National Macaroon Day

National Macaroon Day is on May 31st in the United States.

First, what are macaroons? Well, they are a small, circular cake that have been made since at least the 19th century - there is a recipe for one in the classic book on Victorian housekeeping, Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.

The cakes are named after almond paste, as ground almonds are the traditional ingredient for the cake, macaroon deriving from the Italian word "maccarone" which means "paste." Other ingredients are used in the basic recipe, such as egg white and sugar, but the almonds themselves may also be replaced, or used in combination with other ingredients.

This is a cake that has many regional varieties. Coconut is another popular ingredient in some variations, as is chocolate, and other nuts such as cashews are also used.

National Hamburger Month

The month of May is National Hamburger Month in the United States.

Hamburger seems like a simple enough term that it couldn't cause any confusion, but this is not the case. In the US, the term hamburger (and the similar term, beefburger), are used to refer to the entire sandwich - patty, bun and fillings - whilst in the UK it is used to simply refer to the meat patty itself - which is not called a patty anyway. The name hamburger derives from the German city of Hamburg, but the earliest known reference to a hamburger is in late 19th century Chicago.

Hamburgers, when used to refer to the entire sandwich, consist of the patty, or burger (which can be made from a variety of different things, even vegetables), between two slices of bread. Other ingredients can, and usually are, added to the dish, such as cheese - for the well known cheeseburger - sauces, other meats and salad. Hamburger are also a common fast food item.

National Barbecue Month

The month of May is National Barbecue Month in the United States.

It may not seem like it, but what a barbecue is can depend on the country or region. It is also used to just refer to a flavour of sauce. Most methods of barbecuing do have some common points, though.

Meat, and other foods, that is barbecued is usually cooked over a lower heat and, therefore, for a longer period of time, than would be the case if it was grilled. Although different meats - especially, in the case of home barbecues, such as sausages and burgers - are most commonly barbecued, vegetables and fish may be barbecued also.

When food is barbecued, it is generally placed on something above the flames (or heat source), such as a grill, rather than in them. Traditional barbecues will use charcoal, or wood, but gas barbecues are also common these days. Gas barbecues, whilst much easier to start and use, can lack the flavour of a traditional barbecue, as there is no smoke to infuse what is being cooked with flavour.

National Brisket Day

National Brisket Day is on May 28th in the United States.

Brisket is not a way of cooking beef, but is actually a cut - one of, in the United States (cuts vary depending on the country or region; for example, the British cut is different as there are more than nine primal cuts), the nine primal cuts from a beef carcass.

Brisket, although there are different ways in which it can be cooked, is most commonly cooked slowly. This can be done as a pot roast in such as a slow cooker or in a casserole, or by indirect heat, which is a form of smoking it. Once the brisket is cooked this way, it will fall to pieces after cooking, rather than being carved into slices. This can make it suitable for any dish in which shredded beef is used, rather than slices.

National Grape Popsicle Day

May 27th is National Grape Popsicle Day in the United States.

Popsicles can be known by a variety of different names, including ice lollies, freeze pops, freezer pops, ice blocks, ice pops and icy poles, as different countries have their own names for this items. Popsicles are based on frozen water, and often, but not always, have a stick in them around which the water was frozen to hold them to eat. One name for them when they lack a stick is freezie.

The water in popsicles is flavoured and, usually, coloured. Different flavourings can be added, with fruit flavours being generally the most popular. In this case, the flavouring used is grape. Popsicle also refers to a branded type of this frozen snack.

National Blueberry Cheesecake Day

May 26th is National Blueberry Cheesecake Day in the United States.

This is another day celebrating a flavour of cheesecake, this time a blueberry one. This could be made with fresh blueberries, assuming the cheesecake is itself made fresh, but tinned and frozen blueberries are also possibilities.

All cheesecakes are made from one, or more, layers of soft cheese which is often flavoured. This soft cheese is on a base made from such things as crushed biscuits (cookies), graham crackers, sponge cake and pastry.

