food museum blog

Flavored Snapple Antioxidant Power Waters Under-Amaze Foodie

Water, water, everywhere, including from the tap, but Americans choose to buy it in both big and little plastic bottles--or wrestle home the 5 gallon jugs from the water store ( my choice thus far,) or install filtered gizmos at the kitchen sink, or pour tap water into those Brita pitchers...or.....

Now, yes, flavored water has been around a while--and I'm not talking about the Cokes and the Dr Peppers and all those hideously uber-sweetened fizzy things that once were merely made with sugar and now are all corn syrup all the time--the drinks that made Americans Great, and I mean, like, Huge.
No--I am tiptoeing into the topic of , maybe, specialty waters?

A pr person emailed to ask if I would try some Snapple Antioxidant Waters and comment about them on this blog. Sure, I said. They arrived. I tried a half glass of chilled Agave Melon, subtitled "The Power to Restore."  Then I sipped Raspberry Acerola--"The Power to Defy."  Wow. The literary context of these drinks is formidable, maybe to provide the breakfast reading we once enjoyed on the back of cereal boxes, before we shifted to bulk grains in clear bags, who knows?

Ok, so--the restorative one is presumably for use after working out. The defiant one is aimed at keeping me, ( me?) "young at heart." Oy. Even worse, it "wants to keep my mind spry." And it contains a heckuva lot more "protective anti-oxidants" than the Agave Melon.

The taste? Like very diluted regular sweet juice. Curiously flat. Reminiscent of the watered-down  juice  we gave our kids back in the day, after realizing they were getting crazed on the full-fledged liquid.

The waters arrived in a box containing absolutely zero product info. Dutifully, I went on the Internets and enjoyed an amazing fantasy website put up by the Snapple people--a plane flying over lovely landmasses and such, but the hard facts were elusive. In fact, when I clicked on "Real Facts," the first thing I learned was that a goldfish's attention span was three seconds. Now this did not surprise me, given that my childhood fish, Joe, swam around ALONE in the same bowl for 12 years until being flushed down the toilet by my mom. He was dead at the time. ( In later years, I became fairly certain that numerous "Joes" had entered and exited that bowl during my happy childhood. )

Note to Snapple: wha???

But I digress.

Finally, driven by the need to be a responsible recipient of free drinks, I looked at the labels of these not really waters.  Modified corn starch???  And Epigallocatechin Gallate. ( Among many other ingredients.) OMG!  I'm off to have a slug of a real health drink, Cabernet Sauvignon.

Good luck, Snapple. Thanks for the Nutrient Enhanced Water Beverages you sent me. Full disclosure: a friend of mine walked off with the Mango one, and the other one, whatever it was.

Cheese Curds, Anyone?

Strolling the vendor tents on the final day of Albuquerque's International Balloon Fiesta this morning, I came across the Wisconsin Fried Cheese Curd people, decked out in cheesehead and cow gear. I whipped out my new cell phone camera and snapped what you see here, then later, ( triumphantly, ) sent the pic to my email account.

But the cheese--there was no fried curd left, and the young woman wearing a fetching belled black and white cow hat was clearly tiring of answering random curd questions from the public. ( Yes, they have no website as yet but you can email them: wisconsinfriedcheesecurds@yahoo.com.)

Cheese curds are cheddar cheese before it is muscled into bar shapes, explains their handout. They used to be available only regionally, in cheesey areas, but these folks clearly are hoping they will take off all over.

And speaking of take offs----the galumphing big 80 feet tall, 120 feet long Creamland cow balloon, a local New Mexico favorite in the "special shapes" category, did make it up.

( Flat Earth Snacks, another foodish balloon, is from Frito-Lay. Pic from http://community.webshots.com/inlinePhoto?photoId=2381643790046324146&src=c&referPage=http%3a%2f%2frides.webshots.com%2fphoto%2f2381643790046324146tZgaUO)

( Thanks to Creamland, www.creamland.com, for the photo of Arabelle. )

More Lavish Than Thou--Texas' Central Market

A while back we were wandering through the HQ and flagship store of Whole Foods, in Austin, Texas, our tongues hanging out at the over-the-top displays, the islands where chefs cooked assorted aromatic cuisines, and so on, when we bumped into a woman who waved a hand at it all and said--"This is nothing compared to Central Market."

