(Hard) Cider--Historic & American

source: www.examiner.com

For the Fourth of July weekend, you’ve got a wide variety of beverages on hand, for guests and yourself—bottled water, soda, beer, wine, spirits, and mixers. Why no hard cider?


For the most American of holidays, it would make sense to have the most historically American of beverages. Hard cider, otherwise known simply as cider in early America and the rest of the world, is fermented apple juice, and it was once America’s most popular drink. Safer than water and cheaper to produce than beer or wine, cider was often the first drink of the day and it certainly wasn’t the last.

Apple orchard in bloom, England

Apples came over to America with the English colonists in the 1630s and by 1850 there were abundant orchards. Just like the colonists themselves, apples became distinctly American as they adapted to the their new world. Apples spread west from the original colonies with the help of none other than Johnny Appleseed. Contrary to his sanitized story, John Chapman was bringing alcohol not fruit to the frontiers. To produce eating apples, trees need to be grafted; seeds, like those that John Chapman supplied, will more likely produce spitters, apples so unpleasantly bitter that they are suited only for cider production. To understand the different types of apples--eating/dessert vs. cider--it’s helpful to make a comparison with grapes: Just as you won’t find wine made with Thompson grapes, you won’t be able to find pinot noir grapes in the produce aisle of the supermarket. Same goes for apples.

Roger Wilkins & his cider
Somerset, England
source: Stony Grunow

Despite this history lesson, you still might not be convinced that cider is right for the Fourth of July. You argue that apples are for the autumn, not the height of summer. You are right that we have almost a Pavlovian response in the fall to crave all things apple. But I respond that summer is the perfect time for cider. Lower in alcohol than wine (usually 6 percent), it is less likely to knock you out on a hot, sticky day. On top of that, cider is deliciously refreshing, and coming in a wide variety of styles, it pairs wonderfully with an equally wide variety of food.


Next, you might cry that cider is sickly sweet. True, many corporate, widely distributed brands are more like apple wine coolers, but if you can find some artisanal brands (e.g., Farnum Hill, Crispin, Original Sin, Eve’s Cidery) or ones from other cider producing countries (England, France, Spain), you are in for a real treat and surprise. These producers don’t typically add sweeteners, and they predominately ferment cider (i.e., not dessert) apples,

Variety of domestic & international ciders

which yield complexity, structure, and dryness. If you do tend to prefer things on the sweet side, no problem. Most fine ciders come in sweet, semi-sweet, dry, and extra dry styles. Find one that works for you and for all the foods you like to eat. (Try cider with spicy food!) You can purchase many of the ciders mentioned above at Whole Foods or at well-stocked liquor stores, such as Spirits in Red Bank, on Newman Springs Road.


As we toast our independence over the weekend, why not do so with the classic American drink, cider.


Enjoy!
Diana Pittet, the cider-swilling cheesemonger


P.S. Look out for my article about cider in the September/October issue of Organic Gardening, which will be available at Sickles Market.

Summer Soirees with Cheese

source: www.countryliving.com

This is the time of year for entertaining.

Nothing signifies a party more than an offering of fine cheeses and merry-making drinks. Below are some suggestions for which cheeses and drinks to serve that take into account the high temperatures of summer and the numerous places to hold a soiree when the heat is on.

Air-conditioned home 
Triple-Creme Cheese, Sparkling Wine, & Dried Rhubarb

Champagne & Brillat Savarin
source: www.thenibble.com

When stepping outside immediately reduces you to a sweaty and limp version of yourself, nothing can seem as desirable or as decadent as gathering with friends in a heavily air-conditioned home. This is when it’s time to eat similarly decadent, triple-creme cheeses, like Brillat Savarin, that would otherwise disappear into a messy lactic puddle during the summer. Keep things cool and classy with a glass of crisp sparkling wine, the natural partner for rich cheeses. Add a festive element to the drink by adding ½ oz of yellow Chartreuse and ½ oz of St. Germain to each glass. An intriguing accompaniment for the cheese is sweetened, dried rhubarb. Both the fruit and the sparkling wine give just enough acidity to balance the lushness of the cheese.


