After spending more than two decades in development, a mandarin hybrid that some fruit experts are calling "the best thing they've ever eaten in the world of citrus" is now on the market, albeit in limited quantities.
When Gmitter joined the Florida faculty in 1985, he discovered his predecessor's experimental citrus groves had been destroyed. Only a block's worth of trees remained, and most of those were "ugly to look at and horrible to eat." But among the duds, he found a tree growing superb orange fruit. He and his colleagues used that tree to create the university's first-ever cultivar.
Since citrus breeding is slow going, the introduction of new varieties is relatively rare. But Peter Chaires, executive director of the company that holds licensing rights to the Sugar Belle, says the fruit could mark the start of a citrus golden age.
"This is the first one out of a long pipeline," Chaires says. "We have some interesting things coming, including an easy-peel mandarin. We'll see varieties for fresh consumption, varieties for the juice market and a lemon-lime hybrid."
These visibly sweet and sticky Glazed Apple Bars reinterpret the traditional apple pie in hand-held form. Crispy and crumbly, they taste delicious savored on their own or indulgently paired with vanilla-bean ice cream and topped with caramel, as blogger Sweetnicks relished them.
And the best part? The recipe uses only pantry staples, requiring but a few apples, flour, butter, vanilla, sugar, salt and cinnamon. So get baking, and celebrate fall with this luscious seasonal recipe.
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The mercury's dropping which means it's time to break out that trusty crock pot for set-it-and-forget-it cold weather cooking.
Move over pot roast -- did you ever think of making cobbler in a slow cooker? The ice cream on top might be worth the extra wintry chill down your spine. Try replacing the blueberries in this recipe with frozen or canned peaches.
It's Apple pickin' season. So what to do with the orchard's abundance of apples? Simplify the iconic apple pie by making an apple crisp -- it's the flavor of fall without the fuss. We rounded up a few of the best apple crisp recipes spied elsewhere on the Web..
Good Morning America offers a recipe for slow-cooked apple crisp in a crock pot. "America's Test Kitchen" Host Chris Kimball upgrades this fall fruit favorite.
This apple crisp via The New York Times is topped with tortoni and macaroons.
The Washington Post dishes up lunchbox-friendly apple-crisps -- the "s" makes all the difference in interpretation.
Though at first glance one might assume these vibrant cups to be brimming with chopped melons and strawberries, upon further inspection they are actually pieces of pitahaya, or, as it's more commonly known stateside, dragon fruit.
Described as tart-sweet crosses between everything from kiwis to melons to pears, varieties of dragon fruit can range in color from pale to hot pink. Most frequently eaten chilled and chopped -- or scooped directly out of the skin, the fruit is also often used as flavoring for drinks and pastries. Native to Central and South America, the cacti-grown fruit provides fiber and copious amounts of vitamin C, and lowers blood glucose levels. Red-fleshed fruits even contain lycopene, a natural antioxidant known to fight cancer and other diseases.
According to popular legend in Asia, the fruit was purported to have been created by fire-breathing dragons, who would produce the fruit instantly at the end of their fire-breathing bouts. The fruit -- fit for a king -- was gifted to the emperor as a treasured item and sign of victory.
Though by no means a household name yet, the fruit is becoming increasingly available in the United States, from fresh bulbs at farmers' markets in Los Angeles and elsewhere, to dried varieties at Trader Joe's and other specialty-food stores.
Have you tried dragon fruit? Tell us in the comments where -- and in what forms -- you've encountered it.
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Black widow spider. Photo: Ian Waldie, Getty Images.
Talk about sour grapes!
Toronto resident Brett James was reaching into his refrigerator to grab his wife a snack when he found a black widow spider lurking under the bag of grapes he'd purchased at the local Whole Foods Market, the Toronto Star reports. He thinks the poisonous spider came in with the grapes.
"When I lifted the bag, the spider was underneath, just sitting on top of another bag in the refrigerator," James tells Slashfood. "I wasn't sure exactly what it was, and I had heard stories before, so something was in the back of my head that it could be serious."
He lifted the spider out of the fridge on a paper towel and put it in a plastic container. After poking around on the Internet, he said he identified it as a black widow, a spider whose venom can cause muscle cramps, tremor and chest pain.
In this effortlessly elegant breakfast fix, pear butter replaces uninspired butter and jam. Warmly spiced with pear cider, ginger, allspice and cardamon, Coconut & Lime's concoction also works well wherever you'd usually dab butter (pancakes, waffles, muffins, etc.) -- and is even more versatile, deliciously swirled into the likes of yogurt, cottage cheese, hot cereal and more.
Cooked for 10 to 12 hours in a slow cooker, the condiment will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two months -- though we'd be surprised if it lasts half as long as its shelf life permits.
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We've started watching the leaves change to all different shades of red, brown and yellow. Fall colors also abound in apples. But with all of the options out there, which variety is one to eat while watching the trees' brilliant transformations? Well, if you're is a fan of consuming crisp fruit in crisp weather, Honeycrisps are definitely the way to go.
Based on the status updates of food lovers all over Facebook, it seems many were lucky enough to get their hands on Honeycrisps over the weekend, including blogger Happy in Bag who managed to hold off biting into this one long enough to snap a picture.
How about two ripe, juicy berries fused together to make one giant, Siamese strawberry? Or perhaps you were looking for young bananas in love, mutant melons or carrots that can tango.
Slashfood's sister site Urlesque scoured the Web and found an array of conjoined fruits and vegetables, from spooning bananas to two-eared corn.
Often overlooked and underrated in other seasons, apples as vibrant and crisp as these reign supreme every September. In these two complementing shots, one can't help but crave the inimitable crunch of an autumn apple. Fine-grained or sweet, sprightly or tangy, with hundreds of varieties -- from the juicy Acey Mac to the nutty Zabergau Reinette -- apples have flavors as variegated as their purposes.
The FDA is expected to approve laser-etching of fruits and vegetables in the next month or so, paving the way for produce "tattooed" with product information to hit store shelves, an official with the USDA tells Slashfood.
"We figure maybe next month or the month after it will get FDA approval," says Jan Narciso, a research microbiologist with the USDA's Citrus and Subtropical Products Laboratory in Winter Haven, Fla.
But will these new labels affect the taste of your fruits and vegetables?
Grapes have become my latest post-workout snack because they are water-packed and also help to curb my hunger when I come out of the yoga studio with serious munchies.
But don't limit grapes to snack food -- you can also make surprising, gorgeous desserts with them.
Concord grapes have a short season, but their flavor is unique and honey-kissed. Search them out at a local farmer's market.
Vimeo user Animi recently posted this short stop-motion movie on making an apple pie. The video certainly is fun, set to the music of Dave Brubeck. But what we found curious was the method for making pie crust.
Do you make a cylinder of dough to create the sides of your pie dough? Let us know in the comments below.
Shaping fruits and vegetables as they grow on the vine is nothing new. John Czeski, an Ohio farmer, was harvesting pumpkins with human faces in the 1930s. But these adorable baby Buddha pears take playing with food to a whole new level.
A Chinese farmer been tinkering with modified pears since 2003, and this year he's reportedly grown 10,000 edible Buddhas. But are they too cute to eat? Tell us what you think in the comments below!
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