Hmm. We are heading to one of the Central Market locations in the Dallas area this week. And have just noticed that Central, along with a few others, has been named "Outstanding Specialty Food Retailer," by the National Association for Specialty Food Trade.  ( NASFT produces  Fancy Food Shows around the country, including the one in San Francisco we have attended a few times, waddling away fatter and happier, and laden with samples.)

According to the San Antonio Express News,

"The winners are the definition of a successful specialty food store: They provide excellent customer service, introduce their communities to products not found in mainstream grocery stores and strive to stock the highest-quality, exclusive products that are not mass-produced," said New York-based NASFT. "

Other winners--New York's Fairway Market, Chicago's Pastoral, Sickles Market in New Jersey, Ohio's Dorothy Lane Market and Utah's Liberty Heights Fresh.

These places could be terribly high end, of course, even a tad precious---the home page of NASFT is currently waxing lyrical about a Turkish pudding called sýtlaý. Whole Foods is hardly a discount food joint, for that matter. We will check it out.

ps  Central Market apparently offers 700 cheeses.............

( Run-of-the-mill take-home item from Central Market in photo--http://www.centralmarket.com/cm/cmCafeOnTheRun.jsp)

Leader of the Free World Free to Gobble Cheeseburger Pizza

How did I miss this news item from last week re the Prez' dietary faves?! 

Apparently the current White House chef revealed at an international cheffery gathering that GWB loves cheeseburger pizza for supper. For those not in the know, this is a margarita pizza, topped with hamburger, cheese ( more,) bacon, pickle, ketchup.....relish?  Sort of a complete cholesterol party whammo right in the kisser.

For lunch, the Prez is said to favor p.b. and honey on cinnamon bread, with p. chips and pickles.

Ok-- at first I thought, he's preggers, there can be no other explanation.

Guardian columnist Zoe Williams pondered the fact that the WHouse went to great lengths to emphasize Bush's exercise program and that the p. chips were "homemade."  ( She also asked this question: " How come a grown man eats like a child?" ) 

She went on to note that " Domino's in the US admits ( it) has the highest cholesterol of any of its pizzas, and a calorie count of 1,600. Now, I just recreated this pizza, at home, with ingredient guidance from the Sun, and I don't see how they could possibly have kept the calories so low. I'm not kidding.

A large cheese and tomato base is 1,200, before you even start to heap upon it the glistening animal products. Minced beef, 500 calories, onion fried in oil, another 150, four tablespoons of ketchup, 60, four rashers of bacon, 224, more cheese, 240, and some gherkins. This pizza is a magnificent 2,374 calories and, unlike Domino's, I don't have access to industrial fats, which we all know are more calorie-dense than olive oil."

She admitted it smelled good, mind you. But then,  she is a self-described "pregnant person."

Anyway-- the Prez enjoys his foods. A fella's got to be fueled, after all.

( Pizza pic of Domino's Cheeseburger Pizza from http://www.cheese-burger.net/stories/cheeseburger-pizza.html )

Stalking the White Asparagus

Annet in the Netherlands reports in:

"White asparagus are most popular in this part of the world, and during the asparagus season, which runs from late April until June 24, restaurants offer lots of asparagus dishes, and farmers sell them fresh from their plots. We had some yesterday, fresh from a farm in the northern part of the Netherlands. We cooked them in the traditional way, that is, very simply blanched, served with boiled potatoes, ham, boiled eggs and hollandaise sauce. Delicious!"

( Pic at left from www.sixwise.com. Their article on healthy German food is well worth a read.)

Musing on Velveeta

Apparently, eastern New Mexico is home to one of the largest factory co-op dairy operations in the States, turning out blocks of rubber cheese similar to Velveeta, and other products. It's called Southwest Cheese Company, ( sounds almost quaint,  with wooden hand churns and Daisy chewing her cud and peering through the window,)  and it's  in Clovis.  It supposedly produces over 250 million pounds of "American cheese." 