Backyard Barbecue
Wheat/White Beer & Fresh Mozzarella

www.beer-chronicles.com

Something about a barbecue gets the beer flowing. Typically, I opt for full, round, hoppy American IPAs, but last summer, I found myself knocked out from just two cans of Dale’s Pale Ale. The  ABV (percentage of alcohol by volume) tends to be high (at least 6 percent) for these flavor bombs, so it’s no wonder that when you are already a bit dehydrated and woozy from the sun, a few beers can bring you down quickly. For this reason, I am suggesting something slightly lighter, both in alcohol and flavor: lemony wheat/white beers. A more delicate beer necessities a more delicate cheese: fresh mozzarella.  Not only is this cheese great for a few brewskis outside, but also for a side dish at a barbecue. Instead of doing the typical insalata caprese--slices of mozzarella and tomatoes interwoven with basil leaves and a sprinkling of olive oil and sea salt--try this salad with mint, cherry tomatoes, corn, and sherry vinegar, which will play off the refreshing tartness of the beer.


Picnic
Feta & Rosé 

source: http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com

You might have to brace yourself for derision if you produce a bottle of rosé at a picnic. People still assume, despite numerous articles and advice to the contrary, rosé is cheap and sickly sweet. Au contraire! It’s the perfect summer wine. The color itself is as jolly as the season, and it has a fruity dryness that is a lovely match for food, especially ones on the slightly salty side. You can’t a more intentionally salty cheese than feta, but that’s what makes it so especially delightful in the summer when we crave saline restoration. I wouldn’t recommend bringing just a hunk of feta to a picnic. Mix it into a dip, like one with sweet and hot peppers, or crumble it into a zesty pasta salad  with arugula, olives, and sundried tomatoes.


Beach/Beach Club
Mild Washed-Rind Cheese & Cider

source: http://hamptons.guestofaguest.com

I know, cider is another seemingly risky beverage since folks tend to equate cider with the autumn, but it’s just right for the summer. Lower in alcohol than wine (around 6 percent) it’s delightfully refreshing, and since it comes in numerous styles (sweet, semisweet, dry), it can be matched successfully with about any food. As for cheeses at the beach, I tend to go for something semi-soft that is hardy enough to stand up to the sun and becomes pleasantly softer in the heat. Don’t go for anything too pungent (e.g., Epoisses, Ardrahan) that will get unpleasantly stinky in the heat. Try instead something more mild from the same family of cheeses: washed-rinds. Some examples are Italian Robiola, Spanish Patacabra, and French Preferes des Montagnes.


The Sailboat
Juni & Gin and Tonic
What’s more fitting for a sailboat than the classic G&T? I vary the classic by adding mint leaves and thin slices of cucumber and lime--absolutely refreshing. To play off the juniper in the gin, try Juni from Italy, a small rustic cow’s milk cheese from Italy, studded with pine-y juniper.
  
Celebrate summer!
Diana Pittet, the cheesemonger 

Taking My Cues From Barbeques

“Life should be a celebration of good food, good friends and good times.”

Urban Accents, Chicago, IL

For the record, I normally do not find much culinary inspiration on barbeque sauce labels. But when I read Rufus Teague’s rather lengthy but highly entertaining label on a bottle of his Honey Sweet Barbeque Sauce, one phrase in particular caught my attention: “Good sauce makes bad barbeque good and good barbeque gooder.”

Well, that started some musings on the merits of barbeque sauce which eventually evolved into an idea for an experiment with chicken and a variety of sauces and a rub or two. I enlisted my husband Rafael and my son Cameron as official tasters and Rafael graciously agreed to be the grillmaster for my Barbequed Chicken Cookoff. I chose seven contenders for this brainstorm and we marinated and rubbed seven separate pieces of chicken fillets and let them sit an hour before grilling. The competitors were the following:

Rufus Teague Made Some Sauce (Honey Sweet): Currently, our family’s “go-to” sauce for chicken and ribs. This fairly new company from Shawnee, Kansas, was the three time People’s Choice Sauce Champion at the Kansas City Great American Barbeque Contest and the 2007 American Royal Sauce Champion as well!

Willy Jack’s Barbeque Sauce (Original): “Towing a pig cooker and recipe in his pocket” Bill Mayberry ventured out with his sauce from Myrtle Beach, S. Carolina, and ended up in the orchards of Eastern Pennsylvania, with a recipe that includes apple cider, peppers, raisins and hickory flavor. His sauce has been enjoyed at the Kentucky Derby, the Super Bowl and Shea Stadium (and now the Scolari kitchen!)

Bone Suckin’ Sauce: This small batch barbeque sauce from western N. Carolina is a family affair that started back in the early ‘90’s and kept growing. This is an all natural tomato-based sauce sweetened with honey, molasses, and apple cider. Bone Suckin’ Sauce has received accolades from Newsweek, Food & Wine, and The Gourmet Retailer, to name a few.

Mariana Arytza Chimichurri Sauce: I decided to throw in a traditional Argentine seasoning, this one aged for several months and infused with herbs in the final stages of production. The Arytza Chimichurri is classically spicy hot and very flavorful.

