[1] Pumpkin ales and beers can be found from late September through year-end, “while supplies last” (photo courtesy Dogfish Head Brewery. [2] Bake a batch of soft pretzels to go with the beer (photo courtesy Taste Of Home).

1. Spaten Lager
2. Spaten Oktoberfest
3. Goose Island Oktoberfest
4. Franziskaner Hefe-weisse
5. Coney Island Freaktobefest
6. New Belgian Cranberry Pumpkin
7. Two Roads No Limits Hefeweizen
8. Captain Lawrence Pumpkin
9. Victory Fest Beer
10. BitBurger Pilsner
11. Bells Best Brown
12. Southern Tier PUMPKING
13. Warsteiner Oktoberfest
14. Badass Apple Cider
15. Atwater Blueberry Cobbler
16. Dogfish Head Pumpkin Patch
 
They’ll be served with German-inspired foods, from brats and soft pretzels to schnitzel hoagies.

While we don’t gamble, we do drink craft beer; and we’ve had only one beer on the list. The solution was simple:
 
HAVE AN OKTOBERFEST CRAFT BEER TASTING PARTY

 
While the original Oktoberfest in Munich runs for two weeks, through mid-October, you can hold a party anytime in October.

 
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*Harvest ale is not a defined style of beer, but a common name for different beers brewed for fall harvest celebrations and general consumption.

HOW TO PLAN THE OKTOBERFEST PARTY

1. DETERMINE THE ATTENDEES. Then determine how much beer you need. If you’re not buying all the beer yourself assign a brand to each person. The easiest way to do this is to have attendees scout out options and let you know what they’d like to contribute.

Provide juice glasses or 4-ounce disposable cups. The idea is to taste smaller amounts of 10 beers, not to drink 10 bottles of beer.

2. DECIDE ON THE FOOD. Brats, sauerkraut, soft pretzels (recipe) and mustard will do the trick. If anyone asks if they can bring food, German potato salad, Blaukraut (red cabbage sauerkraut) or a dessert (see #4 below). Or, they can bake soft pretzels. Here’s more about Oktoberfest food.

3. BUFFET OR SIT-DOWN? The choice is yours. Be sure to have soft drinks, a non-alcoholic cider or punch, or other alternative to keep blood alcohol levels down.

4. DECIDE ON DESSERT. Easy-to-make or -find desserts include the Berliner (a jelly donut sprinkled with powdered sugar), Black Forest cake, carrot cake, cheesecake here’s a no-bake pumpkin cheesecake), Gugelhupf (Bundt cake—here’s an apple streusel Bundt cake recipe), Lebkuchen (spice cookies—gingerbread is fine, along with a gingerbread dip), Linzer cookies or torte, pfeffernüsse (spice cookies with black pepper), strudel, stollen (fruitcake) and our favorite German treat, chocolate-covered marzipan.

5. PLAY GERMAN MUSIC. See if anyone already has Oktoberfest music (there’s plenty of it on Amazon). Polka music, which originated in Bohemia (the modern Czech Republic), will also work. If you’d prefer German rock, here are the Top 10 German rock bands.

6. BONUS: Consider a small prize for the best German folk clothing: Lederhosen or a dirndl skirt and apron.

Some German mustard or Weisswurst†, perhaps?
 
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†Weisswurst is the famous Bavarian white sausage made from ground veal and pork.

[3] Freaktoberfest Pumpkin Ale adds a layer of flavor with espresso beans (photo courtesy Coney Island Brewing Company). [4] You can even find cranberry beer, like this lambic from Samuel Adams (photo courtesy Boston Brewing Company).

[1] Modernize Jewish cooking with The Gefilte Manifesto. Cover photo: parchment-wrapped trout roasted with sliced onions. [2] The new gefilte fish: a two-fish terrine (photos courtesy Flatiron Books).

Those who don’t celebrate Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, can still participate in one of the sweetest treats: sliced apples with honey for dipping. It symbolizes a sweet start to the new wear.

This year, Rosh Hashanah spans Sunday, October 2 through Tuesday, October 4*.

If you’re guesting for Rosh Hashanah and need a host/hostess gift, we like the new cookbook from Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz, owners of The Gefilteria, a culinary venture that reimagines Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine.

