Wheelwright Consultants Newsletter |
A Newsletter for Pizzi Farm Fans
September 2008 |
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Greetings!
Welcome to the Sweet Stuff, Pizzi Farm's monthly newsletter of ice cream for ice cream lovers and aficionados, which means just about everybody. While we all love ice cream, we don't always know much about it. So each month we will bring you the "scoop" on what is happening in the ice cream world, information on the history and lore of ice cream, as well as seasonal specialties.
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September is a Great Ice Cream Month!
September is a great month for ice cream. The days are still reasonably long and warm without the humidity of summer. There are plenty of great reasons to have ice cream during this month, here's just a few:
Sunday, September 7 - National Grandparents Day: What could be a better way to celebrate the SPECIAL relationship that Grandparents have with their grandchildren than by getting together for the afternoon and going out for ice cream!
September 13-14 - Inspiration of the Star-Spangled Banner: On the evening of September 13, 1814 a young lawyer, Francis Scott Key, watched the British fleet bombard Fort McHenry in Baltimore harbor prior to assaulting the city. A massive flag waved bravely over the fort and Mr. Key could catch glimpses of it during the bombardment, letting him know that the fort had not surrendered and that the city was still safe. Mr. Key penned a poem about his experience that has become our national anthem. In addition to being the 'land of the free, and the home of the brave," the United States is the land of the ice cream eaters. The average American consumes more ice cream, 24 quarts, per year than the residents of any other country.
September 19 - International Talk Like A Pirate Day : We don't know where this one started, but we do think that it could be fun to be a pirate like Captain Jack Sparrow! It gets pretty warm in the Caribbean and it would be a great place to eat ice cream. We don't know if there is a lot of ice cream in the Caribbean, but there are a lot of plants down there whose fruits and flavors are used in ice cream or used as toppings ice cream: chocolate, coconut, mango, pineapple, and rum raisin. So matey, set yer course for a sweet harbor an' drop yer hook into some ice cream!
September 22 - A Day to Eat Dinner with Your Children: As our lives have become busier and busier it has become more and more difficult to find time to eat together. Family dining is almost becoming a lost event. Eating together is important because children who eat dinners with their families do better in school and are less likely to abuse alcohol, drugs, or tobacco! This would be a great day to make it a point to have dinner with the family, even if it means sweetening the deal with a promise of an ice cream cone for dessert!
September 26 - Birthday (1774) of John Chapman, better known as Johnny Appleseed: although Johnny was born in Leominster, MA he left the area at the age of 18 and headed to what was then the Western Frontier: Ohio and Indiana. Chapman planted nurseries of apple trees that he surrounded with fences to protect them from livestock and left them in the care of others, returning every few years to tend the trees and sell the young trees. Johnny helped spread the love of apples and apple trees. At the time, cider was one of the primary beverages in the United States, but of course some of those apples ended up in apple pie. Apple pie and ice cream! Now those are two things that go well together and wouldn't they go well together with your lunch or dinner today?
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Celebrate September 22
The Birthday of the Ice Cream Cone!
Towards
the end of the 1890's Italian immigrant Italo Marchiony started selling
Italian water ices from a pushcart in New York City. People loved his
refreshing, delicious lemon ice but he needed some way to serve the
product other than the glasses that broke easily, were taken by
patrons, and had to be washed. He adapted a waffle iron to make a cup
for the ice cream and soon had a fleet of more than 40 pushcarts
selling ices in pastry cups in New York. He next invented a machine
that automated the process of making the pastry cups and opened a
pastry cup factory in New Jersey. Marchiony had a booth selling
Italian ices at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. Business was so good
that he ran out of pastry cups on hot day. Since it would take too
long to have the pastry cups shipped from New Jersey, he asked the
waffle vendor at the next booth, who was not doing much business, to
roll up the waffles into cones - making the first pointed ice cream
cone!.
Celebrate by taking the family to Pizzi's tonight for Ice Cream Cones!
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September is a Peachy Month!
September marks the height of peach season in the United States and it is the second largest crop grown in the United States after apples. Peaches are thought to have originated in China. The Chinese associate peaches with long life and believe that eating peaches confers immortality upon those who eat them. In Japan peaches are associated with a legendary hero named Momotaro, who was born from a giant peach blossom and traveled the country fighting evil.
Peaches migrated from Asia to Persia and then to the Mediterranean - including Spain. They were brought to the Western Hemisphere from Spain. The peach needs to have a specific climate to flourish and the climate in the areas colonized by the Spanish, Florida, Mexico, and South America, was too warm, so the area of cultivation spread northward. Although Georgia is often called the "Peach State", more peaches are grown in California and South Carolina than Georgia. Today peaches are grown and enjoyed all over the world.
Peaches are a popular fruit to be eaten plain. They can be used in cooking, but they are perhaps best enjoyed as dessert. They can be used to flavor ice cream, or in pie and cobbler, each of which can be complimented by a scoop of ice cream. The most elegant and famous peach dessert in the world is probably Peach Melba - a combination of peaches, ice cream, and raspberries.
Peach Melba is a classic dessert created at the Savoy Hotel in London in1892 or 1893 by the famous Chef Auguste Escoffier to honor the Australian soprano Nellie Melba. Talk about international cuisine - a French chef, an Australian singer, a British hotel, and peaches and raspberries! According to legend, Ms. Melba loved ice cream, but was reluctant to eat it because she was afraid that the cold would damage her vocal chords. Escoffier was an admirer of hers and created a dessert for her that she could eat without affecting her voice. He topped vanilla ice cream with a red raspberry-red currant sauce, a fresh poached peach half, and garnished it with blanched almonds, that's a dessert that really hits the high notes!
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Peach Melba Recipe
Peaches, Ice Cream and Raspberries...Yummm!
 Servings: 4 Portion: ½ peach, scoop of ice cream, sauce
Ingredients:
Sauce
Raspberries, fresh (or frozen) 2 c.
Sugar, confectioner's 1 c.
Lemon juice 3 Tbsp.
Crème de cassis, or cherry brandy* ¼ c.
Ice cream, vanilla 1 pt.
Peach halves, fresh poached or canned 4 ea.
Almonds, slivered to garnish
Whipped cream to garnish
Method:
If using fresh peaches, boil water in a pot large enough to hold all the peaches. Add peaches to the boiling water and allow the water to return to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes. Remove and place in cold water to cool. When cool, remove the skin of the peaches and cut in half, discarding the pit. Allow to come to room temperature before using.
Combine raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice in a food processor. Blend until very smooth. Strain using a very fine strainer, stirring occasionally with a spoon to make sure that all the liquid is obtained from the pulp. Discard the seeds. Add the crème de cassis or cherry brandy and mix well (*raspberry syrup may be substituted for the crème de cassis).
Scoop ice cream into serving dishes. Top with a peach half pit side in contact with the ice cream. Pour 2 oz. of syrup over the peach and top and garnish with toasted almond slivers and whipped cream (optional).
From the kitchen of: Eric F. Nusbaum- the Eclectic Epicure
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Thanks for joining us in our pursuit of all things ice cream. Look for our next edition in your inbox in October.
Sincerely,
The Staff at Pizzi Farm
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| The Sweet Stuff newsletter is written and designed by Wheelwright Consultants. |
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