Posted on 12/08/2012 2:44:45 PM PST by nickcarraway
Chefs at some of the most cutting edge restaurants in the country are incorporating vegetables into their desserts in ways that, at first glance, might not seem very dessert-y.
In fact, a recent article in the trade magazine Food Technology lists things like celery sorbet with celery salad, goat cheese mousse balls, macerated figs and balsamic vinegar at Del Posto in New York; sweet corn crème brulée with popcorn shoots and candied bacon at Tilth in Seattle; and a candy cap mushroom ice cream sandwich at Americano Restaurant & Bar in San Francisco.
That made us here at The Salt wonder, is there any nutritional value in adding veggies to dessert?
Actually, the answer is yes.
Mary Ann Johnson, a nutrition professor at the University of Georgia and a spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition, says the body is more able to process a group of vitamins found in vegetables called carotenoids when they're paired with a fat. "The fat helps the body absorb them," Johnson says.
It's the same reason why adding a little bit of butter or sour cream is to your potato is OK, or a little full-fat salad dressing is good for greens — at least according to a recent small study.
Johnson also says these new kinds of desserts could help children develop a taste for vegetables, which will serve them well as they grow up — unless of course the dessert is totally overpowered by the sugar and fat. As with everything, moderation is key.
But chefs are probably not making veggie desserts to boost our nutrition.
Karen Nachay, associate editor of Food Technology, says when restaurants base their menus on seasonal, farm-based goods, they often wind up with an abundance of one ingredient or another and have to find something to do with it.
"They have a lot of the produce, they have fun experimenting," Nachay says. "In turn you have a lot of these creative dishes being offered."
So, all you parents out there, consider swapping your cartons of chocolate and vanilla and replace them with mushroom ice cream and celery sorbet. We're sure your kids will thank you — some day.
LOL.
Stupid and gross. Trying to make foods imitate other foods like broccamole.
Try it:
Broccoli forgets only
Chick Peas
Fat free low sodium sour cream or yogurt.
I don’t know the exact recipe but, it exactly tastes like crap not guacamole.
Very unpleasant tasting....
I made garlic ice cream awhile back. Interesting, but nothing I’d do again. In retrospect, it seems a sorry thing to mess with something so perfect already.
There are very few things that taste better than fresh morels fried in a bit of butter! If they can make morel ice cream taste that good, I’m all for it. BTW, last Spring was lousy for collecting them. I was pretty much skunked here in Northern Ohio.
Epic Fail
I’ve had jalapeno ice cream, it’s pretty awesome. Do it right and anything can be a fine frozen treat. Especially with all the varieties of mushrooms, that could be a whole line on its own.
I guess I’m the only one here who thinks that could be good. Of course, a few years ago, it was shocking for most to think of putting salt on ice cream but now salted caramel is one of the more popular flavors. I’ve had a huitlacoche dessert empanada before so I know fungus can make a great dessert.
Was it your last date dessert on purpose, or did it just turn out that way and you noticed a trend?
/johnny
...a mushroom is not a vegetable...
Watch Iron Chef! They make ice cream out of SEAFOOD. Last night they had an Italian chef who owns 10 restaurants, challenging one of the regular Iron Chef’s who made an ice cream from Bay Scallops!
I love salted caramel ice cream. I also like to take a thick slice of good grade bacon, cut it into equal 3rd’s, fry the bacon crisp, pat dry then dip all but one little corner into tempered chocolate and let the chocolate setup. Talk about good!!!
There was a restaurant in Little Rock that did very traditional French food and did a caramelized pork belly that could have been a dessert.
This reminds me of a comic panel from the Feb 1983 Playboy. In the scene you see the inside of an ice cream parlor and a sign syating the flavors they sell are Corn, Wood, Liver and Vanilla. The clerk behind the counter says, “We’re out of vanilla”.
I wish I could ost a picture... but I can’t find a digital copy.
people on chemo often have to make up ‘ice cream’-like
concotions to get nourishment.
i’m going to try a nice salmon-mushroom shake..
Totally off topic...does it look like moochelle shaves her eyebrows?
Sorry for the chemo news. I lost 85#’s during my first set of chemo. I live in Washington, like you, I found medical pot or I would have lost 100#’s or worse, the doctor pulling the plug.
The second time, I had the med pot from the start and only lost 25#. Hope there won’t be a third.
Good luck to you and seriously consider my suggestion. Enjoy your shake!
Candy-cap mushrooms, as their name implies, are quite sweet and suitable for use in desserts. They taste of maple syrup. I suspect this ice cream is delicious by almost anyone’s standards.
http://bayareamushrooms.org/mushroommonth/candy_cap.html
“Candy-cap mushrooms, as their name implies, are quite sweet and suitable for use in desserts. They taste of maple syrup. I suspect this ice cream is delicious by almost anyone’s standards.”
http://bayareamushrooms.org/mushroommonth/candy_cap.html
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Interesting. Mr. Trisham and I are avid fans of “Chopped” and “Iron Chef America”. I recall seeing a chef prepare some kind of fish ice cream. It was intriguing.
That's what rhubarb pie is for!
Hey, cream of mushroom soup works, doesn’t it?
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