To make a blueberry cheesecake, there are different ways to go about it, some of which could be combined. The soft cheese could have whole blueberries, or blueberry flavour, added to it. For a cheesecake made of two or more layers of soft cheese, blueberries could be in a layer separating the cheese. The cheesecake could be a simple vanilla cheesecake which has been topped with a blueberry coulis.

National Asparagus Month

May is National Asparagus Month in the United States.

Asparagus is grown all around the world and is a vegetable consisting of a stout stem with leafy foliage. Two main varieties of asparagus are eaten, green and white. White asparagus is simply created by blanching the plant whilst it is growing. The vegetable has been probably eaten for at least 5,000 years.

Although asparagus can grow up to a couple of feet high, it is harvested and eaten much earlier. asparagus is eaten as young shoots, prior to the buds at the top opening; older, grown asparagus tends to be woody. Asparagus is low in calories and a good source of nutrients, including dietary fibre.

There are different ways of cooking asparagus, but it shouldn't be boiled. Grilling is a preferred method, and it is commonly served with hollandaise sauce.

National Escargot Day

National Escargot Day is on May 24th in The United States.

This may sound like an interesting day, but the true name of it will more than likely put off some people, for this is actually National Snails Day.

Escargot is the French for snail and the name is also used to describe a specific dish cooked using specific snails. The snails are land snails (there are also sea snails). The name can be used to describe species of snails which are eaten in this way, which isn't all of them by any means, as not every species is eaten, or considered to be edible.

Snails have been eaten for thousands of years, but the thought of eating them will be off-putting for some. Snails are actually a low fat/high protein meat, rather like mussels, and are such a healthy option.

The snails, which are removed from their shells, are cooked in a sauce made from chicken stock, garlic butter and wine. Before being eaten, they are replaced in their shells.

National Taffy Day

May 23rd is National Taffy Day in the United States.

This type of candy (or sweet) is also known as choes. The candy is related to toffee, but it tends to be softer - toffee being quite a firm, often brittle candy, whilst taffy is soft.

Taffy is made from a mix of butter (vegetable oil can be used as a substitute), sugar, colourings and flavourings. This is is then boiled and stretched until small bubbles permeate the mixture. Once cooked, the taffy is then rolled out, cut into small pieces, and usually kept in waxed paper to keep it soft. Taffy is popular in fruit flavours, but molasses and unflavoured are also popular.

A popular seaside treat in the United States is salt water taffy. Although this taffy does contain both salt and water, it isn't actually made from saltwater.

In the UK, taffy is known as "chews" or "fruit chews."

National Vanilla Pudding Day

National Vanilla Pudding Day is on May 22nd in the United States.

Vanilla pudding is a type of dessert which is probably more commonly known, outside the United States, as blancmange - a French name which roughly translates as "white dish." Despite the name, it is not uncommon for them do be colours other than white, as colourings are added to the mix. There are other similar dishes such as Bavarian cream.

At its base, vanilla pudding is made from milk, or cream, and sugar which is then thickened. Other ingredients such as eggs may also be added. As can be guessed by the name, in vanilla pudding an added ingredient is vanilla. Vanilla is obtained from the pods and seeds of a genus of orchid, and is the second most expensive spice around. Given the expense, it is not uncommon for the vanilla to be replaced with the, cheaper but less tasty, vanilla flavouring.

The various ingredients are blended together, poured into a mould, and then chilled. The dish is removed from the mould and served once is has set.

National Strawberries & Cream Day

May 21st is National Strawberries & Cream Day in the United States.

Strongly associated with the Wimbledon Championships, held later in the year, this is a traditional English dessert.

Strawberries are a type of fruit cultivated all over the world and can be eaten fresh, as in this case, as well as being used as an ingredient in prepared foods and in preserves and jams. A common commercial crop, they are a good source of vitamin C, and are a comparatively easy fruit to grow yourself, although the growing season will likely be limited.

