Recipe Mutiny steals recipes from food blogs and recipe sites. Then we publish them. With credit (Naturally).
Monday, August 6, 2018
Funnel Cake May Be a Summertime Staple But You Can Make It All Year Long
It’s summertime and there’s one food that you just can’t avoid. Whether you’re strolling down the seaside boardwalk, visiting the state fair, or chilling at a music festival, chances are the smell of fried dough is wafting through the air. If you can make it through the warm weather months without chowing down on funnel cake, well, you either have far more restraint than this writer will ever have, or you’re totally lying.
But where did this carnival staple come from and how did it become the omnipresent snack of choice for summer recreation everywhere?
Like a lot of food history, the origin of funnel cake can be traced back for centuries. Or even earlier if you consider the fact that people across Asia and Europe have been consuming fried dough since medieval times. During that dreary period of history, people would make sweet fritter cakes by pouring yeasty batter through bowls with small holes in the bottom and dousing the result in sugary syrup. Medieval cookbooks call the recipe “mincebek,” which is likely a derivation of the French phrase “mise en bec.” That loosely translates to “put in spout,” a reference to how the batter was poured into the oil.
But the modern incarnation of the funnel cake is a deeply American phenomenon. And we have the Pennsylvania-Dutch to thank. In the 17th and 18th centuries, primarily German-speaking immigrants made a dessert called “drechter kuche,” a dialect variation of “trichter,” the German word for funnel. (So the name of these treats is derived from the equipment and technique used to make them.) These fried cakes were immensely popular among the local community and were a hallmark of the region’s cuisine.
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But it wasn’t until 1950 that funnel cake became the concession stand mainstay that it’s known as today. It was in that year that a group of professors at Pennsylvania’s Franklin & Marshall College collectively decided to celebrate and promote the state’s cultural heritage. As a result, they founded the annual Kutztown Folk Festival in an effort to grow interest in the region’s rich history. And of course that includes funnel cake. Over 25,000 people attended during the first year alone. This mass spike in attendance is credited with helping to spread the popularity of this simple but ingenious treat. In 2018, the festival continues and attracts hundreds of thousands to the area to this day.
You might not be able to make it out to the beach or the fair every day, but you can still enjoy the fried goodness of funnel cake in your own home. The batter is relatively simple to make and consists of basic baking ingredients. You probably have all of them in your pantry already. All it takes is flour, eggs, salt, milk, and baking powder, as well as oil to fry it in. You can consult this recipe for exact measurements and pouring instructions. The main thing to remember when pouring is to keep moving the funnel in a circular and criss-crossing formation so the batter comes out in a steady stream.
In terms of toppings, you can’t go wrong with classic powdered sugar. But if you’re feeling more decadent, add whipped cream or a drizzle of Nutella. If you want to go all out, add a scoop of ice cream for a perfect pairing of hot and cold sweetness. No matter how you serve it, you can’t go wrong with summer’s most beloved dessert.
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10 Ways to Make Your Summer Cocktails Skinnier
Summer is the season for cocktails—margaritas, mojitos, a Moscow mule (or three). But your favorite boozy concoctions can be overflowing with sugar and empty calories, not so great if you’re trying to stay on the health wagon while you relax and rejuvenate. That’s why we rounded up easy, refreshing, and delicious ways to skinnify your summertime sips.
Embrace summer fruit
If you’re craving a blended beverage, replace sugar-laden mixes with frozen fruit. Watermelon, peaches, pineapple, or strawberries put a nutritious twist on a daiquiri or pina colada. “Fruit adds sweetness, a bit of fiber, and vitamins,” says Marisa Moore, RDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Atlanta. You can also muddle or float fresh fruit in a non-frozen drink for natural sweetness. Get our Frozen Pineapple Daiquiri recipe.
