THE NIBBLE BLOG: Products, Recipes & Trends In Specialty Foods


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TIP OF THE DAY: Truffle Cheese

A good truffle cheese is a knockout. It you’re going to serve one cheese for a special occasion, this is it.

There are different truffle cheeses from the U.S., France, Italy, and elsewhere. Some deliver the aromatic, spectacular truffle aroma and flavor you’re looking for. Others don’t, the black flecks of truffle seemingly there like the black flecks in vanilla ice cream—for appearance, not for taste.

That’s because some truffles have little or no flavor and aroma, and not all producers use the more flavorful truffles. If you can taste before you buy, do so. More about truffles.)
 
TYPES OF TRUFFLE CHEESE

Truffle cheeses are aromatic cheeses that have been flavored with bits of fresh truffles and sometimes with truffle oil, when the truffles themselves are not particularly flavorful. They can be made from any milk, in soft, semi-soft or semi-hard styles.

These cheeses are available in the U.S.:

  • Boschetto al Tartufo: a mild, semi-soft Italian cheese made with a blend of cow’s and sheep’s milk and white truffles. Nice. The names means truffles from the woods.
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    Truffle Tremor. Photo courtesy Cypress Grove.

  • Fromager d’Affinois: from France, this variety of fromager d’affinois, a Brie-like double-crème cow’s milk cheese, is a beautiful blend of the creamy cheese with the subtle earthiness of the truffles. The black truffles are from Périgord—the best truffles in the world. It is a seasonal product that is in store for the holidays from October to January and then again in March (for Easter). You can find it in most gourmet/specialty stores, Whole Foods Markets, Trader Joe’s (as a unit size under their label called the Truffle Brie) and some Costco stores.
  • Moliterno Black Truffle Pecorino: A Sardinian raw sheep’s milk cheese covered with black truffle paste. Unlike most truffle cheese, the truffle paste is infused after the cheese has been aged, creating veins of truffle that permeates the entire paste. Once cut, the dark paste oozes out of the crevices of the cheese. It makes a great cheese course with a big, earthy Italian red wine.
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    Truffle cheese assortment from iGourmet. Serve it with hearty red wine: It’s a party!
     
  • Perlagrigia Sottocenere: a semi-soft Italian cheese originally from Venice, made from raw cow’s milk and slices of truffles. It is then rubbed with herbs and spices (cinnamon, cloves, coriander, fennel, licorice, nutmeg) and aged in an ash rind, a Venetian technique to preserve the cheese over a long period without losing flavor. The ash is also used to convey subtle flavors into the cheese, with a variety of spices mixed with the ash.with flavors of coated on to the rind. The name means “under ash.”
  • Truffle Gouda: a mild Dutch Gouda (cow’s milk, semihard) sprinkled with black truffles, the mildness of the cheese lets the flavor of the truffles shine through.
  • Truffle Tremor: from Cypress Grove Chevre of California, this soft, creamy goat’s milk cheese filled with Italian black summer truffles.is one of our favorites. What could make goat cheese better than truffles? Enjoyable any time, try it for dessert with a glass of Port.
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  • Truffle and Salt Cheddar: From Idaho’s Ballard Family Dairy and Cheese, this aged, pasteurized Cheddar (cow’s milk) is flavored with black truffle salt. As a result, it isn’t as truffle-redolent as cheeses that use actual truffles, but it is a lovely expression of artisan Cheddar.
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    You can get a truffle cheese assortment—five of the cheeses above—from iGourmet. It’s a special treat that will be long remembered.

      

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    FOOD HOLIDAY: National Twinkies Day

    In 2012 and 2013, it looked like National Twinkies Day, April 6th, might be in jeopardy. Hostess Brands, the manufacturer, closed 33 bakeries in November 2012, declaring bankruptcy.

    But thanks to an investment by two private equity firms, the golden snacks were back on the shelf in July 2013.

    And a number of fans don’t ever want to be caught without their Twinkies: They’ve developed homemade versions. Here’s a recipe posted on Epicurious.com (presented as “vanilla snack cakes”).

    So buy them or bake them, and enjoy this Twinkie Trivia while you snack.
     
    TWINKIE TRIVIA

  • Birth. Twinkies snack cakes were invented in 1930 by James Dewar, manager of the Continental Baking Company (now Hostess Brands) in Chicago. The product was conceived as a way to use the company’s thousands of shortcake pans, which were employed only during strawberry season.
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    Make your own Twinkies. Photo by Lara Ferroni | Epicurious.
  • Name. Twinkies were originally called Little Shortcake Fingers. They were subsequently renamed Twinkie Fingers, inspired by a billboard that advertised the Twinkle Toe Shoe; and finally were renamed Twinkies. The third time’s a charm!
  • Price. Twinkies originally cost a nickel for two and had banana creme filling. The filling was changed to vanilla creme because there was a banana shortage during World War II. In 1999, Hostess reintroduced a limited-edition banana-creme Twinkie, but Americans refused to bite and it has not returned.
  • Science. In 1995, a group of Rice University students conducted experiments on Twinkies. See the results on here. One finding: When microwaved, Twinkies gave off noxious fumes.
  • Shelf Life. Twinkies currently have a shelf life of 45 days. The secret to their longevity is the lack of dairy ingredients, which spoil more quickly than other ingredients; not to mention, lots of preservatives.
  • Quantity. Hostess produced more than 500 million Twinkies a year, almost enough for each American to eat two Twinkies a year. Chicago, the birthplace of Twinkies, consumes more per capita than any other city.
  • Honor. In 1999, the White House Millennium Council selected the Twinkie as one of the items to be preserved in the Nation’s Millennium Time Capsule, representing an object of enduring American symbolism. (Hmm…)
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    Trivia source: HunterHome.net.
      

