[2] The current and original Mallomars packages (photo courtesy NPR.org).

[3] Bake your own Mallomars with this recipe from Saveur.

Treat yourself to milk and cookies, Princess Leia-style.

You’ll need soft cookies to adhere to the rim of the glass. We used Mallomars (photo #2). They’re probably sold out by now (the season ends in April), but like all Mallomars fans, we keep extra boxes on hand until they reappear in stores in the fall.

Or, bake your own with the recipe below.

Or, bake any chocolate cookie (to evoke Princess Leia’s brunette hair buns) and notch them while they’re still warm.
 
 
MALLOMARS HISTORY

Nabisco’s Mallomars are a very popular cookie in Metropolitan New York City, the original home of Nabisco.

A graham cracker circle is topped with marshmallow, then coated with a dark chocolate. The result is a puffy, sink-your-teeth-in delight.

The cookies were introduced in 1913, the same year as the southern Moon Pie—a cookie which has similar ingredients, but a different flavor. According to Wikipedia, the first box of Mallomars was sold in West Hoboken, New Jersey (now Union City).

They are sold only from October through through April, following a tradition that began of necessity, before refrigerated trucks.

 
The concept spread. In the U.K., chef Boyd Tunnock created Tunnock’s Teacakes in 1956, using Italian meringue on a biscuit (cookie) base, covered with milk chocolate.
They look like Mallomars’ fraternal twin.

See the chocolate-marshmallow cookie variations in different countries.
 
 
HOMEMADE MALLOMARS RECIPE

Want to make your own? Here’s a recipe from Saveur (photo #3).

Looking for Mother’s Day gifts? Want to get the jump on Father’s Day? Want to treat yourself?

Here are two kitchen items that got our attention—and given how many products we see each year, that’s hard to do!
 
 
ASOBU COLDBREW INSULATED PORTABLE BREWER

For lovers of cold brew coffee, this beauty from Asobu very efficient.

It brews your coffee into an insulated thermos, so you can keep cold brewed coffee with you all day, anywhere. Or, you can pour a cup and give it a quick zap in the microwave.

Just add coarse coffee grounds and cold water to the mesh cone and let it slowly drip. The resulting coffee is what you’ve come to expect from cold brew. Remove the top portion, add the leak-proof lid, and you’re ready to go—or stay.

The brewing carafe top is clear Tritan, an extremely durable BPA-free plastic that is used in the finest water bottles and food containers.

There are four color choices:

 
The brewer is $50.00. You can buy it online at AsobuBottle.com.
 
 
DRINKMATE SPRITZER

What will you sparkle next? asks the box of the Drinkmate Spritzer.

Unlike devices that carbonate water only, Drinkmate lets you carbonate anything, anywhere.

It’s a fun device for lovers of sparkling beverages.

The easily-portable system consists of a DrinkMate Spritzer gun, a BPA-free half-liter reusable carbonating bottle and two CO2 carbonator cylinders (for a total of 32 bottles of sparkling beverages).

Easy to operate, easy to clean, no electricity or batteries are used.

What can you carbonate? Any liquid. Water, of course, but also unleash your creative mixologist with:

 
You can also re-carbonate sparkling wine or beer that has gone flat.

The kit is $90 at Home Depot and other e-tailers/retailers, in black, red or silver.

[2] Drinkmate Spritzer turns almost any liquid into a carbonated beverage (photos #2 and #3 courtesy Drinkmate).

[3] The Drinkmate kit.

[2] Zucchini bread (photo #1 courtesy Tio Gazpacho, photo #2 courtesy Betty Crocker).

[3] The Edible Series books have deep histories of foods and beverages.

[4] A historical novel for lovers of great food and intrigue. Get your copy on Amazon.

We’ve just added our 400th food history to our History Of Foods & Beverages directory.

We first began to write food histories some 14 years ago, and one day had enough to create The History Of 100 Favorite Foods & Beverages. Little did we think that we’d get to 400.

These histories are embedded in our articles. A gazpacho recipe, for example, includes The History Of Gazpacho.

If we write an article on a particular food, we’ll either link to an existing history or create a new one. Food history #401 will debut in two days.

Sometimes the history is at the top of an article, but often it is at the end. So if you don’t see “The History Of [The Food]” immediately, scroll down.

WHY ALL THE FOOD HISTORY?

It enriches our appreciation of different foods, and the people who bred them into their modern form. For example:

 
Dedicated farmers cross-bred and nurtured plants and animals over millennia, until they became the foods we enjoy today. We thank them with every history we write.
 
 
THE EDIBLE SERIES OF BOOKS

Some of our histories are just a paragraph or two; some are quite detailed, based on the amount of verifiable information available.

If you want to dive deep into the histories, take a look at Reaktion Press’ excellent The Edible Series, distributed by the University Of Chicago Press.

There are currently 77 titles for sale on the websites.

Written by culinary historians in their areas of expertise, the books are some 130 pages long, and often add historical recipes.

For Mother’s Day, give Mom the history of her favorite food. Peruse the list.
 
 
A HISTORICAL FICTION: FEAST OF SORROW

We greatly enjoyed Feast Of Sorrow: A Novel of Ancient Rome (photo #3), which explores the Roman gourmand
Marcus Gavius Apicius, and the wealthy epicure’s remarkable rise and fall in the first century C.E.

Set among the upstairs-downstairs politics of a prominent Roman family, the novel by Crystal King focuses on the man who inspired the world’s oldest cookbook.

His singular ambition to serve as culinary advisor to Caesar—an honor that would cement his legacy as Rome’s leading epicure—led to his destruction.

But more than a fictional bio, the book describes in historic detail how food was prepared in ancient times.

 
You’ll be enthralled.