.25 Quarts

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE the cream, milk, honey and rosemary in large saucepan. Stir over medium heat until small bubbles form around edges of pan. Remove from the heat; cover and let steep 30 minutes.

2. DISCARD the rosemary and put the pan back on the stove. Bring the contents to a simmer, then remove from the heat.

3. WHISK the egg yolks and salt in a medium bowl. Gradually add the hot cream mixture, whisking until thoroughly combined. (The eggs and cream make this a custard, the style known as French ice cream. See the different types of ice cream.)

4. RETURN the custard to the saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until the custard thickens slightly and coats back of spoon. This should take 4 to 5 minutes and the mixture should register 165°F to 170°F on a thermometer. Do not boil!

5. STRAIN the mixture into a medium bowl. Set the bowl into a larger bowl containing a slurry of ice and water. Allow to cool, about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. REMOVE the custard bowl from the slurry. Cover it with plastic wrap and chill for at least 4 hours.

7. TRANSFER the custard to an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer’s instructions. Transfer the churned ice cream to a container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 4 hours.

Fruit ices are thousands of years old, dating back to ancient China. But gelato, the first type of ice cream, is comparatively recent.

The original concept, a sherbet-like concoction, came from Northern China in the more than 4,000 years ago, before the 2nd century B.C.E. Snow and saltpeter in a container served as an ancient ice cream maker to freeze ingredients, the snow mixed with fruit juices, honey and aromatic spices.

A modern form of it still exists, called snow cream. You can make it with a fresh batch of snow: Here’s the recipe.
 
Fruit Snow Travels West

Through trade routes, the frozen dessert recipe was introduced to Persia—about 2,500 years ago. The Persians called the frozen concoction sharbat, “fruit ice” in Arabic. We know it as sherbet, sorbet or sorbetto.

Alexander the Great, who battled the Persians for 10 years before finally toppling the Persian Empire in 330 B.C.E., “discovered” the fruit ices and returned to Greece with the knowledge. Within three centuries, Emperor Nero was serving fruit juices mixed with honey and snow at his banquets, dispatching the fastest runners to the mountaintops to bring back the snow.
 
On To Europe

Fruit ice arrived in Europe with the Arab invasions of Sicily in the fifth century. Italian granita was born, flavored with a wide range of fruits including citrus. Coffee ice was also made.

It took until the late 1500’s in Florence, for fruit ice to be adapted to gelato. The original ice cream, gelato was (and is) made with cream and eggs. This combination enables a more intense showcasing of the fruits, nuts and other flavors. (The key differences between gelato and ice cream are less cream/more milk and less air [overrun].)

The invention is credited to Bernardo Buontalenti, a multi-talented genius born Bernardo Delle Girandole (c. 1531 to 1608). Buontalenti, his professional name, means great talent. He was an architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist.

It is believed that he created gelato for a Medici banquet.

Buontalenti, who spent his life in the employ of the Medici family, was, among other things, the impresario of the fabulous Medici banquets. While no historical record exists that names Buontalenti as the creator, he is a likely candidate.

Gelato spread from Italy to the rest of Europe. This is attributed to another Italian, Catarina de’ Medici, who married the future King Henri II of France. (She was only 14 when she married; no wonder she liked ice cream).

Here’s the full history of ice cream, to modern times.
  

A reader writes: What’s the difference between vanilla and French vanilla? Simply this:

 
Beyond ice cream, French vanilla refers to a vanilla flavor is caramelized, eggy, custard-like.
 
WHAT IS NOT FRENCH VANILLA

As with so many other terms, people misuse “French vanilla,” either through ignorance or for marketing. French vanilla, after all, sounds more exciting than vanilla.

Worse, “plain vanilla” has become an expression for bland and boring, the simplest version of something. It may be “plain vanilla,” but it’s still the most popular ice cream flavor in the U.S.

Products that have co-opted the French vanilla name include coffee creamers, flavored coffees and teas, vanilla-flavored drinks (shakes, lattes) and syrups.

It even extends to aromas, such as French vanilla candles and potpourri.

French vanilla means added eggs, and none of these products contains them.
 
