[2] Canned pineapple is easier, but fresh pineapple gives a much, much better flavor (photo © Produce Marketing Guide).

It’s not from the cookbook. Rather, it’s the winner of the “No Bake Recipe Contest” sponsored by Safest Choice Eggs, pasteurized eggs that eliminate the worry of salmonella, especially in:

 
> Here’s more about pasteurized eggs.

> Here are 80 more cheesecake recipes.

> The history of cheesecake.

> The history of pineapple.
 
 
RECIPE: NO-BAKE FROZEN PINEAPPLE CHEESECAKE

The prep time is 35 minutes, freezing time is 6 hours.

Ingredients For 12 Servings

1. COMBINE the gingersnaps and panko in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter and stir until the crumbs are evenly moistened. For easy removal from the pan, first place parchment paper along the bottom of the springform pan. Then press the crust mixture onto the bottom of an 8- or 9-inch springform pan.

2. BEAT the egg whites and cream of tartar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer, until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/4 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.

3. BEAT the cream cheese and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl, until smooth. If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment. Add the egg yolks and beat well. Mix in the pineapple and vanilla.

4. BEAT the cream in another medium bowl until whipped. Fold the egg whites into the cream cheese mixture, then fold in the whipped cream. Pour the filling over the crust and freeze until set, 5 hours or overnight.

Ingredients For The Glaze

Check below for ways to use leftover pineapple juice.

 
Preparation

1. COMBINE sugar and cornstarch in a small saucepan. Add pineapple juice, and stir until cornstarch is dissolved.

2. COOK over medium heat, stirring, until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens. Remove from the heat, add the rum, and cool completely.

3. TO SERVE: Let the cheesecake sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. Run a knife around the sides of the cheesecake to loosen it; remove the pan sides. Top the cheesecake with the glaze and cut into slices.
 
_________________

*If using a can of crushed pineapple for the torte, you can reserve the pineapple juice for glaze.
 
 
DOES FREEZING KILL SALMONELLA?

Alas, no, as can be seen from the recent outbreak of salmonella poisoning involving an ice cream product, reported food safety expert Dr. Robert Gravani, professor of food science at Cornell University, in The New York Times.

Freezing just keeps the bacteria in a state of suspended animation. When they warm up (in the case of frozen cheesecake, when they hit the digestive tract), they come back to life.

[3] (photo © Dole Food Company).

[3] Look for pasteurized eggs for any recipe with raw eggs (photo © Safe Eggs).

 
 
USES FOR LEFTOVER PINEAPPLE JUICE

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

In Pursuit of Tea is a purveyor of the finest teas from Asia and India. Their monthly newsletter often has a good “tea tip.”

This month, it’s about cold infused tea—the opposite of sun tea. As with sun tea, you simply add tea to water; but you place the container in the fridge, not in the sun.

“Conventional iced tea is a strongly brewed serving, poured over plenty of ice,” says In Pursuit Of Tea founder Sebastian Beckwith. “But there’s another method—cold infusion—that produces an incredibly [naturally] sweet, full-flavored glass with any loose leaf tea—black, green, white or herbal.

“The recipe is foolproof,” he continues. “Since cold infusion is a gentle process, the steeping time is very flexible, and the end result is always delicious.”

Why would you want to brew tea in the fridge rather than the conventional way—steeped in boiling water?

To bring out subtle nuances in the flavor of your tea. If you’re not a volume quaffer of iced tea, this method lets you make 1-2 servings a day, without taking the time to boil, steep, cool, strain and then refrigerate.

Can you use tea bags?

This type of brewing brings out the flavor notes in top quality tea. If you have some truly excellent tea bags, try it (use two bags).

Ingredients For 2 Glasses

 
Preparation

1. STIR tea into cold water. Refrigerate for 4-6 hours. For a stronger brew, add 1-2 hours to infusion time.

2. STRAIN and enjoy.
 
SUN TEA

Cold infused tea is the opposite of sun tea, where one places tea bags and water in a glass or plastic container. The container is placed in the sun for several hours, where solar heat brews the components into a weak tea.

This has historically been a method of necessity, not of choice—for example, with campers. Fine tea needs a fast infusion of boiling or near-boiling water to fully release its aromatic oils and to create a hearty brew.

