National Snack Food Month

AlejandroLinaresGarcia / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

February is National Snack Food Month in the United States.

The true definition of snack food is a portion of food which is eaten as a snack, rather than as a regular meal and are often eaten between such, and, as a consequence of this, tends to be of a smaller size than a full size meal. It can also be used to refer to a smaller portion made from leftovers from a larger meal.

The term snack food tends to conjure up an unhealthy image, and this is often the case. Many snack foods are purchased pre-packaged and containing processed foods. Items that are commonly associated with the terms include such as crisps (potato chips), sweets (candy) and chips (French fries). However, just because snacks are often unhealthy does not mean that they have to be.

Any small portion of food can be considered to be a snack. This includes things such as fruit and vegetables, such as carrot sticks. The best sort of snack food is that made fresh, using fresh, healthy ingredients. The worst sort, and the most unhealthy, is pre-packaged and processed snack foods. The latter type does tend to be consumed more frequently though.

If you are going to have a snack, it makes sense, from a health point of view, to eat healthily and make the snack yourself from your own ingredients or, if this is time consuming, choose a commercially available snack that is similar. Snacking on high fat, but unfortunately often tasty, foods will have a detrimental long term effect.

National Chili Day

Carstor [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)]

February 27th is National Chili Day in the United States.

Chili, or chilli, normally refers to the dish known as chili con carne, which means 'chili with meat.' It's a spicy stew that originated in southern Texas and is made from meat, with beef being the most common, and chili peppers, or chili powder, at its most basic. Beans, especially red kidney beans, and tomatoes are commonly added, and there are variants that skip the meat and add something else. These could be vegetarian chilis (which are not chili con carne, as they lack the 'carne') made from several different beans, or a meat substitute could be used instead. Purists insist that only the basic, meat and chili, dish can truly be called chili con carne.

Chilis can be served in a number of ways. Rice is a common accompaniment to dishes of chili, and they can also be served with tortilla chips. Toppings can include grated cheese and jalapeño peppers. Though many Texan families had their own, often closely guarded, recipes for chili, these days premade versions of the dish can be bought.

National Macadamia Nut Month

February is National Macadamia Nut Month in the United States.

The macadamia tree is native to Australia. There are multiple species of the tree, although not all of these are edible. Since its discovery in Australia, the macadamia has been transplanted to other countries, although Australia was still the world's largest producer of macadamia nuts until 2012, when it was passed by South Africa, with a substantial proportion of the world's market. The macadamia nut crop is a commercially important one, for the three commercial species, but only two of these three can be consumed raw. The remainder are either inedible, or poisonous. The tree is named after the Scottish-Australian chemist, medical teacher and politician John Macadam, although they were named by Ferdinand von Mueller, a German-Australian botanist.

The seeds of the macadamia tree, which are known as macadamia nuts (this is yet another nut that isn't a nut in the botanical sense, only in the culinary) are, in the edible species, high in fat and low in protein. The amount of monounsaturated fats is the highest of any seed. Nutritionally, they are less valuable than other, similar, seeds, such as cashews and almonds, although they do still have useful nutrients in them. The macadamia nut is also toxic to dogs. Some research has shown a correlation between eating the macadamia nut and a lowering of total and LDL cholesterol levels.

The macadamia is eaten like many snack nuts, such as raw, salted or covered in chocolate, but they can also be used in recipes.

National Clam Chowder Day

Jon SullivanThe original uploader was Y6y6y6 at English Wikipedia. [Public domain]

February 25th is National Clam Chowder Day in the United States.

The clam is a type of marine bivalve mollusc, although what exactly is being described as a clam does vary from region to region, and not all of them are edible. It is believed they were added to the chowder because they were easy to harvest.

The chowder is a type of seafood or vegetable stew. Most clam chowders originate along the eastern seaboard of the United States, particularly New England, with the precise ingredients in the chowders varying from region to region. Whilst the majority of clam chowders may originate in the north eastern U.S., they do stretch all the way down to Florida, and that last type actually originates from the island of Minorca in the Mediterranean.

Clam chowders contain, naturally, clams, as well as broth. The chowder is also usually thickened, using ingredients such as saltine crackers, ship biscuit and flour. Other ingredients are added to the dish as well. The most common of these is diced potatoes, as well as onions. The latter may be sautéed in salt pork or bacon drippings. Vegetables may be added, with celery being the most common, but sometimes carrot strips might be added, mostly for the colour. New England chowders are generally thicker, as they are cream or milk based. A bill making it illegal to add tomatoes to a New England chowder was introduced to the Maine legislature. Other regions may have more vegetables.

