Smoky Vegan Lentil Stew

Two ingredients—smoked salt and smoked paprika—can make a big flavor change in this smoky vegan lentil stew. Serve with crusty bread and a green salad.

Continue reading "Smoky Vegan Lentil Stew" »

from Simply Recipes https://ift.tt/2yl8Z70
via IFTTT

The History of the Candy Apple

Perfect fall apples are a prize all on their own, but it’s understandable if they seem even more appealing enrobed in sugary coatings. And we’d make a case that candied apples count as comfort food; although the term generally conjures up images of hearty, warm casseroles dishes, steaming pots, and fragrant baking pans, these nostalgia-inducing seasonal sweets tug at the heartstrings as insistently as they tug at the teeth. Whether you prefer racy red candy apples or burnished amber caramel apples, you may be surprised at the long history behind each sweet dessert-on-a-stick.

Candy Apples

While you probably don’t think a whole lot about either one until Halloween approaches, candy apples—that is, the kind encased in a high-gloss scarlet shell that cracks under your teeth (and hopefully doesn’t repay the favor)—were actually invented as a Christmas season treat. They’re credited to William Kolb, a Newark, N.J. candy maker, who dipped apples into melted red cinnamon candies to create fetchingly festive objects for a window display all the way back in 1908. He meant to entice people into his shop to buy the actual candies that were his stock-in-trade, and the brilliant glazed apples did attract attention, but people preferred to buy the decorations-cum-confections themselves. So he soon ramped up production and sold thousands of candy apples at five cents apiece. They became popular items all along the Jersey shore, and eventually, throughout the country.

Shutterstock

The cheerful crimson shine of candied apples certainly fits in with the Christmas color palette, but now that we’ve come to associate them with Halloween, they just as easily evoke poison apples’ sinister splendor, beautiful enough to tempt anyone, Snow White or otherwise. And since apples come into season in fall, it makes sense that they’d be popular around Halloween, especially once they’re covered in candy (specifically, a mix of boiled sugar, corn syrup, water, and red food coloring that hardens as it cools on the surface of the dipped apples; cinnamon flavoring is often added too, to evoke the original flavor).

It’s possible that candy apples have predecessors in China. The traditional Chinese winter treat bing tanghulu are skewers of tart, tiny, bright red hawthorn berries (somewhat similar to American crabapples), coated in a hard sugar shell that cracks and crunches between the teeth. Legend says they’ve been around since the Song dynasty (960-1279). It’s possible, since, according to “Pickled, Potted, and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Preserving Changed the World,” a Chinese emperor in the seventh century sent workmen to India, one of the places where sugarcane was first used, “to learn the art of sugar refining.” And “by the tenth century camel caravans were carrying ‘sand sugar’ [granulated sugar, boiled down from sugarcane juice] north through the empty deserts to Europe.”

Shutterstock

In Europe, as in China, sugar was initially rare and expensive, and only for the wealthy, but it quickly morphed from medicinally administered substance to something appreciated more for its pleasant flavor—and ability to preserve fresh fruits. English poet John Keats’ poem “The Eve of St. Agnes” (which is set in the Middle Ages, but was published in 1820), mentions “candied apple, quince, and plum, and gourd.” The fruits he was referring to would have been either packed in syrup or dried and sugar-coated (think crystallized ginger or candied citrus peel), but the specific mention of apples is interesting—even if it was just the word that sounded best, clearly, the notion of candied apples wasn’t strange.

Apples to Apples

How Did the Most Popular Apples Get Their Names?

How to Dress Up Your Apples for Halloween

A Breakdown of Apples You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

While apples don’t get name-checked in the 1884 “Boston Cooking School Cook Book,” it does include a general recipe for candied or crystallized fruit or nuts, in which sugar syrup is boiled to the brittle “hard crack” stage and the fruit or nuts are dipped into it while “on the point of a large needle or fine skewer.” Oranges and cherries are suggested for the treatment, so it wouldn’t be surprising if apples were used in the same preparation too—in which case they would have predated William Kolb’s treats by about 24 years, but would have been missing the brilliant red color and the cinnamon flavor of his candy apples, traits which we automatically associate with the term today.

