[1] Chocolae and orange mezcal milkshake. Check out the recipe below (photo © Brian West | Alcoholmanac).

[2] We like to sip mezcal from a glass with a narrow lip, which focuses the flavors and aromas (photo © Dos Caminos | NYC).

[3] In Mexico, mezcal is often enjoyed with fruit sprinkled with sal de gusano (photo © Gran Mitla Sal de Gusano).

[4] Sal de gusano (photo © Rancho Gordo).

How are you celebrating National Mezcal Day on October 21st? It’s the perfect day to enjoy the chocolate-orange mezcal milkshake recipe below.

Or you can just sip a glass of mezcal, tequila’s smoky cousin, neat, accompanied by some swallows of water to cleanse the palate as we sip mezcal. This technique enables us to better focus on the flavors and aromas of mezcal.

In Mexico, people often drink mezcal with a side fruit: slices of guava, blood or another orange, grapefruit, or lime, a refreshing snack, accompanied by sal de gusano—salt mixed with ground chiles and dried, ground larvae of worms (gusano) that live in the agave plants (photos #3 and #4).

The combination of mezcal, fruit, and salt is an outstanding pairing.

And then, there’s dinner. Instead of a glass of wine, a glass of mezcal works wonderfully with meats, especially stewed or barbecued meat, and meats served with rich, heavy sauces like mole.

Mezcal is best sipped at room temperature. Don’t serve it on the rocks—although you can drink it from a rocks glass.

We prefer to drink it from a liqueur glass or a narrow-lipped glass that helps to focus the aromas and flavors (photo #2).
 
 
MEZCAL IN COCKTAILS

Of course, you can use mezcal as a substitute for tequila in cocktails. It adds a smoky twist to a Margarita or a Paloma.

But it also works equally well as a substitute for both gin and Scotch. Try it in a Negroni instead of gin; make a mezcal Martini.

And then, there’s the Chocolate-Orange Mezcal Milkshake recipe below, along with a holiday mezcal punch.

> The differences between mezcal and tequila.

> The history of mezcal.
 
 
RECIPE #1: CHOCOLATE-ORANGE MEZCAL MILKSHAKE

For some food fun, try this shake. The recipe was developed by Kurt Fogle, and first published by Brian West in Alcoholmanac in 2013.

Food trivia: The original milkshakes contained alcohol. Here’s the history of the milkshake.
 
Ingredients Per Shake

 
Preparation

1. MAKE orange-cinnamon milk by putting the orange zest and 1 cinnamon stick in the milk. Leave in the fridge for at least an hour, then taste or just smell it. If it smells orangey and cinnamony, then it’s ready to use. Strain out the stick and zest.

2. PLACE 3½ ounces of the orange-cinnamon milk and all other ingredients into a blender; blend until smooth.

3. GARNISH with chocolate shavings, an orange peel, and a toasted cinnamon stick (not the same one you used in the milk!).
 
 
RECIPE #2: TOASTED CINNAMON STICKS

Can you use the cinnamon stick for garnish without toasting? Certainly, but toasting will deliver an even lovelier aroma.

1. PLACE the cinnamon stick in a cold, dry frying pan—the heavier the pan, the better (because the heat spreads more evenly and there won’t be hot and cold spots that can result in burning).

2. HEAT the pan over medium. As the pan heats up and the spice becomes fragrant, shake the pan often. Once it just starts to brown…

3. IMMEDIATELY REMOVE it from the pan to a plate. Overheating the spice will cause it to become bitter. The residual heat will keep the cooking process going a bit longer on the plate.
 
 
MORE MEZCAL RECIPES

We used to buy pumpkin caramels online from a caramel specialist. Then, we came across this recipe from Go Bold With Butter, the recipe website of the American Butter Institute.

Now we make several batches each fall for Halloween and Thanksgiving.

They’re delicious with a cup of coffee for a snack or a mini-dessert.

National Caramel Day is April 5th. National Chocolate Caramel Day is March 19th.