Clam chowders are served with such as oyster crackers and saltine crackers.

National Bake for Family Fun Month

Scott Bauer, U.S. Department of Agriculture / Public domain

National Bake for Family Fun Month is in February in the United States.

This is a holiday that celebrates home-cooking or, more specifically, home baking. Rather than buying in, food can be cooked as a family.

Baking can be done with many different foods, but the most common ones will be sweet dishes, such as pies and cakes, from individual cupcakes to full-size cakes. For children, baking and decorating cupcakes can be the most fun to do.

Savoury dishes, such as pies again, can also be baked. Then there is also the classic baked product, bread. Bread can be baked in a breadmaker, of course, but this doesn't really qualify as baking for family fun, because all that is done in many cases is that the ingredients are put in the machine and it is turned on.

Great American Pie Month

Stu Spivack (Flickr account) / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

February is Great American Pie Month in the United States.

Pies are baked dishes that contain either sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies are filled with fruit, nuts or sweetened vegetables (rhubarb is a vegetable that is commonly treated like fruit). Savoury pies are filled with fish, meat, vegetables, both or things such as egg and cheese.

There are different types of pies, depending on whether they have a top crust, a bottom crust or both. Pies, in concept, date back thousands of years as, for one thing, they are a comparatively easily transported food. Pastry, as used in pies, is a more recent innovation, but is still believed to date back over two thousand years.

With this holiday celebrating the American pie, two of the most common American pies are apple and cherry - even though neither originated in the United States. For the Southern states, cream pies of different types are another strongly associated dish, as are pecan pies. Pumpkin pie is another, associated with Christmas. These pies are all sweet pies, rather than savoury ones, and it is perhaps for the sweet types of pie that America is most strongly known.

National Margarita Day

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February 22nd is National Margarita Day in the United States.

Margaritas are a type of cocktail that use tequila as the biggest ingredient. Tequila is a distilled beverage named after the Mexican city of the same name.

The standard ingredients of a margarita are 7 parts tequila to 4 parts Cointreau to 3 parts lime juice. The drink is served in a margarita glass, whose rim is first rubbed with a slice of lime, and then dipped in salt which sticks to the rim. The other ingredients are then shaken together and poured (carefully) into the glass, which is then garnished with the lime. It is usually served over ice.

Cointreau is an orange flavoured liqueur, and other similar drinks can be substituted. Another recipe substitutes triple sec for Cointreau. There are other variants on the drink, and a popular one is the frozen margarita, which is served as a blended ice slush.

Canned Food Month

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February is Canned Food Month in the United States.

Canned food is food that has been preserved by the method known as canning, in which the food is processed and then sealed inside an airtight container. Canning can refer to using jars, such as Mason jars, but it is more commonly used to refer to metal cans, such as those made from steel and tin (the latter substance being why canned food is also known as "tinned").

Canned food allows the food so preserved to have a substantially longer shelf life. Even the shelf lives listed on cans may be far under how long the food inside will remain safe to eat; food over 100 years old has been determined to be safe to consume, albeit totally unappetising in taste, look and texture. Canning first properly started at the beginning of the 19th century, but did date back earlier, as a way of supplying troops, and did prove effective. Perhaps the biggest problem was that the can opener was not invented until the middle of the 19th century. Opening cans in the beginning boiled down to stabbing them repeatedly with a knife.

National Muffin Day

National Cancer Institute, Renee Comet (photographer) [Public domain]

National Muffin Day is on February 20th in the United States.

Muffins refer to two types of baked products, both of which are individual-sized. The first, older, type of muffin is a part-raised flatbread, one that is often referred to as an English muffin. The second type of muffin, sometimes called an American muffin, is a quickbread that is similar to a cupcake, which is chemically leavened and then baked in a mould.

Flatbread muffins are rarely flavoured or sweetened, and are often used as part of a larger dish, such as Eggs Benedict. the American muffin is commonly sweetened, but can be savoury as well, and flavoured, as well as having other ingredients added. Savoury muffins include such as the cheese muffin whilst sweet muffins have such as blueberries, chocolate chips and lemon added to them. These muffins are similar to cupcakes, but cupcakes tend to be smaller and served as sweet desserts with frosting, whilst the American muffin is a common breakfast item.

