'Tis the season for pumpkin carving, but don't throw out the scraps! AOL Food's toasted pumpkin seed recipe and these tips make it easy to turn a pile of pumpkin seeds (or pepitas) into a tasty and healthy snack.
Tip of the Day - Toasting Pumpkin Seeds
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Blanching Almonds - Tip of the Day
Blanched almonds are a staple in lots of recipes, and surprisingly easy to make at home.
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Restoration Project Targets American Chestnuts
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| Photo: Barbara L. Hanson, Flickr. |
Chestnuts were once a mainstay of the Appalachian diet, showing up in stews, sauces and breads. The Cherokee and other native peoples didn't wait until Christmas Day to enjoy their chestnuts roasted: They relied on the nutritious, fat-packed nut to fuel their activities throughout chestnut season. After European settlers shimmied their wagons across the Blue Ridge, they too developed a fondness for chestnuts. Honorary ACF board member and past president Jimmy Carter recalls filling his pockets with chestnuts for snacking.
"People really like them," says foundation spokeswoman Meghan Jordan. Compared to the Chinese and European chestnuts now available, she adds, the American chestnut is "much sweeter and much tastier."
But for the last 50 years, few people have had the chance to test Jordan's contentions. That's because in the early 20th century, blight struck more than 5 billion trees, wiping out a cash crop previously so plentiful that Southerners had little trouble collecting enough nuts to fill northbound railroad cars, destined to sate the cravings of Yuletide-minded city dwellers. "We want to see these trees thriving again," Jordan says.
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Homemade Tamari Almonds
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| Photo: Jennifer Iserloh. |
Since I had a bottle of low-sodium tamari taking up space in the cupboard, I shopped for the plain, raw almonds with the skins on and tried my hand at homemade tamari almonds.
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Pecan Milk - Feast Your Eyes
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| Pecan milk. Photo: Flickr, Alejandra of Always Order Dessert. |
When served in a wine glass and punctuated with two perfect pecans, this non-dairy "milk" -- which also contains honey, coconut milk, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, sea salt and sugar -- certainly gives cashew milk (or soy or almond milk, for that matter) a run for its money, even if it does take eight hours to make. We can think of only one thing that would make it more appetizing -- a shot of Kahlua!
[Via Flickr]
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Homemade Peanut Butter - Tip of the Day
Why buy a jar of processed peanut butter when you can easily make it at home?
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Buckwheat Cakes Still Popular in West Virginia
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| A variety of buckwheat in full bloom. Photo: fishermansdaughter, flickr |
"According to millers, the consumption of buckwheat has fallen off not less than 30 percent in the last five years," the paper reported in 1910. "Where once the mounds of well-browned flapjacks, flanked by the molasses jug, reigned supreme at the breakfast table, now the patent breakfast foods alone are to be seen."
Corn flakes weren't the only culprit in buckwheat pancakes' disappearance from the American table: As new chemical fertilizers facilitated the farming of wheat, most growers abandoned the substitute crop. Buckwheat fields -- which occupied more than 1 million acres of U.S. land when the Times printed its buckwheat lament -- accounted for just 50,000 acres in 1964, when the USDA last bothered to count.
A few of those buckwheat farmers, no doubt, lived near Preston County, which pinned its economic hopes on the plant during the Depression.
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Peas If You Please - Feast Your Eyes
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| Just-shelled peas. Photo: periwinklejane, Flickr |
It all started, we suppose, on a crisp spring night, when a hungry grower put down some pea plants after the last major frost of the season. Forgetting about the peas, she let Mother Nature do her thing until one morning the pea planter awoke to find perfectly plump pods ready to be plucked from their vines. She spent the morning and afternoon picking and shelling these sweet green peas, eating many along the way, before delivering them -- in ridiculously adorable baskets, no less -- to her pea-loving friends. (This is where we insert ourselves into the story.) Before making their way into our very happy bellies, these peas were tossed with penne, extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper and freshly grated Parmesan cheese.
The end.
[Via Flickr]
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Almighty Almonds - Feast Your Eyes
Ah, almonds. So beautiful in their tidy simplicity, so limitless in their potential. This bowl of almonds, snapped by Andrea of Bella Eats, was destined to become a jar of almond butter. And while it was undoubtedly delicious, this photo speaks volumes about the raw appeal of raw almonds. It's easy to imagine sprinkling them over yogurt with a drizzle of honey, or stirring them into some oatmeal with a bit of brown sugar and butter -- or simply eating them by the fistful, straight from the bowl.
[Via Bella Eats]
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Peanut Butter Chocolate Eggs - 5 Easter Candies in 5 Days
It's easy to be mesmerized by decadent, complex flavors. Sometimes, though, the sweetest surprise is one that basks in simple, nostalgia-inducing basics.Peanut butter Chocolate Eggs are a staple of the classic Easter basket. Nestled amongst the malted milk balls, cream eggs and bunnies, they are also a mystery: Seemingly innocuous chocolate conceals a treasure of nutty, buttery flavor. Some might take these treats for granted -- especially in their store-bought incarnation -- but we reckon once candy-lovers taste this incredible homemade variety they may not be able to go back to the bag.