MORE VANILLA FACTS

 
ALSO CHECK OUT:

HISTORY & TYPES OF VANILLA

THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ICE CREAM

CHOCTÀL SINGLE ORIGIN ICE CREAM, made in four different vanilla flavors using different vanilla beans, as well as chocolate ice creams made with cacao beans from four different origins

Plus:

[1] Vanilla beans, from a particular orchid, are most often converted into vanilla extract by soaking the seeds in an alcohol base (photo courtesy Natures Flavours). [2] To make French vanilla, egg yolks are required. They blend with the cream to create a custard, which makes the ice cream richer (photo courtesy ANH-USA.org). [3] Flavors called French Vanilla should have egg yolks, as this one does (photo courtesy Dreyers.com). [4] One of many examples where marketing trumps fact (photo courtesy Bigelow).

[1] Alcohol slush drinks made in the Zoku Slush Maker (photo courtesy Williams-Sonoma). From top to bottom: Bellini Slush, Gin & Tonic Slush, Screwdriver Slush. [2] Turn your favorite liqueur into a slush (photo courtesy Godiva Liqueurs).

Call it an Icee®, Slurpee*, slush or slushy*, adult versions of shaved ice drinks with alcohol are certainly an delightful advance on the shaved ice or snow with syrup enjoyed in China 4,000 years ago.

This is the frozen dessert that traveled to Persia and later to Italy. On the dinner table along with plenty of wine, surely someone must have splashed some alcohol on it. (Arabic people drank alcohol until the early 7th century C.E., when the Holy Prophet Muhammad proscribed it.)

(That shaved ice evolved into granita, sorbet, snow cones and modern shaved ice (a form of granita). A Florentine Renaissance Man adapted the idea and made the first ice cream. Here’s the history of ice cream.)

Then there’s the present: A company called Beyond Zero has developed a technology that will freeze alcohol. It will be available soon, and will not likely be priced for home use (unless your home has 100 rooms).
 
FROZEN DRINKS: AMERICA LOVES THEM!

The beginning of the American frozen drink trend, frozen Margaritas, started in Houston around 1935 with the blender Margarita.

It reached its zenith with the invention of the frozen Margarita machine in 1971, which greatly enhanced the demand for Mexican restaurants. The history of that machine is below.

Then there’s the present: A company called Beyond Zero has developed a technology that will freeze alcohol, but it’s not yet available and will not likely be priced for home use (unless your home is a mansion).
 
SLUSH DRINKS WITH LOW-PROOF ALCOHOL

The alcohol’s proof is double the ABV, alcohol by volume. So if a wine is 12% alcohol, it is 24 proof. Standard spirits are 80-proof: too much alcohol to freeze in a home freezer. You need to take some extra steps.

So first, let’s look at lower-proof spirits that will freeze into slush:

 
Mixologists nationwide are creating recipes for low-proof cocktails. You can turn them into slush cocktails. Here are low-proof recipes from Liquor.com

Even the strongest is 26 proof; and light beer is just 3 proof. Here’s more on ABV, or alcohol by volume. You double the ABV to get the proof.
 
HOW TO MAKE SLUSHIE WITH 80 PROOF SPIRITS

You can’t use high-proof spirits and liqueurs straight to make slush. You have to lower them to 40 proof or less.

Do this by diluting the spirit: with water, a carbonated beverage or juice, even iced tea or coffee. If you dilute it beyond a 1:1 ratio, you can bring the mix to 40 proof, which will freeze (we used a 2:1 ratio).

You can make, for example:

 
We used a 2:1 ratio of non-alcohol (orange juice) to spirit (vodka) for our Screwdriver Slush and a 1:1 ratio of peach nectar and Prosecco for a Bellini Slush, since wines are under 13% proof.
 
HOW TO MAKE AN ALCOHOL SLUSHIE

Technique #1: Combine the alcohol in a blender with ice cubes or better, with crushed ice.

Technique #2: Pour the alcohol into ice cube trays and allow to freeze thoroughly (at least four hours). The cubes won’t freeze rock-hard like ice cubes. Tip: Smaller slush cubes will melt more quickly than large ice cubes; it’s a matter of personal preference.

Technique #3: The easy way to do it is to buy a Zoku Slush Maker; but one 8-ounce slush maker is $19.99. That could be for two people; but if you want more portions, you need to purchase others.

Technique #4: The easiest way is to invest $30 in an electric shaved ice machine).