Back in the ancient days of my childhood, Velveeta was eaten in other homes, not ours. So when I was at a friend's place, I occasionally stuck my fingers in the Velveeta, amazed at its un-cheeselike consistency and its almost melted-before-melting quality.

A quick Google of Velveeta reveals that in 1928 Kraft Foods itself described V as not quite cheese. This text is taken from the company website.

" After several years of research on the nutri tive value of whey - a by - product of cheese making - Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corporation introduces Velveeta© pasteurized process cheese food in the United States and Canada in a half-pound package."

It's a "cheese food." Huh?

Back in February of 2000 Steve Ritter was wondering the same thing--he had been musing on Cheez ( Why Johnny Can't Spell) Whiz, another Kraft product. Here's what he found out, after trial and error:

"Pasteurized process cheese, for example, is made from one or more cheeses, such as cheddar or colby, and may have cream or anhydrous milkfat added. The cheese is blended and heated with an emulsifier—typically a sodium or potassium phosphate, tartrate, or citrate—and other optional ingredients such as water, salt, artificial color, and spices or other flavorings.

Pasteurized process cheese food is a variation of process cheese that may have dry milk, whey solids, or anhydrous milkfat added, which reduces the amount of cheese in the finished product. It must contain at least 51% of the cheese ingredient by weight, have a moisture content less than 44%, and have at least 23% milkfat."

So cheese food is something edible, and contains at least half of what it purports to be.

I won't go into the whole feedlot, cows jowl to jowl who never see pasture, old milkers get axed and are shipped to McDonald's thing here. You know all that anyway.

(SW Cheese factory pic from www.southwestcheese.com. Velveeta pic from http://www.kraftfoods.com/Velveeta/Timeline)

Punkin Pizazz from All Over

"Ric Griffith is crazy about pumpkins. He has 2,400 in his yard, with 600 still to be delivered, " according to a brief note in The Washington Post. The neighbors look forward to the  Kenova, West Virginia punkin pasha's work every year, and probably partake of the pumpkin "meat" that results.

For all things pumpkin from The FOOD Museum, click here.

( Left)  Don't try this at home--the "cannibal pumpkin" from extremepumpkins.com

Best Ever Pumpkin Pie? Try this recipe from The Spice House. And for our vegan friends, this one.

Worst P.Pie ever? According to one blogger it's this one from epicurious.com, normally not the recipe source from hell.

And finally...According to consumeraffairs.com, Target stores is recalling $5 kits of Mr. Potato Head-type ( I assume these are not real licensed Mr. PH items)  stick-in ears, noses, eyes, etc., for use with PUMPKINS, a sacrilege right there, with the usual concerns about small children ingesting the parts.  Take the kits back to Target while your kids stay busy ingesting raw pumpkin seeds and wielding sharp knives.

Ukraine Praises the Perogie

The potato-filled perogie of Ukraine has been honored in a statue in the town of Cherkasy. Townspeople created a 150 pound perogie that was gobbled up on the spot  in celebration of the unveiling. According to a Ukrainian news website, "Sculptor Ivan Fizer explained that the vaerynyk ( perogie) is a source of energy and strength for the body and soul."   Amen!

Just imagine public squares all over the world filled with food-inspired scultpures rather than works depicting uniformed men ( OK--and Joan of Arc ) on horseback...

( NB Some people write the word as "pierogi'" but in this case I am replicating what the Ukrainian translator used...We purloined this Post from our sister blog at www.potatomuseum.com)

Ukraine Recipe from www.brama.com

Dough:

Mix 4 cups flour with 2 tsp. salt.  Add 2 eggs and 1 1/3 cup of cool water.  Knead lightly and cover with a kitchen towel.  Place aside.

Fillings:

POTATO:

Mash 8 large cooked potatoes.  Add 2 large chopped onions, which have been sauteed in butter or vegetable oil.  Season with pepper and salt.

