Pareve Puffs: Kosher Elyon Marshmallows Available at Whole Foods

Marshmallow, it is generally held, is nature's perfect food. I know, I know. There's also chocolate PLUS marshmallow—that's a gimme. But on its own, the marshmallow is the pinnacle of culinary achievement. I have this on the authority of a certain Fluffernutter.

It has always grieved me, as editor of several kosher cookbooks, that kosher-kitchen cooks could not enjoy marshmallows. But that has changed, friends—and now, because of Elyon Marshmallows, sold at Whole Foods, we can all join as one in the sunny, friendly confines of marshmallow love.

Just in time for marshmallow season! Roasting marshmallows on the fire. Marshmallows for the holiday sweet potato bake. In ambrosia, Five-Cup Salad, Mississippi Mud Cake. Puffy, sugary bliss.

Kosher 'shmallows have a different, less gluey, softer, more sugary texture than nationally marketed marshmallows. They're like a—can I say it without a shiver of delight?—candy to be popped into the mouth, one delightful morsel at a time. It truly is a new day of inclusion in the republic.

And that's only part of the good news. Elyon also makes kosher gelatin—both regular and sugar-free. Southern sideboards everywhere give thanks. And sticky-fingered hostesses everywhere may start offering moist towelettes.

Why Can't I Be Like This?

Leave it to my Stepford Wife to come up with an organizational plan as clever as this:

She created an email account just for recipes. So every time she finds a recipe online that she likes, she emails it to herself. (Her favorite sites are allrecipes and orgjunkie, which lists a weekly meal plan, including recipes from hundreds of like-minded organized people.)

“The reason it works,” the SW says, “is because the emails go to my iPhone, so I can just get the list of ingredients while I'm at the store.”

Come on, help a Stepford Wife out, tell us your favorite online recipe resources.

Bites Exclusive: Winning Hot Chicken Recipe!

In an earlier thread about the recent Music City Hot Chicken Festival, held July 4 at East Park, we offered hearty and grease-soaked congratulations to this year's winner, Justin Jones of Team Soda Pong. We also said that we'd asked Justin to send us the recipe that cinched his first-place prize, but so far we hadn't heard from him.

This was not a surprise. Hot chicken recipes are guarded more fiercely than child brides. No local grail is more keenly sought than the mysterious mixture of spices and incendiary devices that gives Prince's Hot Chicken its atomic glow.

But all of a sudden, to our undying wonder and gratitude, what should arrive via ePony Express but a missive from Justin Jones—and with it the winning recipe!

A few considerations. First, we haven't tried it for ourselves (but O my readers and only friends, you can bet we will). Second, this is not the Prince's recipe, and Justin makes no claim that it is. Third, it's bound to cause some controversy on one front: all the heat is added after the chicken is cooked.

Still, this is the recipe a panel of expert judges selected as Nashville's best civilian hot chicken. Without further ado, we let Justin Jones give you the bird.