THE GEFILTE MANIFESTO: ADAPTING CENTURIES-OLD RECIPES FOR THE PRESENT

THE GEFILTE MANIFESTO: New Recipes for Old World Jewish Foods, combines respect for culinary tradition with modern culinary preferences.

The authors—Brooklynites Liz Alpern and Jeffrey Yoskowitz—took more than 100 recipes “pulled deep from the kitchens of Eastern Europe and the diaspora of North America.”

They re-thought the recipes, taking into consideration modern palates, seasonality and consumers’ desire for easy-to-follow recipes.

The authors’ variations on time-honored favorites add modern spins to both everyday and holiday dishes. Consider:

 
You’ll see how easy it is to make home-cured corned beef and pastrami, farmer cheese and honey-sesame chews—just like Great-Great-Great Grandmother did, but with modern conveniences like electricity, food processors and refrigerators.

Plan B: Bring a really fine honey like Savannah Bee, and a bowl of apples.
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*In the U.S., Europe and elsewhere, the dates of Jewish holidays vary yearly. They are based on the Hebrew calendar, which is not in sync with the Gregorian-Wester-Christian calendar.
  

Thankfully, things have changed. Once called purple Peruvian potatoes, they are now grown worldwide in response to consumer demand, so are much more readily available.
 
THE HISTORY OF POTATOES

Millennia ago, many potato varieties grew wild in the foothills of the Andes Mountains, in what is now Peru.

Along with many other varieties of potatoes, they were cultivated around 3000 B.C.E. by the Incas.

Imagine European cuisine without potatoes! But they were unknown until the Spanish conquistadors reached the shores of Montezuma’s empire (modern-day Mexico) in 1519. Potatoes sailed back to Spain a few years later.

See the history of potatoes and the different types of potatoes.
 
MODERN PURPLE POTATOES

In addition to the vividly colored flesh—some purple, some blue—purple potatoes* have a creamy texture and are rich in flavor. Their starch level is medium, so purple potatoes are an all-purpose potato.

Creamy and earthy-tasting like russet potatoes, the color is very dramatic. Depending on their species, some varieties have a nutty flavor, some varieties become a lighter lavender shade after cooking.

There’s also a purple-fleshed “Okinawan” sweet potato, a staple in Hawaii. Look for it in Asian markets. decreasing the risk of stroke and macular degeneration. †Purple potatoes are now grown around the world.

Try them baked, broiled, fried or mashed to add color and style to your meals. Make purple potato chips as as a beguiling snack, side or garnish.

As with all potatoes, blue/purple potatoes originated in Peru, where the Incas cultivated many varieties of potato (see the history of potatoes). The color can become lavender when cooking. The starch level is medium, so purple Peruvians are an all-purpose potato. They are moist and earthy-tasting, sometimes with a nutty flavor; and the color is very dramatic. Purple potatoes are not only prettier, they have higher levels of polyphenol antioxidants to protect body cells against free radical damage (see this article from NBC News). They can help lower blood pressure, without causing weight gain: guilt-free potatoes!
 
OKINAWA or OKINAWAN SWEET POTATO, WITH PURPLE FLESH

A purple-fleshed sweet potato used extensively in Hawaiian cuisine, your best bet to find these are in Asian markets or online.

The skin is tan, similar to the familiar russet potatoes; but the flesh is a bright magenta color. The Okinawa purple sweet potato has a delicate, slightly sweet taste and a creamy texture.

The Okinawa is a member of the sweet potato family: order Solanales, family Convolvulaceae, genus Ipomoea, species, I. batatas. Its subspecies is Ipomoea batatas cv. Ayamurasaki.

The white potato is of the same botanical order, Solanales, but diverges from the sweet potato at that level. The taxonomy of the white potato is: order Solanales, family Solanaceae, genus Solanum, species: S. tuberosum.

Okinawa potatoes can be cooked like any sweet potato: baked, boiled, candied, mashed, roasted, scalloped or steamed.

The Okinawa sweet potato is not related to the purple yam, ube, which is popular in Filipino cuisine and creates dishes of intense purple color.

The term “yam” is often used incorrectly in the U.S. Yams are not members of the potato order, family, etc., but are from a totally different order. Be is from the order Dioscoreales, family Dioscoreaceae, genus Dioscorea, species D. alata.

