National Avocado Day

July 31st is National Avocado Day in the United States.

The avocado, sometimes called the avocado pear or alligator pear, is the fruit of the avocado tree. The fruit is classed as being a large berry and contains a single large seed. The tree itself likely originated in south-central Mexico and has been spread in tropical and Mediterranean climates around the world.

The avocado fruit has an unusually high fat content than the majority of fruit, which makes it an important dietary element for those that have limited access to other high-fat foods. Avocados have a wide range of uses, many of them savoury rather than sweet, as the fruit itself is not sweet, though in some places it is added to desserts and ice cream. It is an important element in guacamole, and gives that dip its distinctive green colour.

Image: Muhammad Mahdi Karim / GFDL 1.2 (http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html)

National Chili Dog Day

The last Thursday in July is National Chili Dog Day in the United States.

A chili dog is a form of hot dog. It is used as a generic name for a hot dog that is served in a bun and then topped with a meat sauce; chili con carne is a common choice. The hot dog will then often be topped with other things; cheese, mustard and onions are common.

The standard hot dog, the wiener or frankfurter, is the most common type of sausage used in a chili dog but, as with other hot dogs, other types of sausage can also be used. In the U.S., there are a number of regional variations on the chili dog that use different ingredients and, in some cases, different sausages too.

Image: bryan... from Taipei, Taiwan / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

National Chicken Wing Day

July 29th is National Chicken Wing Day in the United States.

Chicken wings used to be one of the pieces of chicken used for making stock, rather than eating. Today, they are a common snack food and the most common type is Buffalo wings, named after Buffalo, New York State, rather than the animal.

Buffalo wings were reputedly invented at the Anchor Bar in Buffalo, but there have been a number of different claims, both about how they were created at the Anchor Bar and other claimants to the creation. Buffalo wings are made from an unbreaded chicken wing section that is deep fried then coated or dipped in a hot sauce and melted butter. They are served with blue cheese or ranch dressing traditionally, though other sauces, and other ways of preparing the wings, exist.

Image: Flickr user: Andrew Nash Vienna https://www.flickr.com/people/andynash/ / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

National Scotch Day

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

July 27th is National Scotch Day in the United States.

Scotch in this usage is Scotch whisky. Whilst whiskeys are available in many different places, Scotch whisky can only be used to describe whisky manufactured in Scotland. Not only that, the manner in which it is made is specified by law. Scotch must be aged for a minimum of three years in oak barrels and must have a minimum bottling strength of 40%.

Scotch whisky is a distilled beverage made from, originally, malt barley but can also be made from wheat and rye. There are different types of Scotch available. Single malt, single grain, blended malt, blended grain and blended.

Malt whiskeys are made from malt barley; grain whiskeys from wheat and rye. Single whiskeys are made from one malt or grain from one distillery whilst blended whiskeys can be made from different ones from different distilleries. The final category, blended, blends both malt and grain. Whisky will normally have its age displayed on the bottle, which shows how old it is. Blended whiskeys will show the age of the youngest whisky in the blend, not an average or the oldest.

The traditional ways of serving Scotch is neat - for purists, the best way - on the rocks or with a dash of water. A unit of Scotch is often referred to as a dram and the whisky itself has been called aqua vitae, or water of life.

National Coffee Milkshake Day

July 26th is National Coffee Milkshake Day in the United States.

Milkshakes are drinks made from iced milk, milk or ice cream with added flavourings or sweeteners, such as fruit syrups, other syrups and fruit. They are sometimes called frappes.

Milkshakes can be made from scoops of ice cream with flavourings added. Fast food places tend to make their milkshakes from a premade mixture which are then mixed and frozen in a special machine.

Premixed powders can also be purchased from stores. These are usually made into milkshakes by adding milk or water. Bottled pre-made shakes are also available.

A coffee milkshake is flavoured with coffee. One of the easiest ways of making this using ice cream is by using coffee flavoured ice cream. Other ways would include using actual coffee, which would naturally be chilled, and mixing that with ice cream.

National Wine and Cheese Day

July 25th is National Wine and Cheese Day in the United States.

Cheese and wine are a very common combination, though different countries have different ways of eating it. For example, in Britain a cheeseboard would follow dessert and the wine served would be a sweet one like Port. In France, the cheeseboard is consumed before dessert, with a red wine. In each case, there would be a number of different cheeses used, normally of contrasting types, together with other accompaniments such as crackers, grapes and nuts.

Cheese and wine don’t have to be served as part of a meal, though. They are often served together, with the cheese and wine being the sole things served, together with the aforementioned accompaniments. Such a serving is more likely to happen at a social occasion.

Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/17/Cheese%2C_wine_and_bread_in_a_sidewalk_cafe_in_Paris%2C_June_2015.jpg

National Tequila Day

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

Today is July 24th and that makes it National Tequila Day in America.

