Great dessert idea--chocolate dipped apricots

[Jenise]

Not so much an RCP as a description, but last night a friend of ours completed a great seafood chowder dinner by serving a plate of dried whole seedless apricots that were dipped halfway in chocolate, and dipped again in roasted/salted pepitos. The recipe she was followed actually called for pistachios, but the newest in salmonella scares (how do nuts get salmonella, can someone explain?) has taken them out of our marketplace so Bobbi wisely chose pepitos. These little morsels were absolutely terrific with a superb contrast of textures and flavors in each bite, and as good on their own as they were with an amber dessert wine made by a neighbor that had madeira-like elements of both tangy stone fruit and chocolate to it. Hit all my cylinders on the niftiness scale--easy to make and serve, beautiful to look at, good with wine and pretty low on the old guilt-meter. Good anytime, but possibly even better served with Morroccan or middle eastern style foods.

Yum. Excellent idea.

Not so much an RCP as a description, but last night a friend of ours completed a great seafood chowder dinner by serving a plate of dried whole seedless apricots that were dipped halfway in chocolate, and dipped again in roasted/salted pepitos.

Nice idea, Jenise. I've had chocolate-dipped apricots before (nice combination if it's dark chocolate) but not the nut variant.

The recipe she was followed actually called for pistachios, but the newest in salmonella scares (how do nuts get salmonella, can someone explain?) has taken them out of our marketplace so Bobbi wisely chose pepitos.

Salmonella can arise any time there's poor hygiene. I don't know how pistachios are shelled, but if humans are involved in the sorting process, that could be the source.

Mark Lipton

[Jenise]

Nice idea, Jenise. I've had chocolate-dipped apricots before (nice combination if it's dark chocolate) but not the nut variant.

The nuts provided the double contrast of salt and crunch. Which just about any nut could provide, though in this case I quite liked the delicate shatter and unusual use of the pepita.

Salmonella can arise any time there's poor hygiene. I don't know how pistachios are shelled, but if humans are involved in the sorting process, that could be the source.

I guess that's true. But odd though--the salmonella scares of late seem to be rampant, and the diversity of affected items way off the usual path of eggs and dairy. I mean, jalapenos? Pistachio nuts? You're a scientist--are we really experiencing more salmonella contamination than ever, or has epidemiology just gotten so sophisticated that we can both link like cases together and determine the cause?

I guess that's true. But odd though--the salmonella scares of late seem to be rampant, and the diversity of affected items way off the usual path of eggs and dairy. I mean, jalapenos? Pistachio nuts? You're a scientist--are we really experiencing more salmonella contamination than ever, or has epidemiology just gotten so sophisticated that we can both link like cases together and determine the cause?

Salmonella scares in my experience are still rare. Most of the scares have to do with E. Coli (as in the case of the jalapeños -- BTW I once met a woman whose family came up with the name jalapeño for those peppers indigenous to Jalisco). E. Coli contamination arises from contact with feces, which happens far more frequently with the popularity of organic agriculture since manure is used as fertilizer. And I doubt that the contamination is any more prevalent now -- it's probably more rare now -- but detection is so much more accurate and sensitive that we hear about more cases now. It's just like media accounts of child abductions: it's not that there are more now, just that we all hear about them when they happen.

Mark Lipton