Slashfood

• Cheese cake, not cheesecake, for your wedding
  

  Filed under: Dessert, Cheese, Trends, New Zealand, Celebrations

  I'm not married, so I spend a lot of time thinking about my wedding cake-to-be. I often thumb through Martha's book on wedding cakes on the floor of Barnes & Noble, and I can't pass a window full of them without gazing longingly. They're just so beautiful.
  
  In all of this fantasizing, it's never occurred to me to think about having a cake made out of something other than cake. Like, for example, cheese. But apparently cheese cakes are becoming trendy in countries like New Zealand --...
  



• A new, er, old variety of peaches
  

  Filed under: Farming, Asia, Fruit, New Zealand, New Products

  A peach farmer in New Zealand has been growing a new variety of peaches for a couple of seasons now. Well, the variety is new to the English speaking world, I guess.
  
  The flattopeach has been growing in China and across Asia for thousands of years. In fact it is supposedly one of the oldest varieties of the fruit. It has a flat bottom and flat top, so it's not round like to variety of peach that I'm used to. The flatto...
  



• An onion that won't make you cry? Maybe.
  

  Filed under: Science, Vegetables, New Zealand, New Products

  I love onions. I love the look of them, the way they smell when you cook them, and the way they taste. There is one thing about onions I don't like, though. I'm sure that a lot of people will agree with me on this one. I hate the way onions make you tear up when they are cut.
  
  But I heard a great report on All Things Considered the other day about an onion that won't make you cry. The reporter spoke to a New Zealand plant geneticist who's been working on these onions....
  



• Maybe eating local isn't always the best choice
  

  Filed under: Farming, Newspapers, New Zealand, America, Europe, Meat

  
  On Monday, the New York Times printed an opinion piece entitled, "Food That Travels Well" by James E. McWilliams. In it McWilliams states that while he is a passionate member of the "eat local" cohort, to be absolutely responsible about the carbon footprint of your food, you have to take more into account that just the place where that food was grown or raised.
  
  He offers the convincing example of research done at Lincoln University in New Zealand (done in response...
  



• Ribena ri-busted
  

  Filed under: Juice, Business, Newspapers, New Zealand, Europe

  Two 14-year-old New Zealand girls made the news recently when their school science project revealed that Ribena, the popular black currant drink, did not have the high levels of vitamin C it claimed to. According to a story published yesterday in The Guardian, the girls were testing a variety of beverages, expecting to find that the less expensive ones had less vitamin C, when they discovered the opposite. Their results were picked up by a local news show and then eventually a national watchdog group. Today, The Guardian reported that GlaxoSmithKline, the drink's producer, is being...
  



• Great buys in sparkling wines of the world 2006
  

  Filed under: Wine, Lush Life, Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe, Italy

  As I did for champagne, I have been putting together a list of some of the best buys in Sparkling Wines of the World for the holidays. I combed stores and the internet for weeks looking for great wines at great prices. Each of these sparklers is a good buy for the money, as well as tasty and interesting. I tried to include as many Rosé bubblies as well since they are becoming so hot and trendy right now. Those in the know have been enjoying their great combination of dry...
  



• Gin Notes: South Gin
  

  Filed under: Lush Life, Gin, Trends, New Zealand, New Products, America, Spirits, Liquor Cabinet

  South Gin is from New Zealand and is 48.2%abv / 96.4proof. Made from grain neutral spirits from Genetic Engineering (GE) free wheat ,distilled twice, then it has spring water added and is re-distilled a third time to get some regional character from the water. The nine botanicals in this gin are juniper, lemon, orange, coriander seed, angelica leaves, orris root, gentian root, local New Zealand manuka berries, and New Zealand kawakawa leaves. There are some unusual botanicals in this gin. The first is gentian root. I...
  



• Sausage competion has some unusual judges
  

  Filed under: Culinary Kids, New Zealand, Meat

  Although the results of the 12th annual Great New Zealand Sausage Competition won't be in until later this week, the most interesting thing about the judging isn't finding out who the winner is (unless you were participating, of course) but who was doing the judging in the first place. In addition to the Beef, Pork, BBQ, Flavored, Flavored BBQ, Saveloy/Polony/Cocktail, Traditional, International, and Gourmet categories that were evaluated by experienced judges, there was also a second judging of a selected group of entries to see who would win the Kids' Choice Award. All the entries, selected from those participating in other...
  




• Food miles theory debunked
  

  Filed under: Farming, New Zealand, Europe

  The "food miles" theory says that the further food has to travel to reach its destination - such as food imported to Europe from New Zealand - the worse it is for the environment because of the greater quantity of pollutants emitted during transport. Researchers in New Zealand, where farmers and ranchers had a good deal of revenue at stake due to their remote location, put the theory to the test and came up with some interesting results.

  Their overall conclusion was that the number of miles a food had traveled was not a reliable indicator of its environmental impact. Many forms of produce,...
  




• Five star wines from New Zealand
  

  Filed under: Wine, Magazines, Raves & Reviews, Lists, New Zealand

  If you're sitting around trying to decide on a new wine to try tonight with you dinner, may we suggest a little something from New Zealand?

  Forbes picks 15 "Five Star" wines from the tiny country that served as backdrop to a giant movies about hobbits:

  1. Cable Station Pinot Noir, Marlborough 2004 ($18) - "bright, ripe fruit flavors balanced with just the right amount of acidity to keep it food-friendly. Forget those ponderous zins and shirazes, this is the red for a barbeque"
  2. Cloudy Bay Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, 2005 ($26) - "Deceptively light at first,...