Mazi Piri Piri Sauce: Peter Mantas’ stellar hot sauce made from the piri piri pepper of N. African and Portuguese origin. This colorful, zippy sauce is made in small batches by Peter right in Asbury Park, N.J., and was recently featured in the Source section of Saveur Magazine.

Urban Accents Chicken & Poultry Rub: The 2009 SOFI Finalist for Outstanding Flavor Enhancer, this herbaceous dry rub for chicken and poultry is sugar and gluten free. The Chicago-based company makes several different rub flavor profiles depending on your barbeque selection.

L’Epice Tandoori Masala: A traditional Indian spice blend from a local New Jersey company. The flavors are normally earthy, intense and spicy hot, but I usually add oil or yogurt before spreading it over the chicken. As a straight dry rub, it did not work as well, and I felt that we did not do the spice blend justice so we left this one out of the competition this time.

Rafael grilled up the filets and we tasted each one, recording our findings. We had a great time and the results were really quite surprising. Rufus Teague Honey Sweet Sauce, which our family usually finds robust and very flavorful, appeared mildly sweet and subtle when brushed on the chicken and barbequed. When we used it as a condiment however, and dipped the pieces of the cooked chicken, it was much zestier and robust. The Bone Suckin’ Sauce did not have as much appeal to us straight out of the bottle, but when used as a marinade, all three of us were wowed by the succulence and sweetness of the chicken. Willy Jack’s Original sauce reminded Cameron of a campfire and it worked well as a traditional hickory smoke style. Everyone enjoyed the chimichurri sauce with its complex combination of spices and oil, with just a little kick. The Mazi Piri Piri chicken was a vibrant orange and not for the faint of heart (actually, both Cameron and I wrote that exact phrase!) Both the guys liked the fiery hot, flavorful chicken, although I would have liked to have mixed the sauce with some yogurt for a slightly milder version. Finally, the Urban Accents rub was a fun addition to our cookoff with a unique layering of flavors, including coriander, cumin, paprika, lemon peel and cinnamon.

In the end, we all gave up trying to pick a winner and just enjoyed the outrageously good barbeque! Rafael found a rose wine made from Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, the 2010 Mulderbosch Rose (coastal region of South Africa), which complimented the spicy chicken and added to the flavorful evening. As I was finishing my meal, I noticed the back of the Urban Accents Chicken & Poultry Rub Box:
“Rub, Grill, Eat, Smile.”

Maybe finding inspiration on barbeque labels is not such a bad idea after all.

Enjoy!

Cheri The Cheesemonger

News Flash for all of you who read my last blog, Screamin’ for Ice Cream: Jeni’s Ice Cream has just come out with a new summer flavor and it is definitely worth screamin’ about: Lemons and Blueberries Frozen Yogurt. It tastes like fresh squeezed lemons and juicy berries in a rich sweet yogurt that reminds me of cheesecake. A refreshing compliment to any barbeque!



A Bed of Roses

By Patricia Dumas
June 2011

There was a time when a rose was a rose-- blooming sweetly and profusely in late May and June, only to abruptly stop while continuing to just grow branches and hips for the next season. The early summer rose was just that-- fleeting beauty for a short time.

Some of the most beautifully scented roses are the old-fashioned, one time bloomers. They have covered ancestral arbors for generations in and around family homes and are cherished as much as the house itself. Old fashioned roses with long forgotten names such as Damask, Bourbon, Noisette, and China, were and are the hardiest roses around. Old roses are classified by the American Rose Society as those that were in cultivation before 1867 before the Hybrid Tea was introduced. After that, it was an all-out competition in the rose world-- a race to develop a rose for virtually every situation in the modern garden.

There is something to be said about one time bloomers here in our area. Roses naturally despise humidity, and are prone to diseases. Early summer brings out the hardy, profuse petals of the old rose. They will survive in most soils and conditions, without all the fuss that comes with mid -summer humidity and heat.

But, can we live without roses all summer long? I beg your pardon, but, the pop philosopher who sang “I never promised you a rose garden” never met the KnockOut rose.

The world of rose breeders is never satisfied, and they continue to develop roses for every impossible garden and climate. The KnockOut is the biggest development to hit the rose world since the hybrid tea rose came into being in the late 1800’s. This landscape rose has meat on its bones and vigor in its soul.

The premier rose for the landscape, the KnockOut is a disease-resistant, vigorous re-bloomer. First bred by Bill Radler, and an AARS (All America Rose Selection) in 2000, the KnockOut rose is self -cleaning and hardy -- growing taller and wider each year. It will re-bloom generously about every 5 to 6 weeks, and continue until frost. The boring shrub is no more. It’s the best selling rose in America.