Tequila is a type of distilled alcoholic drink that is primarily made in and around the Mexican city of Tequila, after which it is named. The city is in the state of Jalisco and is on the western side of the country. The name "Tequila" comes from a Nahuatl (most commonly known as Aztec) word meaning "place of tribute."

Tequila, the drink, is distilled from the blue agave plant, which is native to the area. Blue agave is, not surprisingly, an agave plant, and is a type of monocot as well as being a succulent with large, spiky leaves. The heart of the blue agave plant is removed in its twelfth year, its leaves are removed, and it is heated to extract the sap which contains a lot of sugars, primarily fructose.

Tequila, the modern drink, was first produced in the region in the 16th century, although other fermented beverages had previously been made from the agave. Tequila is often drunk neat, but it is also an ingredient in some cocktails, with the most well known probably being margarita. The traditional way of drinking tequila is neat, but a popular way in other countries is to serve a shot of tequila with salt and a slice of lime. The back of the hand is moistened, usually by licking it, and salt is then poured on. The salt is licked off, the shot is drunk and then the slice of lime is bitten.

National Drive-Thru Day

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July 24th is National Drive-Thru Day in the United States.

Not a day celebrating a type of food but rather a way of getting it. Drive-thrus, or more accurately, drive-throughs, are a way of getting takeout food from a restaurant without leaving a car (though they have since migrated to other industries).

Ordering from a drive-thru normally requires placing an order through a microphone and paying for it at a window opening into the restaurant. Sometimes separate windows will be used for paying for the food and collecting it. Cars will be in a queue waiting in turn for the relevant part of the service.

Drive-thru food is most commonly associated with fast food; it can take far too long to wait for other types of food for them to be suitable.

National Hot Dog Day

Evan Swigart from Chicago, USA / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

July 22nd is National Hot Dog Day in the United States.

Appropriately enough, this day falls in National Hot Dog Month. Hot dogs are classed as sausage sandwiches in which the grilled or steamed sausage is served in an open slit of a partially sliced open bun, though the name also refers to the sausage itself. Wiener - Vienna sausages - and frankfurters are the sausages most commonly used in a hot dog, though pretty much any sausage can be used, even if the end result is, by some definitions, not actually a hot dog. A hot dog is rarely served plain; it will normally be topped with sauces as well as a wide range of potential ingredients, with fried onions perhaps the most common.

Hot dogs originated in Germany and were imported to the United States by Germans moving there. They started as working class food sold on the street and gradually became associated with baseball and American culture.

National Ice Cream Day

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

National Ice Cream Day falls on the third Sunday in July in the United States, though there is another in December.

In 1984, then-President Ronald Reagan signed into law this day to be National Ice Cream Day and the entire month of July to be National Ice Cream Month. Technically, only the day and month in 1984 were the official days, but the celebrations have been upheld ever since.

Ice cream itself is a frozen food eaten as a snack or for dessert. It is made with either dairy milk or cream, and then flavoured with sweetening and spices - cocoa and vanilla are both spices - and frequently coloured. For vegetarians and vegans, there are non-dairy alternatives, though these are technically not ice cream. What ice cream is can vary in definition from country to country and different names, such as frozen custard and frozen yoghurt, can be used to distinguish different types of frozen dessert.

National Daiquiri Day

July 19th is National Daiquiri Day in the United States.

The daiquiri is now a general name given to a family of cocktails, which are mixed drinks, in this case alcoholic. Originally, the name daiquiri just referred to one particular drink, but the family has since expanded. The drink is said to have been a favourite of the author Ernest Hemmingway and the former US President John F. Kennedy.

The origin of the daiquiri is not definitely known, but the name, when spelled Daiquirí, is also the name of a beach and an iron mine in Cuba, near Santiago, the second largest city. The name Daiquirí is of Taíno origin, the Taíno being an Arawak people indigenous to the Caribbean. The drink's invention is credited to Jennings Cox, an American mining engineer who was in Cuba during the Spanish-American War.

Today, the standard drink is made from 9 parts white rum to 5 parts lime juice to 3 parts simple syrup (a sugar and water syrup). The ingredients are poured into a cocktail shaker, along with ice cubes, shaken, and then strained into a chilled cocktail glass.

Some popular variations of the daiquiri include the strawberry daiquiri, which has strawberry added, and the banana daiquiri, to which half a banana is added.

Aaron Gustafson from Hamden, CT, USA [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

National Tapioca Pudding Day

Rainer Zenz Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported

July 15th is National Tapioca Pudding Day in the United States.

Tapioca pudding is a type of sweet pudding whose primary ingredients are tapioca and either cream or milk. Coconut milk can be used as a substitute for normal milk, and the dish is common, with variations, in many cultures. The consistency can vary from runny all the way through to firm enough to eat with a fork. It can be made from scratch or using packaged mixes. Tapioca pudding has been a common pudding - popular really doesn't qualify, as it is typically hated - in British schools.

Tapioca is an extract of the Manoc plant that was originally native to northern Brazil but has since spread throughout South America and is now cultivated worldwide.

A similar dish is the Philippine sago pudding, which uses sago instead of tapioca.

