THE NIBBLE webzine of food adventures, 15 West 72nd Street/Suite 33G, New York, NY (2026)

08/22/2026

This spumoni ice cream cake recipe inspired us to make our easy loaf cake version (photo © The Nibble).

Our Spumoni Baked Alaska hack. The recipe follows (photo © The Nibble).

Spumoni for four. You can purchase it here (photo © Lezza).

Make an easy meringue with liquid egg whites (photo © The Nibble).

August 21st is a special day for us: National Spumoni Day.

Growing up, we couldn’t wait to go to our local Italian restaurant with our parents. It wasn’t for the Italian food: Mom was a great cook and made the Italian-American repertoire as fine as any restaurant (no one has ever topped her lasagna).

But at the restaurant, we couldn’t wait to get through the meal to order dessert: spumoni!

For National Spumoni Day, we elevated spumoni to Spumoni Baked Alaska, and created a hack to simplify making this festive dessert. A recipe from THE NIBBLE.

08/20/2026

August 20th is National Bacon Lovers Day, one of 11 annual bacon holidays and a nudge for us to round up some of our favorite bacon recipes.

Did you know that you can make bacon jam from bacon drippings? It’s not the same texture as turning chopped bacon into jam, but it delivers the aroma and flavor with no extra expense. The recipe is below.

Below:

> Breakfast recipes.

> Appetizers and condiments.

> Salads, sides, and soups.

> Main courses.

> Desserts, snacks, and sweets.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The different types of bacon: a photo glossary.

> The history of bacon.

> The year’s 11 bacon holidays.

50+ FUN RECIPES WITH BACON

Breakfast
- Beef & Bacon Hash
- BLT Eggs Benedict
- BLT Pancakes
- Maple Bacon Muffins
- One-Pan Bacon, Egg, & Sausage Skillet Scramble
- Turkey Bacon Pancake Strips

Bacon jam is delicious on biscuits or toast. We haven’t yet tried it on a bagel and cream cheese (photo © Smithfield).

For National Bacon Lovers Day, 50 yummy-fun recipes with bacon, from breakfast through drinks, dinner, and dessert. From THE NIBBLE webzine of food adventures.

08/05/2026

A California Vermentino from Rodney Strong Vineyards served with chilled cucumber soup (photo © California Wine Institute).

A Tuscan Vermentino with oysters or any shellfish (photo © The Nibble).

Surrau “Limizzani” Vermentino di Gallura DOCG is a classic, with vibrant citrus, sea salt minerality†, and white flower aromas. From the top growing area in the top Vermentino-producing region, Sardinia, it typically costs around $17 to $20 per bottle (photo © Vintage 38).

Vermentino is a good “sandwich wine” for cheese, veggie, poultry, tuna, and other lighter fillings. It’s shown here with our mozzarella-raspberry-basil grilled cheese recipe. The saltiness† of the wine balances the mozzarella, while the herbal notes sing with the fresh basil (photo © The Nibble).

One of America’s finest Vermentinos is made at Barboursville Vineyards in Virginia, just north of Charlottesville. The shellfish pairing is spot-on (photo © Barboursville Vineyards).

While Italy makes the most Vermentino, the crisp white wines are also produced in France, Spain, the U.S., and Australia. The new "it" wine to enjoy year-round!

08/04/2026

August 3rd is National Watermelon Day, and we just made our first batch of dehydrated watermelon.

We don’t have a dehydrator; we just used our oven and two ingredients, watermelon and lime juice.

The result is sweet and chewy with a pleasant vegetal undertones, a bit crispy and chip-like at the edges, and a fruit leather-ish texture in the middle.

Below:

> Dehydrated watermelon recipe.

> Beyond snacking: savory and sweet ways to use dehydrated watermelon.

> 30+ more watermelon recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert, drinks, plus non-alcoholic beverages.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The history of watermelon.

> Watermelon nutrition.

> Watermelon tips: buying and storing.

RECIPE: DEHYDRATED WATERMELON

Thanks to Gelson’s, one of America’s great high-end supermarkets, for the recipe.

We made this dehydrated watermelon snack recipe, and came up with 14 more ways to use it. The recipe is simple. From The Nibble webzine of food adventures.

08/03/2026

No lettuce in this salad, just carrots, grapes, cheese, and herbs (photo © The Nibble).

Once found only at farmers’ markets, rainbow carrots now appear at better food stores (photo © Artisan Restaurant).

Buy seedless grapes; you’ll be cutting them in half for the recipe (photo © The Nibble).

Garnishes for the salad include Italian parsley, toasted hazelnuts, mint, and ricotta salata (photo © The Nibble).

There’s no need to buy white balsamic vinegar just for this recipe. Substitute white wine vinegar with honey or sugar, in a proportion of 1 tablespoon wine vinegar to 1/2 teaspoon honey or sugar (photo © The Nibble).

Ground coriander seeds. Coriander is the dried seed of the cilantro herb. In the U.S., people call the green leaves and stems cilantro and the seeds coriander. In other parts of the world, the whole plant is simply called coriander (photo © Savory Spice Shop).

Ricotta salata (photo © Good Eggs).

Who needs lettuce? Check out this Carrot Salad with Green Grapes, Coriander and Ricotta Salata. From THE NIBBLE webzine of food adventures.

