Crunchmaster crackers are Japanese-inspired, from the rice used to make them to usuyaki, the art of handcrafting, aging and baking rice crackers on open grills. The American versions are made in Illinois and Nevada from California rice.

Now, in an even more East-meets-West flavor profile, the company has launched Popped Edamame Chips, rice flour combined with edamame (see below) and seasonings. There are two flavors:

 
The chips are light in texture and very crunchy. Both are very tasty, but we love wasabi so Wasabi Soy is a slam dunk.

Ready to try them? The store locator does not come up in the Firefox (Macintosh) browser, but we were able to access it via Safari.

Rice is a gluten-free grain and the line is certified gluten free.

WHAT ARE EDAMAME?

Edamame, pronounced eh-dah-MAH-may, are baby soybeans, boiled in salted water and served whole as a snack or appetizer. They can be further flavored with rice wine, Szechuan pepper, nanami togarashi or Chinese Five Spice.

The name is Japanese for “twig bean” (eda = twig” + mame = bean), referring to young soybeans cropped with their twig (i.e., on the stem). You can find them served this way in Japan, but edamame are an imported product. With the exception of a few ultra-premium Japanese restaurants that import them on the twig, you’ll see the “mame” but not the “eda.”

The green soybeans in the pod are picked prior to ripening (when they turn into the familiar beige soybean color).

A popular snack, the boiled soybeans are eaten by pushing them directly from the pods into your mouth; the shell is not eaten. Frozen edamame are available in the pod or shelled.

Edamame have become a popular addition to recipes as well. Add them to salads, stir-frys, casseroles, soups and almost any savory food. Make a healthy dip. Edamame are attractive garnishes on any food, from baked and mashed potatoes to steaks and chops. They can be served hot, cold or at room temperature.

And now, turn them into snack chips!

Edamame are perhaps the healthiest vegetable you can serve. Check out the health benefits of edamame.
  

If your parents are serious cooks/eaters, it’s an idea for a Mother’s Day or Father’s Day gift—so much tastier than another scarf or tie.

And if no one cooks, there’s a delicious arrope pumpkin preserve, a recipe that derives from the ancient use of arrope to preserve or stew fruits. The pumpkin is cooked in the arrope until it is candied. It’s delicious as a sweet-and-earthy bread spread or a condiment with creamy goat’s or sheep’s milk cheeses (see photo below).

In fact, when you go to purchase arrope, you need to be specific. Otherwise, you can easily be sold the preserve instead of the syrup, or vice versa. Tip: If the word “pumpkin” appears, it’s the preserve.

WHAT IS ARROPE

A reduction of grape must, arrope is a condiment that dates to ancient Rome, where it was called defrutum or sapa. It survives as a gourmet Spanish condiment. The name comes from the Arabic word rubb, syrup.

So if you’re a balsamic vinegar fan, chances are good that you’ll be happy to discover arrope.

As civilization embraced massed-produced foods over artisan products in the latter half of the 20th century, the craft of making arrope—which involves carefully cooking down the must into a syrup over a period of weeks—has almost disappeared. It survives among a handful of artisan producers, carrying on family traditions. (Before modern times, arrope was made by the cook of the family.)

In Spain, the few remaining artisans produce arrope syrup (grape must reduction) and preserved pumpkin.

While it’s no leap to combine arrope in Spanish recipes, you can port it over to any cuisine—just as with Italy’s saba and France’s verjus.

It starts with a large quantity of grape must, freshly pressed grape juice that still contains all of the skins and seeds and stems. The must is very flavorful with high levels of sugar.

 
Ready to try it? Check at your local specialty food market or order it online:

The loaves freeze nicely, so make more than one. A homemade loaf of bread also makes a nice house gift when you’re invited for dinner.
This recipe is courtesy Pompeian, which uses its Pompeian Extra Virgin Olive Oil in the recipe.
 
 
RECIPE: KALAMATA OLIVE BREAD

Ingredients For One 1-3/4 Pound Loaf

Preparation

1. COMBINE the warm water, yeast and sugar in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and let sit for 15 minutes or until the mixture starts to bubble.

2. FIT food processor with the dough blade. Combine the flour and salt in the bowl. With the machine running, add the liquid ingredients slowly through the feed tube and process until the dough forms a ball. Continue processing for another 30 seconds.

3. TRANSFER the dough to a floured wooden surface and flatten slightly into a disc. Top with the olives, roll up and form into a ball. Place the ball in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using.
Variations

4. TURN dough out onto lightly floured surface and round it into a smooth ball, pulling excess dough underneath and pinching to form a tight seal. Return dough to oiled bowl, cover loosely and let rise until doubled in size and the dough spring backs slowly to the touch, about 1 hour.

5. PREHEAT oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

This bread can be made well ahead of time and reheated in 300°F oven.

It can also be frozen successfully:

 
Enjoy the bread plain or dipped in olive oil!

Caffeine is a natural stimulant, a compound present in tea, coffee and other beverages. Coffee has more caffeine, 80 to 100 mg. per cup.

Among teas, black tea has the highest amount of caffeine, about 40 mg. per cup; with diminishing amounts found in oolong, green (approximately 20 mg. per cup) and white teas, depending on strength and steeping time.

But what if you need more of a caffeine jolt and don’t like coffee or energy drinks?

Republic Of Tea hopes to fill the gap with its new line of HiCaf™ Teas for natural energy.

The company has intensified the normal caffeine in tea by adding green tea extract, known to have more caffeine than coffee, so tea drinkers can quickly get a healthy jump on the day.

There are five initial varieties: four black and one green.

HiCAF TEA VARIETIES

Black Teas

 
Green Tea

 
We received three samples: Breakfast Black Tea, Black Caramel and Gingermint Green. The caffeine content is clearly indicated on the side of each tin.

Breakfast Black and Gingermint Green read their scripts well, and we’ve been enjoying them every morning. Caramel Black was too flavor-forward for us but will please people who enjoy highly flavored teas. We expect the same would be true with Pom-berry and Toasted Coconut black teas.

No, but we don’t get a jolt from coffee, either.

Each tin contains 50 round, unbleached tea bags free of strings, tags and staples: $13/tin.

The full collection is available for purchase at RepublicOfTea.com and at natural and specialty food stores nationwide.
 
POP QUIZ: NAME THE FOODS THAT CONTAIN CAFFEINE

There are seven foods that contain natural caffeine. Can you name them?

The first two are giveaways: coffee and tea. The other five are in the footnote* below, but try to guess before you look.
 
*Cacao (in cocoa and chocolate products), coffee, guarana (a component of energy drinks), guayusa (another Amazonian leaf), the kola nut (used to make Coke and other colas), conventional tea (Camellia sinensis) and yerba maté.
  

Barley, buckwheat, bulgur, rice, quinoa….

You’re doing your best to eat more whole grains and up your daily fiber content.

But if you’re staring down a bowl of leftover grains in the fridge, here’s how to repurpose it. Although it isn’t a whole grain, include white rice on this list (since many of us have lots of leftover white rice from Chinese takeout). We haven’t included oatmeal because its cooked consistency has limitations; but you can find ways below to use it.

UNSEASONED GRAINS

 
Other ideas? Let us know!