In my house growing up, Thanksgiving always featured the gelatinous cranberry sauce above. It wiggled on the plate as we passed it around—carefully avoiding my plate, thank you very much! I turned up my nose and passed it along. Thankfully when I wed, my husband had a similar revulsion to the stuff. However, upon researching cranberries for this open and seeing more appetizing versions, I realized I probably misjudged this berry. So I hereby apologize sincerely and if anyone reading this has a good recipe for homemade cranberry sauce, I would be more than willing to try it out. Read on for some interesting facts about cranberries from the justfunfacts.com website.
The name cranberry is used to describe tart red berries produced by several plant species.
In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species Vaccinium oxycoccos, while in North America, cranberry may refer to Vaccinium macrocarpon.
Vaccinium oxycoccos is cultivated in central and northern Europe, while Vaccinium macrocarpon is cultivated throughout the northern United States, Canada and Chile.
Vaccinium oxycoccos is known by the common names small cranberry, bog cranberry, swamp cranberry while Vaccinium macrocarpon is known by the common names large cranberry, American cranberry and bearberry.
Native Americans used the cranberries as a staple as early as 1550.
By 1620 Pilgrims learned how to use cranberries from the Native Americans.
The development of cultivated varieties cranberries occurred only during the past 100 years, making it one of the most recently domesticated fruit crops.
Cranberries are a major commercial crop in the U.S. states of Massachusetts, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Quebec.
Cranberries are low, creeping shrubs or vines that can grow up to 7 feet long and 2 to 8 inches in height.
They have slender, wiry stems that are not thickly woody and have small evergreen leaves.
The flowers are pink, with very distinct reflexed petals, leaving the style and stamens fully exposed and pointing forward. Small flowers appear in June and are pollinated by bees.
The fruit is a berry that is larger than the leaves of the plant; it is initially light green, turning red when ripe. It is edible, but with an acidic taste that usually overwhelms its sweetness.
Berry picking begins in early September and continues until late October. More than 121,255 US tons are produced in the United States annually. Most cranberry products are consumed in the United States and Canada.
Cranberries are a very good source of vitamin C, dietary fiber, and manganese, as well as a good source of vitamin E, vitamin K, copper and pantothenic acid.
The health benefits of cranberries include relief from urinary tract infection (UTI), respiratory disorders, kidney stones, cancer and heart diseases. Cranberries are especially beneficial to the eyes (they significantly improve symptoms of cataracts, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy).
As fresh cranberries are hard, sour, and bitter, about 95% of cranberries are processed and used to make cranberry juice, sauce, compote or jelly.
They are also sold dried and sweetened.
Cranberry juice is usually sweetened or blended with other fruit juices to reduce its natural tartness.
Cranberry sauce is a traditional accompaniment to turkey at Christmas dinner in the United Kingdom, and at Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners in the United States and Canada.
Cranberries are also used in baking (muffins, scones, cakes and breads).
At one teaspoon of sugar per ounce, cranberry juice cocktail is more highly sweetened than even soda drinks that have been linked to obesity.
There are several alcoholic cocktails, including the Cosmopolitan, that include cranberry juice.
The Lenni-lenape Indians of New Jersey called the cranberry “Pakim” meaning ‘bitter berry.’ They used this wild red berry as a part of their food and as a symbol of peace and friendship. The Chippawas called the cranberry “a’ni-bimin,” the Alogonquin called it “atoqua,” and the Naragansetts called it “sasemineash.” Native Americans would eat it raw, mixed in with maple sugar, or with deer meat (as a dried “Pemmican”).
Cranberries were offered to the pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving.
GABARDINE: Few movements in history have been more thrilling than the pilgrimages of the Middle Ages. Many people traveled to shrines throughout Europe and even to the Holy Land. Pilgrims continued to visit some of the shrines at enormous sacrifice of time and money. They wore an unofficial but characteristic garb: a gray cowl bearing a red cross and a broad-brimmed, stiff hat. Pilgrims carried a staff, a sack, and a gourd. They usually traveled in company with other adventurers, singing hymns as they walked and begging food from those they met.
