Tag: culinary elegance

On March 15th, National Pears Hélène Day celebrates a food holiday about the delicious, smooth French dessert combining warm poached pears, vanilla ice cream, and chocolate sauce.

Pears Hélène is a dessert made from pears poached in sugar syrup and served with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, and crystallized violets. Around 1864, French Chef Auguste Escoffier created the dessert in honor of the operetta La belle Hélène by Jacques Offenbach.

Over time, Pears Hélène simpler versions have been developed by substituting poached pears with canned pears and the delicate crystallized violets have been replaced with sliced almonds. These modifications have made it easier for more cooks to prepare this must-have dessert.

FUN PEAR FACTS:

There are more than 3,000 varieties of pears grown in the world.
Washington, Oregon and Northern California grow more than 95% of the pears sold in the United States.
California grows 60% of all Bartlett pears in the United States.
Pears ripen best off of the tree.
They are an excellent source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C as well as copper, fiber, and potassium.
Pears are less allergenic than many other fruits.

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalPearsHeleneDay

Prepare a recipe of Pears Hélène. Add it to an elegant evening or make it to simply enjoy and celebrate the day. We’ve provided a recipe for you to try as well. Share your recipes, too!

Pears Belle Helene recipe.

Use #NationalPearsHeleneDay to post on social media.

Amazon Fresh, Sliced Pears in Pear Juice from Concentrate, 15 Oz#NationalPearsHeleneDay — Amazon Fresh, Sliced Pears in Pear Juice from Concentrate, 15 Oz

A Gift Inside Pears to Compare Deluxe Fruit Gift#NationalPearsHeleneDay — Amazon Fresh, Sliced Pears in Pear Juice from Concentrate, 15 Oz

National White Chocolate Cheesecake Day on March 6th offers another way to celebrate one of our favorite desserts.

Cheesecake is a sweet dessert that is a mixture of soft fresh cheese, cream cheese or cottage cheese, eggs and sugar on a crust made from crushed graham crackers, crushed cookies, pastry or sponge cake. Cheesecakes can be prepared baked or unbaked and are often served topped with fruit, chocolate or whipped cream. There are many flavors in which cheesecakes can be prepared. However, this day honors the white chocolate cheesecake.

Now, white chocolate is not chocolate in the strictest sense. It doesn’t contact cocoa solids. During the process of manufacturing chocolate, the dark-colored solids of the cocoa bean separates from the fatty content. With milk or dark chocolate, these solids are reincarnated. However, when making white chocolate, these solids don’t return to the mixture. Additionally, white chocolate contains less caffeine than its darker counterparts. It also loses some of the health benefits as well since it tends to contain more fat and sugar. Add it to an already rich dessert and, well, decadence should be expected.