Barkhamsted’s Simply Jam is simply delicious

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Barkhamsted’s Simply Jam is simply delicious

By John Torsiello

BARKHAMSTED — There’s a strong, spicy, tear-producing aroma in the air of the kitchen at the Colebrook Senior Center, that makes a visitor cough a little and head back to the entry door. Mike and Julia Stewart chuckle a bit and follow.

“It does hit you a little,” says Julia Stewart, one of the masterminds, along with her husband, of Simply Jam, which have as their key ingredients, jalapeno and bell peppers. Fruit and peppers, you might ask? Well, yes — the combination has developed a strong (pun intended) following among foodies. In fact, Simply Jam is doing a hot business selling several varieties of their jam — more than 18,000 jars in 2018 — quite an increase from when the Stewarts first began their cottage business in 2011. The number of jars is increasing exponentially each year.

“It’s the combination of tasting the fruit at first and then the little kick of the jalapeno and bell pepper that comes afterward,” said Julia Stewart, explaining the reason for the jam’s popularity. “You get the sweet and that spicy crunch at the end bite.”

She herself wasn’t a believer at first, before being introduced to pepper jam by a friend, Carol Parent of Winchester. But, as the couple says on their website, “It was love at first bite.” Soon, they were making their own pepper jams and gifting them to neighbors and family, who repeatedly asked for more, more, more.

The Stewarts began selling their jams at local holiday craft fairs and orchards in 2011. After becoming fully licensed in 2016, started selling direct to local farms and stores in the area.

“We got immediate positive feedback to our jam,” said Mike Stewart. “We’ve actually had people come up to us and even visit us at our home to say how much they enjoy the jams and that they can’t get enough of them.”

The first store the Stewarts’ jams appeared in was, of course, the venerable Colebrook General Store, which sits just across from the Senior Center. Simply Jams can now be found in 80 stores around the region, including big retailers like Big Y, Stop and Shop, Adams Hometown IGA’s and La Bonne’s Market. The jams have been shipped to more than 30 states as a result of online orders, according to Mike Stewart. “We could ship overseas but that gets quite expensive and a bit complicated.”

Says Julia, “We believe what makes our jams special is that we hand make all of them and hand pour each jar. We even hand label each jar. They are not mass produced and we don’t add any ingredient that would make the jams gel too quickly.” That’s why when viewed inside the individual jars, the pieces of peppers are suspended in the fruity liquid and when held to the light appear almost as stained glass.

“We try and source as many of the products that go into the jams as possible in season, from local sources, such as Jillybeans Farmstand in Bristol, Gresczyk Farm in Barkhamsted and March Farms in Bethlehem,” offers Mike, who helps out in the kitchen, setting up venues and delivering the jam to the various locations.

The couple, who live in Barkhamsted, make their jam at the Colebrook Senior Center kitchen because it is larger than the one at their home. They are fully licensed to produce and store the jam.

“We would love to have a large professional home kitchen so we wouldn’t have to rent the space here,” says Mike, “but this has worked nicely thus far.”

If one is hesitant about trying the jams because of the kick of the jalapenos, Mike explains that it is nowhere near the hottest pepper known to man. “There’s a scale (the Scoville Scale) to measure the hotness factor and this jalapeno is at the lower end, nowhere near the ghost pepper and other very hot peppers. It is a sweet heat, gentle warmth,” he explains.

Simply Jam products have several basic hotness levels, a mild variety consisting of fruit with 70 percent bell and 30 percent jalapeno peppers, up to the hottest, which contains 10 percent bell and 90 percent jalapeno peppers.

Simply Jam comes in seven varieties: Mild; Raspberry Jalapeno; Cranberry Jalapeno; Garlic Jalapeno; Mint Jalapeno; Hot, and Extra Hot. The company also offers summer seasonal specials: Strawberry Jalapeno; Peach Jalapeno, and Blueberry Jalapeno.

The couple even offers up some tasty recipes on their well-composed website. How about “Jalapeno Jam Glazed Salmon,” “Raspberry Jalapeno Jam Chicken Salad Sandwiches,” “Jalapeno Jam Loaded Cheesy Nachos,” or “Sticky Jalapeno Jam Chicken with a Green Salad,” all made with, of course, Simply Jam.

