Flavored sugars are incredibly easy to make and can be used as an ingredient in desserts and beverages, served to the side of coffee and tea, used to rim cocktail glasses, or sprinkled over the top of completed desserts just before serving.  All you need is some sugar (we recommend superfine sugar) a coffee or …

How to Candy Flowers Flowers add bright color to desserts, cakes, and other plates.  For dishes where a little extra sweetness would be welcome, a great trick to increase their visual appeal is to candy them (candied flowers are also known as sugar glazed flowers or sometimes “crystallized flowers”).  Candying flowers is extremely easy as …

Why Candy Citrus Peel? Candied citrus zest (aka candied citrus peel, crystallized citrus peel) is very useful as a garnish or as an ingredient in both savory and sweet dishes.   You can use it as a garnish for cocktails and other drinks too.  It is sweeter and more tender than plain zest.  This method is often …

  What is Sorbet? Sorbet is essentially a non-dairy frozen dessert, often (but not always) made from fruit puree or fruit juice.  How to Balance Sugar Levels in a Sorbet The most tricky part when making sorbet is balancing the sugar levels of your sorbet base.  Regardless of how your base tastes, it must have …

What is a gastrique? A gastrique is a vinegar and sugar based sauce that can be used for either savory or sweet dishes as it is designed to bridge the gap between the two. How to make a gastrique: This technique can be adapted to use any vinegar.  Good balsamic vinegars are often used but …

Includes huckleberry, peppercorn, and liquor flavored simple syrup recipes. Simple syrup is so called because it’s…well…simple.  A base simple syrup is nothing more than 1 part water to 1 part sugar.  Use simple syrup to sweeten cold drinks like lemonade, cocktails or hibiscus tea without endless stirring.  Dab it onto cakes before you frost them to …

with Vanilla Crème Fraiche & Tellicherry Pepper Syrup Makes at least 50 servings. Ingredients 7 cups + 2 tsp. Sugar 2 cups Water 2 quarts heavy cream 5 lbs. frozen huckleberries 6 tbsp. Tellicherry peppercorns 16 oz. crème fraiche 4 Vanilla Beans Huckleberry Puree 1. Add 5 lbs. huckleberries, 5 cups sugar and 2 quarts …

Sour up front with a brief fiery finish, this sorbet is refreshing and potent enough to be served as a small, light summer dessert or a palate opening amuse bouche.  While we used dried tepin chilies for this because of their unique ability to be very spicy for a few seconds and then subside (unlike …

Natasha from 5 Star Foodie brings her 3-course Fennel Pollen tasting menu to a close with pot de creme (a medium-rich egg custard).  If you’re just joining us, check out Natasha’s first two fennel pollen courses: cauliflower bisque & seared bay scallops! — February Fennel Pollen Friday: Fennel Pollen Pot de Creme In the final recipe …

Pureed huckleberries provide most of the flavor of this sorbet, but we’ve added ginger to introduce another layer of taste.  If you would prefer just a hint of ginger, cut the number of disks in half.  They can also be eliminated completely if you prefer a pure huckleberry sorbet. Ginger Huckleberry Sorbet Makes about 1 pint. Ingredients: …