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For Love of Toasted Pine Nuts
Having a nut allergy, for years I never even glanced at anything nut-centric, save for my beloved peanut butter. I slowly realized almonds were also okay, and that pine nuts were too -- I had no idea they were in pesto (oh, the ignorance of the pre-Internet days!). So I'm on the slow bus when it comes to nuts, which is why I never had roasted pine nuts until now.
This is one of those times that I quickly fell in love, but also became quite angry that the revelation was coming after 30+ years on this earth. What a waste! The wonderful smell of roasting pine nuts is addictive, and their taste is rich, roasted heaven. The first batch were mixed into some mayo and put on a sandwich of roasted vegetables. Heaven. The next batch went into a salad. Heaven. The next, well, that went right into my stomach. What comes next, I'm still working on, but I am thinking about some pine nut/popcorn combination.
If you can eat pine nuts and have never roasted them, I demand that you do it now and see for yourself. It's too easy not to -- sprinkle some in any dry pan and throw it on your stove. Heat 'em up, being careful to jiggle the pan and move the pine nuts around once they start releasing their wonderful smell and change color. It will only take a few minutes.
If you're an old fan of the roasted pine nuts, please share any recipes you love below!
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Mixed Feeling About Peanut Butter?
My mom called me yesterday just to report on the status of her favorite brand of peanut butter. She is devoted to Adams Natural Peanut Butter (she's a fan of the 26 ounce size, as once it's empty, the jar is a really useful size/shape) and eats it on toast for breakfast nearly every day. Thankfully, Adams has been found to uncontaminated (they're running a large announcement on the front page of their website to calm consumers) and so her morning routine is uninterrupted. However, according to the New York Times, peanut butter sales are down 25% across the board, even in brands that have been shown to be salmonella-free. Over the weekend, Jif placed ads in newspapers throughout the country, stating that their product is safe and offered consumers a $.35 off coupon in the hopes that sales will rebound. Peter Pan Peanut Butter has plans to run a similar announcement next weekend, along with a $.50 off coupon.
How are you feeling about peanut butter consumption these days? Are you taking a break from the lunchtime staple or continuing to eat it (after checking to ensure your favorite brand was safe)?
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Candlenut - Ingredient Spotlight
A staple of Malaysian and Indonesian cooking, candlenuts come from trees in the family Euphorbiaceae, also known as Candle Berry, Indian walnut, Kemiri, Varnish tree or Kuku'i nut tree. The nuts are greenish-brown and approximately golf ball-sized, with a very hard exterior and a high oil content.
In Malaysia, candlenuts are a major ingredient in a popular Indian-influenced curry dish called Chicken Kapitan, imparting a nutty flavor. In Indonesia, candlenuts are ground with chilis to make a spicy, pungent relish called sambal bajak; they're also sometimes rubbed on frying pans instead of oil. In Hawaii, roast candlenuts are ground into a paste with salt to make a condiment called inamona. If you can't find candlenuts, macadamias or Brazil nuts can be substituted.
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Recent Peanut Butter Scare a Reason to Rethink the FDA
Let's play the old "Which Item Doesn't Belong" game: A. Greens and cornbread.If you picked C, reasoning that the pairs in A and B go together swimmingly while food and drugs don't at all, then you and I and Connecticut Representative Rosa DeLauro are all on the same page. According to a New York Times editorial focused on the current peanut product salmonella crisis, Rep. DeLauro has proposed that food and drugs have no business being united under one umbrella agency.
B. Penn and Teller.
C. Food and drugs.
This idea is not even close to new; I remember hearing it from food scientists a couple years ago. This is the first time I've seen it mentioned in a major news publication, though. Here's hoping the proposal will gain momentum. Not only is the science of regulating food versus approving and regulating medication almost totally separate, but also the drug part of the agency hogs all the resources and, as the NYT points out, all the clout. Compared to crazy side effects and Viagra and cures for debilitating disease, routine checks of food processing facilities is unsexy to say the least. But it is every bit as important, affecting, as it does, everybody.
Sure, we can all forgo our daily Luna bar fix for a bit, but what if a bacon recall is next?
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Napa Valley Mustard Company Mustard
Quick: what field crop comes to mind of when you think of the Napa Valley? If you immediately thought "mustard," you're not wrong, and you're not alone. In the right circles, the Napa Valley is as well known for its mustard as it is for that other crop which does well there. Those fields of endless yellow are celebrated in festivals, are a staple of local cuisines both formal and informal, and are a welcome sight in the great client-relations tradition of the Napa Valley gift basket.
It was in one such that I recently received a jar of Napa Valley Mustard Company mustard. I received the gift basket around the holidays but what with getting blotto on New Year's Eve and a more recent mishap involving a brace of oysters on the half shell, I just got around to tasting it. Wow. This jar was Whole Grain with Chilis and Garlic.
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What Can I Get You Folks? - Server Revenge
Reality-Show Celebrities Serve Up Chef Curtis Stone's 'Hundred-Dollar Burger'
Foods Celebrity Chefs Hate