Medieval Pilgrims
Since a particular type of upper garment was worn by the pilgrim, it gradually came to be identified with the journey itself. A will filed in 1520 included this bequest: “Until litill Thomas Beke my gawbardyne to make him a gowne.” From the garment the term came to refer to the coarse material from which it was customarily made. Slight modifications in spelling produced gabardine – a kind of cloth that passed from the religious pilgrim’s vocabulary into general use.
Assorted Gabardine
RUBBER: On his second voyage to “East India,” Columbus found natives playing with a substance they called caoutchouc. It would stretch and then snap back into shape; when made into balls it would bounce. Scientists who examined the odd substance agreed that it was unlike anything known in Europe, yet they confessed themselves unable to imagine any use for it.
Small quantities of caoutchouc were brought to Europe, but it remained a curiosity for more than two centuries. Finally, someone discovered by accident that the material could be used for removing the marks of a lead pencil. Hence, bookkeepers termed it “lead-eater.”
Around 1780 Joseph Priestley experimented with a bit of caoutchouc, hoping to find some use more important than erasing errors made in ledgers. He failed and decided that it would never be of value except for rubbing out pencil marks.
Joseph Priestley
Consequently, he called it “East India rubber.” Soon the nickname of the one-job substance was abbreviated to rubber. The name serves as a perpetual reminder that civilization was once at a loss as to what to do with a substance of a thousand uses.
MAP: Greek geographers of the sixth century BC developed considerable skill in making charts to guide sailors and travelers. Then the Romans extended the art by engraving scale representations of the Empire on fine marble slabs. These devices, and the more abundant clay tablets, proved to be extremely cumbersome, so someone thought of painting geographical charts upon cloth.
Fragment of Greek “Map”
For this purpose, the most suitable material proved to be fine table linen, or mappa. This led to the practice of calling any flat geographical chart a map.
RECIPE: Since Latin was the universal language of medieval scholars, physicians used it in writing directions for compounding medicines. Virtually every prescription listed the ingredients in precise order and began with the Latin verb recipe, meaning “take.”
Ancient Apothecary “Recipes”
Care in measuring and blending the ingredients of a tasty dish is also essential. Therefore, when housewives began to master the art of reading and writing, they adopted the apothecary’s custom and made written lists of ingredients and steps in cookery. Inevitably, such a set of directions took the pharmaceutical name and became familiar to the household recipe.
BUDGET: Struggling with a budget is no new problem; it dates back to the days of the Roman Empire. Housewives had to be cautious in their spending and they kept money for household expenses in a little leather bulga (Latin for bag). This custom also prevailed among businessmen, who may have borrowed it from their wives or vice versa.
Antique “Bulga”
Centuries later, the Latin word was adopted into Middle French as bougette (“little leather bag”). When the British Chancellor of Exchequer appeared before Parliament, he carried his papers explaining the estimated revenue and expenses in a leather bag and then “opened the budget” for the coming year. Thus, budget (as it came to be pronounced) came to mean a systematic plan for expenditures, both for governments and for private individuals.
EAT ONE’S HAT: Many a man engaged in a contest of some sort has offered to eat his hat if he loses. In such a situation, a knowledge of etymology would be of great value, for the expression eat one’s hat once referred not to a Stetson or a Panama, but to a culinary product.
Napier’s famous Boke of Cookry, one of the earliest European cookbooks, gives the following directions: “Hattes are made of eggs, veal, dates, saffron, salt, and so forth.” In the hands of amateur cooks, the concoction was frequently so unpalatable that it required a strong stomach to eat it.
Even so, the early braggart who offered to eat a hatte had in mind nothing so distasteful as a felt or a straw!
FLOUR: During the Elizabethan Age, the word “flower” meant “the best,” as it does today in such expressions as “the flower of the nation’s youth.”