The top layer of butterfat is skimmed from the top of milk (not non-dairy), which is the cream. This is then poured over the strawberries which, depending on their size, may be cut into smaller pieces - strawberries can be quite large, large enough that putting a whole one in your mouth could be a bit tricky.

National Quiche Lorraine Day

National Quiche Lorraine Day is on May 20th in the United States.

Quiches are made with an open pastry crust that is filled with a savoury custard - making it very similar to things like cream pies. The custard can contain things such as cheese, meat, seafood and vegetables, and the quiche may be served hot, just after being cooked, or cold.

Despite the fact that quiches are considered to be a French dish, they actually originated in Germany. Similar dishes were also common in England at the time, and may possibly pre-date the German dish.

Quiche lorraine originated in the Lorraine region of France, for which it is named. What makes this quiche different from normal quiches is that it has bacon in the mix - a quiche missing said bacon cannot be quiche lorraine. The dish originally did not even have cheese in it - a common quiche ingredient - and this was added at a later date.

National Devil's Food Cake Day

May 19th is National Devil's Food Cake Day in the United States.

This cake is considered to be the opposite to Angel Food Cake. The latter is light and airy, whilst devil's food cake is anything but.

This is essentially a moist, rich and chocolate layer cake. What is supposed to be the difference between an ordinary chocolate cake and a devil's food cake is that the latter contains more - perhaps a lot more - chocolate flavour than the former does.

Even though it is at base a chocolate cake, it usually, rather than chocolate, uses cocoa in the ingredients instead of chocolate. Coffee is also a common addition and it can be given a darker colour by using baking soda in the mix. For an even greater chocolate indulgence, melted chocolate may be used as well as the cocoa. For yet more chocolate, the cake may then have a chocolate frosting.

National Cheese Soufflé Day

National Cheese Soufflé Day is on May 18th in the United States.

Soufflés are lightly baked cakes that can be either sweet or savoury, depending on what ingredients are used. The name derives from a French word and means "to blow up" which refers to how the dish should come out of the oven.

Egg whites, which have beaten to what is known as soft peak meringue, and a cream sauce or purée, such as crème pâtissière or something with that flavour, are the base ingredients in soufflés. When a soufflé comes out of the oven, it should be all puffed up, but it will quickly collapse in a matter of minutes after being cooked, so it has to be served and eaten straight away, rather than being saved for later use.

This soufflé is, at least usually, a savoury dish, as it has cheese added to the ingredients (there are some sweet cheese dishes, but soufflé would not normally be ones of them).

National Cherry Cobbler Day

May 17th is National Cherry Cobbler Day in the United States.

Cobblers are a type of dish with many regional variations and different types, and are especially popular in both the US and the UK. This day refers to the dish, which can be sweet or savoury depending on the ingredients, rather than to the person who fixes shoes.

Early cobblers in America were created by colonists from England as a substitute for suet pudding, for which there was a lack of local ingredients. Unlike pies, in a cobbler the filling is poured into the dish first, which is then topped by a layer of biscuits, of the American bread kinds which are related to the British scone, batter or dumplings. The dish is then baked in the oven.

This particular variety of cobbler, because it uses cherries as the filling, is naturally of the sweet dessert kind, rather than being a savoury dish.

National Coquilles St. Jacques Day

National Coquilles St. Jacques Day is on May 16th in the United States.

The name of this dish is in French, and when it is translated into English it means the Shell of St. James. It is not simply a shell, of course - there is food in the dish as well. The name refers to the emblem of St. James, which is the distinctively shaped scallop shell, from which the term "scalloped" comes, and is used as the name of both the shellfish, as well as the dish, by the French.

Scallop is used to refer to both the shellfish, a species of marine bivalve mollusc, as well as the meat that comes from it, which is specifically the white meat. There are many species of mollusc which are edible, and prized, and the scallop shell was in the past quite valuable.

