Root Source Challenge

Fennel is a versatile Mediterranean plant that lends an anise-tinged flavor to a variety of dishes — in the form of aromatic seeds, feathery leaves and a celery-like root or bulb that tastes great raw, braised, fried or roasted.

Whether it’s brined and roasted whole for Thanksgiving or Christmas, or ground for summery Fourth of July burgers, nothing says holiday quite like turkey. What are your tricks for making this mild-flavored fowl taste exciting?

The French like to eat radishes fresh, their earthy, bitter crunch offset with a bit of sweet butter and salt. Pickled radishes are a common Korean condiment; in India, it’s radish chutney.

Pumpkin has got to be one of the most versatile foods around. This time of year, pumpkins appear in everything from stews and breads to pies. As a bonus, around October 31st, pumpkins grow faces and spook little children in the night.

While apple juice tastes pure and sweet, apple cider is murkier and more mysterious, with a tart, tangy thirst-quenching quality.

Share your most creative recipes involving apple cider with the Root Source Challenge. Our favorite will be featured in the Root Source and published on Cookthink.com. The author will receive a copy of The Sommelier’s Guide to Wine.

What makes sugar brown? Light or dark brown sugar is just refined white sugar that has been mixed with varying amounts of molasses — which darkens it and adds moisture. (Raw sugar gets its similar color and taste from processed sugarcane residue.)

Brown sugar helps chocolate chip cookies stay moist, and adds a caramel sweetness to apple pie and barbecue sauce.

Once worth its weight in gold, saffron is a spice of mythic measure. Made from the dried stigma of crocuses, tiny saffron strands infuse a dish with a distinctive, earthy flavor and a lovely rustic color.

What a drink. Originally brewed in central Europe more than 500 years ago, crisp, golden lager is perfect for early autumn’s brisk nights.
For the Root Source Challenge #34, give us your freshest recipes involving lager. Our favorite will be featured in the Root Source and published on Cookthink.com. The author will receive a copy of Sunday Soup, by Betty Rosbottom.

As the wise and only occasionally cryptic Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tart words make no friends. A spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar.”

For our next Root Source Challenge, send us your sweetest honey recipes. Our favorite will be featured in the Root Source and published on Cookthink.com. The author will receive a copy of Sunday Soup, by Betty Rosbottom.

Escarole, aka Broad-leaf or Bavarian endive, is a sharp, slightly bitter autumn green whose flavor is strongest in the darker, outer leaves.