In any case, they were already considered “old-fashioned” by 1956, at least according to this ad for Sealtest’s Candied Apple flavor ice cream:

Chronically Vintage

By comparison, caramel apples are thought to be positively newfangled.

Caramel Apples

As their name suggests, buttery caramel apples are dipped in rich, amber robes of sweet, creamy caramel, which sets up fairly firm and chewy—still a potential danger to your dental work. They’re often given another layer of toffee, chopped nuts, or candy to further gild the lily (or apple). Allegedly, these treats weren’t invented—or at least weren’t widely popularized—until the late 1950s, when a Kraft Foods employee, Dan Walker, experimented with leftover Halloween candy. He found that melting his employer’s soft caramel squares and dipping apples-on-a-stick in that golden goo was totally delicious. That’s the oft-repeated origin story anyway, but in fact, they existed in some extremely similar form long before that.

Shutterstock

For instance, the 1920 edition of “Rigby’s Reliable Candy Teacher” includes a rather uninspiringly named “Apples on Stick” recipe that instructs you to “Take small apples and stick in each one at the top, a small wooden skewer, such as butchers use to pin roasts. Now cook a batch of Molasses Taffy [that recipe, also in the book, calls for six pounds of sugar, four pounds of corn syrup, two ounces of Nucoa Butter—a type of coconut oil-based margarine first marketed in 1917—a pound of regular butter, a quart of “good New Orleans molasses,” and a quart of water] to 280 degrees…then dip the apple in the hot batch so as to cover it completely. Let the surplus syrup drip off, then stand them on the slab until cold.”

Since that temperature falls within the “soft crack” stage, the texture of the coating would presumably be similar to saltwater taffy, rather than “hard crack” toffee, peppermint, or other hard candy—and candy apples. So, it’s plausible that candy makers may have offered caramel apples (though not necessarily by that name) since at least the 1920s.

Chicago’s Affy Tapple company claims that they produced “the first caramel apple created in the United States” in 1948, about a decade before Dan Walker of Kraft started tinkering. Unfortunately, Affy Tapple didn’t have the national distribution network and advertising resources the larger company did, so Kraft is usually credited with inventing caramel apples, even though (a) they didn’t, and (b) they never actually sold them ready-made. They can be crowned as the inventors of an easy method to make caramel apples at home, and they’ve printed their shortcut caramel apple recipe on the back of every bag of chewy Kraft caramel candies—and included the necessary wooden sticks for dipping—since at least the 1960s. (They also sold Wrapples in the 1970s, which were sort of like edible caramel shrinky dinks for apples.)

Neato Coolville

By Any Other Name

In France, candy apples are pommes d’amour, or love apples. In the U.K., they’re called toffee apples. (Certain mortars used in WWI were nicknamed “toffee apples,” thanks to their resemblance to the edible orbs-on-sticks; some sources claim that led to the origin of the phrase “How do you like them apples?”—which you’re now all but contractually obligated to say whenever you see a candy apple display in the company of pun-loving friends, bringing it full circle.)

To further confuse things, caramel apples are sometimes called taffy apples in America. And in Coney Island and surrounding areas, so-called jelly apples are a thing; they’re shiny and bright red like candy apples (and often covered in additional coatings like caramel apples), but are said to be a little softer to the bite and cherry flavored, which would fall in line with several recipes for cherry Jell-O candy apples floating around on the Internet.

Are Candy Apples Dangerous?

Soon after candy apples took off in the early 1900s, they became a popular treat to hand out at Halloween, and remained a favorite for decades, until it became verboten to accept homemade goodies from strangers, due to concerns about hygiene and malicious tampering. But while razors and straight pins inside apples may have mostly been the stuff of stupid pranks and urban legends, there was a listeria outbreak related to caramel apples in 2014, when 35 people fell ill and 7 died.