To make the dish, the scallops are cooked in a sauce made from white wine and cream as a base, along with other ingredients such as cheese. The dish is often served in half of the scallop shell topped with cheese.

National Chocolate Chip Day

May 15th is National Chocolate Chip Day in the United States.

This day does not so much celebrate chocolate chips by themselves, but rather chocolate chip cookies.

In the late 1930s, Ruth Wakefield, the owner of the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts, created the chocolate chip cookie. This is often said to have been an accidental creation, and Ruth is said to have believed that the chocolate chips would melt into the cookie, but she stated that they were a deliberate creation.

These are cookies with, as it sounds, whole chips of chocolate in them. This can be milk, white or dark chocolate, depending on preference, and cocoa may also be added to the mix making the cookies even more chocolaty. Instead of using baking chocolate in the recipe, which does melt when they are baked, normal chocolate is used. As stated, cookies can be had with different chocolate types in them, but semi-sweet is one of the more common. The chocolate is broken into chips, and added to the mix before baking.

National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

May 14th is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day in the United States.

This isn't the British cookie type of biscuit, but the American type of bread biscuit. The buttermilk biscuit is similar to the British scone, or the Scottish bannock, and can be either sweet or savoury, mostly depending on what additions are made and what they are served with, again rather similar to the scone which, although generally eaten as a sweet cake, can also be savoury, especially those with cheese in the recipe.

Buttermilk biscuits are, not surprisingly, made with buttermilk, with flour and either baking powder or baking soda, which are used as leavening agents rather than yeast, being other important ingredients. Buttermilk is, or originally was, the liquid that was left over after churning butter from cream. The type of buttermilk used in this isn't the fermented buttermilk common in many countries. They have a firm crust and a soft interior.

National Apple Pie Day

May 13th is National Apple Pie Day in the United States.

This popular sweet pie dessert is commonly associated with America, resulting in the phrase "As American as apple pie", although the apple pie does not actually originate in the US and pre-dates the country by many centuries. In England, the apple pie dates back to the fourteenth century at least, and there are Dutch recipes dating back to the sixteenth. There is also a Swedish variant, and colonists from all three countries brought the pie to the Americas.

Apple pies are usually double crust pies; that is, they have both a top and bottom crust, although the top crust may be a lattice. The apples used in the pies are generally cooking apples such as the Bramley, although the Granny Smith is both used in cooking and eaten raw. Other ingredients would be sugar and spices. The pie may be served hot or cold, and is often eaten with a scoop of ice cream.

National Nutty Fudge Day

National Nutty Fudge Day is on May 12th in the United States.

Fudge is a type of confection made from sugar, milk and butter. The sugar is heated to the soft-ball stage 116 °C (240 °F) and then beating the mixture whilst it cools. The end product is soft, rich and sweet. Modern American-style fudge probably originated in the United States in the late 19th century, and had chocolate added to the mixture. There are other similar confections, such as Scots tablet.

Other ingredients may also be added to the mixture; in this case, nuts are added. There are many different types of nuts that can be added to fudge, but they will usually be chopped, rather than whole, and this includes many culinary nuts which are not true botanical nuts. Some common nuts would be peanuts, walnuts, pecans and almonds, which could be added individually or mixed together.

National Eat What You Want Day

May 11th is National Eat What You Want Day in the United States.

This is a day that can be considered to celebrate all types of food, rather than any particular one. It's also eat what you want, so no calorie counting, weight watching, dieting or anything, if it's what you want (within a certain amount of reason anyway). Given most people's tendencies, this will probably boil down to eating unhealthy things, whether candy, dessert, junk food, fast food or other unhealthy, but usually quite tasty, treats.