Millers of the period ground wheat by a crude process, then sifted the meal. Only the finest of it passed through the cloth sieve in a process called “boulting.” Reserved for tables of the nobility, this top-quality ground wheat was naturally called the “flower of wheat,” but in this context the word came to be spelled flour. The two spellings were used interchangeably until the 19th century. In Paradise Lost, Milton wrote the line, “O flours that never will in other climates grow.”
Boulting
COOKING TERMS: There is at least one serious gap in European history. Her contemporaries failed to record the name of the woman who first thought of stuffing an egg. Nothing is known about her recipe, except that she was liberal with pepper. Her invention was so hot that folks who tried it were reminded of Beelzebub’s fiery furnaces. As a result, the tidbit came to be called a deviled egg.
Most other terms of cookery are prosaic by comparison. More than half were borrowed from the French – which suggest that English cooks were never very imaginative. Braise stems from French for “hot charcoal.” Toast is but slightly modified from “toaster” (“to parch with heat). Boil stems from a continental verb meaning “to make little bubbles.” Poach grew out of pocher, which meant “to pouch,” that is, to enclose an egg’s yellow in a little pouch of white.
Fry, grill, roast and baste were also adapted from French. Fricassee was taken as is from that language, but the ultimate origin is unknown.
The oldest term in cookery is probably cook, still much like Latin coquus. The Norse gave us bake, from baka (“hearth”). The Saxons contributed sear, spelled just as it is today. It originally meant to “wither with heat.” Scorch – the bane of a cook’s existence – has a long history that goes all the way back to the Old English scorkle, which started life as a term for skinning meat by searing.
If you’re planning on carving a pumpkin this year, or you want to cook and puree a pumpkin for pies or bread, save the seeds! According to WebMD, pumpkin seeds are a rich source of protein, unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals that reduce risk factors of chronic diseases, including cancer.
Any pumpkin you can get your hands on will do the trick. Pie Pumpkins, also called Sugar Pumpkins, will have more flesh if you’re planning to eat the pumpkin too. Some say they have crisper seeds than carving pumpkins, but both can be used.
Harvesting the seeds may be the only complicated part of the whole process, and it’s not that bad (promise!).
What You’ll Need
a sharp knife
an ice cream scoop (a large, sturdy spoon will work too)
a colander or strainer
a towel
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: If you’ll be carving your pumpkin for Halloween, cut a hole about 6 inches in diameter in the bottom of your pumpkin. Use the ice cream scoop or your hands to scrape out the pumpkin guts. Try to separate the flesh from the seeds as much as possible before collecting the seeds in your strainer. It’s a messy job, but it’s worth it.
Step 2: If you’re planning to roast your pumpkin, simply cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds from the flesh with a sturdy serving spoon or ice cream scoop.
Step 3: Thoroughly rinse your seeds under cold running water. You can even set your colander in a bowl of water and most of the seeds will float to the top. Either way, you’ll need to get your hands in there to further separate rest of the pumpkin bits. Spread the clean seeds on a towel and pat dry. At this point you can do a quick boil in salt water before roasting for extra crispiness, but there isn’t always time for that so this recipe takes the seeds straight to the oven.
How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds requires only three ingredients and 15 minutes of prep time (and just over 30 minutes total time!). Now that you know how to clean and prepare the seeds, let’s break down the rest of the recipe.
What You’ll Need
15x10x1-inch baking pan
Wooden spoon
Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin seeds from fresh pumpkin
2 teaspoons melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Heat oven to 350°F. Clean and prepare seeds (as instructed above), then spread seeds in an ungreased 15x10x1-inch baking pan. Toss with melted butter until coated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
Step 2: Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden brown and crisp, stirring once during baking.
Step 3: Cool in baking pan 10 minutes or until completely cooled before serving.
How to Roast Pumpkin Seeds in the Microwave
If you’re really in a rush, you can “roast” your pumpkin seeds in the microwave. Place them in a single layer in a glass pie plate. Microwave them for about 2 minutes and then stir. Microwave again for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring after each minute, until the seeds are dry and crunchy.
