Desserts
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Sweet Cider Donuts
When I wrote about apple picking in Massachusetts last month, my editor spotted what she thought might be an error in the post: I referred to the "cider donuts" sold at the orchard. Did I mean cider AND donuts, she asked?Nope. I meant donuts made with apple cider, and my condolences if you've never...
October 27, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Baking a Punctual Cake
Today marks the 6th observance of National Punctuation Day.What does that have to do with food? Well, let me tell you. For the past five years This year, people have celebrated are celebrating the holiday with a baking contest. The challenge: bake in the shape of punctuation. So, in the spirit of t...
September 24, 2009 |
By admin
Why Honey Is Eaten for Rosh Hashanah, and Other Burning Questions
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, begins tonight at sundown. It's traditional to dip apples in honey to symbolize the hope for a sweet year ahead, a practice of which I was aware but never knew the origins. To find out, I consulted Jeffrey M. Cohen's 1,001 Questions and Answers on Rosh Hashanah a...
September 18, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
What To Eat in Italy
When I tell friends and colleagues that I vacationed in Tuscany, many want to know what I ate there as well as which great works of art I’d seen. Well, of course, I ate lots of gelato -- blueberry, pineapple and tangy lemon were my favorites. More intense flavor and less butterfat are the big diff...
September 03, 2009 |
By admin
Is a Sugar Shortage Looming?
It's often said that Americans are addicted to oil—witness the tizzy that ensued last summer when pump prices topped $4 per gallon in many places. But if there's one substance we're nearly as dependent on, it's sugar—in our treats, in our packaged foods, in our coffee (America may "run on Dunkin',"...
August 28, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Joys of Country Fair Food
What are your favorite fair foods? We'll share our memories if you'll share yours...Amanda: In years past, Vermont's Champlain Valley Fair was one of the highlights of my summer vacation. For just over a week, the fairgrounds filled with midway rides and goofy games, prize-winning heifers and prepo...
August 13, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Ice Cream Chemistry
Indulge me in a dubious metaphor: ice cream is the Madonna of desserts. Unlike chocolate chip cookies, or brownies, which rarely get wilder than the addition of chopped nuts, ice cream seems to beg for constant reinvention, with ever-more-bizarre flavors and strange textures (think Dippin' Dots). I...
July 29, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
The Strange History of the Wedding Cake
Ask any summer bride: her wedding cake, wreathed in hand-crafted sugar roses and sometimes worth more than her bridal dress, is the ultimate vehicle for self-expression. Princess Diana’s five-foot tall cake, adorned with marzipan Windsor coats of arms, was so vital to the royal union that two copie...
July 13, 2009 |
By admin
Welsh Cakes: Not a Scone, Not a Cookie
At the Smithsonian Folklife Festival last week, three chefs demonstrated their techniques for making Welsh cake.I had never heard of Welsh cakes. At first mention, I pictured something like this video of the process of making a chocolate cake, but it turns out that baking a Welsh cake is quite diff...
July 01, 2009 |
By Ashley Luthern
Ice Creams for the Savory-Toothed
In the mountains where I live, temperatures are still dipping below freezing at night. But the days are finally starting to reach the 70s, which has rekindled my seasonal ice cream infatuation with a vengeance. Forget plain vanilla and chocolate—yawn. (I do make an exception, however, for what may ...
June 05, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
All You Ever Wanted to Know about Chocolate, Volume One
I recently had the opportunity to speak with Howard-Yana Shapiro, the global director of plant sciences and external research for Mars, Incorporated, the world's largest chocolate company (and largest pet food company, but try not to mix the two).Shapiro co-edited a new book called "Chocolate: Hist...
April 15, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Last Peeps of the Season
It's the most wonderful time of the year—the day after Easter, when all the strangely shaped candy is on super sale. Quick! Get to a grocery or drug store today to buy the last Peeps, malted milk robin eggs and hollow chocolate bunnies of the season.Even if you don't eat the stuff (and it is pretty...
April 13, 2009 |
By Laura Helmuth
Easter Food Traditions: Eggs, Lamb and Hot Cross Buns
On slower days at the office (or procrastination-prone days) it can be fun to peruse Proquest, a database of historical newspapers, for recipes from the past. I tried that recently with the keyword "Easter," and realized that not too much has changed in Americans' Easter meals over the years -- egg...
April 10, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Eye Candy at a Sweet Art Exhibition
I caught an interesting gallery exhibition while I was in New York City last weekend — Margaret Morrison: Larger than Life. The artist paints, well, larger-than-life canvases of gummy centipedes, chocolate bonbons and other sugary delights. I think I got a cavity just looking at it.Food is nearly a...
April 03, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Sugar on Snow
What do pickles, donuts, and a freezer full of snow have in common?If you know, you've probably been to Vermont around this time of year. As Lisa wrote yesterday, it's maple sugaring season in New England, when sap flows from the trees and steam blows from the tops of those little shacks ("sugar ho...
March 26, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Maple Sugar Season Is Here
I’m going to admit something that could earn me the scorn of my neighbors here in upstate New York: I grew up putting Aunt Jemima on my pancakes. In maple syrup country, that’s akin to putting Velveeta on pizza in Naples. But I promise I’ll never do it again.
It’s maple sugaring season, those few...
March 25, 2009 |
By Lisa Bramen
Becoming a Chocolate Connoisseur
Actually, you may already be a chocolate connoisseur, who am I to say? It's a largely subjective term. But I'm pretty sure you're NOT one if your definition of "fine chocolate" includes anything available in a vending machine. Don't worry, though, it's never to late to learn!I suggest starting with...
February 13, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Hot Cocoa Tasting at a "Chocolate Lounge"
I know that I promised to write about historic chocolate rituals today, but I haven't had time to read that book yet. Somehow, though, I did find time yesterday to indulge in a visit to CoCo Sala, a chocolate lounge in downtown DC...you know, for research.Now, I'm familiar with wine flights—a menu ...
February 11, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Chocolate Week: A Brief History of Chocolate
Food and Think hereby solemnly declares that this week shall henceforth be known as Chocolate Week. In the spirit of this holiday and in pursuit of journalistic excellence, the FaT bloggers shall contemplate and consume the aforementioned substance as frequently as possible.
In other words, I'm usi...
February 09, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
Sugar-coated Mercury Contamination
Most of us know by now that eating mercury is bad for you, and we know that mercury contamination is a risk in certain types of fish. But did you know this neurologically damaging heavy metal could also be lurking in everything from cereal to ketchup?A new pilot study, led by a scientist who was th...
January 28, 2009 |
By Amanda Bensen