“It also goes well as a dip dish on an appetizer board,” said Julia, who hails from England. “Really, it can be used on any meat and is great as a glaze if barbecuing.”

The couple gets assistance from their son-in-law Russ Clay, who helps out in the kitchen, handles website design, accounting and marketing.

“Where do we go now?” said Mike when asked how he and his wife would like to grow their business. “We are self-sustaining and very happy with how we have progressed. The next step would be ramping up production and getting into more stores on a greater scale, but we haven’t quite made a decision on that yet. But we are at that point where it is possible.”

In the meantime, the customers of Simply Jam are getting their taste buds all worked up and asking for more. Julia and Mike Stewart will keep working hard to meet their cravings.

Visit www.SimplyJam.net for more information.

Pineapple on pizza is actually good — you’ve just been eating it wrong

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Pineapple on pizza is actually good — you’ve just been eating it wrong

Pineapples on pizza makes the best slice, but it is supernal when you add this one magic ingredient

AMANDA MARCOTTE
JULY 18, 2019 11:00PM (UTC)
Of the many pizza debates in America, by far the most divisive, the kind that turns brother on brother and starts ugly fights in otherwise happy marriages, is the struggle over whether pineapple on pizza is good. The pineapple haters have memes, Facebook pages and lengthy forum threads dedicated to denying the tastiness of this canned tropical fruit atop a bed of mozzarella and tomato sauce. Searching “pineapple pizza” on Twitter results in thousands of tweets, coming out daily, in which pineapple pizza is both rabidly denounced and cheekily defended as pineapple fans troll the haters by displaying pleasure at this cheese-and-fruit combination.

Beyond the gentle pineapple trolls on social media, there have been robust defenses of pineapple on pizza from people who are paid for their opinions. In February, Allison Shoemaker of The Takeout proudly declared, “The Hawaiian Pizza is a thing of beauty,” and praising the Australians for pairing pineapple with ham on pizza. And Tim Carman of the Washington Post gathered a group of friends, some diehard Hawaiian Pizza haters, and forced them to eat the loathed concoction. It turns out that no one “actually hated” the pizza, though Carman allowed that it might have been a better preparation at We the Pizza in Washington, D.C. than one might get from, say, Domino’s.

I step into this fraught debate only to say this: Everyone is wrong. Pineapple haters are wrong for all the reasons that have been carefully laid out, such as how perfect the saltiness of the cheese and acidic sweetness of the pineapple hang together. But the defenders are also wrong in focusing on the classic combination of ham and pineapple on a pizza. That’s fine, no doubt, but is far from the best way to eat pineapple on a pizza.

No, the true rock star topping combination of the pizza takeout world is pineapples and jalapeños. That way you get the salt and fat from the cheese, the acid and sweet from the pineapple, and — critically — the bite from the jalapeños, thereby proving the old Texas maxim that there are few, if any, foods that can’t be improved by dumping some jalapeños on it.

I learned of this combination during my wayward youth, from a friend who used to deliver pizzas for a local chain that peddled the cheapest kind of pizza in Austin, TX. He jokingly called it the “stoner special”, but I can assure readers that while all pizza tastes better with THC in the veins, there is no need for chemical enhancement to enjoy this particular set of pizza toppings.

Pineapple and jalapeños work on all kinds of pizza, but are, as the name “stoner special suggests”, especially ideal for cheap takeout pizza. These ingredients do a lot of work of covering up for the inadequacies of the sauce or dough by hitting your tongue with all their acidic, biting glory. And while we all might love pretending we only eat pizza in some of your nicer brick oven locales, if you have a sports-viewing event or gaming night at your house, and thus need big boxes of cheap delivery pizza, then I highly recommend getting at least one pineapple-and-jalapeño pie. People will wrinkle their noses, but, inevitably, it’s the pie that gets eaten up the fastest.

No doubt this combination would work great with fresh pineapple and jalapeños straight from the garden, for those who want to do a food snobby take on a beloved takeout item. But for my money, you can’t beat the version you’ll get from the takeout joints, which features canned pineapple and pickled jalapeños.

