From the Archives: Cool Off, Catania Style

Guest author Renée Kaplan contributed this post on how to fight back against the oppressive heat she calls "City in the Summer Syndrome" (which New York seems to be oddly immune from so far this year). Learning a lesson from the Sicilians, she writes about the ideal heatwave breakfast: thirst-quenching almond granita and a brioche for dunking.

Read More: City in the Summer Syndrome

Chocophiles Go Postal

Blogger and author David Lebovitz points to these new chocolate stamps that are being printed by La Poste, the French postal service. Unlike those popular Chinese Year of the Pig stamps (which were touted to taste like sweet and sour pork, but didn't), Lebovitz writes that these stamps really are scented (with the aroma of chocolate).

A set of 10 stamps -- which come in a booklet made to resemble a chocolate bar -- is 8.5 € (approximately $11.88) at la boutique web du timbre. The stamps may be purchased online and shipped to the U.S.

Can You Trademark a Chocolate Bunny?

European courts are reviewing whether Lindt can enforce its trademark on bunnies sculpted out of chocolate.

New Frontiers in Culinary Travel: Ice Cream Tourism

The idea of culinary travel usually conjures up a romanticized image like a trip to Alba to hunt for white truffles, a wine tour of the Rhone Valley, or perhaps the ultimate in foodish travels, a week in Tuscany cooking, eating, and discussing food and wine with Michael Pollan.

But, a new promotion that recently arrived in my inbox suggests the innovation of an entirely new genre of gastronomic vacations: ice cream tourism.

Bread and Chocolate Reloaded

Theo Chocolate's organic and Fair Trade certified Bread & Chocolate bar (65% cacao) gets its distinctive crunch from bits of French bread crumbs mixed into the chocolate. Sea salt provides an additional savory edge to this innovative take on a classic combination. $3.25 at theochocolate.com (also found it at my local Whole Foods store).

Discovered via @amandahesser.

Less is More? Five Ice Cream

Häagen-Dazs has launched five, a new series of ice creams marketed around the fact that they contain no more than five ingredients: each is made only from milk, sugar, cream, and eggs, plus one of seven flavors (milk chocolate, vanilla bean, coffee, brown sugar, ginger, mint, and passion fruit).

Now you know what to serve Michael Pollan when he comes over for dessert.

[Via PSFK]

Q&A: Joanne Chen, Student of Sweet

Joanne Chen is the author of the newly released The Taste of Sweet: Our Complicated Love Affair with Our Favorite Treats. In the book, her first, she explores the science and culture behind why some of us have insatiable sweet tooths while others do not. The book also pays particularly interest to Americans' love-hate-guilt relationship to sweets and desserts.

There’s no doubt you're an avid lover of sweets. How did your sweet tooth become the inspiration for the book?

I grew up in a family that loved food, all sorts of food including sweets. We always had desserts and afterschool snacks, and I never thought sweets were a bad food or something limited to special occasions. So, when I became an adult, I was appalled that people didn’t feel the same way. I couldn’t believe people would pass up a just-baked pie! Or feel guilty about eating a cookie. So this book was an excuse to explore how our relationships with sweets (and food in general) came to be.

You write about the many ways people experience taste. What’s the difference between a non-taster, taster, and super-taster? How can someone find out what category they fall into?

Super-tasters have a higher density of taste buds than tasters and non-tasters. Our taste preferences are mainly determined by culture and experience, but our density of taste buds influence how intense certain foods might taste. So super-tasters are more apt to think certain vegetables, like Brussels sprouts, are very bitter, or certain sweets, like Rocky Road ice cream, are too sweet. As one scientist I interviewed explained, super-tasters live in a neon taste world, while non-tasters live in a pastel taste world. You can get an idea by taking a quiz on my website, The Taste of Sweet. You can also get strips of PTC paper from science hobby or teaching shops. These test strips will taste bitter to super-tasters and tasters. Non-tasters will taste nothing at all.

Are some sweets perceived as more low-brow than others? Why is a box of Godiva chocolates more coveted than a box of Whitman's? Isn't it all chocolate?

Yes, I believe some sweets ARE perceived as more low brow than others. It all depends on context. Godiva chocolates are considered more high end than Whitman’s because the price points are higher, justified, in part perhaps, by the purity/quality of the chocolate and fillings it’s made with. However, one scientist I interviewed brought up a good point. He wonders why certain wines are deemed better than others—what is “better”? It’s only deemed better because someone influential in a particular circle says so. Of course, in some social circles, Godiva chocolates are low brow, and something else—like Vosges or Michel Cluizel—is consider high brow.

Holdable Honey

The Honibe Honey Drop works like a sugar cube for those who'd rather sweeten their tea with honey. John Rowe, creator of the drops, says he was inspired to create a "non-messy" honey after an unfortunate camping trip involving a broken jar of honey, a backpack, and a sticky mess. Because the single-serving drops won't stick like liquid honey, they might be particularly useful for tea drinkers on the go. According to Rowe, unlike other dried honey products on the market, his drops are made of 100% natural honey and contain no binding agents or additives such as sugar or corn syrup. $11.99 for a box of 20 (plain or flavored with lemon) at Honibe.

Cold Comfort

As the mercury rises, we've recently been savoring Sharon's Sorbet passion fruit sorbet. It's tangy and amazingly creamy, despite the fact that it's made solely from passion fruit, sugar, water, and pectin. Find it at your local grocery or online for $4.99/pint from icecreamsource.com.

City Sweets

I recently discovered 5 Boroughs Ice Cream, which features flavors that are frozen custard shout-outs to New York neighborhoods -- from Staten Island "Landfill" to Upper East Side "Rich White Vanilla." I took home a pint of "Bakla-Wha?!" which honors Astoria's Greek community with a cinnamon-powered ice cream studded with chunks of nutty baklava. $4.99/pint at Gourmet Garage or find a location near you.