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Experiment with herbs
Your dinner plate isn’t the only place fresh herbs to shine—aromatic picks like basil, rosemary, or mint can add a surprising pop of brightness to a cocktail, allowing you to cut back on juice or simple syrup. “Herbs release oils when muddled, which adds a big burst of flavor without calories,” Moore says.
Eat Drink and Be Tracy
Kick up the spice
Tequila and hot chili peppers are a match made in mixology heaven. The heat from jalapeño or habanero peppers plays off the smokiness of the liquor and takes center stage, so there’s less need to pad the drink with sugar (or a salted rim). Ginger has a similar effect and pairs perfectly with vodka or rum.
Raleys
Add bubbles
An easy way to cut back on sugary mixers is to add seltzer or zero-calorie drinks like Sparkling Ice to your glass. “This can help lighten drinks up and add a little sparkle,” says Moore.
Photo by Melissa Walker Horn on Unsplash
Play with your wine
Rose and white are the vinos of summer, but they lack the antioxidant benefits that studies show reds may provide. Compensate by freezing nutrient-rich grapes or berries and blending them. Ta da! A wine slushie.
Gimme Some Oven
Get creative with mixers
Instead of soda or juice, which can be serious sugar bombs, try mixing liquor with a beneficial drink like kombucha. You’ll get the fizz and flavor with a side of gut-friendly probiotics.
Half Baked Harvest
Count the ingredients
Mixers aren’t the only calorie boosters. A cocktail with a laundry list of liquors looks (and likely tastes) impressive, but that also means it’s filled with more calories and sugar than one made with just one type.
Skip the mix
Simple syrup or pre-made cocktail mixes might make it easier to create your much-needed margarita, but they often contain sugar and artificial ingredients that sober you probably wouldn’t choose. Instead, reach for a little agave and fresh squeezed citrus juice like lime or lemon. “This is not only healthier, but using fresher ingredients makes for a more refreshing, flavorful, and satisfying sip,” says Moore.
Perpetually Hungry
Try it on the rocks
See what your palate really likes by sipping liquor on the rocks. You’ll drink less (translation: fewer calories) and cut out extra sugar that your go-to mixers usually provide. Get our Mojito Margarita recipe.
Go organic
Organic spirits may have a smoother taste than ones that aren’t as clean, plus there are no pesticides, fertilizers, or other potential chemicals present during the distilling process.
Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
Related video: How to Make 3 Poolside Cocktails
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Stracciatella Gelato (Sweet Cream Chocolate Chip)
fior di latte, a five-ingredient fresh milk gelato. Owing to that simplicity, it pays to use only chocolate of the best quality, as cheaper alternatives will taste harsh and dull when frozen. A spoonful of refined coconut oil will help bring out the best in whatever chocolate you choose, lowering the chocolate's melting point so its crispy snap can give way to melt-in-your-mouth creaminess as it warms on your tongue. Get Recipe!
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How to Make Ginger Switchel
Switchels are a simple, non-alcoholic drink with an old history. You can find literary and historical references to this easy, zippy elixir — quenching the thirst of British sailors, Harvard students, and farmers — as early as the 17th century.
These days, switchel has seen a bit of a revival!
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What Are Corn Nuts, and Where Did They Come From?
Some snacks are fairly universally beloved, like trail mix and cheese crackers. Even beef jerky has more fans than not. Then there are the less popular nibbles, like Combos, which inspire fervent devotion in some and equally passionate revulsion in others. Perhaps chief among these polarizing products are Corn Nuts. Besides the potentially confusing name (“Is it corn, or is it nuts?”), they’re divisive in nearly every respect.
They’re so crunchy they can legitimately endanger your enamel; they are not the most attractive nosh (there’s a reason they’re a natural choice for zombie teeth in edible Halloween crafts, though this application is severely underrepresented online); and they have an infamously overpowering smell, especially when you open a bag in an enclosed car, which is where I most often encounter them, as a road trip snack. I’ve learned to like them, mostly, but many love them. Regardless of whether you occasionally crave or completely shun them, Corn Nuts have a long and fascinating history.