How to Season Pumpkin Seeds
A simple sprinkle of salt and drizzle of olive oil or melted butter always do the trick, but there are so many seasonings that bring out the best in pumpkin seeds. You can keep it basic, go sweet or even spicy.
For each cup of raw seeds, evenly coat with…
Italian
2 tablespoons melted butter + 1/4 cup grated Parmesan + 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
You can eat pumpkin seeds on salads, soups, in desserts or (most likely) straight from the roasting pan into your mouth. And you can eat the pumpkin seed shells too! Once cooked, the outer hull is just as edible as the seed inside — and is a good source of zinc.
NOTE: There are pumpkin seeds and there are pepitas.
Pepita is the Spanish word for pumpkin seed, and you’ll see pepitas on just about every chef-driven restaurant menu these days. It’s a pretty trendy ingredient, to say the least. However, if you’ve ever had one of those delicious little pepitas, you’ll know that they are very different from what comes out of your jack-o-lantern. They’re tender, greenish and don’t have hard white shells like regular pumpkin seeds do. And you can’t just remove the shells off of a pumpkin seed and get a pepita — they actually come from certain types of pumpkins (thin-skinned Styrian or oilseed pumpkins) that have shell-free seeds.
The best Halloween themed dessert by far is Dirt Cake. It’s easy to make and lots of fun to be creative with your presentation.
Dirt Cake
1 16-oz package of Oreos (crushed)
¼ cup butter, softened
1 8-oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 pkgs instant vanilla pudding (3.9-oz size)
3 ½ cups milk
12 oz cool whip
Place the Oreos in a Ziploc bag; close. Using a rolling pin, gently crush the cookies.
In one bowl, cream the butter, the cream cheese and the powdered sugar.
In another (large) bowl, beat the pudding mixes and milk. Then fold in the whipped cream and make sure the whipped cream is thoroughly incorporated. Gently mix the butter/cream cheese/powdered sugar mixture into the pudding/milk/whipped cream mixture.
Layer the creamed mixture with the cookie crumbs in a compote dish. Add gummy worms if desired.
OR…
You can use a 13 x 9 dish and create a graveyard. Milano cookies make great headstones.
Heat oven to 425°F. Prepare pie crusts as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie using 9-inch glass pie pan.
In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender. Stir in flour, salt and pepper until well blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thickened.
Stir in chicken and mixed vegetables. Remove from heat. Spoon chicken mixture into crust-lined pan. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.
Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown. During last 15 to 20 minutes of baking, cover crust edge with strips of foil to prevent excessive browning. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.
Tips from the Pillsbury Kitchens
tip 1
Make a foil collar (or pie crust shield) to protect the edges of the pastry from over browning. Place strips of foil to cover crust during the last 15 or 20 minutes of baking.
tip 2
A standard 9-inch glass pie plate works best for this recipe.
tip 3
The only complicated part of making a pot pie is the pastry. By using a refrigerated dough you’re left with making a quick, savory gravy that can be filled with leftover cooked chicken, turkey, or ham and a good handful of veggies. A dash of poultry seasoning or some finely chopped fresh sage will enhance the flavor of the sauce.
tip 4
To Make Chicken Filling Ahead: prepare as directed in recipe. Spoon into airtight container; cover. Refrigerate up to 1 day. To bake, pour filling into 2-quart saucepan, heat over medium heat 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently or until thoroughly heated. Assemble, fill and bake pie as directed in recipe.
tip 5
To Freeze Chicken Filling: prepare as directed in recipe. Cool, uncovered in refrigerator 30 minutes. Spoon mixture into 1-gallon freezer food storage plastic bag, leaving 1/2 to 1-inch at top of bag for expansion; seal. Freeze up to 1 month. To bake, thaw mixture overnight in refrigerator. Pour into 2-quart saucepan, heat over medium heat, 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently or until thoroughly heated. Assemble, fill and bake pie as directed in recipe.
The name “pumpkin” comes from the German word “pepon,” meaning “large melon.”
It is believed that pumpkins originated in Central America over 7,500 years ago. Pumpkin seeds contain many health benefits as they’re filled with vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fatty acids.
