[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.

Rum can be a confusing spirit for the everyday consumer. What’s silver versus white rum? What’s silver versus gold rum? Which one should you use for a rum cocktail?

The different types of rum follow below. But first:
 
 
THE YEAR’S 15 RUM HOLIDAYS

 
> The difference between rum and cachaca is below.
 
 
A BRIEF HISTORY OF RUM

Sugar cane grew wild in parts of Southeast Asia. It was first domesticated sometime around 8,000 B.C.E., probably in New Guinea. It arrived in India, where better extraction and purifying techniques were developed to refine the cane juice into granulated crystals.

Sugar then spread quickly. By the sixth century C.E., sugar cultivation had reached Persia; and, from there to elsewhere in the Mediterranean, brought by Arab expansion and travel.

In 1425, sugar arrived in Madiera and the Canary Islands. In 1493, his second voyage to the New World, Christopher Columbus brought sugar cane seedlings. They were grown, first in Hispaniola and then on other islands. The main sugar-exporting countries in the Caribbean today are Barbados, Belize, Cuba, Guyana and Jamaica.

In the 17th century, Caribbean sugar cane planters produced sugar by crushing sugar cane, extracting and boiling the cane juice, then leaving the boiled syrup to cure in clay pots. A viscous liquid would seep out of the pots, leaving the sugar in the pot.

The seepage was molasses—and no one wanted the thick, cloying by-product. It was fed to slaves and livestock, but a monumental amount of molasses was still left over. Sugar was a great cash crop for European planters, but two pounds of sugar yielded a pound of molasses!

There were no customers or known uses for molasses, so the planters dumped it into the ocean: very sweet industrial waste.

Finally, slaves figured out a use, and a great one at that. They fermented the molasses and distilled it into alcohol, to yield what became known as rum (source).

Then, playing around with the now-valued molasses, it was discovered to be as good as sugar in baked goods, and more flavorful.
 
 
HOW RUM GOT ITS NAME

No one knows. The origin of the name rum (ron in Spanish, rhum in French) is unclear. Historians have offered these possibilities:

 
Our vote is for saccharum, sugar, since rum is made from sugar cane.
 
 
THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF RUM

There are several types of rum, known as grades of rum, in the industry.

[2] Add the basic grade, known a light, silver, white and other names, to an iced coffee for Jamaican Iced Coffee.

[3] A Cuba Libre, known by many Americans as a Rum & Coke (photo © Bacardi).

[4] For the rum connoisseur, nothing beats aged rum, Añejo or Extra Añejo. Most premium producers offer a variety of ages. Appleton’s expressions include 12, 17, 18, 21, 25, 50 and 51 years.

With rum, it’s important to note that unlike Cognac or whisky, rum doesn’t have universally enforced aging regulations across all producing countries. Some Caribbean nations have their own standards.

Spanish for “old,” theThe category sits between añejo (1-3 years) and extra añejo (longer aging) in many classification systems. See Añejo and Extra Añejo, above.

[6] The classic rum drink: the Daiquiri (photo © Tempered Spirits).

For mixed drinks, use the basic light/silver/white rum. Here are the top rum cocktails.

For sipping, look to aged rums. Compared to aged Scotch, they’re relatively inexpensive.

Here are some tasting notes from Ethan Trex at Mental Floss, with some recommended brands. Unlike pricey aged whiskey, you can pick up some for $25 and $40.

 
 
WHAT ABOUT CACHAÇA?

Cachaça (ka-SHA-suh) is a sugar cane distillate made in Brazil, in the style of gold or dark rum. It is the ingredient used in the popular Caipirinha (kai-puh-REEN-ya), Brazil’s national cocktail.

Cachaça is often called “Brazilian rum,” but the Brazilians take exception to that. They consider their national drink to stand in a category of its own.

The actual difference between rum and cachaça, which taste very similar, is that rum is typically made from molasses, a by-product after the cane juice has been boiled to extract as much sugar crystal as possible.

Cachaça is made from the fresh sugar cane juice (but so are some Caribbean rums, particularly from the French islands). Both are then fermented and distilled. The style is usually like that of light rum, but some cachaça brands are in a style similar to gold rums.
 