First of all, you only need to look at them to know that they are, in fact, corn, and not nuts.
Corn nuts (about to be covered in chocolate), via Always Order Dessert
Also, they’re technically CornNuts (one awkward word, which we shall use hereafter). Their earliest ancestor was parched corn, a Native American preparation of dried and roasted corn kernels that was both nutritionally dense and light to carry. As with pemmican, parched corn was adopted by early European colonists and settlers. It was commonly packed in wagons for the journey along the Oregon Trail, so really, it was the original road trip snack, although they often used it to make soup instead of eating it as-is. During the Civil War (1861-1865), parched corn was a staple for soldiers; it could be ground into a substance called panola, which might have been seasoned with salt or sugar but was eaten dry. Whether that sounds better or worse than CornNuts is a matter of personal opinion…
Parched corn is also mentioned in the third book in the “Little House on the Prairie” series, “On the Banks of Plum Creek,” which states: “Parched corn was good. It crackled and crunched, and its taste was sweet and brown.” Although the book was based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s actual experiences during the 1870s, it wasn’t published until 1937 — but parched corn was not a thing of the past even then.
Traditional parched corn, via The Culinary Exchange
“The Final Frontiers, 1880-1930: Settling the Southern Bottomlands” describes how, during the Dust Bowl, “desperate [share] croppers were reduced to stealing corn from farmers’ cribs. Taking a few ears of corn at a time, they parched corn kernels in skillets with a little lard and salt.” And in “The Family,” a book collecting oral histories from former residents of a North Carolina orphanage, one contributor recalled hearing a couple of friends “speaking about the hard times during the Great Depression and the eating of ‘parched corn,’ which is how the corn was continued to be food after it had ripened and hardened.”
So how did this hardscrabble sustenance food — children’s book author’s endorsement notwithstanding — morph into a casual snack many still enjoy today?
In 1936, Oakland, California native Albert Holloway decided to sell his own version of parched corn — the kernels re-hydrated and then fried — to local bars and taverns, since the salty, crunchy morsels paired so well with beer. He marketed his creation as Olin’s Brown Jug Toasted Corn, which grew into a successful family business. At some point, the name was changed to the much catchier, if slightly muddled, CornNuts, presumably because the corn’s crunch was on par with (and far surpassed) that of peanuts. The name was officially trademarked in 1949.
Related Video: Road Trip Snacks That Won’t Make a Mess in Your Car
While Holloway initially used domestic corn, an article mentioning Peru’s giant white Cusco (or Cuzco) maize prompted him to procure a shipment of it. Known as choclo in Peru, it has larger than average kernels and is starchier and nuttier than our sweet corn. Holloway worked with engineers to crossbreed the oversized Peruvian corn with a domestic variety, and after a decade of experiments, their new hybrid was perfected. It hit the shelves in 1964, by which time, Albert’s sons Maurice and Richard — who jointly took over the business in 1959 — had expanded CornNuts from a local product to a nationally distributed brand.
In the early 1980s, there was a little noise about the fact that Atari’s Pac-Man looked nearly identical to the CornNuts logo that had been trademarked in 1965 (but hasn’t been used for many years). Maurice Holloway told InfoWorld magazine at the time: “We applaud Pac Man’s incredible success, but we don’t want him to eat away at our profits.” They didn’t mind if Pac-Man stayed in his lane(s) and refrained from trying to take a bite out of the snack world (although a short-lived Pac-Man cereal did debut in 1983), so it didn’t make many other headlines. In 1989, “Heathers” gave the snack a perhaps unwelcome shout-out, but otherwise, things were pretty quiet on the CornNuts front.
And then Nabisco (which is now part of Kraft Foods) purchased the family-owned company in late 1997; according to a New York Times blurb announcing it, Nabisco “said the strong Cornnuts presence in convenience stores would add to its sales” in that arena. In 2000, an AdAge piece described how Nabisco poured a lot of money into advertising CornNuts nationwide.