Are there any two foods that are more suited to the canning process than these two? Jalapeños, in particular, may even be improved by being pickled and canned, which tends to take just enough edge off the heat that you can eat even more jalapeños, which is, of course, what any sensible person who eats food wishes to do.

The closest thing I’ve found to this combination in the higher end pizza market is the “green” pizza at Emily in Brooklyn, which uses a tomatillo sauce to capture that same mix of spice and sweet that makes the stoner special so much fun to eat. I remember distinctly the first time I got this pizza at Emily, and the sense of vindication watching food snob friends house it, enjoying the same combination that has dominated my cheap pizza eating habits for a couple decades now.

So, do yourself a favor and next time you need to order pizza from one of your fast-and-cheap local delivery services — and no use pretending that’s not going to happen at some point in the next year — get yourself a pineapple and jalapeño pizza. It’s the perfect pie for the hot summer months, when cravings for both spicy food and fruit are at their highest. It’s absolutely worth the grief you’ll get from the prigs who don’t think pineapple belongs on a pizza.

Here’s what makes a winning burger at 2019 Burger Brawl in Philadelphia

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by Michael Klein, Updated: September 16, 2019

Here’s what makes a winning burger at 2019 Burger Brawl in Philadelphia

COURTESY BURGER BRAWL

Chris Barnes and his crew at Lucky’s Last Chance must be feeling like big dills after capturing first place among the judges and third place among attendees at the 2019 edition of Burger Brawl, a grilling competition that drew a record 3,900 people and 50-plus restaurants and chefs to the Marine Parade Grounds at the Navy Yard in South Philadelphia last Sunday.

It’s a fund-raiser, headed by Center City restaurateur Rob Wasserman, for the School District of Philadelphia.

Lucky’s Pickle Monster burger is a tribute to pickles. It has two quarter-pound beef patties, American cheese, pickles, fried pickles, dill-flavor potato chips, pickle relish, and pickle aioli on a butter-toasted Liscio’s pub roll.

The bar-restaurant, with locations in Queen Village and Manayunk, has won the contest previously with its PB & Bacon burger, which tops a patty with creamy peanut butter, American cheese, and bacon; there’s grape jelly on the side.

The Pickle Monster will be available only at the Queen Village location, starting Sept. 19.

Pickles also figured into the second-favorite among judges: the Wagyu Burger Bao from The Bercy in Ardmore, which had pickled vegetables on top.

Also capturing two categories Sept. 15 was Bainbridge Street Barrel House in Queen Village, which took first place in the People’s Choice voting and was awarded “best stack” by a panel of Instagrammers. Chef Eric Paraskevas said the burger will be added to the menu.

Moonshine Philly in Pennsport, whose Italian-style Pennsport burger took second place among judges, was awarded most photogenic.

Chef Eric Paraskevas and Eleni Fetfatzes of Bainbridge Street Barrel House get that winning feeling at the 2019 Burger Brawl at the Navy Yard.
COURTESY BURGER BRAWL

Chef Eric Paraskevas and Eleni Fetfatzes of Bainbridge Street Barrel House get that winning feeling at the 2019 Burger Brawl at the Navy Yard.

Other winners included Hard Rock Cafe in Center City and Steam Pub in Southampton.

Now in its ninth year (the first at the Navy Yard), Burger Brawl acknowledged the rise of social media by inviting Instragrammers to judge.

The list of winners and descriptions follows.

Judge’s Choice

1st Place: Lucky’s Last Chance’s pickle monster: two quarter-pound beef patties, American cheese, pickles, fried pickles, dill-flavor potato chips, pickle relish, and pickle aioli on a butter-toasted Liscio’s pub roll.

2nd Place: The Bercy’s wagyu burger bao: pickled cucumber, spicy aioli, pickled vegetables, beef wagyu patty, sesame seeds & bao bun.

The Pennsport from Moonshine was topped with crispy prosciutto, mozzarella, caramelized onions, basil aioli, arugula, and tomato jam on a garlic-toasted bun.
MICHAEL KLEIN / STAFF

The Pennsport from Moonshine was topped with crispy prosciutto, mozzarella, caramelized onions, basil aioli, arugula, and tomato jam on a garlic-toasted bun.