Technique #5: The hard way is to make a granita.

__________________
*Icee®, and Slurpee® are trademarked names. You can use them at home when presenting your drink to guests, but the names cannot be used commercially (e.g., at a bar or restaurant) without a license from the owner. Instead, use the generic, slush or slushy. It’s the same deal with Popsicle®, the generic of which is ice pop.

†Check the bottle. Some favorites, like Grand Marnier, are not liqueurs but liqueur blended with brandy and a higher proof (70% for Grand Marnier). Even the generic triple sec orange liqueur ranges from 30 to 60 proof.

‡St-Germain liqueur is Saint-Germain l elderflower liqueur is our personal favorite and the best-selling liqueur in history. It is a favorite mixer with sparkling wines.
 

The original Margarita on the rocks began appearing in bars and restaurants along the U.S.-Mexico border in the late 1930s. An improvement on the first electric (1922), the Waring Blender appeared in 1935.

The Waring, which could efficiently chop ice, enabled the creation of “frozen” drinks”—a conventional cocktail made in a blender with chopped ice.

By the 1960s, slushy soft drinks (non-alcoholic) had become the craze among kids and adults alike. The concept and the machine to make them was invented by in the 1950s by Omar Knedlik, a Dairy Queen franchisee. He did not have a soda fountain, so he served semi-frozen bottled soft drinks, which became slushy and were immensely popular.

This gave him the idea to create a machine that made slushy sodas, resulting in the ICEE Company. They were a huge hit, and in 1966 7-Eleven purchased machines to sell their proprietary-brand Slurpees.

Yet no one made the leap to using the machine for frozen cocktails.

At that time, frozen drinks were made by bartenders in a blender with ice cubes.

But it wasn’t a great solution.

One day in 1971, Martinez stopped for a cup of coffee at a 7-Eleven and saw the Slurpee machine. The light bulb flashed on, and Martinez bought and retrofitted an old soft-serve machine to make frozen Margaritas.
 
The rest is history. The frozen Margarita was responsible for the growth of tequila in America, as well as the growth of Tex-Mex cuisine to go with all those frozen Margaritas.

According to Brown-Forman, in 2006 the Margarita surpassed the Martini as the most ordered alcoholic beverage, representing 17% of all mixed-drink sales.

Martinez’ original machine is now in the Smithsonian. You can see a photo here.

[1] Salsa-based gazpacho (photo © R.W. Knudsen).

[2] Shrimp cocktail with salsa; add avocado and lime wedge for a “Mexican shrimp cocktail” (photo © Mackenzie Ltd).

[3] Grab your favorite salsa from the shelf and check out the 15 ideas below (photo © Mrs. Renfro’s).

There is no one salsa recipe: Every region of Latin America has its own style, with recipes divided between tomato-based red salsas and tomatillo-based green salsas. Within each category are many different salsa styles (see our Salsa Glossary).

You can find dozens of ways to use salsa beyond Tex-Mex. It’s a great pantry item to grab when you need to make—or fix—something, as you’ll see in the list below this salsa recipe.
 
BONUS: ¼ cup of tomato-based salsa counts as a one serving of vegetables!

See many more uses for salsa below.
 
 
RECIPE: SALSA GAZPACHO

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. ROLL the room temperature lemon or lime on the counter, pressing down. This will release more juice.

2. PURÉE the salsa in a blender or food processor. Mix with the other ingredients (except garnishes) in a mixing bowl.

3. REFRIGERATE for an hour or more, covered, to allow the flavors to meld.

4. POUR into serving bowls or cups, garnish and serve.
 
_____________________

*Use diced avocado, chopped fresh herbs, carrot coins or radish slices, corn kernels…just look in the fridge and the pantry.

Salsa is a versatile ingredient. Beyond Tex-Mex cuisine, you can use different types of salsa for even more variety. For example, you can use a sweeter fruit salsa to make omelet toppings/fillings or sauces for grilled meats, even as a garnish for pound cake or sorbet.
 
Condiment, Dip, Garnish Or Spread

 
Flavor Booster

 
Have other ideas for salsa? Let us know!

[4] Make a queso dip with salsa and cheese sauce (a quick substitute is Velveeta; photo © El Original | NYC [now closed]).

