But though I adore the delectably tangy pie, I often wind up bypassing it. Instead, I head straight for the freezer case, open up the top, reach inside, and snag one of Kermit’s chocolate covered frozen key lime pies on a stick. Yes, it’s the pie, complete with graham cracker crust, just frozen.

Is Kermit’s frozen bar as good as a classic chocolate covered ice cream bar? Well, I devoured half of the key lime delight before remembering to take a picture….

If you’re not going to be in Key West or near Kermit’s other Florida locale, you can buy the bars as well as Key Line BBQ sauces, cookies and the like online.

Kermit’s Key Lime Pie Shoppe
200A Elizabeth Street
Key West, FL 33040
Open Daily 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM

Related posts:

1. Key West Food Picks, Part 1
2. Key West Hot Spots
3. Key West Food Picks, Part 2

Child with Ice Cream cone. Photo: Laura B. Weiss

My new book, Ice Cream: A Global History, (Reaktion Books), is being published today, April 1. It’s a fun trip around the word of ice cream. Readers journey from ancient China where ice cream was concocted with dragon eyeballs and camphor to modern-day Turkey where ice cream vendors still make a frozen dessert that’s so thick it requires a knife and fork to eat.

Click here to order Ice Cream: A Global History.

Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction:

Everyone Loves Ice Cream
I scream, you scream,
we all scream for ice cream!
Howard Johnson, Billy Moll and Robert King.

It’s called gelato in Italy, glace in France and morozhenoe in Russia. From Tokyo to Turin, from Denver to Delhi, everyone loves ice cream. With the possible exception of romance–‘Your love is better than ice cream’, singer Sarah McLachlan has crooned – there are few of life’s pleasures, culinary or otherwise, that can match ice cream’s potent allure.

What accounts for the sweet frozen treat’s irresistible appeal?

First, ice cream is just plain delectable. Composed of cream or milk, sweeteners and flavorings, which are churned and frozen, ice cream boasts an icy sumptuousness. What’s more, ice cream packs an emotional wallop. Stoking the pleasure-producing regions of the brain, ice cream is known for its ability to generate feelings of well-being,

‘It’s amazing how quickly you recover from misery when someone offers you ice cream’, marvelled teenager Eugene Jerome in Brighton Beach Memoirs, American playwright Neil Simon’s coming-of-age play.

Of course, ice cream tantalizes the taste buds and delights the eye. There’s the frothy ice cream soda sipped through a straw at the neighborhood soda fountain. There’s the luxurious taste of a gelato-topped cone, relished while strolling through the streets of Rome. There are the Indian kulfi walas hawking cardamom-perfumed kulfi on the streets of Delhi and Mumbai….

As befits a food so strongly identified with fun, the story of ice cream is a lively one. It’s a movable feast peppered with Chinese emperors and English kings, former slaves, women inventors, shrewd businessmen, Italian immigrant hokey pokey ice cream vendors, a gourmand First Lady, health food advocates, temperance apostles and modern-day food snobs.

Though the Chinese are said to have been the first to fashion a dairy-like frozen dessert, ice cream as we now know it was initially formulated in Europe, principally in Italy, but also in France, England and other parts of the Continent.

Ice cream then traveled across the Atlantic to America. In fact, Americans like to claim ice cream as their national dessert, conferring upon it a status rivaling the mythic apple pie…..

Despite the sizable American influence, indigenous ice cream cultures flourish worldwide. For example, Italian gelato is prized by ice cream connoisseurs everywhere. In Turkey and parts of the Middle East, salepi dondurma, an ice cream enhanced with orchid root, continues to flourish.

Still today, national ice cream traditions are fading, blending into a universal version of what once was a distinctive
local dessert….

Even gelato, that supposedly sacrosanct Italian ice cream, has been transformed (corrupted, some might say) by outside influences. There’s now green tea and cheddar cheese gelato being served from Des Moines to Delhi. In Italy, sampled flavors like ginger and spicy Aztec chocolate, some clearly not handmade and displaying flavor notes culled from regions far beyond Florence and Rome.

In fact some might ask at this point: is gelato even Italian any more?

Related posts:

1. An All Ice Cream Dinner June 6 in New York
2. Brooklyn: Van Leeuwen Ice Cream Shop Opens Today
3. A Huge Super Bowl and Ice Cream Fan, My Dad Just Missed Publication of My Book

St Patrick's Day Marshmallows. Photo by Renee Marton.