3rd Place: Moonshine Philly’s Pennsport: Crispy prosciutto, mozzarella, caramelized onions, basil aioli, arugula, tomato jam on a garlic-toasted bun.

People’s Choice

The Home Grown burger from Bainbridge Street Barrel House is an 8-ounce brisket burger blend, Green Meadow Farm horseradish cheddar, fig aioli, shredded lettuce, plum shishito bacon jam, and fried shallots.
COURTESY BURGER BRAWL

The Home Grown burger from Bainbridge Street Barrel House is an 8-ounce brisket burger blend, Green Meadow Farm horseradish cheddar, fig aioli, shredded lettuce, plum shishito bacon jam, and fried shallots.

1st Place: Bainbridge Street Barrel House’s Home Grown: an 8-ounce brisket burger blend, Green Meadow Farm horseradish cheddar, fig aioli, shredded lettuce, plum shishito bacon jam, and fried shallots.

2nd Place: Hard Rock Cafe’s Guinness burger sliders: Signature steak-burger blend, whiskey bacon jam with Guinness cheese sauce, leaf lettuce, and tomato.

3rd Place: Lucky’s Last Chance’s Pickle Monster.

Instagram-Worthy

Burger Brawl judges photograph the Ultimate Breakfast Burger from Steam Pub in Southampton, which won the Sauce Boss category.
MICHAEL KLEIN / STAFF

Burger Brawl judges photograph the Ultimate Breakfast Burger from Steam Pub in Southampton, which won the Sauce Boss category.

The Sauce Boss: Southampton’s Steam Pub Ultimate Breakfast Burger: 8-ounce chuck burger, slow-cooked candied chili bacon and American cheese in between French toast topped with a fried egg and maple syrup. (This burger is on Steam Pub’s menu.)

Best Stack: Bainbridge Street Barrel House’s Home Grown

The Most Photogenic: Moonshine Philly’s Pennsport.

3rd Place: Brick & Brew (Media, Havertown, and Malvern)

Honorable Mention: Harper’s Garden (Rittenhouse)

45,000 and growing. Pickle Parade in Mansfield sweet success with legion of fans

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By:By Nicholas Sakelaris

Fort Worth Star- Telegram

 

(photo By: Nicholas Sakelaris Special to the Star-Telegram )

It’s a pickle that looks like a rocket. Or a rocket that looks like a pickle. Either way, this dill garnered a lot of attention in the Pickle Parade.

 

The Pickle Queens were barely finished throwing their beads to finish the 8th annual World’s Only St. Paddy’s Pickle Parade & Palooza and people were already clamoring to be part of next year’s parade.
John Pressley, president of the Pickled Mansfield Society, said they averaged 45,000 people over the two-day event March 15-16 and the exposure has more people wanting to get involved.
Construction on South Main Street did change this year’s the parade route and limited this year’s event to 75 floats. But next year, the construction will be a distant memory and they’ll be able to accommodate 100 floats again, Pressley said.

“There are vendors and parade entries already applying,” Pressley said. “It will be beautiful next year when they get it finished.”

When complete, the new South Main Street in front of The LOT Downtown and Twisted Root will have  room for food vendors on both sides while leaving room for the parade to go down the middle, Pressley said.

There was a late entry to this year’s parade, as the Timberview boys basketball team won the school’s second Class 5A state championship in three years on March 9.
“If you win a championship, they usually throw a parade for them,” Pressley said. “We were actually able to get Timberview’s basketball team into the parade just like the pros.”
The team rode in the back of a white pickup truck and soaked in all the cheering from the crowd.

The second annual beer keg races on Friday night had more entries this year and they got to show off their driving skills in the parade on Saturday.
“It turned out to be a huge success, everyone had a magnificent time watching the homemade golf carts with kegs on them racing up and down main street,” Pressley said.

 

The baby parade was four times bigger than last year.

Russell LaBouve and his 7-month-old daughter, Cade, won the grand prize for the baby parade with their moon rover float. Building the converted wagon meant many sleepless nights for the LaBouves, who traveled from Louisiana for the parade.