Pumpkin flowers are edible.
There are more than 45 different kinds of pumpkins.
Pumpkins are grown on every continent except Antarctica.
About 90% of a pumpkin is water.
The states that produce the most pumpkins include Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California.
80% of the pumpkin crop in the United States is available during October.
For pumpkins to be ready by Halloween, they must be planted between late May to early July, depending on the location.
According to the Morton Pumpkin Festival, “In 1978, the Governor of Illinois signed a proclamation that Morton, Illinois was the ‘Pumpkin Capital of the World’ since 85% of the world’s canned pumpkin was processed at their Libby’s Pumpkin plant.”
Many people think of pumpkins as orange, but they can also appear in shades of white, yellow, red, blue, or green.
Canned pumpkin is not actually just pumpkin, but made up of a variety of other squash.
Pumpkin shells used to be woven into mats.
Jack -o’-lanterns originated from an Irish myth, and before using pumpkins, people in Ireland and Scotland created these now-Halloween-staples with turnips and potatoes instead.
Pumpkins were once thought to be a cure for snakebites.
You should not carry a pumpkin by its stem, but use two hands instead.
After a pumpkin is cut, it will usually last about seven to 10 days.
Making pumpkin pies during the holidays became popular during the 1800s.
The heaviest pumpkin, according to the Guinness World Records, came from Germany in 2016, weighing 2,624.6 lb.
The largest pumpkin pie weighed in at 3,699 lb from New Bremen, Ohio, in 2010.
The current record for most pumpkins carved in one hour by an individual is 109.
The record for the most people carving pumpkins simultaneously is held at 1,060 people. This took place in New Mexico in 2013.
The Guinness World Records reports that the fastest 100 m ever paddled in a pumpkin (you read that right!) has been 2 minutes 0.3 seconds, which was set in 2013.
You can’t go wrong with a classic Betty Crocker recipe, and this one is no exception. This timeless dessert is the epitome of fall—homemade flaky pastry is wrapped around a hot and bubbly apple and a warm brown sugar glaze is poured on top for an extra sweet finish. A perfect recipe for Apple Dumpling Day!
Recipe from Betty Crocker Kitchens
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold butter or margarine
4 to 5 tablespoons cold water
6 baking apples, about 3 inches in diameter (such as Braeburn, Granny Smith or Rome)
3 tablespoons raisins
3 tablespoons chopped nuts
2 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/3 cups water
Heat the oven to 425°F. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt. Cut in the butter, using a pastry blender or fork, until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle with the cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing well with fork until all flour is moistened. Gather the dough together, and press it into a 6×4-inch rectangle.
Lightly sprinkle flour over a cutting board or countertop. Cut off 1/3 of the dough with a knife; set aside. On the floured surface, place 2/3 of the dough. Flatten dough evenly, using hands or a rolling pin, into a 14-inch square; cut into 4 squares. Flatten the remaining 1/3 of the dough into a 14×7-inch rectangle; cut into 2 squares. You will have 6 squares of dough.
Remove the stem end from each apple. Place the apple on a cutting board. Using a paring knife, cut around the core by pushing the knife straight down to the bottom of the apple and pull up. Move the knife and make the next cut. Repeat until you have cut around the apple core. Push the core from the apple. (Or remove the cores with an apple corer.) Peel the apples with a paring knife.
Place 1 apple on the center of each square of dough. In a small bowl, mix the raisins and nuts. Fill the center of each apple with raisin mixture. Moisten the corners of each square with small amount of water; bring 2 opposite corners of dough up over apple and press corners together. Fold in sides of remaining corners; bring corners up over apple and press together. Place dumplings in a 13×9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish.
In a 2-quart saucepan, heat the brown sugar and 1 1/3 cups water to boiling over high heat, stirring frequently. Carefully pour the sugar syrup around the dumplings.
Bake about 40 minutes, spooning syrup over apples 2 or 3 times, until crust is browned and apples are tender when pierced with a fork.