National Mac and Cheese Day

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

National Mac and Cheese Day in on July 14th in the United States.

Mac and cheese, often abbreviated to mac ‘n’ cheese, is also known as macaroni and cheese and macaroni cheese and is a pasta-based dish that did appear in a number of variants before its modern form appeared. Mac and cheese is traditionally made from cooked macaroni pasta in a cheese sauce. The cheese most commonly used is cheddar and other ingredients may be added such as breadcrumbs, meat and vegetables.

Traditionally, the dish is cooked in the oven like a casserole, but it can also be prepared in a pan, either from discrete ingredients or from pre-packaged or canned mixes. In the U.S., it is considered to be a comfort food.

National French Fries Day

July 13th is National French Fries Day in the United States.

French fries, which are also known as chips, were served at the White House in 1802 by Thomas Jefferson and were described as "potatoes served in the French manner" as they are also known as French-fried potatoes. Despite this, it is not definite that French fries are actually French, as both France and Belgium claim credit for inventing them. They are also known as fries in American English and chips in British English; the latter can be confusing, as in British English, French Fries are a specific brand of what are known as crisps, and crisps in British English are what are called potato chips in American English.

French fries are popular in many countries, with there being regional variations. At their most basic, French fries are batons of potatoes that are then fried and eaten hot. Although deep frying is one of the most common ways of cooking chips, they can also be shallow fried, baked, grilled and microwaved. French fries are a common accompaniment to other dishes, but are also served in their own, often topped with other items.

National Eat Your Jello Day

Mark Fickett https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/deed.en

July 12th is National Eat Your Jello Day in the United States.

Jello is a generic of the brand name of the dessert Jell-O. It is a gelatine dessert and comes under the general definition of jelly, which is used both by itself and as an ingredient in other dishes, such as trifles.

Jell-O itself can be bought either ready to eat or in powdered form, and in a variety of colours and flavours. Powdered Jell-O is dissolved in hot water, chilled and allowed to set. Gelatine desserts of this nature are normally poured into decorative moulds whilst still liquid; once they have set, Jell-O cannot be moulded.

An alternative use for Jell-O is an alcoholic version, the Jell-O shot, where alcohol is used in the making.

National Piña Colada Day

User Barmix on de.wikipedia / Public domain

July 10th is National Piña Colada Day in the United States.

Piña colada is Spanish for "pineapple" and "strained." Piña coladas are a type of alcoholic cocktail that was claimed to have been created by a Puerto Rican pirate, Roberto Cofresí, in the early 19th century in order to boost his crew's morale, although the earliest reference is from 1922; Cofresí's recipe being lost on his death. It is the official beverage of Puerto Rico, and July 10th is the official celebration of that drink. Another claim is that a bartender at the Caribe Hilton Hotel, Ramón "Monchito" Marrero, created the drink whilst working there. Another bartender, Don Ramon Portas Mingot, at Barrachina, has also been stated to have crated the drink in 1963.

The IBA ingredients for a piña colada are 50 ml of white rum (with Bacardi rum being a favourite), 30 ml coconut cream and 50 ml of fresh pineapple juice. These are blended with ice in an electric blender and poured into a large goblet or Hurricane glass. Coconut milk is also used instead of cream and it can be garnished with a maraschino cherry, pineapple wedge or both.

National Chocolate Wafer Day

Evan-Amos / CC0

July 3rd is National Chocolate Wafer Day in the United States.

The term chocolate wafer covers a wide variety of different cookies, or biscuits as they are also called. These do, of course, have something in common - they all should contain chocolate and wafers.

Wafers, when it comes to cookies, are very thin, flat, dry and light biscuits, that are also usually sweet. When wafers are used in other cookies, they can be stacked to make a thicker cookie. Chocolate wafers are a variant of these that are often quite light, chocolate-covered, biscuits that are frequently available in a stick form. As such, they are often a popular biscuit for eating with coffee.

Sticks are not the only shape, though. You can also find thin wafers, bars and more traditionally rotund shaped biscuits. One of the most popular chocolate wafer biscuits in the UK is the Kit Kat, which was produced by Rowntree's and later Nestlé, after the latter company purchased the former. An alternative to a chocolate-covered wafer would be one where the chocolate has been sandwiched between two wafers.

National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day

Maeda-en USA / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)

July 1st is National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day in the United States.

There are the old standard (and popular) flavours of ice cream, such as vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, but there are also many other varieties, some of which are quite unusual. This day is not just about the more unusual flavours, but about the flavours that you might not actually consider making into ice cream.

You can flavour ice cream with whatever you want, but there's no guarantee that it will actually taste nice. Bacon is a popular unusual ingredient. Different countries also have different flavours that they would consider to be normal, but that those from others would not. For example, Chinese ice cream manufacturers make ice cream with traditional Chinese flavours such as red bean and black sesame. Other more unusual flavours include such as charcoal, cayenne chocolate and sweetcorn, and there are many others.