Spring Break Food Blog

Over break, my sister got neapolitan ice cream and we had it for dessert one night. I was intrigued by the name “neapolitan” and wondered what the Italian roots of this ice cream were. I couldn’t find any really reputable sources, so I resorted to Wikipedia. According to the Neapolitan Ice Cream page, ice cream made up of three flavors was brought to the United States by Italian immigrants, and was called Spumone. The Spumone Wikipedia page says spumone was traditionally cherry, pistachio, and chocolate, with fruit or nut layers. When it came to the U.S., it changed to strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate because they were the most popular flavors in the U.S. at the time. I thought this was interesting as it reflected the tendency of italian dishes to change when they reached the U.S.

For a snack one day, I had a baguette, and I noticed that the texture was very similar to that of the ciabatta we made in class. This made sense based on the research I did for my first Integrative Assignment, in which I found that ciabatta was created essentially to replace the baguette. Chemically, they are both yeasted breads, which would account for the holes in the texture. However, it seems to me that ciabatta has larger holes that baguettes do, at least comparing the ciabatta I have had with the baguettes I have had, which could be because ciabatta uses a biga for added rising, and to my knowledge baguettes do not utilize this technique.

Also, right when I got home, I opened the fridge and saw that we had eggs. I saw that they were Grade A eggs, but knowing our family they definitely could have been there for weeks. I informed my mother of the meaning of Grade AA, A, and B, and that our eggs could become Grade B eggs with time, which she had not been aware of. I didn’t test our eggs, since I don’t really like eggs and didn’t want to eat them once they were cracked. I do think my mother will be more aware of the age of our eggs in the future.