Old Fashioned Foods

 Would our great grandparents eat what we would eat? What would we think of their favorites?Are there any foods that have lasted through the decades and still served today? Yes!

One of the most endearing and tastiest is the simple grahhan cracker. This sweet cracker began in the mid 1800's' by Sylvester Graham, the father of vegetarianism. They were and still are made with graham flour a densely milled whole wheat kind,complete with the hull and the germ. This creates a healthier digestive biscuit.It may have been the first "cookie many American kids ate. Now it's still a sweet snack and was reinvented as the base for s'mores first made in 1927 by the American Girl Scouts. Now home chefs also use it for pie crusts, weather it's for ice cream pie or a cream pie .Crushed graham crackers mixed with butter and sugar are also the base or crust for cheesecake too.is it still a healthy snack. Yes!It's much better than a sleeve of any kind of cookie and perfect for someone on a limited diet.Another sweet snack that  our grandparents loved is tapioca. Every home chef in decades past had her (yes her. It was always women in charge for the family kitchen back in the day ) had her own spin on the recipe. It's made with the exotic cassava root.Ot's been around for millennia  having first been made by indigenous Brazilians.  The pudding itself is made with "pearls" beads filled with the cassava.They;'re cooked with eggs as any custard is.Vanilla is added to bring out the cassava's flavor. Custards are another ls fashioned dessert that's still being eaten today.

Some foods can cause shivers.Pigs knuckles or hocks were a big deal in German family dinners . SOme German clubs like the deutch Club in Clark New Jersey, has it as part of its menu during their summer festivals and Ocktoberfests.They're braised  , depending  on the family oven crisped resulting in a crispy crackly skin.It's served with potato salad or sauerbraten. Brains and livers are other meats that our grandmothers had all sorts of recipes for. These fell out of favor when people preferred just eating different cuts.There are some who still make the classic liver and onions which is calf liver cooked in some kind of oil or fat and then onions are added to it. Some cultures like Moroccan  do still make it as do the Venetians in Italy. It's taken from a much older Roman recipe where the liver is cooked with figs. It serves with white polenta. Are there any brains recipes? Yes, there looks like some tasty ones, mostly fried and heavenly seasoned. Yet just try getting kids and most adults  to eat them . The answer would be a resounding no followed by leaving the table.

Some foods like graham crackers go on. Some like brains and livers don't Tastes change as do the population.

Caribbean Veggies Your Way

 After a summer of tomatoes and squash it's time to think outside the back yard. There are a wealth of Caribbean veggies  that can be made into interesting and comofrting recipes. It's time to expand your culinary horizons.

One of th e most popular and ubiquitous in all grocery stores nowadays is the cassava. It's a tuber that can stand in for a potato.It has the same starchiness but the flavor is sweeter and nuttier than a spud.It does have t be peeled and boiled because raw it contains lethal high levels of cyanide. You could also soak them for several hours in cold water to also dissipate the poison. After boiling or soaking and peeling try  roasting them. They're cut and tossed in a blend of olive oil, cumin, garlic, coriander  and onion powder. Cassava or yuca can also be made into tasty fries. Use an air fryer to cook them for  fiften minutes at four hundred degrees Farenheit.Unlike potaotes, though, cassava can also be turned into cakes too. It's called pone and is highly popular in Guyana.There a mix of spices like black pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg mixed with shredded boiled cassava and coconut along with butter and evaporated milk. Brown sugar gives the cake its' earthy mellow sweetness. You may be tired of zucchini right now so it's time to try chayote squas. It tastes somewhat like the squash. It can be roasted or sauteed. Use a mix of butter and olive oil to saute it and spic it up with shallots and garlic.

Everyone thinks New Orleans and Southern cooking when they hear okra but the veggie is also big in Caribbean cooking.It's usually paired with that other Caribbean staple the fiery scotch bonnet pepper. If you;re cooking with th e last , remember this is the hottest capiscum on earth. Use it sparingly. Try both in a stew also zinged up with ginger and garlic. Add some temperate yellow onions and tomatoes to balance it out. It would be good over a bed of rice. Saltfish or baccala  - dried and salted cod can be added to this to make it more substantial.Caribbean, and especially Cuban and Puerto Rican cuisine would be nothing without plantanos or plantains. It is a cousin of a banana and technically a fruit but you can fry it up like a veggie. Peel them, and thn slice them any way you want , whether in coins or lengthwise , spray with oil and tthen air fry for eight minutes at four hundred degrees Farenheit. Flip them after four minutes. Serve with jerk chicken for a tasty supper. Another great side is pigeon peas, a Trinidadian staple. serve them in a stew or over rice. They cna be spiced up with scotch bonnet , all spice and ginger.

Add some Caibbean flavor to your cooking.Use veggies that the islanders use for a different spin on dinner. It's a fun way to celebrate the bold flavors of the tropics.

island Delights

The Caribbean has given us so many delicious foods and drinks. From jerk to rum, we've experienced some of the best the islands have to offer. They are a mix of indigenous ingredients and European influence. It makes for a tasty cuisine of savory, spicy and sweet.

The dishes from the islands are the first fusion recipes. African, Creole, Cajun, and Amerindian have played an important role. The European influence is felt strongly as well. Spain, England, and France were the first major impacts, along with Portuguese and Irish. Surpsingly, but not surprisingly, there is also a Chinese, Javanese, Indonesian, Arab and South Indian input.Most of the islands share the same ingredients such as rice, beans cassava,a  kind of yam, along with cilantro or coriander. Bell peppers figure heavily into it, along with chickpeas, tomatoes,sweet potatoes and coconut. Some ingredients such as  ackee and saltfish, a type of fruit and salted cod are only cooked and eaten in Jamaica. Many bigger islands such as Jamaica have influence over the smaller ones or are so close such as Trinidad and Tobago that they influence each other. Some of them such as Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Domenican Republic have variations of the same dishes, slightly varying the amount of spicings.

What are the standout dishes of the islands? Puerto Rico and Cuba have the most known and the most popular.The Puerto Ricans make arroz con gandules y lechon - pork cooked with  yellow rice and pigeon peas.There's also pork belly or chicharrones which is crispy and salty like pork rinds. There's the crunchy  tostones, fried plantains, flavored with garlic powder and salt. Cubans have the delicious rice and beans, arroz y frijoles , cooked together. There's also the wildly delicious ropa viejo or old clothes.. This is shredded beef simmered in a tomato based criollo or garlic sauce. Arroz con pollo is another flavorful and famed dish along with the well known Cuban sandwich. This last is a tasty marriage of ham and pork loin with Swiss cheese and dill pickles on a cianbatta or hero bread. Mayo and mustard  round it out.Jamaican food is also striking. Jerk is made with a variety of different meats, from chicken to goat!.It's similar to our beef jerky here in the States. The Rastafarians have contributed vegetarian salt free cuisine to the island. This is called Ital and has such dishes as curried tofu chunks and vegetable stew.

The Caribbean has given the world a variety of tasty dishes. They are spicy and  sweet, savory and crunchy. Try them for an unusual spin on eating.