CHEESE:

Mix 4 cups farmer cheese, 8oz cream cheese, 2 eggs and salt to taste.  You can add a little sour cream if the mixture is too dry.

Potato and Cheese
1 tablespoon finely chopped mild onion
2 cups of cold mashed potatoes
1 to 1 1/8 cup of cottage cheese
2 tbs. butter
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the finely chopped onion along with the butter until it is opaque and tender. Remove from heat and add the potatoes and cheese. Season to taste with pepper and salt. Fill the varenyky.

To Form the Varenyky:

1. Roll the dough thin.  Cut rounds with a cookie cutter or the open side of a water glass.

2. Holding the round in your hand, place a spoonful of the filling in the center and fold in half.

3. Press the edges to seal.

4. Lay on a dry kitchen towel and cover.

Cooking the Varenyky:

1. Boil a large pot of water and drop them in a few at a time.

2. Boil rapidly for about 4 minutes. (they should have risen to the top).

3. Place them into a collander and rinse with hot water and drain

5. Place onto a plate and coat with either melted butter, sauteed onions with bacon, or a dollop of sour cream on the side.

5. Invite 4 of your best friends and ENJOY!!!!!

---

Biggest Fish (Mongers) in the East

Hey-- it's flattering to hear that The FOOD Museum On-Line, mothership of this blog, is getting PR in Oz, or what we used to call Down Undah.Yes--it's written up on FISHline, the newsletter of the Sydney Fish Market in Australia.

SFM is " the largest market of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere and the world's second largest seafood market in terms of variety outside of Japan, SFM auctions over 100 species daily. Sourcing product both nationally and internationally, SFM trades more than 14,000 tonnes of seafood annually."

Two things struck me about SFM--one, I read that its fish auctions are modeled after those of the Netherlands' tulip auctions,  in that the bidding goes in reverse.

"SFM has been using the Dutch clock auction since 1989. Adopted from the Dutch tulip auctions, the system ensures product is sold quickly while achieving premium prices.

Held from 5.30am every weekday, the Dutch clock auction is a silent auction which begins at the highest price and drops until a bid is made. The starting price is usually set about $2 above what the product is expected to receive. Two clocks auction seafood simultaneously to ensure product is sold quickly."

Two, SFM supports a Seafood School run by Roberta Muir who is a  graduate of the Masters program in Gastronomy initiated at the University of Adelaide by one Barbara Santich, who is working to establish a museum of Australian food.  ( Barbara has been an email pal for some time and The University has started this food website.)  Anyway, the Seafood School offers a slew of classes, on say,  salt and pepper prawns,  or Singapore Chile Crab, as well as assorted fish foodie events.

All this led me to ponder what might be the biggest of the big fish markets in Japan. Not surprisingly, Google tells me it's the Central Wholesale Market for Tokyo, whose fish market is Tsukiji.  Apparently Tsukiji began in the 16th century near the original castle of Edo, ( Tokyo,) as a place where selected fishermen could ply their trade and then trundle their products to the castle door for sale. (Haggling buyers and sellers pictured below by Mori Kazan.)

When we were in Japan several years ago, gazing at the fish display at a Harrod's equivalent in Tokyo, we truly wondered if there could be any fish or seafood-type critters left in the briny. Evidently yes.

Both Sydney Seafood Market and Tsukiji offer tours, early in the morning-- sushi breakfast is a specialty of the one in Japan--and both appear to explain both past and present well to  their visitors.

First, We Kill All The Bakers

In The Independent today Patrick Cockburn writes of the horrific splitting apart of what was once the city of Baghdad, with sectarian killings of Shia and Sunni Muslims occurring at a rate of about 150 per day.

But it is this sentence that Foodie cannot get past. " In many districts it has become difficult to buy bread because Sunni assassins have killed all the bakers who are traditionally Shia. "

( Ironically, the photo above of an Iraqi baker, found at the U.S. Dept of State website, bears this caption:  An Iraqi baker cooks traditional bread in Baghdad April 22, 2003. More small businesses reopen every day as life slowly returns to normal in Baghdad. © AP/Wide World Photo )