Cachaça has its own holiday: International Cachaça Day is June 12th.

> Here’s more about cachaça.

*The chemicals, which are used to extract sugar crystals from the sugar cane, can interfere with the actions of the yeast that fermentat the molasses into rum.

†Black rum is so-named for its color; brown rum and red rum are dark rums described by their colors.

‡Cachaça and rum are both spirits distilled from sugarcane, but they differ in their raw material and production methods, leading to distinct flavor profiles. We include Cachaça as a “cousin” of rum—it’s been called Brazilian white rum. It’s the national spirit of Brazil, made there exclusively from fresh sugarcane juice, giving it a bright, vegetal, and grassy flavor. Rum, on the other hand, is typically made from molasses, a byproduct of sugar production, resulting in a sweeter, sometimes caramel-like or spicy flavor. The Caipirinha (kai-pee-REEN-yah) is Brazil’s national cocktail, made with lime juice and sugar like a Daiquirí but with cachaça instead of rum. Here’s more about it.

‡‡The solera method of aging developed in Jerez, Spain for aging sherry wine is used by some producers of aged rum blends. In this system, rums of different ages are blended, and the age statement on the bottle typically reflects the oldest rum in the blend.
 
 

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[1] Champagne with gummy bears. [2] Mojito with a gummy worm garnish—although a Mezcal drink might make more sense with the worms (photos 1 and 2 courtesy Monarch Rooftop). [3] Gummies slithering in a Tequila Sunrise (photo courtesy Drinking In America).

They’re not just multivitamins but biotin, fiber, fish oil, melatonin, vitamin C and more. (Caveat: Before you get too excited, check the grams of sugar on the bottle.)

Let us introduce you instead to our kind of adult gummies: soaked in wine or spirits.

Some background: A few months ago, a candy boutique in Los Angeles, Sugarfina, introduced rosé-infused gummy bears. Thanks to social media, they were sold out by pre-order before they even arrived from Germany; there’s a long waiting list (Monarch Rooftop says the number now exceeds 14,000).

We had tried the Champagne Gummies, which are still available. There also are Cuba Libre Gummies, infused with rum and Coca-Cola.

We wouldn’t have known the Sugarfina gummies were infused with Champagne, much less with Dom Perignon. (We deduced that the amount of champagne used was “just a splash.”)
 
REAL ADULT GUMMIES

Monarch Rooftop, a lounge with a view of the Empire State Building (71 West 35th Street, Manhattan), infuses its own gummies for a selection of creative cocktails. The current menu offers:

 
They inspired us to infuse our own gummies by soaking them in alcohol. We first tried spirits, then wine. We briefly considered a Boilermaker: beer with whiskey-infused gummies instead of the shot. Maybe for the Super Bowl?

Whatever you want to infuse, the recipe is below.
 
National Gummy Worms Day is July 15th, giving you plenty of time to test your own cocktail menu.

MAKE YOUR OWN ALCOHOL-INFUSED GUMMY CANDY

The hardest part of this is deciding which spirit and which fruit juice to use. You can halve the spirits and juice and make a split batch to see which you like better. Flavored vodka is even better.

Beyond Gummy Bears & Worms

So many decisions! There are gummy butterflies, Easter bunnies, fish, flower blossoms, frogs, fruits, gummy rings, lobsters, peaches, penguins, pigs, rattlesnakes, sharks, Smurfs, soda bottles and turtles.

You can make your own adult gummy recipe book, with different shapes and flavors for different occasions. Tequila-infused gummies for your Margarita? Certainly: And get the Mexican Hat gummies.

Check out the novelty gummies on Nuts.com.

 
RECIPE: ALCOHOL-INFUSED GUMMY CANDIES

Plan ahead: The gummies need to infuse in alcohol for five days.

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PACK the gummies into a lidded container and cover with the spirit. The alcohol should barely cover the top of the gummies.

2. STIR, cover with the lid and place the container in the refrigerator.

3. STIR twice a day for five days. If you use a large enough container, you can simply shake it. When ready, drain and serve.

That’s it!
 
What If They’re Too Alcoholic?

