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Gourmet Ingredients


Feature Writer Articles in Gourmet Ingredients

A Passion for Pepper Spans the Globe
Black Peppercorns (piper nigrum): traded as currency, gifted to royalty, fueling the spice trade. Which gourmet peppercorns also make perfect hostess or holiday gifts?
Marron Glace - Traditional Holiday Treat
Gourmet shops and catalogs carry them. "Foodoirs" trace their history. Farms reestablish the US crop. Chestnuts are enjoying a comeback and deserve a place at your table.
Foodoir the New Genre of Cookbook
What happens when cookbook meets family dysfunction meets Father's Day? Meet the "Foodoir"! Part cookbook, part memoir, it's a rich, growing, new-ish genre.
Piquillo Peppers and Garlic Olives
Hand-picked, fire-roasted piquillos peppers are gems of the Spanish table. Luscious, umami-rich. "Fifth taste" pops in three satisfying tapas. Perfect for summer dining.
Black Garlic, New Gourmet Ingredient
Joining the black food trend is this new Korean import: Black Garlic. So intriguing and delicious, this "new" food is likely to become a pantry staple.
Meet a Tea Sommelier - Cynthia Gold
When a chef develops into a tea expert, the high tea ritual becomes a series of tasty delights. From a tea-infused apertif through tea scented treat after treat.
Bring the Smoke Inside
Natural, award-winning sauces, smoker bags, and a "green" business, too? Big Acres helps you through the end of winter with some sweet-hot chiles and a miraculous mole.
Meyer Lemons the Glory of a Winter Kitchen
When life (or a relative) gives you lemons, make lemon cookies, roast a capon, or toss up Haphazard Gourmet pasta. Meyer lemons are versatile, delicious winter citrus.
Patchwork Pâté - Savory Chicken Liver Spreads
Patchwork Pâté strikes the right chord for gourmet entertaining. Rich, elegant and dedicated to delighting. Pâté is welcome at the holiday table, great for gifts, too.
Donna Toscana Chocolates
Master Chocolatier and former ICU nurse Diane Pinder is still making people happy. Now, it's with chocolates as opposed to needles and meds. We feel better already.
Two Secrets for Perfect Risotto
The secret to excellent risotto at home is choosing the right ingredients and using proper technique. In a few steps, creamy, satisfying, perfect risotto is yours.
Heirloom Varietal Rice and Holiday Meals
Heirloom rice, sustainably farmed by the Koda Family. Delicious product with a rich history - of American farming traditions, an immigrant's innovation and perseverance.
Cheese Expert Ihsan Gurdal Awarded French Honor
Whether building a gourmet cheese platter, selecting cheese knives for gifts or creating luscious cheese fondue, seek an expert advisor such as Boston's Ihsan Gurdal.
Chadon Beni, Culantro, Jerk - Recipes
A reader asks: what is Chadon Beni? Another wants to know about jerk sauce. What roles do achiote and culantro play in Caribbean recipes we are beginning to love?
Loving Lemongrass-Beef Wraps, Mussels or Chicken
Lemongrass is a staple in Thai cuisine. Its citrusy fragrance flavors easy lettuce wraps for cool summer dinner. Lemongrass simple syrup elevates summer drinks, too.
Cool as a Cucumber Recipes for Summer
Cucumbers and watermelon both provide refreshing summertime menu options. They might even save your life. Containing 90% water adds to their appeal as the mercury rises.
Lifesaving, Refreshing Watermelon
Like its close relative the cucumber, watermelons are a warm-weather treat. But a lifesaver? Maybe - at the dinner table.
Buffalo - It's What's for Dinner Tonight
Buffalo is making a comeback from near extinction. Rediscover the original red meat. Low-fat, grass- fed, sustainable bison. Dinner's served!
Heard of Shagbark Hickory Syrup?
"Americana in a bottle" Shagbark Hickory Syrup represents the best of both worlds: a great tasting, versatile product and a charming and utterly unique history.
Stone Crab Season
Sweet, meaty, delicious and sustainable. Florida Stone Crab are a dream for seafood lovers.
Guanciale Essence of Pork
Unlike pancetta or bacon, guanciale takes its flavor not from smoke but from wine, herbs and special fat from the pork jowl. It gives them back to this classic dish.
Easy Winter Soup Vichyssoise
Warming winter soup is easy and comforting on a cold night. Classic technique of potato-water base
Heritage Turkeys - Bourbon Red,
Go local? Fresh, a frozen supermarket bird? Organic? Kosher? Natural, free-range or free-roaming? It's enough to make you eat ham instead. Deciphering the choices.
The Big O - Oysters at Home
They stay in bed all day, are huge drinkers, and wait for their meals to come to them. They imbue us with a sense of life's possibilities. Aphrodisiacs, too? Possibly.
Mishima, Kobe or Wagyu
With temperatures dropping, it's the perfect time for another Shabu Shabu meal. My husband ordered Mishima beef, or did he?