Today is International Chocolate Day! Now everyone has their favorite, go-to flavor, but, how much do you actually know about the different kinds of chocolate? Do you know what differentiates semisweet from bittersweet? Or why white chocolate is softer than milk chocolate? It all comes down to how the chocolate is made and what ingredients are used to make it. Read on to learn about the varying flavors, compositions, and characteristics of each kind of chocolate.
Chocolate Liquor
Chocolate liquor, sometimes referred to as unsweetened chocolate, is the base of all types of chocolate. This thick, dark brown paste is created from cacao nibs, the inside of the cocoa bean. The nibs are finely ground to a smooth texture. When heated, this paste turns to a liquid that can be formed into bars or chips. Chocolate liquor is 100% cocoa, with no added ingredients. Under high pressure, this paste separates into cocoa butter and cocoa powder (also called cocoa solids). Despite the name, chocolate liquor does not actually contain alcohol.
White Chocolate
White chocolate is easy to identify because of its cream or ivory color. It is made by combining sugar, cocoa butter, milk, vanilla, and lecithin (an emulsifier that helps the ingredients blend together). These ingredients give white chocolate its sweet vanilla aroma. White chocolate often has a flavor profile that can be described as predominately sweet, with bold notes of sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Good quality white chocolate will have a rich, soft, and creamy texture — a characteristic that comes from its cocoa butter base and high sugar and milk content.
White chocolate is unique because it does not contain any cocoa solids. The cocoa solids are what give chocolate it’s dark brown color and chocolatey taste that we all know and love. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sets standards of classification for each kind of chocolate. According to their definition, in order for something to be considered white chocolate it must contain at least 20% cocoa butter and 14% milk, and no more than 55% sugar.
Many ask, “Is white chocolate, chocolate?” The answer is yes because it contains ingredients from the cacao bean. Not to be confused with the white-flavored or vanilla-flavored coating that is often found in sub-par products. Cocoa butter is expensive because it is in high demand by the cosmetics industry, for use in lotions and other beauty products. Therefore, companies often create a compound that substitutes other vegetable fats in place of the cocoa butter. These white chocolate-like substitutes can’t be officially called white chocolate because they often don’t meet the 20% cocoa butter requirement set by the FDA definition.
White chocolate, when stored properly, has a shelf life of about four months. While it is delicious to eat, white chocolate is also great for cooking, baking, and decorating. The dairy-forward flavor profile adds subtle richness to any dish, while still letting other flavors shine through. White chocolate’s color lends itself well to decorating cookies, cakes, and confections.
Milk Chocolate
Milk chocolate is a classic that we all know and love from childhood. With its light brown color, creamy texture, and sweet flavor, milk chocolate is widely regarded as the most popular type of chocolate. It is made by combining chocolate liquor (cocoa solids and cocoa butter) with sugar, and milk. Sometimes an emulsifier, such as soy lecithin, is added to enhance its smoothness. According to the FDA definition, milk chocolate must contain at least 10% chocolate liquor and 12% milk.
Break off a piece of milk chocolate and let the aroma fill the air. Enjoy the smell of caramelized sugar, vanilla, chocolate, and dairy. Then take a bite and let the flavor fill your mouth. Milk chocolate often has a flavor profile that can be described as sweet and chocolatey, with notes of cooked milk and caramelized sugar and a vanilla aftertaste.
Milk chocolate is considered to be a good middle of the road chocolate. It is characteristically sweeter, with a softer texture than dark chocolate, but not quite as sweet and soft as white chocolate. When properly stored, milk chocolate has a self-life of about 16 months. Milk chocolate is a great choice for when you want a chocolate treat or gift everyone will enjoy.
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate, with its notable deep brown color, is the second most popular type of chocolate. It is sometimes referred to as black or semisweet chocolate and is noticeably less sweet than milk chocolate. In recent years, dark chocolate has surged in popularity thanks to a number of articles being published about the health benefits.