Being from Mardi Gras country, they’re serious about their floats. LaBouve is a welder by trade so he originally envisioned a moon lander with legs but the project evolved.
“Let’s turn it into a rover if we can, put some wheels on it, put some fake solar panels, i call them our ‘fauxler panels,” LaBouve said.
He bolted her high chair to the wagon and attached wood and then painted it to look like a rover.
The new cornhole tournament on Friday was also “received tremendously,” Pressley said.

 

 

Grillo’s Pickles New Shoe, “The Pickle,” Is A Limited Edition Collab With Ewing Athletics

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By

Bustle

Photo by:  Grillo’s Pickles

Grillo’s limited edition pickle shoes.

Ah, the struggle as old as time: knowing in your heart that pickles are the superior snack to end all other snacks, but not having a way to properly communicate that belief in a nonverbal way to strangers on the street. Well, friends, that’s all about to change. Grillo’s Pickles is releasing a sneaker called “The Pickle” with Ewing Athletics, making it that much easier to go about your day while reminding everyone within a 360 degree radius of you that pickles exist, and that human existence only has two true states: enjoying pickles, and the rest of your boring regular life.

The limited edition shoes, which drop on the Ewing Athletics website on March 4 and will retail for $140 a pair, are every bit as much a labor of love as Grillo’s actual pickles; in fact, there’s not a single square inch of the shoe that hasn’t been specifically branded to the pickle lover’s lifestyle. Per a press release from Grillo’s Pickles, “The clear soles and plastic lining of the laces represent the brand’s farmer’s market-styled jar filled with seven natural ingredients — cucumbers, salt, dill, garlic, water, grape leaves & vinegar. The green suede represents the organic dill, while the green leather is a nod to the crisp, crunchy cucumbers used to make each handpicked jar. The white laces represent the fresh California-grown garlic.”

The back of the shoe also displays an image of Grillo’s iconic mascot, Sam, Sam the Pickle Man — plus, if you look inside the sole, you’ll see an image of the OG Grillo’s Pickles cart. That image, as it turns out, has a bit of an ~origin story~ more linked to the new sneakers than you might expect. The cart, which originally opened in Boston in 2008 selling two pickles for a buck, was founder and CEO Travis Grillo’s new pursuit after Nike turned him down for a job as a sneaker designer. So basically, this full circle pickle moment is a pretty big dill.

Since that launch in 2008, Grillo’s has not only taken up so much space in the pickle market that they’ve not only solidified their place on the sides of all our sandwiches and in our actual legit human hearts — they’ve also launched a whole slew of pickle merch, designed by founder Travis Grillo. You officially live in a world where you can rep pickles on your shirts, your hats, your water bottles, and even your beach pong paddles, all of which are available on the Grillo’s online shop.

That said, I doubt anything beats the pure unadulterated and ridiculous joy of skipping in a pair of pickle sneakers down the sidewalk, a specific kind of joy Grillo’s and Ewing Athletics are bestowing on us with this collab. “Ewing Athletics is always looking to collaborate with companies that would typically be outside of the box for a sneaker brand and Grillo’s is a perfect partner,” Ewing Athletics President, David Goldberg, said in a press release. “Premium Pete made the connection and we were able to come up with a great design with a fresh look to match the pickles. We have done other food related projects in the past and we try to make each one better than the last.”

Just know that if you want to snag a pair of these, you’ll have to act fast — they go on sale on March 4 exclusively on the Ewing Athletics site.

These Lay’s Creamy Jalapeno Poppables Are A New Spicy Snack With A Crispy Crunch

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By: Rachel Murphy

Elite Daily

Photo by:Courtesy of Lay’s

Try Lay’s new flavor : Creamy Jalapeño .

When it comes to the sweet versus salty debate, I’m always team salt. Don’t get me wrong — I love a good bowl of ice cream or a fudgy brownie. But when it comes to everyday snacks, I’m always going to reach for a bag of chips before I go for a cookie. So, when I found out that Lay’s Creamy Jalapeño Poppables are hitting store shelves in early February, I knew I had to learn more about them. Any snack that combines heat, salt, and a good crunch is A-OK in my book.