[5] This “Chicken fajita” grilled cheese adds a layer of salsa, which also works on a plain grilled cheese sandwich. Here’s the recipe from Closet Cooking (photo © Closet Cooking).

[6] A salsa-topped burger or cheeseburger hits the spot (photo © Pace Salsa).

[1] Grilled mushrooms and grilled pineapple with baby arugula and shaved parmesan. Enjoy the earthy mushrooms with a darker beer: amber lager, porter, or stout (photo courtesy Urban Accents). [2] Corn should be enjoyed with a lighter beer: American lager, German wheat beer or saison. Here’s the recipe for this delicious plate of elote, Mexican corn on the cob (photo courtesy Good Eggs | SF.

Even in the depths of winter, where there is no fresh produce in our region, we go to buy apple cider, applesauce, baked goods, kimchi, pickles and anything else they make.

The folks at (Let’s Grab a Beer) took the opportunity to pair beer styles with particular types of produce. They selected some summer fruits and vegetables and paired them with beer styles that bring out the flavors in the food.

For your next cook-out or hang-out, try these recommendations and see if you agree.

If you need an explanation of a particular beer style, head to our Beer Glossary.
 
Chile Peppers
Beer Styles: American Lager or IPA.
Pairing Notes: Spicy, hoppy beers are a great choice for chiles, whether served raw in a dish, grilled shishito peppers or roasted poppers (stuffed jalapeños). Lager can help to tame the heat if the dish is too fiery.
 
Corn
Beer Styles: American Lager, German Wheat Beer or Saison.
Pairing Notes: A light and slightly sweet beer will complement each bite of the sweet corn and salty butter. Try it with everything from corn salad to elote, Mexican seasoned corn on the cob.
 
Green Beans
Beer Styles: English Brown Ale or Belgian Wheat Beer (Witbier).
Pairing Notes: Green beans tend to go well with beers that are both malty and sweet like the English Brown Ale. If you prefer your green beans with a citrusy dressing, try a Belgian Wheat Beer instead.
 
Grilled Mushrooms
Beer Styles: Amber Lager, Porter, Stout.
Notes: The roasted flavor of malted barley in these darker beers complements the earthiness of mushrooms. Try them with grilled stuffed mushrooms, or in a portabella salad with feta, this one with goat cheese or a grilled corn salad (no cheese). For a great beer snack or warm-up to dinner, try this Mexican layered salad, great as a beer snack.
 
Melons
Beer Styles: American Light Lager, German Wheat Beer, or Belgian Wheat Beer.
Pairing Notes: The fruity flavors produced by the yeast in German Wheat beers will often match up well with certain melon flavor profiles.

For a cheese course, snack, or an accent to other recipes, try these pairings:
 
Acidic Cheeses (e.g. Sharp Cheddar)
Beer Styles: American Pale Ale, IPA, Porter.
Pairing Notes: Sharp cheeses are generally more bitter, and thus well suited to the bitterness found in hoppier beers. For some contrast to an acidic cheese, also try porter.
 
Nutty Cheeses (e.g. Gruyère)
Beer Styles: American IPA, Dark Lager, Oktoberfest Ale.
Pairing Notes: For harder cheeses that have a nutty aftertaste, pick a beer that is more barley-forward yet balanced. For contrast, try an American pale ale.
 
Tangy Cheeses (e.g. Goat Cheese)
Beer Styles: American Light Lager, Belgian Wheat Beer.
Pairing Notes: The fruity and citrusy flavors of wheat beers sync up beautifully with tangy cheeses. These bright, carbonated beers are refreshing in warmer weather.
 
Nuts
Beer Styles: Amber Lager, English Brown Ale.
Pairing Notes: For nuts that are both salted and roasted, go with a darker beer that has some complementary roasted barley flavors. These two styles also have a refreshingly crisp finish.
 
Now, put some pairings together to see what you like best.

[1] Melon dishes like this honeydew and cucumber salad are delicious with wheat beer and light lagers (photo courtesy Good Eggs). [2] The best tomatoes of the summer—heirloom tomatoes—are splendid with an American ale, lager or IPA. [3] A classic Italian dessert, strawberries with a balsamic drizzle (and optional shaved Parmesan) pair best with citrussy beers and dark beers. Here, the berries are served with raw sugar and lemon zest for dipping (photo courtesy Driscoll’s.