The contamination was found to be caused by a combination of puncturing the apples with sticks, driving surface bacteria deep inside, and leaving them unrefrigerated for long periods of time afterward, encouraging said bacteria to proliferate. As long as you make sure everything, including your apples, are squeaky clean, and refrigerate any finished sweets you don’t eat right away, you should be perfectly safe.

So if you agree with the old Kraft advertising slogan—”It isn’t autumn without ’em!”—see how to make homemade candy apples and caramel apples for a sweet shot of sugary nostalgia.

Related Video: How to Make Easy Caramel Apple Lollipops

from Food News – Chowhound https://ift.tt/2yItvxA
via IFTTT

How to Make an Omelet

Never fear! Making an omelet at home is not difficult. With a few basic steps and a flip of the wrist you can pull this off in minutes. Fill it with whatever you have on hand—it's a great way to use up leftovers!

Continue reading "How to Make an Omelet" »

from Simply Recipes https://ift.tt/2OoBDOp
via IFTTT

What Is the Difference Between Red, Green, and Yellow Apples?

We’ve officially reached peak apple (and apple-picking for Instagram) season, and so to keep up with the spirit of the times, we thought it’d be good to break down a few tried and true apple facts and stats.

Believed to have originated in the mountains of Kazakhstan, apple seeds were first brought over to North America in the 1600s, not for sustenance, but in order to make cider according to History.com. According to the U.S. Apple Association, there are more than 100 apple varieties grown commercially in the U.S., and of that statistic, only 15 types of apples account for 90% percent of apple production, although one California based nutritionist says there are far more than that.

“Apple experts will tell you that there are over 4,000 varieties that exist right now out of the original 17,000 historically recorded,” Cat Dillon, director of nutrition at VeraVia, Park Hyatt Aviara, said. “Sadly, much of the beneficial nutrition has been bred out of the more tart, traditional types for our more contemporary, sweeter varieties.”

While apples come in a multitude of shades, sizes, and varieties ranging from ruby red to neon green, Dillion says a good rule of thumb when it comes to nutrition is the more colorful the apple, the more phytonutrients the apple will tend to have. “The most nutritious apple will show pigment on all sides,” Dillon explained. “If only one side of a red apple is exposed to direct sunlight, the fruit will appear two-toned. Eating the sunny side can give you twice as many nutrients as the shady side.”

At their core, the color of the apple can determine the nutritional benefits, including overall fiber content, antioxidants, and vitamin C levels.

“Definitely eat the skins, as they have a much bigger concentration of disease-fighting polyphenols,” Dillion said. “Polyphenols help support bacterial balance in your lower digestive tract and your gut bacteria more than anything helps determine the health of your immune system.
 Apples grown conventionally have more pesticides than any other crop! Another reason to always buy organic.
”

Apples to apples, from Red Delicious to Granny Smith and Galas, here’s a breakdown of some of the most common apples on the market today.

Shutterstock

Red Delicious Apples

Originally called Hawkeye, Red Delicious are most identifiable by their candy apple red heart-shaped exterior. Not only are Red Delicious a great overall apple choice for daily consumption due to their sweetness and overall mild flavor, they used to be “America’s favorite apple” variety until Gala apples swooped in to take the top spot this year, according to the U.S. Apple Association.

Granny Smith Apples

The most common variety of green apples, Granny Smith apples are the tartest and most distinguishable apples of the bunch. They are a great option to cook with due to their their firmness and flavor when cooking them down in the oven. Granny Smiths are also believed to have originated in Australia and are one of the most nutritious of all apple varieties.

Golden Delicious Apples

Similar in taste and texture to Red Delicious, Golden or Yellow Delicious apples are yellow-gold in appearance and have the same mild to sweet taste. Grown all around the world, these are a good choice to dress up a salad or bake in the oven. When it comes to the nutrient department, however golden delicious are somewhat lacking.