On St. Patrick’s Day, try the recipe for these marshmallows laced with cocoa—and what else?—Irish whiskey. Munching on these pillowy snacks with a little glass of Irish whiskey—now that is a way to celebrate Paddy’s Day!

St. Patrick’s Day Marshmallows

Renee Marton

INGREDIENTS

Prepare the Pan
1 12 by 8 inch pan, with sides, sprayed with oil, and lined with plastic wrap (including the sides)
For dusting the plastic sheeting:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
Mix together, and sift through a strainer.  Sprinkle a couple of teaspoons on the bottom of the pan, and save the rest for later.

For the Marshmallows
3 tablespoons powdered gelatin (about 4 packets)
1/2 cup Irish whisky
1 pound superfine sugar
1/4 cup corn syrup (light)
1/2 cup water
4 egg whites, large
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cocoa powder (Dutch process), sifted so there are no lumps

METHOD

1. Put the whiskey in a microwavable bowl and sprinkle all the gelatin slowly and evenly over it so the gelatin is absorbed into the liquid.  Once most of it is absorbed, place in microwave for 5 seconds.  Repeat this step until the gelatin is completely dissolved.  Set aside at room temperature.  You will need this to be liquid when you pour it into the mixer later.

2. Put the sugar, corn syrup and water in a saucepan, and heat until it starts to simmer.  Insert a candy thermometer into the liquid (it should clip onto the side of the pot, and the tip should not touch the bottom of the pot).

3. Put the egg white in a standing mixer or use a hand mixer.  When the sugar mixture reaches around 230F, start whipping the whites at high speed.  When it reaches 245F (which will happen fast), reduce the speed and SLOWLY (and carefully) pour in the hot sugar mixture.  Next, add the gelatin mixture.  Finally, add the powdered cocoa.  Scrape down the sides with a spatula (turn speed off for this).

4. Increase the speed of the mixer to medium for one minute, and then place it on top speed for about 10 minutes.  The mixture will go from a hot liquid to a fluffy marshmallow like frosting. If this has not happened after 10 minutes, mix it a few more minutes.

5. Add the vanilla, mix it in quickly by hand and then pour the marshmallow mix onto the lined pan.  It should spread out easily into the corners.  Use a toothpick to poke out any obviously large air holes, and leave the small ones alone.

6. Leave the marshmallow mixture out at room temperature for the next 6 to 8 hours, uncovered. When it  is firm to the touch— you press it gently and it springs back and is no longer sticky—dust the top heavily with some of the cocoa powdered sugar mix.  Then flip the pan over onto a flat surface, and gently pull off the plastic wrap. It will seem as though it won’t come off, but it will come off; just keep lifting it gently.  Once the plastic has been removed, dust that side with the rest of the powdered sugar and cocoa mix.

7. Cut into squares of any size, although I recommend 1 inch squares.

Related posts:

1. Mother’s Day Cupcakes with Organge Buttercream Icing
2. Thanksgiving Recipe: Sweet Potatoes But Hold the Marshmallows Please
3. Halloween Recipe: Candy Corn Cupcakes To Wow Your Trick-or-Treaters

Wedding cake. Photo by QuintanaRoo via flickr.

Could one of these purveyors be your dream wedding caterer?

Tastings of food and champagne will be offered.

One couple will win a hands-on cooking class and dinner party complete with wine pairings for up to 14 guests, appropriate for a bridal shower, rehearsal dinner or a bachelor/bachelorette party.

Purchase tickets.

Astor Center
Location: All Four Spaces
Price: $15.00
Date: Thu, Mar 11th, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

Related posts:

1. Astor Center: Gleaming, New Culinary Facility
2. Ice Cream Event at New York’s Astor Center Slated for Sept. 1
3. Learn How to Cook Southern at Astor Center Classes July 18

Potato pancakes (latkes). Photo:by robbplusjessie.

When it comes to purchasing already-prepared Hanukkah latkes–those irresistible potato pancakes that are to Hanukkah as fruit cake is to Christmas–the Upper West Side abounds with dining-in or take-out options.

“We do a beautiful job on latkes,” remarked Nick the cook at Barney Greengrass, the iconic dairy restaurant on Amsterdam Avenue on New York’s Upper West Side.

If you want latkes to eat in or take home, the famed eatery will be happy to supply them. They’re already prepared and ready to purchase on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. During the rest of the week, call ahead, “and we’ll make them for you,” Nick advised.