[1] Purple potatoes—in fact, all potatoes—originated in what is now Peru (photo Mona Makela | IST). [2] Some varieties have blue flesh, a result of the soil pH and other factors (photo courtesy Burpee). [3] Okinawa sweet potatoes (photo courtesy Melissa’s). [4] Ube are not potatoes (photo courtesy SulcataGrove.Blogspot.com.

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*The blue or purple color comes from anthocyanins, powerful antioxidants that create red, blue and purple colors, depending on the pH of the soil and other growing factors. These antioxidants may help with everything from fighting heart disease and prostate cancer to lowering blood pressure.

[5] Purple potato croquettes (photo courtesy Idaho Potato Commission). [6] A fancy hors d’oeuvre, purple potato chips with caviar (photo Bethany Holdhaus | Wedding Edibles). [7] Purple potato soup (photo © Family Spice).

RECIPE: PURPLE POTATO CROQUETTES

Try this recipe from IdahoPotatoes.com, made with Idaho Purple Potatoes.

A croquette is a small portion of fried food coated with bread crumbs. It can be made from cheese, fish and shellfish, ground meat, mashed potatoes or vegetables, variously seasoned.

Filling Ingredients

 
For The Breading

 
Preparation

1. BOIL the potatoes until fork tender. Carefully peel the potatoes while warm, discarding the skins and placing the meat of the potato in a food mill or a food processor with the paddle attachment.

2. WARM the cream and butter and add to the potatoes and add all filling ingredients except the eggs. Completely blend until the potatoes are smooth and then add the egg yolks, one at a time, until incorporated.

3. SPREAD the potatoes out on a cookie sheet or a one-inch sheet pan and smooth the top. Cover with plastic wrap and cool overnight in the fridge.

4. CUT out the desired size of the croquettes with a cookie cutter or ring. Set up a breading station of flour, the whisked eggs and the bread crumbs. To bread: Coat the croquette in the flour, brushing off the excess. Completely coat with egg and transfer to the bread crumbs. Repeat this process for a double breading.

5. FRY the croquettes in oil until golden brown, finishing in the oven until hot and ready to serve.
 
MORE PURPLE POTATO RECIPES FROM THE NIBBLE

September 20th is National Rum Punch Day. While the word “punch” conjures up a large bowl of drink, the word actually derives from the number five in Sanskrit and Hindi.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF PUNCH

Punch is a general term for a broad assortment of mixed drinks, made with or without alcohol. The word “punch” derives from the Hindi word, panch, from the Sanskrit is panchan, five.

In India, panch was made from five different ingredients: sugar, lemon, water, tea or spices and an alcoholic spirit; hence the name.

The drink was served hot. (Although India is a very warm country, hot drinks are common, exemplified by the popular spiced tea, chai.)

Punch was “discovered” in India by the British sailors of the East India Company. The concept was brought to England in the early 17th century. Records from 1690 show hot punch being served in London’s punch houses*.

From there it spread to other countries. In northern Europe, hot spiced alcoholic drinks were popular in cold months.

It should be noted that the British sailors who brought punch home drank it at whatever temperature was available aboard ship.

Until the 17th century, ice was a luxury enjoyed by those who could afford to have ice cut in the winter and stored in ice houses.

By the 1720s, the record shows that cold punch bowls were a popular refreshment at the summer parties of the affluent [source: Claude.ai 2024-12-02].

By the late 1700s and early 1800s, both hot and cold punches were served, depending on the occasion. Check out the history of ice for iced drinks.

While Western punch recipes generally contain fruit or fruit juice, fruit isn’t essential. Nor is an elegant punch bowl required: a pitcher is fine, and in many cases, it’s more practical.

You can also make just one punch drink at a time. Here are two recipes for individual punch drinks—rum punch, of course, to celebrate National Rum Punch Day.

For serving in tall glasses, get some fun straws.

It’s hard to resist 144 cocktail umbrellas for $4.79, but we resisted.

The History Of Rum 
 
 
RECIPE #1: BACARDI RUM PUNCH

This classic rum punch uses two different types of rum: white and dark. If you don’t have both, use what you have.

Because this recipe is in “parts,” you can make anything from a single glass to a party portion, without any calculations.