Contributing Articles in Gourmet Ingredients

Is Pure Virgin Coconut Oil Healthy or Unsafe
Coconut oil has been touted as being a miracle cure for a variety of ills and as a dangerous dietary source of saturated fat. But is coconut oil truly healthy or unsafe?
How to Choose, Store and Use Salmon
The health benefits of salmon are well known, but which type of salmon is better, what is the difference between fresh or preserved and how should a fresh fish be chosen?
Understanding Gourmet Cooking Oil Labels
Gourmet cooking oil labels can be confusing, with things like "cold pressed" or "filtered" leaving consumers unsure what to buy. This guide helps clear up the confusion.
The New Black Garlic's Dual Personality
Black garlic, a form of fermented garlic that is reportedly super rich in antioxidants, also happens to be a current darling of top chefs and foodies.
Wine and Cheese Baskets for Christmas Gifts
Christmas baskets are most appreciated when they are personalized. Choose wine and cheese or champagne baskets and add something personal to suit the recipient's tastes.
Gourmet Cooking With Nut Oils
Cooking with nut oils, from peanut oil to pecan oil, can add a unique flavor to both gourmet and everyday dishes as well as providing healthy nutritional bonuses.
How to Choose, Store and Cook With Fennel
Fennel is known for its aniseed flavour and its celery-like texture, but its versatility and its nutritional value are what make it such an ideal vegetable.
Uses for Buddah's Hand
Slightly tangy with a much more pronounced lemon scent and taste, Buddah's Hand not only adds great flavor to your food, It can be used as a room freshener!
Buying and Deveining Fresh Shrimp
Shrimp is among the most popular seafood choices on the market, but buying fresh shrimp - rather than frozen - comes with its share of hazards.
What is Broccoli Rabe
Chefs like Rachael Ray are helping to make broccoli rabe more popular. Learn about this leafy vegetable and find out how to prepare it like the pros!
Wild and Farmed Gourmet Mushrooms
Fall brings a host of edible mushrooms to farmers markets, specialty grocers and supermarkets that go far beyond the traditional button mushrooms of a past generation.
Factors to Consider When Buying Salmon
Fish is viable diet addition which is easy to prepare and to obtain in most supermarkets. But It is important to be educated about this fish to make the best purchase.
How to Choose, Store, Prepare and Eat Oysters
Loved as an aphrodisiac, feared for food poisoning, the oyster is in fact mostly safe and very nutritious but the real secret lies in knowing how to deal with them.
Shelf Life of Common Store Cupboard Ingredients
Whether opened or not, most oils and condiments do have a shelf life, but it may not be as short as one might think.
5 Ideas for How to Eat Goat Cheese
There are numerous ways to incorporate goat cheese into existing recipes, as a way to lighten the dish instead of heavier cheeses.
Which Oil is Best to Use When Cooking?
There are many different cooking oils available, and aside from cost and quality there are other important things to consider when deciding which oil to use when cooking.
Are Expensive Oils and Vinegars Worth the Money?
Gourmet oils, vinegars and other luxury food items can be costly, but which ones are actually worth paying extra for?
Best Food in the World
Bored with recent dinners? The book 1001 Foods You Must Try Before You Die provides a multitude of food options to tantalize even the most jaded tastebuds.
Introduction to Serving Caviar
Caviar is one of the most expensive and elite of gourmet foods. What is the difference between black caviar and red caviar? What is sevruga, osetra, beluga or avruga?
How to Make Vanilla Sugar and How to Use It
Vanilla sugar is simply sugar that has been infused with the scent of vanilla pods. Here are some tips as to how it is made and how it can be used in the kitchen.
Maldon Salt from Essex England
Natural Unrefined Sea Salt has been produced in Maldon since Saxon times, and is praised by celebrity chefs including Jamie Oliver and Nigel Slater.
Mango - History, Facts and Uses
Whether eaten fresh on its own, pickled or dried, no one can deny the luscious texture and flavour of the mango, which makes a welcome addition to any fruit basket.
Gourmet Station Opens at Oasis Centre in Dubai
No matter what your budget, you'll find something tantalising to take home for the pantry. Chocolates, condiments, spelt - there's something for every palate and pocket.
Sustainable Eggs
Eggs have gotten a bad rap over the last few years yet recent science has proven that not to be true.
Aphrodisiacs
In ancient times a distinction was made between a substance that increased fertility versus one that simply increased sex drive.