FOOD TRIVIA: About Wine

The California wine industry was started by a Hungarian immigrant, Count Agaston Haraszthy de Maksa, who planted Tokay, Zinfandel, and Shiraz varieties from his native land.

Pinot, a variety of red and white wine grapes used for making the red Pinot Noir and white Pinot Blanc and Pinot Gris wines were named Pinot because the grapes grow in tightly clustered, pine cone-shaped bunches; Pinot means pine cone in French.

 

The country that produces the most wine is Italy.

The name used in England for the red wine from the Bordeaux region of France is Claret.

 

COOKING TIP: VEGETABLES

Cooking Cauliflower in water that has a bit of milk added to it will keep the Cauliflower bright white.

When you must seed big, round tomatoes, cut them across the equator rather than lengthwise and scoop out seeds with your finger or the handle of a small spoon.

 Whole canned tomatoes have more "meat" and flavor than chopped but can be messy to chop. Use kitchen shears to cut them, quickly and cleanly, right in the can.

 Celery should NOT be stored in the refrigerator in the plastic bag in which it came. The plastic bag traps ethylene gas given off by the celery which accelerates deterioration. Celery should be wrapped in aluminum foil before it is placed into the refrigerator. This will allow the ethylene gas to escape and extend the shelf life of the celery.

To get longer life out of spinach, stem, wash, remove wilted leaves and dry thoroughly using a salad spinner or paper towels. Place in plastic bag and lay a couple of wet, wrung out paper towels over the spinach. Seal bag, squeezing out as much air as possible and refrigerating for up to two weeks.

 To prepare thin strips of cabbage for Cole slaw without using a sharp knife, cut the head into quarters. Using a Y shaped vegetable peeler, "Peel" the flat surfaces of each cabbage quarter to create thin slices. When the quarter gets too small for using the peeler, finish the "peeling" using a knife.

FRUIT

The easiest way to peel a Kiwi fruit is to cut it in half and use a spoon to scoop out the ripe fruit.

 Similarly, with an avocado, cut in half all around the large seed. Using the sharp edge of a kitchen or Chefs  knife, strike the pit, gently, but with hard enough to cut a small way into it and twist. The pit should come out whole. You can then use a spoon to separate the flesh from the skin.

 Use a melon baller to scoop out the cores of halved apples and pears. IT S EASY!

 

COOKING TIP: Using Your Ice Cube Tray

Water from your tap becomes cloudy when frozen. Boiled water, allowed to cool slightly, put into ice cube trays will give crystal clear cubes.

 Puree garlic and ginger with water, freeze and add to soups, stews, stir-fries or mashed potatoes.

 Place cut pieces of fruit, Strawberries, Blueberries, etc. into an ice cube tray, fill the tray with water, and freeze. Use to make fruit cocktail or add to drinks to keep them cold, add some fruit flavor and give a colorful accent to the drink.

OR

                                                            
Puree berries, sweeten to taste, place in ice cube trays, and freeze. Put in drinks to add color to the drink AND a continuing, sweet berry flavor as the cubes melt.

Freeze bacon fat drippings. Warm to melt a cube and add to salad dressings, soups, toss with greens, use to fry eggs, or use in any other cooking task in which you want to add bacon flavor. The same applies to chicken, duck, or goose fat.

Freeze left-over coffee and add to warm milk to make iced coffee. Same with tea; add to cold tea for iced tea without diluting the tea flavor by using water ice cubes.

Never throw away leftover sauces, small amounts of ketchup or mustard remaining in their containers Freeze them in small amounts. Add tho any dish where you think their addition will improve the flavor of what you are cooking.

FOOD HISTORY: Dinner Once Was Breakfast

In the Neolithic Era (8000 - 6000 BC), which was a great period of innovation, humans began to use querns  (grinding stones) to turn grains into a porridge-like food. Roman soldier 's  soon began consuming it to “break the fast” between the evening meal and the first meal of the next day.  The Latin word for that early morning meal was “disiunare” from the Latin root “dis” meaning reversal, and “iunare” meaning fast: together, "breakfast".  This word was later shortened to “disnare” or “disnar” and, even later, in old French, to “diner,” which meant, at that time, the first large meal of the day.  Eventually, in medieval England, this word that originated in Latin evolved into the English word "dinner". In England during that time, food writers emphasized that two meals a day should suffice and eating more frequently was considered “beastly.” People were expected to have a sizeable meal in the morning (dinner) and then have a smaller meal in the evening. Eventually, however, intermediate smaller meals became customary, and the larger meal was eaten much later in the day. Thus, the word "dinner", originally meaning "reversing the fast", is now used to indicate the last largest meal of the day while the word "breakfast" has come to be known as the first meal of the day.

 

COOKING TIP: Alternate Uses for a Melon Baller.

1) Use melon baller to remove the choke from artichokes.

2) Portion out mini appetizer sized drop biscuits. 

3) Scrape seeds from cucumbers, zucchini, jalapeno peppers, etc.
of other firm, juicy fruits and vegetables.

4) Core halved fruits, e.g., apples, pears. etc.

5) Hollow out vegetables for stuffing; tomatoes, squash, cucumber, baby potatoes, etc.

6) Use to make mini ice cream scoops.

7) Remove eyes from fresh pineapple.

8) Scoop out tops of cup cakes to make a hole for stuffing.

9) Make balls from melon and other fruit,. freeze and add to summer drinks to cool them down, add  flavor and color.

10) Portion  mini cookies.