> The history of caramels.

> The difference between caramel, butterscotch, toffee, and buttercrunch.
 
 
RECIPE #1: PUMPKIN SPICE CARAMELS

If you want to get fancy, sprinkle the caramels with edible gold glitter.

Prep time is 30 minutes, and cook time is 30 minutes.
 
Ingredients For About 60 Caramels

 
Preparation

1. BUTTER a 13 x 9-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper so that the paper overhangs the two long sides of the pan.

2. COMBINE the heavy cream and pumpkin purée in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat at 100% power for 45 seconds and stir well.

3. PLACE the sugar, brown sugar, butter, and corn syrup in a heavy 5-quart pot. Pour in the pumpkin and cream mixture and stir together.

4. COOK over medium heat, stirring occasionally. The butter will melt and the mixture will begin to boil. Continue to cook until a candy thermometer reaches 244°F, about 30 minutes. Then…

5. REMOVE the pot from the heat. Stir in 1 tablespoon of pumpkin pie spice, the salt, and the vanilla. Pour the caramel into the prepared pan. Let it cool for several hours or refrigerate until firm.

6. REMOVE the caramel block from the pan by lifting it with the overhanging paper. Place the caramel block on a cutting board and slice it into pieces. Sprinkle with additional pumpkin spice, if desired (or edible glitter).

7. WRAP the caramels in waxed paper squares and twist the ends of the paper to enclose the candy. (The caramels must be wrapped or they will lose their shape over time at room temperature.)
 
 
RECIPE #2: PUMPKIN PIE SPICE BLEND

If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can make your own pumpkin pie spice blend and store it in a sealed jar for up to 6 months.

It can be used in recipes both savory and sweet. Savory uses include cooked winter squash, salad dressing, and hummus.

There is no one recipe for any blended spice. You can tweak the recipe as you like to bring out different flavors.

Here’s a recipe for pumpkin pie spice.

Ingredients For 1/4 Cup

 
Blend thoroughly and store in an airtight container.
 
 
MORE PUMPKIN SPICE RECIPES

[1] Pumpkin spice caramels. The recipe makes 60 pieces (photo © Go Bold With Butter).

[2] Pumpkin pie spice was first introduced in 1934 (by McCormick), to save housewives the need to measure (photo © The Spice House).

[3] You can blend your own pumpkin pie spice. See recipe #2 (photo © Silk Road Spices).

[4] Pumpkin spice fudge. Here’s the recipe (photo © Nestlé).

[5] Pumpkin spice pound cake bundt. Here’s the recipe (photo © Baked NYC).

[6] Pumpkin spiced nuts. Here’s the recipe (photo © Hannah Kaminsky | Bittersweet Blog).

[1] Instead of a whole caramel or chocolate apple, have a slice (photo © Colavita).

[2] Fuji apples (photo © Good Eggs).

[3] Dip the apple slices in melted chocolate (photo © Bella Baker).

[4] Melted caramels provide the “garnish,” along with pecans (photo © Candy Warehouse).

These Chocolate Caramel Apple Pops are a great alternative to chocolate or caramel apples. They give you all the flavor with just a slice of the calories.

This recipe, from Colavita, uses extra virgin olive oil instead of corn syrup.

> The history of caramel apples.

> The history of caramel.

> The history of apples.

> The history of chocolate.

> There are more caramel apple and candy apple recipes below.

September 25th is National Apple Day. October is National Apple Month.
 
 
RECIPE: CHOCOLATE CARAMEL APPLE POPS

The apples are best on the first day, but you can store them in the fridge overnight.
 
Ingredients For 8 Apple Pops

 
Preparation

1. SLICE the apples into 1/2″ slices. You’ll be able to get about two slices per apple. With a knife make a little slit in the bottom of each apple slice and insert the ice pop stick into the slit.

2. MELT the chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler. Keep it warm, and set it aside.

3. MELT the caramels. Add the caramels and 3 tablespoons of water to a heat-proof bowl and melt them either in the microwave or over a double boiler. Set aside.

