National Onion Rings Day

June 22nd is National Onion Rings Day in the United States.

Onion rings are rings of sliced onion that have been dipped in either batter or bread crumbs, and then deep fried. Although whole onion rings, using actual onion, are often better, onion paste is sometimes used commercially to create rings of a more uniform size. They are frequently served as either an appetiser or as a side dish.

The earliest known recipes for onion rings is quite recent, with one, that involved dipping onions in milk, dredging them in flour and then deep frying them, dating back to 1933, and perhaps another - which did not claim to be the originator of the idea - dating to 1910. They could therefore be older, and there is a similar recipe in a cookbook from 1802.

The batter itself can be adjusted and other ingredients added. Beer-battered onion rings are a popular variant in the UK.

National Smoothie Day

June 21st is National Smoothie Day in the United States.

Smoothies are drinks that are made from puréed raw fruit, vegetables or both. They are typically made in a blender and may have a liquid base to start with, especially for fruit and vegetables that lack much in the way of natural liquid. Liquid bases include such as water, fruit juice and dairy products. Other ingredients, such as crushed ice, sweeteners, tea, chocolate, nutritional supplements and nuts may be added. Really, there is very little limit to what can be added to a smoothie, though adding too many unhealthy ingredients can destroy the entire aim of the drink.

Smoothies are thicker drinks than fruit juice, having more in common with a milkshake when it comes to texture than they do to juices, especially those made with such as milk. They are often made for or by those who are health conscious. Green smoothies containing vegetables are particularly aimed at such.

Image: Vanessa p. from near Savannah, GA / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

National Martini Day

Ralf Roletschek / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

June 19th is National Martini Day in the United States.

The martini is a cocktail that has evolved over the years. A 2:1 combination of London dry gin and dry vermouth were mixed with ice cubes, possibly with orange or aromatic bitters, then strained into a cocktail glass. The garnish became either a twist of lemon peel or a green olive. The current IBA specification for martini is 6:1 gin and dry vermouth, mixed with ice cubes in a mixing glass, stirred, strained into a chilled cocktail glass, with squeezed lemon oil and an olive.

A dry martini is made with dry, white vermouth, and over the years the amount of vermouth dropped. A dirty martini has a splash of olive brine or olive juice. A perfect martini combines equal amounts of sweet and dry vermouth. The vodka martini substitutes vodka for gin, and is linked to James Bond, who orders it shaken, not stirred.

International Sushi Day

chidorian from Japan / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

International Sushi Day is on June 18th.

Sushi is a Japanese dish and it is used to cover a wide range of different dishes. Sushi doesn't mean raw fish; in fact, the requirement for sushi is the inclusion of rice, namely sushi rice, which is vinegared. It may also include raw fish in certain dishes but raw fish, and sometimes raw meat, is a separate dish called sashimi, that is sometimes served with rice.

Sushi dishes come in a range; some of the more recognisable are the rolls, which also come in different types, and nigri, which is a small block of topped sushi rice. Fish and seafood are common ingredients, but meat is sometimes used as well as a wide range of vegetables and occasionally fruit. Condiments usually served with sushi are pickled ginger, wasabi and soy sauce.

National Eat Your Vegetables Day

Jasper Greek Golangco / Copyrighted free use

National Eat Your Vegetables Day in on June 17th in the United States.

Vegetables are a good source of essential nutrients, and some people, such as vegans and certain types of vegetarian, mostly eat vegetables. Mostly, because fruit and nuts are often considered to be separate, though the line is vague and often down to culinary and cultural traditions. The general definition of a vegetable is a plant part that is consumed by humans, or animals, as food.

Most vegetables can be eaten raw, though there are some that have to be cooked. In the majority of cases, raw vegetables have a higher nutritional value than cooked. Boiling vegetables to cook them, then throwing away the water, is often the worst way of preparing them, as many of the nutrients are thrown away. Vegetables can be grown at home; even a window pot can allow a few to be grown, such as herbs and salad leaves.

National Bourbon Day

Decatur Wine & Spirits / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

June 14th is National Bourbon Day in the United States.

Bourbon is an American whiskey whose name originally derived from France's Bourbon dynasty. The whiskey itself has been around since the 18th century, though the name "bourbon" was not given to it until the mid-19th century. It's not known who originally created bourbon, though it is often credited to an Elijah Craig. There are a range of other sources given.

Bourbon is generally a drink with a protected origin and most agreements state that it must be made in the United States, and it is strongly associated with the American South and Kentucky. The way in which bourbon is made is similar to the ways used in Europe to distil similar drinks for centuries. Bourbon is a corn whiskey and sour mash is an important part of the process.