CornNuts print ad from 2000, via Amazon
You may recall these “extreme” ads with the not-exactly-appetizing (but some would say entirely accurate) slogan, “Corn Gone Wrong.” You may also recall a certain innuendo-driven radio jingle that I refuse to believe was actually real but many people swear they remember hearing before it was banned. During this golden age of CornNuts, the snack was even used as a promotional tie-in for “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me” (the fourth highest grossing movie in the U.S. at the time, 1999). And Nabisco debuted two new flavors, Taco and Red Hot, neither of which exist today, though we do have Nacho, BBQ, Ranch, and Chile Picante.
Speaking of Ranch and Chile Picante…this snack’s social media presence in 2018, when everyone is in on that game (from IHOP to Heinz to Reese’s and every fast food chain ever), is shockingly almost nonexistent. There’s a verified CornNuts Twitter account that’s reasonably active, but where are the splashy photos? Where are the memes?? I can see why they might shy away from their connection to “Heathers” in this day and age, but their overall transition from in-your-face advertisements, both on air and in print, to wallflowers of Wawa is a bit perplexing. It’s kind of refreshing, though, and even alluringly mysterious, how (at the time of this writing) their Facebook cover photo still touts the triumphant return of the aforementioned Ranch and Chile Picante flavors, which apparently happened back in 2013. And it seems they were once an official sponsor of UFC (The Ultimate Fighting Championship), but that ended in 2014.
The many flavors of CornNuts, via Amazon
All of this only serves to solidify my impression of CornNuts as a one-off snack sort of frozen in time, only ever grabbed from gas stations, where they may have been resting on the wire rack for decades; it would probably be hard to tell, really — but, I’ve definitely been buying “artisanal” versions of CornNuts from fancy local grocery stores in the past few years on a semi-regular basis. They often call it “Inca corn” (sometimes it’s actually made from the larger choclo kernels) or just use the original “toasted corn” moniker, and pack it in plain plastic tubs or sell it from the bulk bin section, but the only additional flavorings I’ve come across are salt and pepper. Fanatics can try to make homemade corn nuts with any seasoning they desire, though they should keep their face and hands well away from the pot, as the corn can explode.
Other countries have their own CornNuts analogues, which makes sense, since corn is native to the Americas; it was first cultivated in Mexico thousands of years ago and spread from there, and indigenous people throughout north, central, and south America have eaten it in fresh and preserved forms for millennia. In Peru, for instance, it’s cancha salada, which is made with a different type of corn than choclo, although choclo can also be fried. In Ecuador and other parts of South America, they call it maiz tostado. There are other versions, too. Even on the opposite side of the globe, in the Philippines, people enjoy cornick, pieces of which are usually smaller and crisper than CornNuts, but basically the same idea. Their most popular brand is Boy Bawang (or Garlic Boy).
Boy Bawang, via Jocelyn Eats and Cooks
America’s own brand of desiccated crunchy corn chow has evolved from ancient subsistence food to bar stool nibble to casual car snack, and although today CornNuts seems to bank on their reputation as an underrated, often overlooked food (by mentioning that on their Twitter page and otherwise, seemingly doing absolutely nothing to market their product — which, clearly, they don’t in fact need to do), it’s hard to imagine them ever disappearing completely, cemented as they are in the fabric of our lives, though they may yet remain effectively trapped in amber, frequently forgotten.
When you do remember them, they’ll be there. If flying autonomous vehicles eventually become a reality, people will probably still grab those shiny little bags from whatever the future equivalent of gas stations and convenience stores will be, and they’ll fill their hover cars with that familiar sweet stench as they have a snack on their way to the Venusian plains, or the mighty canyons of Mars.
Because CornNuts have always existed in some form, and likely always will.
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