First, taste them on the third day. If they’re what you expect, drain them and enjoy. If they’re still too boozy, try them with a cocktail. The combination may provide the right counterpoint. If not…

You can fix the batch by draining the alcohol and covering the alcohol in apple juice. Shake and taste in a few hours. They may need to juice-infuse overnight.
 
THE HISTORY OF GUMMY CANDY

Gummi candy was first produced by Haribo, a Bonn, Germany, confectioner. Haribo is a contraction of Hans Riegel Bonn.

Founder Hans Riegel invented the Dancing Bear, a fruit gum made in the shape of a bear, in 1922. It was succeeded in 1967 by what would become known worldwide as Gummi Bears, which would spawn an entire zoo of gummi animals.

Gummi worms, however, were introduced by another gummi candy manufacturer, Trolli (named for forest trolls), in 1981.

Many Americans use the English spelling, gummy, instead of the German gummi.
 

[1] Wine-infused dummies with sangria. Given all the fruit, we’d serve them on the side. Here’s the recipe from TrendHunter.com. [3] A root beer float with soda bottle gummies. Add vanilla vodka along with the root beer and ice cream. Check out these alcoholic root beer float recipes on Yummly.com. [4] What to drink while watching “Shark Tank.” At the Sugar Factory in New York City, it’s called The Ocean Blue (photos 2 and 3 courtesy Sugar Factory).

Beyond filling candy bowls, you can:

[2] The Atlantic Beach Pie variation substitutes a crunchy saltine crust, and whipped cream for the meringue. The original recipe from Bill Smith of Crook’s Corner is below (photo © Crook’s Corner | Our State magazine).

[3] Subsequent cooks have toyed with the recipe, adding different garnishes like lemon and/or lime zest and wheels of lemon and lime. We aren’t keen on garnishes that can’t be eaten by most people [why waste food?], so we prefer candied lemon or lime peel. It’s very easy to make, and one of our favorite candies. Here’s the recipe. Also see photos #6 and #7.

[4] Some bakers vary the crust, using Ritz crackers for less saltiness. In the version above, Michelle Lopez of Hummingbird High uses lemon biscotti and crumbles extra biscotti on top. Here’s the recipe (photo © Hummingbird High).

[5] If you’re a lemon pie fan, don’t stop trying new recipes. Chess pie is a lemon custard pie baked in an all-butter pie crust. Here’s a recipe (photo © Saving Room For Dessert).

[6] Use candied lemon peel to garnish many desserts. We also enjoy it with an espresso. You can dip the candied peel in chocolate, too. Here’s the recipe (photo © Ami Fruits | Paris Gourmet).

August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day, celebrating one of America’s favorite pies. We’re celebrating with an Atlantic Beach Pie, a variation that originated at the Atlantic shore of North Carolina.

> The recipe follows the history of Atlantic Beach pie.

> The history of pie.

> The different types of pie: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 31 pie holidays.

> The difference between pies and tarts.

> The history of lemons.

> The different types of lemons: a photo glossary.
 
 
THE HISTORY OF THE ATLANTIC BEACH PIE

Lemon-flavored custards, puddings and pies date to the Middle Ages, which concluded in the 15th century. Meringue was perfected in the 17th century.

The modern lemon meringue pie, which inspired the 21st-century Atlantic Beach pie, is a 19th-century recipe, attributed to Alexander Frehse, a baker in the Swiss canton of Romandie. By the late 19th century, the dish had reached the U.S. and achieved popularity.

It combines a lemon custard single crust pie with meringue, the fluffy topping made from egg whites and sugar, baked on top. Here’s the classic lemon meringue pie recipe.

Fast-forward a century to Atlantic Beach Lemon Pie, a Southern specialty from the beaches of North Carolina.

Like the lemon meringue pie, the Atlantic Beach pie has a lemon curd filling. But instead of the traditional pie crust (usually a flaky crust but some recipes use a shortbread or a graham cracker crust), the Atlantic Beach pie uses something evocative of the salty ocean: crushed saltine crackers (some recipes use Ritz Crackers).

Instead of the meringue top, Atlantic Beach pie has whipped cream sprinkled with coarse salt.