When first encountering the KnockOut, I was skeptical. For me, there is no miracle in the garden. Just hard work. The petals of the KnockOut are few, and there’s hardly a scent. But, being the adventurous gardener I am, (growing gourds up rose bushes and pumpkins in mulch piles), I decided to go for it. I certainly wasn’t expecting to jump for joy as I did. The thing literally bloomed its head off and had the appearance of mass flowers from a distance all summer long. I was a convert, and decided to buy more. They easily fit in the yard as a filler in the perennial garden, and a specimen plant on the lawn. The choice of red, yellow, pink and rainbow make it easy to choose. Pruning is minimal, and they can be kept short or tall. KnockOuts bloom on old and new wood and always have something going on throughout the season with abundant flowers in the summer and rose hips aplenty in autumn.

The new landscape roses are spectacular. You may not consider yourself a “rosarian”, but with the new cultivars, you’ll feel like a pro every time you see them hanging, gliding, draping and spilling over your landscape. Here’s a few more landscape roses worthy of consideration:
• Carpet Roses- These compact roses have a great personality in the garden. They are capable of growing canes up to 4 feet in length with a draping, sprawling habit. They bloom all season long, while scrambling beautifully over garden walls and barriers. As with the Knockout, you can mix them right in the perennial beds where they will carry on happily until frost. The Carpets are disease resistant and long-lived.
• The Fairy Rose- Looking like the old roses that cover Cape Cod cottages in the summer, the Fairy Rose sports masses of airy pink flowers that bloom all summer long through the worst heat and humidity.
• Rosa Rugosa - A Chinese import from long ago, this tried and true rose can virtually grow in the sand. The strong, traveling roots and rugged leaves make it the perfect rose for difficult landscape areas. It withstands wind, salt and flooding. The simple flowers have a luscious perfume with the look of the famous Apothecary Rose, and the hips are an added treat for making jellies and jam. It’s as tough as a Cape Cod Nor’easter and can survive one too. They’re perfect for rough terrain and seaside settings.
• David Austin Roses- British Rose Breeder David Austin has developed shrub roses with old-fashioned fragrance and fullness. Blooming all-summer long, these new classics have modern disease resistance and the look of a Victorian postcard. There’s nothing better in a summer vase than a bunch of full-petaled, freshly-plucked, Austin roses dripping over the table.

Contrary to popular opinion and lots of self-doubt floating around, roses are not difficult to grow. If you have a plot with full sun, good air circulation, and some fertilizer, you can have luscious roses in your yard. Just remember that in our intensely humid climate, roses tend to yellow and spot up. A little help from a good systemic spray once a month (yes, we have to use chemicals sometimes with roses), can prevent a lot of trouble and heartache during the hot, sultry Jersey summer months.

Sugar and spice and everything nice

Sugar Cubes
Source: www.reasonpad.com

I leave the topic of spices (and herbs) to my colleague, Cheri, who has already written about this fragrant subject for the Sickles blog. I’ll tackle sugar.

Sugar is most definitely nice. In fact, it’s a universally accepted taste and one that we are born craving. But it’s also considered evil, blamed for hyperactivity in children, weight gain, and tooth decay. While we crave it, we also spurn it.

It’s important to remember that sugar is a naturally occurring substance, and most life forms, including life’s most basic--cells--depend on it for healthy biologically functioning. Even stationary plants need sugar: they store it up in their stems, tubers, and seeds as a source of food. Since we humans depend on it, too, we consume these plants for their store of sugar.

Sugarcane
Source: http://www.udcinc.org

There’s really nothing harmful about sugar per se, except, of course, for tooth decay. I am referring to sucrose, or the type of sugar that comes from sugarcane and that we add to our coffee and use for baking. The problem with sugar is that that it’s just empty calories—about four calories per gram.  Over-consumption will result in a surfeit of calories and a deficiency of nutrients. As most nutritionist agree, it’s not any particular type of food (e.g., fat, sugar, other carbohydrates) that leads to weight gain; it’s excess calories that’s to blame. By cutting down on sugar, you can reduce calories and this can help you maintain an ideal weight.

Sugarcane; its products
for sale in Banos, Ecuador
Source: Flickr-Mochileira Delpaso

These days it’s almost impossible to escape sugar’s grip on our food supply, but it was once a rare and incredibly expensive foodstuff, which was treated more as an exotic spice and used sparingly. Only with the increase in production worldwide, which started with Columbus’ bringing a cutting of sugarcane to the Caribbean, did sugar’s prohibitive price drop and become more widely available. A bitter side to sugar must be noted here: the reason that level of production increased so dramatically was due in great part to the exploitation of slaves.

