Fun & Learning – Page 20

Crushed Red Pepper Nutrition – How Healthy Is It?

Crushed red pepper (a.k.a. red pepper flakes) is the staple spice of the traditional pizza restaurant. When you eat in an old-fashioned pizzeria, you will usually find a shaker of red pepper flakes and another of parmesan cheese at your table. Southern Italians have used …

Which Countries Have The Spiciest Food?

by Matt Bray

Spicy food is popular all over the world. Almost every country with a well-developed food culture has at least one dish where the heat from chile peppers serves as one of the main components in the flavor profile. That said, some countries place more of …

Does Hoisin Sauce Go Bad?

by Matt Bray

If you like cooking Chinese food, you will need a few staple spices and condiments. Hoisin sauce is one of the essential ingredients. It is right up there with sesame oil in terms of how often you will be called on to use it when preparing Chinese dishes. Even with many ways to use it, you will probably not use a whole container at one time, which means that its shelf life comes into play. Does hoisin sauce go bad? Yes, but not if you use it quickly and/or store it correctly for extended shelf life.

Can Dogs Eat Spicy Food?

by Matt Bray

If you like spicy foods, it is only natural to wonder whether your dog might like them too. Certainly, many dogs will show a strong interest in their owners’ food no matter how spicy it is. But is it a good idea to feed spicy food to your dog? Let’s take a deeper dive into how your four-legged friend may react to these more extreme eats.

What Are Nightshades? How Alkaloids Affect Your Health

by Matt Bray

Hot peppers have an infamous family…

The nightshade family is flowering plants also known by their Latin name Solanaceae. There are more than 2,000 plants in this family, including hot peppers and sweet peppers. Most of these nightshades are not eaten as food and are in fact, poisonous. The long list of nightshade fruits and vegetables, though, also includes many fruit and vegetable kitchen staples including chili peppers, sweet peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, eggplants, tomatillos, and goji berries. Nightshade plants all have certain distinctive traits in common including the shape of their flowers. They also contain compounds that may have negative effects on your health (but also many positive health benefits as well).

Minorcan Mike’s Datil Pepper Salsa: Deep Sweet

by Matt Bray

First things first: We love Minorcan Mike’s Datil Pepper Sauce (see the review here.) Its sweet, spicy, and unexpectedly complex flavor hit all the right notes for a datil pepper hot sauce. So learning that there’s a salsa option, too, is a terrific spicy snacking gift! Minorcan Mike’s Datil Pepper Salsa pretty much provides more of the same, which is a very good thing. This is one tasty sweet salsa, which – while not quite the flavor depth of the sauce – provides a bold sweet flavor with plenty of datil heat.

Six Spicy Popcorn Recipes That Bring The Boom!

by Matt Bray

Let’s get ready for some snacktime sizzle…

What an amazing snack popcorn is. You can go simple with a little salt and butter and be perfectly happy. You can dress it up with chocolate, caramel, and other sweets. Or you can fire it up with bold spices to bring the boom to your snack bowl. We love spicy popcorn recipes, and these five from our recipe archives are sure to bring the boom at snack time.

Spanish Paprika 101: Much More Than Smoked

by Matt Bray

Like Hungary’s passion for paprika, Spain also has a love affair with this shock-red spice. It’s deep-rooted in history and more, much more, than the smoked paprika that may first come to mind. Let’s take a deeper look at Spanish paprika – where it came from and what makes its many types tick – so you can use it confidently in the kitchen.

Hungarian Paprika 101: The Spice Of A Nation

by Matt Bray

Few countries are as entwined with a spice as Hungary is with paprika. It’s officially the national spice of Hungary and there’s a real cultural pride for this fiery red powder. There are two paprika festivals and even two paprika museums. Plus, paprika is crucial to authentic Hungarian cuisine, from goulash to paprikash.

So how did we get here? How did a country far away from typical hot pepper haunts become known for this delicious chili pepper based spice? What does the region’s earth and climate bring to the flavor? And what differentiates the many types of Hungarian paprika (yes, there are many)? Let’s break it all down.

Smoky Peppers Guide: Earthy And Rustic

by Matt Bray

Like your chilies with some earthy oomph?

These are the best of the bunch. Our smoky peppers guide covers these delicious chilies, from mild to super-hot, that are just perfect for barbecue rubs, rustic marinades, and earthy salsas and hot sauces.

Note there’s a mix of dried and fresh chilies in the list below. We’ll refer to it in the synopsis, but the photos will also provide the queue to which is which.