National Rosé Day

THOR / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

June 13th is National Rosé Day in the United States.

Rosé is a type of wine that has some of the colour from grape skins included in it, though not enough for it to be classed as a red wine. The name means "pink" in French, and rosé wine is pink, but the colour can vary tremendously, from close to purple to pale orange. The colour is dependent on the grapes and process used to make the drink.

Rosé wines can also vary a lot in other ways. They range from sweet to dry and from still to sparkling. Rosé wine is usually made as the final product. Though it can be made by blending red and white wines together, this is discouraged in most places and is forbidden by law in France. Rosé wine should be made as rosé, not as a combination of two other wines.

National German Chocolate Cake Day

June 11th is National German Chocolate Cake Day in the United States.

What is the difference between a German chocolate cake and a normal chocolate cake? This is a specific type of chocolate cake and, despite the name, it isn't from Germany - it's from the United States. The cake is actually named after Sam German, rather than the country, who created the type of dark baking chocolate that is used in the recipe, and it was originally known as German's chocolate cake. The baking chocolate itself, created for the Baker's Chocolate Company, was called Baker's German's Sweet Chocolate.

A German chocolate cake is a layered cake which is filled, and possibly topped, with a caramel made from egg yolks and evaporated milk, that has coconut and pecans stirred in. Chocolate frosting and maraschino cherries are also sometimes added.

Image: Tracy Hunter from Kabul, AfghanistanTracy Hunter from Kabul, Afghanistan / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

National Iced Tea Day

Melissa Doroquez / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

June 10th is National Iced Tea Day in the United States.

Iced tea is basically tea that is cold. It is usually served with ice, hence the name, but can be used to refer to any type of tea that has been chilled or cooled. The drink may also be sweetened and served with such things as apple slices and lemon slices are a traditional garnish.

Though tea is an ancient drink, the earliest iced tea recipes only date back to the late 19th century, and it had started to appear in the U.S. a few years prior to that. Ice tea is served around the world, but the United States is probably where it is most popular. In the U.S., most tea that is drunk is iced tea, contrasted with other countries where the majority is served as hot tea. It is a popular alternative to soft drinks. Iced tea can, of course, be easily made at home, but it is also available in bottles and cans. In such cases, the tea is frequently carbonated.

National Turkey Lover's Month

June is National Turkey Lover's Month in the United States.

Turkey is a dish that is strongly associated with Christmas and Thanksgiving, but there is nothing to say that they are the only times of the year that it can be eaten. They are sold both raw and cooked and may be sold whole or in portions. It is frequently used as a sandwich filler and is sometimes used as an alternative to bacon.

Turkeys are rather large birds, that are native to the Americas but have since been exported to other regions, so they are often consumed on holidays and celebrations when there are more people to eat them, but the meat does keep after cooking and can be eaten cold, or stirred into pasta, rice and couscous for example. They are usually too big for one person to really be able to eat an entire one, even over several days, unless they are also frozen.

National Iced Tea Month

June is National Iced Tea Month in the United States.

Iced tea is pretty much what it sounds like, tea that is served with ice (and is therefore cold), although it can sometime be simply served chilled. It can have different flavours added to it, or iced tea can also be made using things other than tea leaves, such as herbal teas.

Iced tea is drunk all around the world, but it is probably most popular in the United States, where the majority of tea is drunk as iced tea, unlike in the United Kingdom, where most tea is served hot.

Iced tea can be made the same way as normal tea, using boiling water, and then allowed it to cool before adding the ice or, alternatively, it can be allowed to steep by simply leaving it in the sun, then chilled afterwards, whether by simply refrigerating it or by adding ice.

National Soul Food Month

Jennifer Woodard Maderazo / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

June is National Soul Food Month in the United States.

Soul food is a type of American cooking associated with the African-American culture and related to the food of the Southern United States.

The term, and the food, became popular in the 1960s, although the constituents of the food are older and can be traced back to African, in particular West African, and European cooking. There are also strong components of Native American cuisine, which influences Southern American cooking and by proxy soul food.

Soul food does not tend to be the healthiest food around, as it is high in a number of substances that aren't conducive to good health. Although individual components can be and are healthy, many are not and the preparation is often unhealthy. Some typical dishes are fried chicken, bread fried okra and cornbread, but there are many others.

National Applesauce Cake Day

June 6th is National Applesauce Cake Day in the United States.