One day a year in which you eat what you want, even if it's unhealthy, is unlikely to do much in the way of damage. The real problem arises when people treat every day like eat what you want day. Moderation in all things; something unhealthy for a treat is one thing, eating it continually as a lifestyle choice is another.

National Shrimp Day

May 10th is National Shrimp Day in the United States.

The first thing that needs to be determined is what a shrimp actually is. Yes, it's a type of shellfish, but the precise definition can vary from country to country. The name shrimp refers to a wide range of crustaceans, and can cover different groups of them. They can also be called prawns; this name is usually used for the larger species, especially in Britain, whereas in the US the name shrimp is more common. In general, the name shrimp is used to refer to any small crustacean that looks like a shrimp - even if they technically aren't.

Shrimps have been eaten for well over a thousand years, getting on for at least two thousand, maybe more. Shrimp are nutritionally good for you, although allergies are common, and, being near the bottom of the food chain, they have low levels of mercury. There are many different ways of preparing shrimp, but the shell needs removing from them at some point before eating.

National Butterscotch Brownie Day

May 9th is National Butterscotch Brownie Day in the United States.

Butterscotch brownies are a variant on the standard chocolate brownie - although they actually predate the chocolate brownie. One of the biggest differences between the butterscotch brownie and the chocolate brownie is that the former lacks chocolate, using vanilla as a substitute for the cocoa.

Butterscotch brownies are also known as blondies. Butterscotch brownies are made from butter, eggs, baking powder, brown sugar and flour, as well as the previously mentioned vanilla. They may include butterscotch, chopped nuts, such as walnuts and pecans, and chocolate chips. They are otherwise cooked in the same way as brownies.

The resulting blondie can also be topped with various different things, and is popular eaten in sundaes and topped with ice cream and butterscotch sauce.

National Coconut Cream Pie Day

National Coconut Cream Pie Day is on May 8th in the United States.

This dessert is yet another flavour in the wide range of different cream pies that there are. As with all cream pies, this is made from a pie base, which may be a standard pie crust or instead made from cookies or Graham crackers that have been crumbled. The filling is put inside the pie crust, and is a rich custard or pudding made from eggs, flour, milk and cream, and is similar to crème patissière. Cream pies lack a crust top, but always have a whipped cream top.

The filling in this one is flavoured with coconut, and the top may be decorated with more coconut. Like many things with the word "nut" in the name, coconuts are not botanical nuts. They are in fact drupes. The white, fleshy "meat" of the coconut is the part that is most commonly used in cooking.

National Roast Leg of Lamb Day

National Roast Leg of Lamb Day is on May 7th in the United States.

Leg of lamb is a cut from the domestic sheep. In the US, "lamb" can be used to refer to sheep where in other countries the term "mutton" would be used instead, as the name lamb is reserved for younger sheep. The cut means the whole leg, and it would therefore be served on the bone.

Lamb is one of the traditional components in the British and Irish meal referred to as the Sunday roast, or Sunday dinner, although these days it can be served at other times of the week too. The lamb would be accompanied by roast, or mashed, potato, Yorkshire puddings, stuffing, gravy and other vegetables (such as carrots and peas, but others are also popular). Another typical accompaniment for lamb would be mint sauce.

National Beverage Day

National Beverage Day is on May 6th in the United States.

Here's a day that's the absolute opposite of some of the really specific days out there. This one is pretty much as vague as it can get.

A beverage is a drink - which are liquids intended for human consumption. As a consequence, this day can be celebrated with (almost) absolutely any drink of any kind. Oddly, one form of drink that the word beverage is not considered to refer to these days is water itself. Although all drinks do contain water, water by itself isn't classed as a beverage.

You can therefore celebrate this day with a whole bunch of different drinks; hot drinks such as tea, coffee and cocoa; cold drinks such as cordials, fruit juices and carbonated drinks. Even alcoholic drinks are beverages.

Some drinks are better than others for celebrating this day. Generally, high sugar drinks are not the best at any time, and many popular drinks are best consumed in moderation.