The recipe was developed by Bill Smith, then chef at Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

As a child in the 1950s and 1960s, Bill, who grew up near the North Carolina coast, had vacationed in Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, where local tradition was that only citrus-based desserts could be safely eaten after eating seafood.

In fact, some coastal seafood restaurants offered lemon meringue pie as their only dessert.

Bill became a chef, and was working at Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, North Carolina when asked to develop a dessert for a 2011 Southern Foodways Alliance.

He developed a pie inspired by the lemon meringue pies of North Carolina’s seafood restaurants, changing the crust and the topping.

Chef Bill added his own touch, substituting whipped cream for the meringue topping.

Chef Bill has been generous with his recipe. We encountered this recipe in OurState, magazine in Greensboro, North Carolina, whose editor asked him to write about it. Here’s the original article.

A bit of biography: Bill was recognized by the James Beard Awards as a finalist for Best Chef Southeast in 2009 and 2010. He retired from Crook’s Corner in 2019 after almost 30 years, to focus on writing and other food-related activities. Here’s more about him.

The restaurant closed in 2021, a victim of the Pandemic.
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It’s Not Like Key Lime Pie

Some recipe authors refer to Atlantic Beach pie as “like Key lime pie.” It isn’t.

While both pies have a citrus-based filling made with eggs, Key lime pie typically uses sweetened condensed milk. The latter creates a creamier filling.
 
 
RECIPE: ATLANTIC BEACH PIE

Ingredients For The Crust

 
Ingredients For The Filling

 
Ingredients For The Garnish

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 350°F. Place the crackers in a plastic bag, seal and crush crush with a rolling pin into tiny, flaky pieces. You will have about 2½ to 3 cups of cracker crumbs. Do not use a food processor or you will end up with cracker dust that doesn’t work.

2. ADD the sugar, then knead in the butter until the crumbs hold together like dough. Press into an 8-inch pie pan. Chill for 15 minutes, then bake for 18 minutes or until the crust colors a little. While the crust is cooling…

3. BEAT the egg yolks into the milk, then beat in the citrus juice. It is important to completely combine these ingredients.

5. POUR into the shell and bake for 16 minutes until the filling has set. The pie needs to be completely cold to be sliced. Serve with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkling of sea salt.
 

[7] Lemon peel makes an attractive and sweet-tart garnish. Make extra to serve with coffee (A.I.photo).

The ancient Egyptians, who were great bread bakers, worked out the details of early pastry. Theirs was a savory pastry: a dough of flour and water paste to wrap around meat and soak up the juices as it cooked.

Before the creation of baking pans in the 19th century, the coffin (from the French word for box), a very thick crust, was used to bake all food. It was inedible, not like the later “en croute” dishes. Its primary function was to protect and seal the food during cooking and storage†.

Pastry was further developed in the Middle East and brought to Mediterranean Europe by the Muslims in the 7th century. Another leap occurred in the 11th Century, when Crusaders brought phyllo dough back to Northern Europe (the First Crusade was 1096 to 1099).

Greek and Roman pastry did not progress as far as it could have because both cultures used oil, which can’t create a stiff pastry. In medieval Northern Europe, the traditional use of lard and butter instead of oil for cooking hastened the development of other pastry types.

Pies developed, and the stiff pie pastry was used to provide a casing for the various fillings. By the 17th century, flaky and puff pastries were in use, developed by French and Italian Renaissance chefs. These pastry chefs began to make highly decorated pastry, working intricate patterns on the crusts.
 
What’s Your Favorite Pie??

Check out the different types of pie in our yummy Pie Glossary.

Perhaps you find some additional soon-to-be favorites!
 
________________

*To get more juice from a lemon (or any citrus), microwave it for 10 seconds. Then roll it on the counter, exerting pressure with your palm. You’re now ready to halve and juice it.

†Coffins were typically made with inedible dough that would bake into a rigid mold—stiff, dry, and rock-hard to hold the contents while baking and transport the cooked food. The used coffin could be given to the poor who would soak it. Dogs, pigs, or poultry could also consume the softened pastry. Or it could be used to thicken soups and stews.
 
 

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