Even though it has what might sound to be a rather odd name, applesauce cake is exactly what it sounds like; a cake made with apple sauce (or applesauce). Applesauce is a purée made from apples and is frequently spiced. The apples are cooked down with water, or possibly fresh apple juice. Different varieties of apples create different types of purée.

Other than having apple sauce adding to the cake mix, this is otherwise a pretty standard type of sweet cake, and there are, naturally, many different recipes for making it. Raisins are a common ingredient. The cake dates back to colonial U.S., and was a popular recipe in the first have of the 20th century. It is sometimes served as a coffee cake; this being the coffee cake that is intended to be eaten with coffee, rather than the coffee cake that is flavoured with coffee.

Image: John Fladd from New Boston, NH, United States / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month

June is National Fresh Fruit and Vegetables Month in the United States.

Now, this is one of the healthier food celebrations around. Fresh fruit and vegetables are an important part of the diet, although it should be noted that flash frozen food can actually be more nutritious than fresh, as food is frozen within hours of picking, whilst fresh food can take days to reach the point of sale, where it can stand around for days more. So, frozen fruit and vegetables can have more nutrients in them than fresh.

Fruit and vegetables contain a wide variety of essential nutrients, but they are not all necessarily healthy if consumed in great amounts. Most countries have a recommended daily intake of fruit and vegetables, classed as servings, but the recommended amount varies from country to country. Needless to say, fruit and vegetables are some of the oldest types of food consumed, given that both can often be eaten with no further preparation.

National Cognac Day

June 4th is National Cognac Day in the United States.

Cognac, the drink, is named after Cognac, the town, which is in France. It is a type of brandy, a spirit produced by distilling wine, white wine in this case.

Cognac is classed as an "appellation d'origine contrôlée" or "controlled designation of origin" whereby in order to be called by a name, a French foodstuff has to be produced within a certain region and meet certain requirements. In the case of cognac, it must be produced from specific grapes, twice distilled in copper pot stills and aged for at least two years in French oak barrels (which must be from either Limousin or Tronçais).

As with other spirit drinks such as whiskies, cognac is normally aged much longer than the required two years. Cognac, like other distilled drinks, may also be blended, and in such a case the age of the cognac is listed as the youngest component in the blend. Cognac also has a number of official quality grades, and is in addition classified by crus, which are geographic dominations where the grapes used are grown.

World Cider Day

Sir James / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

June 3rd is World Cider Day.

This day celebrates the drink known as cider, although in America it celebrates the one called "hard cider." In both cases, the drink is made from apples, but in the U.S., cider is simply apple juice. Everywhere else, cider is an alcoholic drink made from, usually, apples. Though other fruits can be used for ciders, the legal definition of such does vary from country to country; for example, perry is a similar drink made from pears.

Though cider is available everywhere, the UK has the highest per capita consumption in the world, and is home to the largest cider companies. Cider is also popular in the Republic of Ireland and Commonwealth countries, and there are other places where it is popular.

Most apples can be used to make cider, but cider apples are the best. Apples are low in sugar, so cider doesn't have a high alcohol content. This can be changed by adding more sugar or extra fruit, or by removing alcohol from the drink by distillation.

National Dairy Month

Stefan Kühn / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

June is National Dairy Month in the United States.

Dairy is a term used to describe dairy products, which are foods made from the milk of mammals. When used by itself, dairy is also the place where those products are made.

Cow's milk is the most common milk used worldwide in the manufacture of dairy products, but it is not the only one. Sheep and goat's milk are also used, as are others. Dairy products are most common in European, Middle Eastern and Indian cuisines, as well as those descended from them.

Some typical dairy products are cheese, butter, yoghurt, custard and ice cream, all of which come in many different varieties. Fermented milk products are another branch of dairy products. Though dairy products are widely consumed, some groups do avoid them, sometimes for religious reasons, sometimes because of non-religious beliefs, such as with vegans.

National Olive Day

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

June 1st is National Olive Day in the United States.

The olive is the fruit of the olive tree, a species of small tree found in the Mediterranean Basin. Olives come in a number of varieties and colours and have a range of food uses. One such use is in olive oil, an oil extracted from olives. This is the use for the majority of olives harvested; the remainder are classed as table olives. Olives are an essential part of Mediterranean cuisine and have various symbolic uses as well.

Table olives have three main types. Green olives are unripe, semi-ripe olives are picked as they are just starting to ripen and black olives are fully ripe. There can be colour variations within the different classes of olive. Most olives are cured or fermented to make them taste better, and are often stoned and stuffed with other ingredients; cheese being a favourite.