07/30/2026

What are examples of accidents that created new dishes, e.g. the kitchen assistant who dropped the chocolate into cream and created ganache, or the maid who dropped the tray of sponge cake that created Lamingtons?

A number of popular dishes are linked to happy accidents.

While many origin stories are disputed or embellished, we’ll separate the well-supported accidental discoveries from the unsubstantiated culinary legends.

GROUP 1: SOMEWHAT-DOCUMENTED ACCIDENTS

The most reliable takeaway is that many “accidental” dishes were likely the result of improvisation, waste avoidance, or an unexpected kitchen result that someone chose to repeat—rather than one perfectly documented mishap.

In alphabetical order, the creation of these foods have a basis in fact.
- Brownies. One often-repeated account says a baker forgot to add baking powder to a chocolate cake, resulting in a dense, fudgy square.

What are examples of accidents that created new dishes, e.g. the kitchen assistant who dropped the chocolate into cream and created ganache, or the maid who dropped the tray of sponge cake that created Lamingtons? A number of popular dishes are linked to happy accidents. While many origin stories…

07/15/2026

We created a super-easy special dessert to celebrate National Grand Marnier Day, July 14th.

Below:

> The easy sundae recipe.

> More Grand Marnier recipes.

> The year’s 13 orange/mandarin holidays.

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> The different types of orange liqueur.

> The history of orange liqueur.

> The history of the Creamsicle.

> The history of the sundae.

> The history of ice cream.

> The year’s 7 liqueur holidays.

> The different types of ice cream and frozen desserts: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 50+ ice cream and frozen dessert holidays.

> The year’s 6 ice cream sundae holidays.

RECIPE: GRAND MARNIER SUNDAE

You can substitute another orange liqueur.

We created this elegant yet super-easy sundae for National Grand Marnier Day. Plus, more yummy Grand Marnier recipes from THE NIBBLE webzine of food adventures.

07/04/2026

Looking for something special to serve for Mother’s Day or other special occasion?

Turn the ever-popular Caesar salad into an elegant first course or luncheon dish by adding lobster.

Start with the traditional Caesar salad recipe.

Additional Ingredients:

1. You’ll need two cooked 2-pound lobsters for 4 luncheon servings or 6 first courses.

2. Slice the tail meat lengthwise to place atop the salad; the claw meat can be tossed with the romaine unless you can remove it whole.

Although it moves away from the definition of a Caesar salad,

3. You can also add 2 cups of peeled, coarsely grated celery root or parsnip to the tossed romaine.

4. Some people like to add sliced avocado or bacon.

5. You can substitute tarragon dressing for the Parmesan-raw-egg classic Caesar dressing. Tarragon pairs especially nicely with lobster (the recipe is below).

Below:

> Tarragon dressing recipe.

> More Caesar salad recipes.

> Caesar salad trivia.

Looking for something special to serve for Mother’s Day or other special occasion? Turn the ever-popular Caesar salad into an elegant first course or luncheon dish by adding lobster. Start with the traditional Caesar salad recipe. Additional Ingredients: 1. You’ll need two cooked 2-pound lobster...

06/27/2026

To'Ak chocolate made from Ecuador’s Ancient Nacional cacao, one of the world’s finest (all photos © To'Ak).

The history of chocolate.

> The different types of chocolate: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 69 chocolate holidays.

> Pairing wine with chocolate.

FINE CHOCOLATE, HOT WEATHER

You don’t have to own the costliest bars, bonbons, or cocoa powder to take good care of the good-quality ones you do have.

Even in our shade-drawn office, a box of fine chocolate disks on our desk melted together a bit in unusually high April heat (85°F), waiting for the air conditioning to be turned on in May.

Beyond melting, if chocolate gets too warm, even if it doesn’t melt, it can experience the phenomenon known as fat bloom.
- Fat bloom happens when the cocoa butter starts to melt and then re-solidifies, altering the texture and leaving grayish streaks on the surface of the chocolate.

If you're a chocolate connoisseur who buys "the good stuff," here's how to keep it at peak during warm weather. A tip from THE NIBBLE webzine of food.

06/15/2026

National Lobster Day is celebrated on two different days: June 15th September 25th (see the *footnote for why there are two).

Below:

> The history of lobster, from trash seafood to cash crop.

> Lobster-producing regions.

> Other foods that went from common to coveted.

> The year’s lobster holidays.

> Why are lobsters boiled alive?

Elsewhere on The Nibble:

> 30+ lobster recipes for every meal of the day.

> The interesting anatomy and biology of a lobster.

> The different types of seafood: a photo glossary.

> The year’s 60+ fish and seafood holidays.

THE HISTORY OF LOBSTER

Today, lobster is one of the most prized and expensive foods in the world. Yet for much of North American history, it was considered a low-status food, fed to enslaved laborers, prisoners, servants, orphans, and the poor. The transformation of lobster from a disparaged crustacean to a symbol of luxury is one of the most remarkable reversals in culinary history.

For National Lobster Day, the history of lobster and why they're boiled alive. Plus trivia and more lobster holidays from THE NIBBLE webzine of food adventures.

THE NIBBLE webzine of food adventures

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