National Hoagie Day

May 5th is National Hoagie Day in the United States.

Hoagies are a type of submarine sandwich; submarine sandwiches are sandwiches made from long rolls of bread, usually either French or Italian, that are split into two pieces or opened into a V.

The hoagie type of sub originated in Philadelphia, although the precise origins are uncertain. It's been linked to World War I Italian shipyard workers on Hog Island, where it was known as the Hog Island sandwich, or Hoggies, then, later, hoagies.

They have also been linked to the 19th or 20th century, when sandwiches known as hokies were given away, and the name was pronounced hoagie.

Hoagies are generally different meats, cheeses and lettuce between two slices of bread. Which does mean that there are an awful lot of possible variants that could be called hoagies.

National Orange Juice Day

National Orange Juice Day is on May 4th in the United States.

Orange juice is just what it sounds like, the juice of an orange. Orange juice is known to be healthy and, like the fruit from which it derives, it is high in vitamin C.

There are different ways of making orange juice. Probably the best, and healthiest, is by making it from freshly squeezed oranges. This can be purchased, or made at home, but is doesn't last as long and tends to be more expensive.

The more common commercial kinds of orange juice tend to be made from concentrated juice to which water is later added, although juice marketed as being "not from concentrate" is also available. The second is actually poorer than the first. Canned juice can also be bought. Except for the freshly squeezed orange juice, the others tend to have a variety of additives, including such as sugar and sweeteners. The additives can nullify many of the health benefits of the juice.

National Raspberry Popover Day

National Raspberry Popover Day is on May 3rd in the United States.

Popovers can be either sweet or savoury, depending on what other ingredients are used, and what they are eaten with, and are made from an egg batter, related to that of the Yorkshire pudding, which is cooked in either muffin tins or popover pans - popover pans have straight sided walls. The cooked popover is a light and hollow roll.

This type of popover is a sweet dessert roll. The hollow centre of the popover is filled with the raspberries, or raspberry filling. Raspberries come in a variety of different types, although red varieties are the most common. Raspberries were originally a midsummer crop, which would make May an odd time to have them, but they are now available all year and, in the case of the raspberry fillings, are preserved anyway.

National Truffle Day

May 2nd in National Truffle Day in the United States.

This day isn't celebrating the, often very expensive, fruiting fungus, that is prized in cooking. Instead, it is celebrating what is properly known as the chocolate truffle, a type of confectionery that is named after the former - due to the fact that the shape of the chocolate truffle resembles the shape of the fungus.

Truffles are a comparatively recent creation, dating from the end of the 19th century, probably due to chocolate being comparatively expensive for many years. The chocolate truffle is comprised of a chocolate ganache centre, which is made from cream which is heated and then has chocolate blended into it, and then dusted with such things as cocoa powder, chopped nuts, or icing sugar. The chocolate ganache centre may be replaced with other ingredients, such as marshmallow, liqueur and fruit.

National Chocolate Parfait Day

National Chocolate Parfait Day is on May 1st in the United States.

Parfait, depending on where it is ordered, can be used to refer to different dishes. In France, where the dish originates, it is a frozen dessert. The name is French for "perfect." In the UK, it can be used to refer to very smooth pâtés, usually flavoured with liqueurs.

In the US, the name may be used for the French dessert or, alternatively, to the American variant, which is also a frozen dessert.

American parfait is a layered dessert served in a tall, clear glass. Parfait cream - the actual French dessert made from sugar syrup, egg and cream - is layered with ice cream and/or flavoured and coloured gelatins. This would then be topped with whipped cream, fruit, either fresh or canned, and possibly liqueurs. A variant of American parfait uses yoghurt, granola and nuts or fresh fruits - a rather healthier version.

In a chocolate parfait, there is, of course, chocolate. This will probably include chocolate ice cream and could include such as chocolate sauces or pieces.