Jars of sugar & chilies
to add to Thai noddles

To remember how special sugar is, I suggest getting reacquainted with its naturalness and resuming its use as a condiment. In Latin America and South America, and Southeast Asia, where sugarcane is grown, the fresh juice, pressed from the cane, is enjoyed on the street, as is chewing directly on the cane for a sweet treat. We may not be able to do this so easily in New Jersey, but try to do so on any trip to those parts of the world. If in Southeast Asia, you can sprinkle sugar, as well as fresh and dried chilies, onto your noodles, prepared at a roadside stand. The granules of sugar don’t dominate the taste of the dish, but adds complexity and balance: the cuisine of Southeast Asia strives for a balance of hot sour, salty and sweet.

Advertisement in Granada
for Nicaragua's favorite rum

Of course in Latin America, one of the most popular ways to consume sugar is rum, which is distilled from sugarcane by-products such as molasses, or, directly from sugarcane juice. Sweet goes with sweet, so try a Cuba Libre or Nica Libre: a cocktail of rum with a Coke, ice cubes, and a slice of lime. When you order a bottle of rum at a bar in Nicaragua, you get a few free Cokes in glass bottles--made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup--and a bucket of ice. It may sound like much too sweet of a cocktail, but it’s wonderfully refreshing on a hot, sticky day. That said, I would always ask for fresh pineapple juice for my share of the bottle of rum.

Like everything, enjoy sugar—and rum!—in moderation but also think of it as something “nice.”

Diana Pittet, the sweet-loving cheesemonger

Whisky & Oats: Royal Tastes

A toast to the happily married couple, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge!

With what shall we toast Prince William and Kate? French Champagne? Mais non! We should make it something British. I say we should go with a wee dram of whisky.

Scotch is especially fitting because Prince William and Kate Middleton met at the University of Saint Andrew, the oldest university in Scotland.

Highland Cows on Isle of Mull

On top of that, Scotch, especially a single malt one, is something truly special--warming, indulgent, and exotic. I've been a fan ever since I went traveling in the Outer Hebrides, the remote western islands of Scotland, and arrived at a damp hostel on the Isle of Harris where fellow guests were sitting around a smoldering but warm fire. One of them produced a bottle of fine Scotch and passed it around to us soggy lot. After a few swigs, grimaces turned to smiles, and we strangers found easy chatter. Since then, I’ve linked whisky with that merry evening.

Extensive Scotch collection
Port Ellen, Islay

Scotch may conjure up romantic notions of windswept, underpopulated islands, but its origins are a little more pedestrian: a fermented grain mash. This is the case for all whiskeys, but what makes Scotch Scotch is that the spirit must be made in Scotland (one would hope so!) and aged in oak barrels for at least three years. The stars of Scotch are the single malts, which are highly sought after and collected. They must be produced from only water and malted barley at a single distillery.

It wouldn't be wise to drink Scotch without a little something to eat. After all, this tipple has a minimum alcoholic strength by volume of 40 percent. Again, let's make our nibble Scottish. The classic would be smoked salmon and oatcakes.

I assume you know what smoked salmon is and that Scotland is famous for it, but what about oatcakes? They are distinctively Scotish and not well known outside of Britain. At the cheeseshop where I worked in London, the only crackers we sold were all different sorts of oatcakes. They are basically a rough cracker made from ground oats, a grain that grows well in Scotland. The Queen of England is said to eat oatcakes for breakfast.

Sickles may not have whisky, but it does have smoked salmon as well as a few different types of oatcakes. Typically, I would select the organic ones from Nairns, since they are a hearty, no-nonsence accompaniment for cheese. For some fancier entertaining, which is in order for toasting the royal couple, I would recommend a new product, little oatcake canepes. You could fill them with some crème frraiche and a slice of smoked salmon and garnish of fresh dill.

If you prefer tea to whisky, try the Nairn's fruit oatcakes at Sickles. They are almost like a raspberry-scented cookie. For extra decadence, you could schmear it with some butter and a layer of cloudy and thick heather honey, another delectable treat from Scotland that's available at Sickles.

The royal wedding may have happened over a month ago, but it's never too late to pour yourself a wee dram and toast them. Or you can wait for Wimbledon, which starts in two weeks, and cheer on Britain's number one player, Andy Murray, from Scotland.

Cheers!
Diana Pittet the cheesemonger