Lay’s new Creamy Jalapeño Poppables are coming soon and are going to be a permanent addition to the snack aisle, according to Lay’s. The company took to Instagram to announce the launch of the new flavor. According to Jan. 16 post, Lay’s plans to roll out the new Creamy Jalapeño Poppables starting on Monday, Feb. 4. Mondays are always such a drag, but this gives my palate something to look forward to. My guess is that you should be able to find this flavor anywhere Lay’s products are sold such as Target, Walmart, and your favorite local grocery store. This flavor of Poppables will be sold in 2-ounce and 5-ounce bags, according to Lay’s.

If you aren’t one to indulge in spicy foods, I invite you to reconsider. While I haven’t taste-tested this flavor for myself, the good people over at SnackGator have. SnackGator is quick to point out that you “get an instant whiff of zesty jalapeño,” but that the cream flavor kicks in and overpowers the spicy flavor of the pepper.

 

Remember, jalapeño isn’t the only flavor these crisps possess. There’s also the creamy aspect, which should help cut back on the jalapeño spice for those who don’t like to play with fire. I’m a fan of jalapeños. I like to eat them pickled, raw, and in my guac and other dips. Also, jalapeño poppers were a staple food of my childhood and I still love the friend snack. Really, any way is fine by me. I’ve never met a jalapeño that I didn’t like.

The packaging for the new snack touts “perfectly poppable crispy potato bites.” As I said, I haven’t been privy to trying this yummy snack just yet so I can’t confirm or deny the validity of the bag’s claim. If I’m going based off of images of the Creamy Jalapeño Poppables, the small oval-shaped chips look perfectly crisp and well seasoned with specks of spicy green flavor. You may have noticed the airy design of the Poppable. The unique criss-cross pattern helps to give the snack an extra big crunch with every bite. I’m already drooling.

 

Jalapeño Peanut M&M’s are finally here — and people are freaking out

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By:  Alessandra Bulow

TODAY 

 

( Photo: Brent Timm/SnackChat Live)

Jalapeño flavored M&M’s are the new trend.

 

The makers of M&M’s have just released three new flavors — but there’s only one that’s really getting fans especially fired up: Mexican Jalapeño Peanut.
Brent Timm, the host of SnackChat Live, broke the news back in September on Instagram and showed off the deep-green packaging of the new pepper-flavored chocolate candy.

“So down for this idea,” one person wrote. “We want these!!” wrote another.

 

But the sweets, which are coated in yellow and green candy shells, didn’t elicit only positive comments.

“Nah I’m good” and “For the love of all that is holy” were just two of the thousands of comments from people who reacted with concern or disgust to the news.
The three new treats hit store shelves on Monday and, according to M&M’s, they’re all totally different.

“The Mexican Jalapeño Peanut flavor combines just the right amount of spice with chocolate,” the press announcement reads. “The Thai Coconut Peanut flavor is a savory sweet taste inspired by the tropics of Thailand. And there’s nothing more English than toffee, and the quintessential English Toffee Peanut flavor tastes as elegant as a trip to Great Britain itself.”
So how do they really taste?

“The Mexican Jalapeño M&M’s have the same classic crunch and milk chocolate flavor as traditional peanut M&M’s, but with a very mild jalapeño flavor that kicks in after a few bites,” Timm told TODAY Food. “They have a great, natural jalapeño taste, with just a subtle hint of spice. For all the snackers who are averse to spicy foods — don’t worry! — these spicy M&M’s won’t have you calling the fire department, or guzzling a glass of milk.”

M&M’s lovers will recall that a limited-edition spicy Chili Nut candy was released in 2016.
“The new M&M’s have a very distinct jalapeño flavor, but the spice factor, or ‘heat,’ is virtually identical to the chili flavor from years past,” Timm said.

 

“The English Toffee Peanut M&M’s were my absolute favorite out of the three new flavors,” Timm told TODAY. “The toffee flavor was incredibly bold and robust, with a delicious coffee and caramel essence. Highly addicting!” As for the Thai Coconut Peanut M&M’s, Timm said that they “have just the perfect amount of coconut flavoring and that the combination of coconut and milk chocolate is a match made in heaven.”