Or now, a cold infusion.
 
MORE WAYS TO BREW TEA

How to brew the perfect cup of tea.

It’s too darn hot, wrote Cole Porter, in the days before air conditioning.

But even if you benefit from modern cooling system, it may still be too darn hot to turn on the oven.

Turn up the flavor—not the heat!

Pick up a copy of The No-Cook, No-Bake Cookbook, and avoid turning on the stove or oven during the heat of summer.

Featuring 101 good-for-you recipes—author Matthew Kadey is a registered dietitian—you can quickly assemble breakfasts, lunch and dinner mains and delectable desserts, including:

Hungry? Get your copy at Amazon.com. If you need summer house gifts, buy extras.

Tart cherry soup can be a starter or dessert.
Photo courtesy ChooseCherries.com.

This recipe is easy as can be, using tart cherry juice. You can serve it as a starter; we like it as a dessert, with an optional scoop of fruit sorbet: blueberry, lemon, lime, raspberry or strawberry, for example.

If you’re not adding sorbet, consider a garnish of fresh or dried cherries.

Prep time 20 minutes plus 2-4 hours chilling time.

RECIPE: TART CHERRY SOUP

Ingredients For 6-8 Servings

Preparation

1. GENTLY WHISK together tart cherry juice, red wine, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice in a medium pot. Add frozen tart cherries. Heat over medium to high heat until mixture comes to a boil.

2. REDUCE heat to medium to low and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
(Optional: Spoon tart cherries out and blend in a blender until smooth; add back to soup)

3. ADD vanilla and sour cream to cooled soup; stir to combine and chill for 2 to 4 hours in the refrigerator. Serve chilled with optional garnish.

Check out more cherry recipes from the Cherry Marketing Institute, ChooseCherries.com.

An artistic Greek salad from Stix
Mediterranean Grill in New York City.

Now that beautiful tomatoes are in season, slice them up in as many ways as you can, including in a first course Greek salad.

In Greece, what we call a “Greek salad” (more about that below) is served with every meal. So today’s tip is: Enjoy a Greek salad at home, regularly.

When you make your own, you can add as much feta, olives, pepperoncini and other favorite ingredients as you like.

Making your own lets you build a better salad in these ways, too:

Serve your Greek salad as a main meal, a smaller salad course, or as a soup-and-salad or sandwich-and-salad combo for lunch.

Here’s the Greek salad recipe, including the traditional red wine vinaigrette.

Food Trivia: In Greece, the feta-cucumber-onion-and-more salad is referred to as horiatiki, which translates to country/village/peasant salad. It is a common part of a traditional Greek meal, just as a lettuce and tomato salad was once a standard on the American dinner table.

Horiatiki doesn’t contain lettuce—that’s an American preference. In Greece, you’ll only see lettuce used at restaurants that cater to tourists.

An authentic horiatiki is a combination of all or some of the following: anchovies, bell pepper, capers, cucumber, feta cheese, Kalamata olives, onion, sardines and tomato. It is dressed with olive oil only—no vinegar—plus oregano, salt and pepper.

Feta is one cheese where bargains should be avoided. Less expensive feta is often over-salted to the point of unpleasantness. Some knock-off feta is dry and rubbery, with none of the crumbliness of the original.

Feta, made from sheep’s milk or a blend of sheep’s and goat’s milks, is dry-salted and aged in wood barrels. There they sit in a brine solution that was originally devised so farmers could preserve their product in the hot Mediterranean climate. The brine gives feta its characteristic tang.

A quality feta goes through a four-month maturation, developing a creamy, rich, complex flavor.

According to Murray’s Cheese, only 2% of feta consumed in the U.S. actually hails from Greece. The economic collapse of Greece has put many traditional artisans out of business.

Top quality imported Greek feta is available from Murray’s Cheese.

A quality feta should be briny, tang and crumbly. You deserve to experience the best!

More Food Trivia: Feta been made at least since Homer’s time, the 8th century B.C.E.: He described it in The Odyssey.

The word feta, meaning slice, came much later, in the 17th century. It likely refers to the slicing of cheese before it is placed in barrels to age.