National Drink Wine Day

A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace) [FAL]

National Drink Wine Day is on February 18th in the United States.

Wine is a fermented, and therefore alcoholic, drink that is primarily made from fermented grapes. Some countries will define just what is allowed to be used in order for a drink to be called wine, and what types of grapes are allowed to be used in a particular type of wine. Rice is another thing used to make wine, and there are various fruit wines such as cherry, plum, pomegranate, elderberry and currant. Mead, which is made from honey, is sometimes called honey wine. Champagne is a specific type of sparkling wine from the Champagne region of France, but there are other sparkling wines from other countries.

Wine is known to date back to at least 5000 BC, which is when the earliest signs of winemaking have been found. Wine has historically played an important role in many religions around the world, not just those dedicated to gods of wine. The primary colours of wine are red, white and rosé, but there are different subcategories within these. As well as being drunk, which is what this day celebrates, wine is a popular cooking ingredient too. Wines can be classified by region of origin, which is more commonly seen in European wines, and by grape, which is how wines of the New World are typically classified.

National Bubble Gum Day

I, Martial BACQUET [CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)]

February 7th is National Bubble Gum Day in the United States.

Bubble gum, or bubblegum, is a type of chewing gum that was created, essentially by accident, by the Fleer Chewing Gum Company, and was eventually marketed as Dubble Bubble, for years the dominant brand, and was a distinctive pink colour, due to the addition of red dye to hide the fact that it started off a dingy grey colour. Bubble gum is more stretchy and less sticky than ordinary chewing gum, and is therefore easier to blow into bubbles, hence the name. Originally, bubble gum stick to the face when a bubble popped, but synthetic gum was introduced in the 1970s, which greatly reduced the chance of this happening. Bubble gum can come in a variety of different flavours, although perhaps the best known is the titular bubblegum flavour, which does vary depending on what company makes it.

World Nutella Day

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World Nutella Day is on February 5th.

Given that Nutella is a brand name, this is obviously one of the more commercial holidays around, although it wasn't created by Ferrero, the manufacturers of Nutella, but by a fan of it. Ferrero does support the holiday, though.

Nutella itself is a sweetened cocoa spread. It contains sugar and palm oil, cocoa solids and skimmed milk. It often cannot be labelled as a chocolate spread, as the amount of cocoa solids does not meet the minimum criteria. The exact ingredients do vary depending on the country in which it is made or sold. Despite certain claims in the past, Nutella is not a terribly nutritious food; one reason being that it contains enough sugar that it does not need refrigerating.

Nutella is served as a spread on various things; toast is common but it is also used with pancakes.

National Tater Tot Day

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February 2nd is National Tater Tot Day in the United States.

First, what is a tater tot? If you live outside the U.S., you may not be familiar with the name. It can be accurately guessed that they do describe something made with potato. Tater tots is actually a trademark of Ore-Ida, but it is a term that is often used as a generic.

Tater tots are made from grated and deep-fried potato. They were first created in 1956 when the company's founders were trying to work out what to do with leftover slivers of potato. Tater tots are usually served as a side dish, and have other ingredients added to the potato, namely flour and seasoning. More recently, variants made from vegetables that are considered to be more nutritious have been made, although deep frying anything does tend to reduce the nutritional value.

National Dark Chocolate Day

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February 1st is National Dark Chocolate Day in the United States.

In the U.S., dark chocolate is normally referred to by two different names, bittersweet chocolate and semisweet chocolate. Semisweet normally has more sugar in it than bittersweet chocolate. Most other countries will call it dark or plain chocolate. Both bittersweet and semisweet chocolate must, in the U.S., contain a minimum of 35% cocoa solids.

Dark chocolate is more bitter than milk chocolate, because it contains more cocoa solids and lacks the sweetness that comes from milk. Th exact amount of cocoa solids may vary, with the dark chocolate varying in bitterness as a result, and it is increasingly common - and in some countries required - for companies to print the cocoa percentages on the wrapping. Dark chocolate is popular in cooking, and the most bitter types are perhaps only suitable for cooking with; the taste is too bitter for most consumers. Like other types of chocolate, dark chocolate may also have other ingredients added to it; mint chocolates are a popular after dinner treat.