Fans will be able to vote for their new favorite candy at www.flavorvote.mms.com, or text the word “vote” to 84444. By voting in the contest, candy fans will be entered for a chance to win a trip to one of the three countries that inspired the flavors. The contest is open through May 17. In 2018, Crunchy Mint beat out Crunchy Raspberry and Crunchy Espresso M&M’s.
While Timm has a feeling the Toffee Peanut M&M’s will likely become the fan favorite, he doesn’t discount the novelty of the Mexican Jalapeño Peanut M&M’s.

“The jalapeño flavor will definitely raise some eyebrows and attract the more ‘adventurous’ snackers, but I don’t think they’ll have enough appeal to become a permanent flavor,” he said.
M&M’s will announce the winning flavor, which will be sold in stores for an extended period of time, in August.

Pickle bouquets are the best thing to happen to Valentine’s Day since chocolate

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By: Erica Chayes Wida

Today 

Grillo’s Pickles created a bouquet made of its finest pickles. And it’s easy to make.

( Photo by:Grillo’s Pickles)

Guys, Valentine’s Day is coming up and it’s a really big dill.

It’s a great time to remind all loved ones (spouses, moms, dads, dates, baes and kids included) how much they really mean to you. While a card or some roses often fit the bill, why not go the extra step on Feb. 14 with an edible bouquet made out of … pickles!

Sure, fresh flowers may smell like fairies bathing in a glistening glen, but pickles are also pretty magical. Plus, pizza bouquets are so last season.

A pickle can be sweet, it can be sour (anyone else drawing a parallel to love?) and best of all, it won’t wilt over time — as long as it’s eaten quickly.
Grillo’s Pickles, the Boston-based pickle company behind the novel idea, isn’t actually selling pre-made pickle bouquets, but their founder told  TODAY  Food why the brand wants its loyal followers to make their own this year.

“Not only is a pickle bouquet more beautiful than a dozen red roses, and healthier than a standard box of chocolate, it’s also far more creative,” Grillo’s founder and CEO Travis Grillo told TODAY. “Grillo’s Hot Italian Dill pickles make it easy for consumers to spice things up with their hottie, while the brand’s Bread & Butter pickles offer a low-cal treat for sweeties nationwide.”

Grillo said that his team drew inspiration for the bouquet from the traditional, 100-year-old Italian family recipe the company still uses today: Cucumbers, salt, dill, garlic, water, grape leaves and vinegar. That’s why they added whole bulbs of garlic and fresh dill to the pickled arrangement.

“We know there are a lot of pickle lovers out there that would love nothing more than to get a Valentine’s Day gift loaded with their favorite snack,” Grillo added.
If reactions on Twitter are any indication about the popularity of pickles, Grillo is spot on.
For years, pickle fiends have been fantasizing about a tangy edible arrangement.

Since Valentine’s Day is a holiday that celebrates love, it’s probably best if pickles are prepared to look pretty decent.
Straight from Grillo’s expert florists — pickle-ists? — here’s how to craft the ultimate pickle bouquet.

Pick up a selection of your favorite pickles. Grillo’s recommends using a few different kinds like dill, hot chips, bread and butter and a variety of spheres and whole pickles.
Arrange the pickle spears and chips into a bouquet shape using bamboo kebab skewers and toothpicks.

Garnish with your choice of festive (or delicious) extras, from fresh herbs to colorful peppers.
And if you really want to try your hand at craftiness, try rolling little slices of pizza into the arrangement. After all, pickle-topped pizza has won over pickle fans in the past.

 

 

Creamy Dill Pickle Dressing Is The Absolute Best Way To Use Leftover Pickle Juice

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By: Marie Rossiter

Magic Valley 

( photo by: Sinful Nutrition)

Creamy dill pickle salad dressing is a great way to reuse pickle juice

 

Once reserved primarily as a burger topping, pickles have stepped into the spotlight for recipes including ice cream, cupcakes, quick bread, and even cocktails. But not all pickle recipes are on the strange side — for example, creamy dill pickle salad dressing is something we had never considered before, but it makes perfect sense. After all, pickles are just flavored-up cucumbers, right?Sinful Nutrition shared a creamy dill pickle salad dressing recipe she thought up because she couldn’t face dumping the leftover pickle juice down the drain. “You put vinegar in salad dressing, so why not pickle juice?!” Writes blogger Emily Cooper. “No more brines left behind.”

