Etsy's Sweet Side

Many know Etsy as that cool place to buy cool artesanal jewelry and hand crafted home design ware and clothing. Others (such as myself) use it for handmade mineral cosmetics and lotions. Yet many - incluing me -didn't know that you cn buy all sorts of home made treats. Yup, Etsy is also the coolest treat store too.

I first stumbled upon Etsy's sweet side while probably looking for homemade fudge. The food and beverage section is hard to find.It's not obvious as it is on other web sits such as Amazon or Target You have to first go to Home and then the Food And Drink . There are all sorts of categories, from soups, to herbs, spices and seasonings to baked goods to candies. There's even a section on recipes. The last can be a money maker for any home chef.A Scottish home chef is charging  almost three dollars a recipe for a kind of vanilla fudge called tablet (and as we all know we can get this free on any candy making or Scottish heritage website). Someone else  is charging for vintage cherry and strawberry recipes as well.I'd rather get the actual item than the actual recipe. Home chefs can buy ingredients such as ground capiscum and vanilla beans  along with all kinds of salts and garam masala. Here you can even find the ingredients for making gin.

Etsy also has a wide variety of ready made treats.You can try a huge flavor assortment of cupcakes at the Mississippi based The Dessert Cafe. They also have brownies , from plain to mint to a wide range of oatmeal cookies. I stumbled not on fudge- but on handmade flavored marshmallows from Sweet Jumbles in Jersey City.

These are the strawberry. I also bought the coffee as well as the peppermint (which looks like bloodied gauze) I thought about popping them all in hot cocoa bit they're huge, pillowy types.I have bought chocolate graham crackers which I may make  fancy s'mores with soon.

Etsy is the place for finding all sorts of gourmet goodies. Yes, you can get one of a kind Spanish leather bracelets and lotions that smell like spun sugar. You can also real spun sugar too.

The Chlie Pepper Bible - The Perfect Pepper Book

Peppers, both hot and sweet, are wonderful to put into any dish. They liven up everything , from simple salads to tame drinks. Now there's a new cookbook celebrating them and their long history.It's a great addition to any home chef's library.

Judith Finlayson wrote The Chile Pepper Bible (Robert Rose Press) that' has both savory and sweet (!) recipes featuring all sorts of peppers. She is the author of many cookbooks that center around slow cooking, dips and salsa along with vegetarian cooking and appetizers.This latest is a dazzling amount of recipes that range from salsas to ice cream. Many home chefs refuse to cook with any kind of peppers, fearing the heat may be too much. This book alleviates all fears. Ms. Finlayson opens up the book with a detailed picture guide on every pepper grown on earth. She also gives us the Scoville scale which measures the levels of heat or fieriness..It was created in 1912 by William Scoville , a chemist who determined how much sugar water it takes to neutralize the heat. It takes 5,000 drops to neutralize a jalapeno pepper  so it would be classified as 5,000 SHU or Scoville Heat Unit. This is what I love about the book,It has so many nuggets of information and history. She writes of how peppers became a staple of various regions, from India to England, and from America to China. There is an interesting history of Tabasco Sauce along with the chemical breakdown of capiscums.  The last surprisingly links them to the vanilla plant.

 There are many international recipes since peppers are universally used in all aspects of cooking, The recipes are divided into sections , from appetizers all the way to dessert. Each has a good amount of recipes to try The appetizer section has such diversity as the Southern classic deviled eggs with cayenne and pickled bird type peppers to  the Korean kimchi patties with a chili paste dip.Soups are also represented in the book and there is a variety to choose from. Home chefs will love making Bermudan Fish Chowder along with the famed Chinese Hot and Sour Soup, redolent with red finger chiles and sliced onions and scallions.Meat lovers will enjoy the recipes for Brazilian feijoada, Turkish style stuffed peppers and Catalan meatballs.There is also Ms. Finlayson's version of Kung Pao Chicken given a kick with the addition of cayenne peppers.If a whole meal made with heat is too daunting, there are plenty of side recipes.Try her recipe for the Indian based Spinach and Tomato Dal, a flavorful chickpea paste livened up with Kashmiri ground chile pepper.Her paprika laced Home Style Hash  Browns will liven up any weekend brunch, The most surprising are the dessert and drink recipes.Pecan pie along with spicy orange coconut ice cream gets a jolt of fire along with tomato drinks.

The Chile Pepper Bible is a great cookbook for those who to add heat and spice to their cooking and baking. Home chefs can experiment with recipes from all over the world and create spicy and interesting dishes and even desserts. It's an exciting and interesting must have for any kitchen,