Dark chocolate is fairly simple in composition. It is typically made from two ingredients — chocolate liquor and sugar. Sometimes small amounts of vanilla and soy lecithin (an emulsifier) are added. According to the FDA definition, dark chocolate must contain at least 15% chocolate liquor but usually contains closer to about 50%. Most high-quality, dark chocolate does not contain added dairy and can be a great vegan-friendly chocolate. The lack of dairy and less sugar gives dark chocolate firmer texture than milk chocolate or white chocolate. This is why a well-tempered piece of dark chocolate will have a nice snap when broken in half.
The flavor profile of dark chocolate can vary widely based on the cocoa content of the chocolate. It is often slightly-sweet and chocolatey, with notes of baked brownie, red fruit, and brown spice (think cinnamon or allspice). Due to its chocolate-forward flavor profile, dark chocolate is great for baking when your recipe needs a rich, chocolatey flavor. Dark chocolate’s widely-acclaimed health benefits make it a favorite snack among health-conscious consumers. When properly stored, it has a shelf-life of about 20 months.
Bittersweet Chocolate
Bittersweet chocolate has gained a lot of traction recently as people started to learn more about cacao and cocoa percentages. This kind of chocolate, sometimes referred to as extra-dark chocolate, rose to popularity when people began claiming that you should eat dark chocolate with a cocoa content of 70% or more, in order to get the most health benefits. The recent rise in bean-to-bar chocolate makers and craft chocolate has also lead to an increase in awareness and popularity of higher cocoa content dark chocolate.
Semisweet and bittersweet chocolate share the same FDA definition, and must contain more than 35% chocolate liquor, although they generally contain at least 50% cocoa liquor. Bittersweet chocolate is typically 66% cocoa content or higher (the added sugar usually less than one-third of the total content).
Like its name indicates, bittersweet chocolate is often a little more bitter than semisweet dark chocolate. The chocolate’s flavor profile can vary greatly, depending on where the cacao is grown – some can be fruit-forward or have a deep earthy flavor, while others can have flavor notes of baked brownies. Bittersweet and semisweet are interchangeable when baking, depending on the recipe and personal taste preferences. Substituting bittersweet chocolate will give your recipe a deeper, less sweet chocolate flavor. Extra-dark chocolate, when properly stored, has a shelf-life of about 20 months.
Cocoa Powder
Cocoa powder is created when chocolate liquor is separated under high pressure, and the resulting cocoa solids are crushed into a powder. Unsweetened cocoa powder is essentially 100% cocoa.
There are two types of cocoa powder, natural cocoa and dutch-processed cocoa. Natural cocoa is lighter brown in color and has a strong chocolate flavor that is often acidic. Dutch cocoa is natural cocoa that has been alkalized to neutralize the acidity. The dutch-process gives the cocoa powder a deep, warm color and slightly milder flavor.
Unsweetened cocoa, especially dutch cocoa is great for baking. Unsweetened cocoa can be added to spice rubs and moles to give the dish a richer, more complex flavor. Dutch-processed cocoa is often used when making hot chocolate, because the extra process allows the powder to easily blend with liquids. When stored properly, unsweetened cocoa can have a shelf-life of about 18 months.
Ruby Chocolate
In 2017, ruby chocolate was discovered by Belgian chocolate maker, Barry Callebaut. With its red-pink hue, this distinctive chocolate is noticeably different than its other chocolate counterparts. It is not colored white chocolate, but rather a color derived from a specific type of cacao — the ruby cocoa bean (a bean typically grown in Ecuador, Brazil, and the Ivory Coast.) Because this is a relatively new discovery (and the exact cacao making process developed by Barry Callebaut is proprietary), there is no standard FDA definition.
Made from 47.5% cacao content and 26.3% milk, ruby cacao has flavors of intense fruitiness and fresh sour notes. This trendy new type of cacao is great for creating bold, fruit-forward chocolate treats and colorful Instagram-worthy chocolate confections. When stored properly, ruby cacao can have a shelf-life of about 12 months.