Here are some places on the Upper West Side to purchase latkes for your Hanukkah celebration.

Artie’s Delicatessen
2290 Broadway
212 579 5959

Barney Greengrass
541 Amsterdam Ave.
212 724 4707

Fine and Schapiro
138 W 72nd St # A
212 877 2874

Lansky’s Old World Deli
235 Columbus Ave
212 787 0400

Zabars
2245 Broadway
212 787 2000

Related posts:

1. Recipe: Potato Latkes for Hanukkah from Zabar’s
2. More Hanukkah Foods: How Not to Smell up Your Apartment With Frying Latkes; Hanukkah Donuts Recipe
3. Recipe: Potato Latkes for Hanukkah

Photo: American Museum of Natural History.

Traveling the Silk Road, an intriguing  exhibit that opened Nov. 14 at the Museum of Natural History, ushers visitors into a recreation of the web of ancient trading routes—the legendary Silk Road—that for centuries stretched from East Asia to the Mediterranean. When you first enter the exhibit, two enormous life-like camels loom. There’s also a silk making demonstration, an outdoor market, and beautiful woven as well as silver and gold artifacts on display.

What’s puzzling, though, is the way the show skirts over the Silk Road’s outsized role in introducing Westerners to an array of once-exotic foods. Many of these foods that have become such an integral part of our day-today lives that we tend to take them for granted.

For instance, saffron, pepper  pistachios, almonds, wine, and tea all came from or were traded along the 4,600 miles of routes traders trekked across as they carried goods from Xian to Bagdahd. But the outdoor market display is one of the few areas to highlight this vital period of food history. In fact, most of the exhibit’s food

Photo: American Museum of Natural History.

programming will take place outside the show itself with a series of special events scheduled throughout the winter.  On tap is an ancient Persian tasting menu served at the museum, a tasting and lecture on ancient wines, and a program on spices.

For the West Side Independent’s review of the Silk Road exhibit, click here. A list of related food programs follows:

Global Kitchen: The Silk Road through Spices

Tuesday, December 8, 6:30 pm

Linder Theater, first floor

Enter at 77th Street

$20

Nirmala Narine, owner and founder of Nirmala’s Kitchen, has traveled extensively to collect spices, recipes, and stories from around the world.  You can join her to experience the cultures of the Silk Road through the spices once traded along the route and to learn about their traditional uses, what they taste and smell like, and how to bring these flavors into cooking.  Tastings included.

Curry Economics: Food as a Driving Force of Economic Development

Thursday, January 14, 6:30pm

Kaufmann Theater, first floor

Enter at 77th Street

$15 Adults, $13.50 Members, Students, Senior Citizens

Tom Standage, business affairs editor of The Economist and author of An Edible History of Humanity; Eric Tagliacozzo, associate professor of history, Cornell University and author of Secret Trades, Porous Borders: Smuggling and States Along a Southeast Asian Frontier; and award-winning culinary expert Julie Sahni, author of the seminal Classic Indian Cooking, will discuss food as a driving force behind economic expansion, industrial development, and geopolitical competition. The discussion will be moderated by journalist Sasha Issenberg, author of The Sushi Economy.

Global Kitchen: Aromatics Along the Silk Road
Wednesday, January 20, 6:30pm
Linder Theater, first floor

Enter at 77th Street

$20

Frankincense, myrrh, patchouli, jasmine—aromatics were valuable commodities traded along the ancient Silk Road , and they are still prized today.  Renowned perfumer Mandy Aftel, the nose behind Aftelier perfumes, will awaken your senses to the amazing world of aromatics and discuss their fascinating history.

Caravanserai: A Perfumed Tasting Menu

Thursday, January 21, 7 pm

Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, first floor

Enter at 81st Street

$150 per person (Limited to 30)

In this recreation of a Persian caravanserai, an ancient roadside inn, you’ll get to sample an original tasting menu created by perfumer Mandy Aftel and special guests including Johnny Iuzzini, executive pastry chef of Michelin-starred restaurant Jean Georges; Sam Mason, chef and host of the popular Independent Film channel cooking series Dinner With the Band; and mixologist Audrey Saunders, the owner of award-winning Pegu Club in New York City.