Cooper added one avocado, along with some olive oil, to come up with a tangy dressing that is paleo-friendly, vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free. The blogger behind Yang’s Nourishing Kitchen prefers to use the juice from fermented pickles as the base of her salad dressing recipe. Fermented pickles, also known as Jewish kosher pickles, have lactic bacteria — “good bacteria” — from its brining process. This bacteria is actually good for our digestive systems because of their probiotic qualities, Yang writes.

 

You can find fermented pickles in the refrigerated section of your favorite grocery stores. Why? They do not contain vinegar, which acts as a preservative. As a result, they cannot be placed on the shelves due to spoilage risk, she writes.

 

For this pickle juice salad dressing with summer herbs, Yang adds fresh ingredients such as garlic, dill, and parsley to brighten up the taste. Also, she adds a dash of Dijon mustard to kick up the salad just a little bit.If creaminess isn’t your thing, there are a few other dill pickle dressing recipes out there, including a vinaigrette from Tasting Table and another from Food 52.
Have fun dressing your salads!

Can Pickle Juice Really Cure a Hangover?

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Health

By:Kasandra Brabaw

Here’s what you need to know before swigging brine from the jar in your fridge.

 

When you wake up with a pounding head and cotton-dry mouth the night after one (or a few) too many drinks, you’ll likely find yourself Googling ways to get rid of your hangover, fast. And when you do, you may stumble upon a suggestion to throw back some pickle juice.

Some claim that pickle brine is the reason Polish people don’t get hangovers. Even Dr. Oz has endorsed pickle juice as a hangover cure. According to him, the salts in pickle juice replenish electrolytes that you lose while drinking, which can make your headache disappear. But is getting over a hangover really as easy as taking a swig from the pickle jar in your fridge?

Well, probably not. “The main thing to understand with hangovers is that they usually happen because people are dehydrated, and then also you probably didn’t get much sleep,” Tochi Iroku-Malize, MD, a practicing family physician in Long Island, New York, tells Health. So yes, salty pickle brine might help with the electrolytes you’ve lost if you peed a lot, or maybe even threw up, the night before. But taking a shot of pickle juice in the morning won’t make your hangover disappear if you’re not also drinking lots of water and nursing your hangover with a nap.

Alcohol acts as a diuretic, which means that it’ll make you pee more than usual. That’s why you may find you have to go so often during a boozy night out and one of the reasons you feel so dehydrated the morning after. Yes, you lose electrolytes in pee—but it’s the water that really matters. “When you’re losing water, you need to continue to replace that,” Dr. Iroku-Malize says. She suggests that people drink a whole glass of water with every alcoholic drink to make the hangover sting less.

The only way to really prevent a hangover is to not drink too much, Dr. Iroku-Malize says. Her definition of “not too much” is one drink a day for women and two for men. Of course, it’s not exactly realistic that you’ll stick to only one drink every day, especially when special occasions like birthdays, holidays, and New Year’s Eve roll around. The next best thing to do is drink lots and lots of water—not gulp down some pickle juice.

If you had a particularly sweaty drunken night, a sports drink might help the resulting hangover, Dr. Iroku-Malize adds. Sports drinks are specially formulated to balance athletes’ electrolytes. Once upon a time, scientists thought pickle juice might do the same thing. In 2014, a small study of nine runners tested whether or not drinking pickle juice before exercising would keep them from cramping. “This is maybe why people think pickle juice will help with dehydration,” Dr. Iroku-Malize says. There was one problem though: The study didn’t show any difference in performance or cramping between drinking pickle juice or drinking plain old water.

Then again, it didn’t do any harm, either. So if you’re invested in the idea of pickle juice as a cure—and you don’t mind the taste—go ahead and drink around a quarter cup next time you’re in need of hangover relief. But follow your pickle juice swig with a few cups of water, some aspirin or ibuprofen, and maybe a nap.