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Make Cake Pops & Cake Balls

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    Baby Cakes cake pop maker. Photo courtesy Baby Cakes.
     

    If you’ve never made cake pops but would like to if it were easy, the Babycakes Pop Maker is a fool-proof, inexpensive appliance that make round balls of cake.

    The original cake pops recipe involves baking a cake, crumbling it into a large pan, adding frosting to stick the crumbs together, and then forming cake balls with your hands.

    The Baby Cakes cake pop maker delivers a similar result with less effort. Simply pour 2 tablespoons of cake or brownie batter into each hole, close the lid and bake for about 7 minutes. Dip the cake balls into melted chocolate or other flavor or peanut butter chips, or sprinkle with powdered sugar.

    You don’t even need sticks: Eat the cake balls like doughnut holes. You can inject a filling—jam, chocolate sauce, custard or pudding—into the balls with the injector tool provided.

     
    The machine can also be used to make wonderful baked hushpuppies and potato balls (which you can make on a slow day and freeze), and bread balls, like cornbread.

    One box of mix makes 4 dozen balls.

    Make cake balls for an Easter treat, an anytime sweet, and a last-minute treat if someone drops by for coffee. By the time you brew the coffee, the cake balls can be ready. With Baby Cakes, it’s always party time.

    It’s also a fun gift for teens and tweens, who can make cake pops and cake balls for their friends.

    And, you can make “cake” in hot summer months without turning on the oven.

     

    The cake pop maker, which bakes 12 cake balls at a time, is $25.20 on Amazon.com. It includes:

  • 75 cake pop sticks and a filling injector
  • Recipes, a plastic cake pop stand and a fork tool for removing the balls without tearing them.
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    You can buy a more elaborate cake pops serving tray for parties, and this much more glamorous cake pop tower.

    BAKING TIPS

  • Let the cake mix sit in the bowl for a few minutes, so it can start to rise.
  • Even though the baking plates are nonstick, lightly grease/spray the pan before adding the batter.
  • It may take a couple of tries to learn how high to fill the cups before baking in order to achieve perfection.
  • Be sure the lid is closed straight (or the balls can come out lopsided).
  • Save the styrofoam packing to hold cake pops as you dip them. Just make holes with an ice pick.
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    Treat yourself to a recipe book like this one for decorating inspiration.
     

    There are several cake pops recipe books that show many ways to decorate cake pops—even if you’re not particularly dextrous.

    Then, you’re set for many hours of food fun.
      

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Coffee Milk

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    Coffee milk is a simple and delicious union of milk and coffee syrup. Photo courtesy Dave’s Coffee Store.
     

    Coffee lovers, and especially iced coffee lovers: Have you had coffee milk, the official* state drink of Rhode Island?

    Like chocolate milk, coffee milk is made by adding coffee syrup to cold milk. If you like iced coffee with sugar and a lot of milk, coffee milk is the easy way to make it at home. There’s no brewing, no need to keep a container of iced coffee in the fridge. Just pour a glass of milk, add coffee syrup and stir.

    It also works for people who prefer alternatives to cow’s milk.

    Top quality coffee syrup is a sweetened coffee concentrate made from fresh-roasted coffee beans. It is produced by straining water and sugar through ground coffee. (Supermarket brands tend to be artificially flavored.)

    While the precise origin of coffee milk is unclear, several sources trace it back to the turn of the 20th century in Providence’s immigrant Italian population.

    The first coffee syrup was introduced by the Silmo Packing Company of New Bedford, Massachusetts in 1932. In 1938, Eclipse Food Products of Warwick, Rhode Island began to promote a coffee syrup product; Autocrat Coffee of Lincoln, Rhode Island came to market in the 1940s.

     
    In addition to the syrup form, coffee milk can be found ready-to-drink in store dairy cases, at diners and in university dining halls. [Source: Wikipedia]
    USES FOR COFFEE SYRUP

    In addition to coffee milk, you can use the syrup for:

  • Baking
  • Cocktails and mocktails
  • Dessert sauce
  • Glazes (check out this list of recipes for fish, meat, poultry and veggies)
  • Granita
  • Hot coffee drink
  • Shakes and smoothies
  • Pancake/waffle syrup
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    *Rhode Island named coffee milk its official state beverage in 1993, after a competition with Del’s Lemonade, another Rhode Island specialty.