PLEASE NOTE: Chocolate Bloom is a harmless gray coating on chocolate caused by rapid changes in humidity or temperature. It doesn’t affect flavor or melting properties. I personally never had chocolate long enough to see it bloom…lol.
Today’s recipe is one of my favorite Fall recipes—Pumpkin Bread! The recipe says you can make 2 9-inch loaves or 3 8-inch loaves. I normally make 1 8-inch loaf and then several mini loaves to share. This bread freezes wonderfully!!
Pumpkin Bread
2/3 cup shortening
2 2/3 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 can (1 pound) pumpkin
2/3 cup water
3 1/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
2/3 cup chopped nuts (I use walnuts)
2/3 cup plumped raisins
Heat oven to 350*. Spray 2 9-inch loaf pans or 3 8-inch loaf pans with baking spray. In a large bowl, cream the shortening with the sugar until fluffy. Stir in the eggs, pumpkin and the water. Blend in the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cloves. Stir in the nuts and raisins. Pour into pans. Bake about 70 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Enjoy!
Note: if you use the mini loaf pans, your baking time will be less. I check mine at 40 minutes and go from there.
Crisp, sweet, and delicious, bushels of apples are a true symbol that autumn has arrived. Whether you stroll through the apple orchard and pick some yourself, or scoop a few pecks up from the store, Americans just can’t get enough. By volume, we eat more apples than any other fruit. But for all the love we show to apples, how much do you actually know about our favorite fall fruit?
Archaeologists have found evidence that people have been eating apples since 6,500B.C.
The science of growing apples is called pomology.
There are more than 7,500 apple varieties in the world — about 2,500 varieties grown in the United States. About 100 of those are sold commercially. Apples are the second-most valuable fruit grown in the U.S. (oranges being the first).
Apples are grown in all 50 states, but they’re only grown commercially in 36 states. The top producing states are Washington, New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania, California, and Virginia.
Top producing counties in the world are China, United States, Turkey, Poland, and Italy.
Most apples in the world are still picked by hand.
Americans eat more apples per capita than any other fruit. According to the USDA Economic Research Service, the average American eats about 16 pounds of fresh apples and 28 pounds of processed apples like juice, cider, or sauce, for a total of about 44 pounds per person per year.
Apples are available in grocery stores all year long thanks to the global market, but the Northern Hemisphere typically considers as early as July and as late as November apple season. September and October are peak months.
If you’ve ever wondered why apples float it’s because they’re 25 percent air, giving us the ability to bob for apples in a barrel of water.
The common autumn party game bobbing for apples started as a Celtic New Year’s tradition for trying to determine one’s potential future mate.
Apples ripen up to 10 times faster at room temperature than if they are refrigerated.
Apple trees take at least four to five years to start producing fruit. Some take as many as 10 years.
The top ten varieties produced in the United States are Gala, Red Delicious, Granny Smith, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Mcintosh, Rome, Cripps Pink, and Empire.
An average tree produces 840 pounds of fruit.
It takes about 36 apples to make one gallon of apple cider.
One of George Washington’s hobbies was pruning his apple trees.
Apples are a member of the rose family of plants, which also includes pears, peaches, cherries, and plums.
When John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, blasted off on his initial space flight, he carried with him pureed applesauce in squeezable tubes.
According to Guinness World Records, the largest apple peel was created by Kathy Wafler Madison in Rochester, N.Y. on October 16, 1976. The prize-winning peel was 172 feet 4 inches long.
The first American apple orchard was planted around 1625 by William Blackstone on Boston’s Beacon Hill.
Apple juice was one of the earliest prescribed antidepressants.
Only sour apple trees were native to America before the European settlers brought with them their favorites.
The pale, lime green Lady apple is one of the oldest varieties of apple still available today. It was originally documented in early Rome (approximately 700 B.C.). It was first referenced as the ‘Lady apple’ in 1628 during the French Renaissance.
An apple has about 80 calories. They are fat-free, sodium-free, and cholesterol-free and also are an excellent source of fiber.
After nearly a decade with Red Delicious as the apple darling of the United States, Gala apples are now the nation’s favorite.
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