Darjeeling tea is a black tea that must officially be produced in the Darjeeling region in West Bengal, India.
The king of black teas, Darjeeling is light in color, has a thin body and smells floral -- with a tannic astringency and spicy, musky quality known to tea geeks as "muscatel" -- and a cool, sweet aftertaste. It is adored by the British.
While primarily a black tea, you can also find Darjeeling oolong and green teas and Darjeeling is actually oxidized at a level closer to the oolong than black tea family. Some 3/4 of the world's so-called Darjeeling tea is inauthentic, so if you want the real thing, look for an official Darjeeling logo from the Tea Board of India.
Darjeeling comes in three varieties. The mild First Flush, which is harvested after the spring rains in mid-March; the more full-bodied Second Flush, harvested in June; and the less delicate and spicy Autumnal Flush, which is harvested in the post-rainy-season autumn.
what you should know
Though watercress is best known for its role adjacent cucumber in tea sandwiches, we love to pair its peppery bite with richer, creamier ingredients.
Close your eyes and imagine a plate of pan-roasted duck and puréed potatoes. Looks pretty good, right? Okay, now imagine a frazzled bouquet of lightly dressed watercress alongside. Even better.
aqua vitae Even better-better? With few calories and high levels of vitamin C, beta-carotene and other minerals, watercress is an indisputable superfood.
who you callin' garnish? One of the oldest known edible greens, watercress is a popular garnish in Europe. In Great Britain, a recent PR campaign reminded consumers -- with the help of a nude model -- that watercress is "Not Just a Bit on the Side."
tang tamer Raw watercress adds a snap and tang to salads and soups. For a gentler taste of cress, try it in a sauté, pasta or stir-fry.
G8 With beets, celery, carrots, lettuce, parsley, spinach and tomatoes, watercress is the eighth ingredient in the classic vegetable drink, V-8.
what you need
A little too large to shake out like an herb, watercress dries quickly in a salad spinner.
If you're unfamiliar with our official position on tongs, first read our PSA, then buy these.
Alice Waters' Chez Panisse Vegetables cookbook has a whole section on the cresses.
what you do
Sometimes (at teas, say), a classic watercress and tea sandwich is just the right bite. For a more stylish tea, try Lauren's open-faced tea sandwiches.
This steak sandwich with watercress, fontina, and roasted red peppers perfectly melds together contrasting flavors and textures.
In the same vein as Barbara Kafka's refreshing parsley soup, this watercress bisque is a bright, creamy summer soup that can be served hot or cold.
As a salad base, watercress lends more character than a traditional lettuce, especially in sweet-and-sour mixes such as hogwash's cress and fruit salad with grapefruit-verjus vinaigrette.
Featured recipe: For a different take on the classic tea sandwich, try the watercress sandwich with chili and lime butter from A Veggie Venture. It's the featured recipe for this week's Root Source Challenge.
Cream cheese is a soft, unripened mixture of cream and milk that contains at least 33% fat. Its spreadable quality and mild flavor have made it a popular topping for bagels, toast and or crackers. It's also commonly used for flavor and texture in dips, omelettes, soups, frostings and cakes.
The original cream cheese is credited to New York dairyman, William Lawrence, who sold his cheese under the "Philadelphia" label because that city had a reputation for high-quality foods at that time (late 19th century). Eventually, Lawrence sold his company to the Phoenix Cheese Company of New York. Years later, it was sold again to Kraft.
Cream cheese's predecessor, American neufchâtel, is experiencing a renaissance of sorts because it has less fat and a lighter texture than its more popular cousin. Distinct from French neufchâtel, which has a rind, American neufchâtel is unripened and spreadable like cream cheese.
Whether it's visible or not, vegetables usually have dirt, dust and other residue on them. Here's an easy and thorough way to wash all kinds of leafy greens:
Grab a bowl large enough to easily hold the greens and fill it with lukewarm water. Submerge the greens in the water and shake them back and forth to dislodge or dissolve the dirt. Then just lift the greens out of the water so the dirt stays behind. Pour out the water and repeat with clean water until the water stays clear when you pull out the greens.
Pumpernickel is a dark German rye bread. It gets its color from baking for up to 24 hours in a low, steam-filled oven. Some modern manufacturers cheat on the long baking time and instead add molasses, coffee, cocoa powder and other coloring agents.
So why the funny name? Some suggest that the bread was named by an 18th-century Frenchman who dismissed its non-baguetteness as "bon pour Nicole" -- good for Nicole, his horse.
Others have guessed that it comes from the word pumpen, a German word for "fart," plus nickel, a nickname for Nikolaus that can mean either a half-wit or the devil himself. Another theory traces the bread back to the 1450s, when it was distributed to the poor during a famine in Osnabrück, earning it the nickname of bonum panicum, or "good bread," which later morphed into "bumponickel" and finally into "pumpernickel."