4. STIR the olive oil into the melted chocolate and mix well. Dip the apple slices in chocolate, coating them on all sides. Place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

5. DRIZZLE the melted caramel over the chocolate and sprinkle with the nuts. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. Serve and enjoy.
 
 
MORE CARAMEL APPLE & CANDY APPLE RECIPES

Spud lovers: October 18th is National Mashed Potato Day. We’ve assembled our collection of mashed potato recipes for this tater-licious occasion.

In fact, it’s tough to decide which recipe to make first.

Whether you’re looking for comfort food (a burger stuffed with mashed potatoes, photo #3), something fancy (causa morada purple mashed potato stacks), elegant (lobster mashed potatoes), or simply fabulous (rainbow mashed potatoes—photo #1), we’ve got these recipes and so much more.

More potato celebrations: August 19th is National Potato Day, September is National Potato Month, and in 2019, the Idaho Potato Commission has declared that every fourth Thursday in November is National Mashed Idaho® Potato Day.

> The history of potatoes.

> The different types of potatoes.
 
 
MORE MASHED POTATOES: 40+ MASHED POTATO RECIPES

 
 
Plus Some Variations:

[1] Rainbow mashed potatoes. Here’s the recipe (photos #1 and #2 © Potato Goodness | Potatoes USA).

[2] Mashed potato party bar. Here’s the recipe.

[3] A burger stuffed with mashed potatoes. Here’s the recipe (photo © Idaho Potato Commisson).

[4] Spinach mashed potatoes. Here’s the recipe (photo © Idaho Potato Commission).

[5] Pumpkin cheddar mashed potatoes. Here’s the recipe (photo © Idaho Potato Commission).

[1] Make pumpkin cannoli for harvest season (photo © Piccione Pastry).

[2] Fresh ricotta draining in a strainer (photo © Jsix | SD).

[3] Buy pumpkin purée, not pumpkin pie filling (photo © Libby’s).

Cannoli are one of our favorite desserts. The marriage of the crunchy shell and the sweetened ricotta is all that we could ask for in a dessert or a snack. So how about a pumpkin cannoli recipe for seasonal sweet satisfaction?

Food 101: In Italian, the singular form of the pastry is cannolo, and the plural is cannoli. In the U.S., some people use cannoli as the singular and cannolis as the plural. Both of these latter uses are Americanized.

If you can’t find unfilled cannoli shells (we buy ours at a local Italian pastry shop), you can serve the cannoli cream with cookie thins, gingersnaps, Moravian cookies, rolled wafer cookies, waffle cookies, or these great cannoli chips. Check out our deconstructed cannoli.

We also make “diet” cannoli cream, sweetening the ricotta with Splenda and skipping the cookies (you can, however, throw in a few chocolate chips).

> The history of cannoli.
 
 
RECIPE: PUMPKIN CANNOLI

For a more intense pumpkin flavor, use more pumpkin purée. You can use as much to achieve the same color as in photo #1.

Consider serving the cannoli with pumpkin spice coffee.
 
Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WRAP the ricotta in cheesecloth and place it in a sieve over a bowl. Let it drain for 24 hours in the fridge.

2. PLACE the drained ricotta, pumpkin purée, sugar, and pumpkin pie spice in a bowl. Stir with a whisk or a spatula to combine.

3. PLACE the pumpkin mixture into a piping bag and fill the cannoli shells. Since the shells will begin to soften after they are filled, aim to fill them as close to serving time as possible, no more than 2-4 hours before serving.
 
 
MORE CANNOLI RECIPES

*Pumpkin Pie Spice Recipe: If you don’t have pumpkin pie spice, you can make it from individual ground spices. Combine 3 tablespoons cinnamon, 2 teaspoons ginger, 2 teaspoons nutmeg, 1-1/2 teaspoons allspice, and 1-1/2 teaspoons cloves. Then measure out the 1 teaspoon you need for this recipe, and put the remainder in a tightly-capped container.