Gala Apples

Believed to have originated in New Zealand in the 1930s, Gala apples have quietly climbed the ranks to become the America’s sweetheart of the apple clan. Galas are easily distinguishable for their almost pinkish hue, a cross between golden and red. They are also sweet and pack just the right amount of punch in the tart department. High in phytonutrients, Galas are another great all-around snacking and cooking apple.

Honeycrisp Apples

Another type of apple on the rise, Honeycrisps are quietly gaining in popularity according to the U.S. Apple Association. Honeycrisps, a hybrid apple that was actually developed by the University of Minnesota’s agriculture department program in the ‘90s, these are one of the most expensive if not delicious apple varieties in the market today.

Fuji Apples

Pretty in pink, Fuji apples are a cross between Red Delicious and Old Virginia Ralls Genet and were developed by apple growers in Japan in the 1930s. Today they remain in one of the top five most popular apple varieties.

Related Video: How to Make an Easy Apple Crisp

from Food News – Chowhound https://ift.tt/2IWOx0i
via IFTTT

Can You Really Die from Eating Apple Seeds?

The short answer to the title question posed here is: yes. But before you up and toss the literal fruits of your actual labor this apple picking season, let’s have a look at the metrics involved. Basically, you can go ahead and hold right on to all of your apple pies, apple muffins, applesauces, and apple butters, as you’d have to resort to some pretty significant evil queen-like antics if you’re trying to capitalize on any poisonous apple effects.

Apple seeds contain cyanide, which, as anyone familiar with the infamous death of Socrates can tell you, can be fatal to humans. Cyanide occurs naturally in certain plants as a built-in insect and disease repellent. Not only is the amount of cyanide in a single apple seed an insignificant microdose that the human body can easily detoxify, the cyanide is well-contained within the seed’s hard shell. Even if you swallow an entire apple’s worth of seeds, they will likely pass through your system whole without releasing any cyanide, unless you are really, really committed to thorough chewing.

Shutterstock

If you look at a cross section of an apple, a typical one contains about five to eight seeds. And so long as we’re looking at the cross section, note that the seed pod when cut crosswise creates a delicate little shape  called the “star of the apple,” which makes a lovely decorative touch, (seeds removed, naturally,) for apple pies and breads, or even as a fall cocktail garnish.

But enough with decoration; back to poison. So, how many apple’s worth of seeds would you have to chew and ingest to start to be nervous? Let’s just say you’d likely get a severe stomachache from the volume of fruit itself before you reached any harmful levels of cyanide.

Other tree fruits and nuts such as cherries, peaches, apricots, plums, pears, and almonds also contain cyanide within their seed pods, but again, unless you’re really craving the particular, dental-destroying crunch of a handful of apricot pits, you’re not likely to find your demise in any sort of fairy-tale-character-ingesting-poisoned-fruit sort of way. You’ll just have to live out your Snow White fantasies by recruiting a gaggle of quirky, much-shorter-than-you friends.

And then you can invite then all over for a decidedly un-poisonous afternoon of delicious, apple-centric baked goods.

Related Video: How to Make 4 Amazing Apple Desserts

from Food News – Chowhound https://ift.tt/2A9ggYF
via IFTTT

Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies

If you're a fan of soft and cakey Lofthouse-style sugar cookies, then this is the recipe for you! Add a generous layer of frosting and some rainbow sprinkles, and these cookies are ready for a party.

Continue reading "Soft Frosted Sugar Cookies" »

from Simply Recipes https://ift.tt/2PtjHyU
via IFTTT

Simply Recipes Meal Plan: October 2018, Week 3

Here's your meal plan for October Week 3! We've got loads of freezer-friendly meals, like Pumpkin Chili and Pesto Lasagna, so you can stock up for the busy months ahead.

Continue reading "Simply Recipes Meal Plan: October 2018, Week 3" »

from Simply Recipes https://ift.tt/2ISnl2I
via IFTTT