Ingredients Per Drink

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE all liquid ingredients iIn a large container. Refrigerate until chilled and enjoy. If making a large batch, just before serving…

2. POUR into a large punch bowl, stirring in ice. Garnish the bowl with floating lemon slices. Serve each glass with a lemon wheel.

 
RECIPE #2: COCONUT RUM PUNCH

This recipe, from Inspired By Charm, uses coconut rum and dark rum. No dark rum? Try it with all coconut rum.

[2] Get out your Mason jars (photo © The Blond Cook).

[3] Tall drinks deserve a fun straw (photo courtesy © Balloon Red Toy Store).

 
Preparation

1. POUR into a glass the pineapple juice, orange juice, 1 ounce dark rum and 1 ounce coconut rum. Gently stir.

2. SLOWLY POUR in a splash of grenadine. The grenadine will sink to the bottom to create the “sunset” coloration.

3. ADD 1/2 ounce of dark rum to the top. Garnish with a slice of lime and serve.
 
 
10 PUNCH MAKING TIPS
 
 
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*Punch houses were 17th- and 18th-century drinking establishments that specialized in serving punch made from a mix of spirits (often rum or brandy), citrus juice, sugar, water, and spices. Like ale houses and coffee houses, they were social hubs where people from various classes gathered to drink, converse, and conduct business. Punch houses were lively, informal, and sometimes rowdy, catering to sailors, merchants, and middle-class Londoners. The punch was served from large communal bowls. By the 19th century, gin and beer had become more popular. Punch drinking declined, leading to the disappearance of dedicated punch houses.
 
 

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

[1] Make these tortillas in 10 minutes or less. [2] Artisan white corn tortillas from Tortillas de la Tierra (both photos courtesy Good Eggs).

Guests drop by for a beer or glass of wine?

Finicky kids?

[Fill in] your own challenge?

There’s a quick, crowd-pleasing solution: chorizo tacos.

The folks at Good Eggs, who sent us this recipe, rejoice that “the ease and flavor of these simple chorizo numbers knocked our socks off.

“Give it a try and you’ll be wondering if it can be Taco Tuesday every day.”

It can be used at lunch and brunch, too.

RECIPE: QUICK CHORIZO TORTILLAS

Ingredients For 4 Tacos

 
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*Avocado/guacamole, beans, crumbled/shredded cheese, plain or pickled jalapeños, radish, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes (chopped), etc.
________________
 
For A Side Of Salad

1. REMOVE the casing from the sausages. Place the chorizo in a cast-iron pan and sauté over medium-high heat until fully cooked, 7-10 minutes.

2. WARM the tortillas on both sides, directly over the flame on your stove. Keep the tortillas warm in a dish towel as you continue to heat the stack. Alternatively, wrap the stack in a slightly damp dish towel and microwave until warm.

3. PLACE a scoop of chorizo on each tortilla, along with some cilantro and green onions. If serving any optional ingredients, place them on the table and let people dress their own.

4. DRESS the salad: Toss the greens with olive oil, the juice of half a lemon, season to taste with salt and pepper.

Some brands of tortillas with preservatives have a long shelf life in the fridge. Others don’t.

To freeze tortillas, stack them with parchment or wax paper separating each tortilla, and place in a freezer bag with the air squeezed out. Then you can remove them one by one, as you need them, without tearing.

If you typically use two or four tortillas at a time, place the parchment at that interval.

The tortillas will keep for six to eight months beyond their “best by” date.

Parchment separation is also advisable to hedge against tearing if you’re keeping tortillas in the fridge.
 
HOW TO THAW & WARM FROZEN TORTILLAS

Quick Thawing Techniques

 
Slow Thawing

 
NOTE: The towel or foil you wrap the tortillas in continues to keep them warm after they leave the heat source. Bring the tortillas to the table in the wrap.
 
WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE QUICK HOT MEALS?

Let us know!

[3] To freeze, stack the tortillas in a freezer bag with parchment paper (photo courtesy Americas Test Kitchen Feed). [4] Heat frozen or fresh tortillas over the burner (photo courtesy Wonder How To). [5] Look for artisan tortillas: so delicious, they’re worth the higher price (photo courtesy Hot Bread Kitchen).