Global Kitchen: Wines With Ancient Lineage
February 17, 6:30pm
Linder Theater, first floor

Enter at 77th Street
$20

Is there a great modern wine that can trace its lineage back to ancient Turfan, a desert oasis along  the Silk Road ?  Mollie Battenhouse, sommelier and wine director of Maslow 6, and grape geneticist Peter Cousins of Cornell University will the explore early history of viticulture. Tasting included.

Related posts:

1. Upper West Side: Natural History Museum Does Pickles Program
2. Upper West Side: Halloween Events On Tap at Natural History Museum Saturday
3. Upper West Side: Telepan’s New Wine Bar in Doubt

Mother's Restaurant, New Orleans. Photo: Mother's.

Broadway at 109th Street. There you can munch on their crispy-on-the-outside, moist-on-the-inside fried chicken. There’s also some pretty good iced tea to wash it down with. But for a true taste of the south, you need to travel to a place like New Orleans, as I have this week, and find an eatery like Mother’s, where the grits, po boys and iced tea are unlike anything you can get in New York.

Rack and Soul's fried chicken, a taste of the south on the Upper West Side. Photo: Rack & Soul.

The homey legendary New Orleans diner is staffed by friendly African-American ladies who call you “baby,” while dishing up fabulous grits, eggs, and sausage.  It’s ballast for the rest of the day, if not for the rest of the week.

Another bonus at this New Orleans pit stop—and something nearly impossible to find in New York—is perfectly brewed ice tea, or “tea,” as it’s called in these parts. In New Orleans and in other parts of the south, the choice is unsweetened or sweet tea.

Here are some New Orleans foods I’ve discovered that are not known in New York:

• Calas: Calas are a recently revived New Orleans food. Originally from Africa, slaves brought calas, made from rice, to the south and hawked them on the streets of New Orleans beginning in the mid-19th century. Something like a fritter, calas are deep fried, then sprinkled with sugar.
• Creole Cream Cheese.  No, this is not the stuff you put on a bagel. In the old days, before refrigeration, the people of New Orleans would take spoiled milk, wrap it in cheese cloth and hang it from a tree out back. Served for breakfast, it’s sprinkled with sugar.

Mother’s
401 Poydras St
New Orleans, LA
504 523 9656

Rack & Soul
258 W. 109th St.
New York, NY
212 222 4800

Related posts:

1. Where to Buy Potato Latkes for Hanukkah on the Upper West Side
2. Chef Ed Brown Talks About Upper West Side Dining, His New Chowder House, and the Economic Downturn
3. Restaurant Opening: Big Daddy’s to Open Branch on the Upper West Side in Early 2010

What’s challah taste like?  Just ask “Today” anchor Ann Curry.

“It tastes just like brioche, doesn’t it, really?”

Hmmm.

Related posts:

1. Rosh Hashanah Recipe: Saffron and Honey Cake
2. Upper West Side: Zabar’s Jumps the High Holidays Gun
3. Zabar’s and JCC Team for Passover Cooking Event

If you present the coupon they mailed out recently, Hummus Place is offering a free appetizer with an order of hummus for $5.95, good until Sept. 30.

Anyone have any opinions about this place?

Related posts:

1. Upper West Side Restaurant Opening: Indian Eatery Aangan Opens on Broadway and 103rd Street
2. Upper West Side: New Deli Opens on Broadway and 97th Street
3. Upper West Side: 5 Napkin Burger Opens on Broadway

Lots of New Yorkers are growing their own food on rooftop gardens, in the back of pickup trucks,and in community plots.

But if you’re a shopper, not a planter, then you might want to check out the New Amsterdam Market on South Street in the old Fulton Fish Market space. This farmer’s market has operated sporadically over the past year or so. Now, it’s going monthly, beginning Sunday, Sept. 13. That date happens to coincide with the citywide celebration of Harbor Day / Hudson Fulton Champlain Quadricentennial. I’ve never been in town when the earlier markets were staged, but I’m going to check out the Sept. 13 event.

There’s a complete list of past vendors—ranging from the Sullivan Street Bakery to West County Cider from Colrain, Maine—on the New Amsterdam Market’s web site. Purveyors participating in the fall markets will be posted soon.

Here’s the schedule

• Sunday, September 13

• Sunday, October 25

• Sunday, November 22

• Sunday, December 20

Time: 11:00am to 4:00pm

Related posts:

1. New Amsterdam Market Update
2. Wall Street: Winter Market Debuts
3. A Meal with Alice Waters Will be Offered at New Amsterdam Public Market’s Online Auction