     

    DAVE’S COFFEE SYRUP

    Dave’s Coffee is a certified organic coffee roaster that operates an espresso bar and bakery in Charlestown, Rhode Island. The coffee syrup is an all natural artisan product made:

  • With real sugar—no HFCS or artificial sweeteners
  • With only its natural color from the beans—no added caramel color
  • In Original, Mocha and Vanilla flavors
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    By contrast Coffee Time, the best-known supermarket brand, is made with high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, coffee extract, caramel color and potassium sorbate.
    The syrup is made in small batches to ensure quality. Choice Brazilian coffee beans are roasted by hand in a small, gas fired roaster to bring out nutty, sweet, smooth, roasty and smokey flavors. The roasted beans rest for two days; they’re then ground and cold-brewed for 18 hours in a special stainless steel kettle.

    The brewed coffee is mixed with pure cane sugar, brought to a boil and simmered until the syrup reduces and the sugar begins to caramelize. It’s bottled in amber glass, which protects the syrup from light.

    Get yours at DavesCoffeeStore.com.

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    Dave’s Coffee Syrup is available in three flavors. Photo courtesy Dave’s Coffee Store.
     

    It’s a great gift idea for coffee-loving moms and dads, and other deserving family and friends.

    If you need a kosher syrup, you can buy Autocrat on Amazon.

      

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    TIP OF THE DAY: Cinnamon Coffee

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    It’s easy to brew delicious cinnamon coffee
    with any coffee maker. Photo courtesy
    McCormick.

     

    If you enjoy cinnamon coffee, here’s a recipe from McCormick, that adds real cinnamon to your ground coffee for a far more exciting flavor. (Commercial cinnamon-flavored coffee uses an extract to flavor the beans.)

    The coffee is brewed with brown sugar, so no sugar bowl is needed. You can use any coffee maker.

    For dessert, you can top the coffee with whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. There are just 36 calories per cup, before the whipped cream.

    For a spiked version, add cinnamon liqueur, coffee liqueur or Irish cream liqueur. If you want to avoid the extra sugar, use whiskey (we like bourbon) or tequila.

     

    RECIPE: BREWED CINNAMON COFFEE

    Ingredients For 6 One-Cup Servings

  • 3/4 cup ground dark roast coffee, (regular or decaffeinated)
  • 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 6 cups water
  • Optional garnish: whipped cream and sprinkled cinnamon
  • Optional: milk or cream
  • Optional liqueur: 1-2 tablespoons per cup
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    Preparation

    1. PLACE coffee, sugar and cinnamon in a filter in brew basket of coffee maker (or directly into a French press).

    2. PLACE the vanilla in the empty carafe. Add water to coffee maker; brew coffee as usual.

    3. POUR into serving cups; add liqueur if desired. Top with whipped cream or serve with milk or cream. Garnish with an optional sprinkle of cinnamon.
     
    CINNAMON LIQUEUR

    There are more brands than there is shelf space to hold them all. And Bols makes both a cinnamon liqueur and a cinnamon schnapps (see the difference below). Some are more elegant, some are brash and sizzling.

    Cinnamon liqueur can be added to coffee and tea, sipped on the rocks, drunk as shooters and mixed into cocktails.

  • After Shock
  • Bols Hot Cinnamon Liqueur and Gold Strike Cinnamon Schnapps
  • De Kuyper “Hot Damn!”
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    Dramatic and delicious: Goldschläger cinnamon schnaps with gold flakes. Photo courtesy Global Brands.
  • Fireball Cinnamon Whiskey Liqueur
  • Fire Water Hot Cinnamon Schnapps
  • Goldschläger, with flecks of edible gold, the most elegant of the cinnamon liqueurs
  • Leroux Cinnamon Schnapps
  • Kahlúa Cinnamon Spice
  • Tuaca Cinnaster Cinnamon and Vodka Liqueur
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    CORDIAL, EAU DE VIE, LIQUEUR, SCHNAPPS: THE DIFFERENCE

    While many people use these terms interchangeably, and they are all flavored spirits, there are differences that are relevant to the consumer in terms of sweetness and color.

  • Liqueur (lih-KUR, not lih-CURE) is made by steeping fruits in alcohol after the fruit has been fermented; the result is then distilled. Liqueurs are typically sweeter and more syrupy than schnapps.
  • Schnapps (shnops) is made by fermenting the fruit, herb or spice along with a base spirit, usually brandy; the product is then distilled. This process creates a stronger, often clear, distilled spirit similar to a lightly flavored vodka. “Schnapps” is German for “snap,” and in this context denotes both a clear brandy distilled from fermented fruits, plus a shot of that spirit. Classic schnapps have no added sugar, and are thus less sweet than liqueur. But note that some manufacturers add sugar to please the palates of American customers.
  • Eau de vie (oh-duh-vee), French for “water of life,” this is unsweetened fruit brandy—i.e.,schnapps.
  • Cordial has a different meaning in the U.S. than in the U.K., where it is a non-alcoholic, sweet, syrupy drink. In the U.S, a cordial is a sweet, syrupy, alcoholic beverage: liqueur.
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    In sum: If you want a less sweet, clear spirit, choose schnapps/eau de vie over liqueur. For something sweet and syrupy, go for liqueur/cordial.

      

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