Food news antipasto

We’re going to start off this week’s food news recap by tooting our own horn. We have recently surpassed over 9,000 indexed books here at Eat Your Books. None of this would be possible without our indexers – both professionals and members – so hats off to the people who have indexed the over 1.5 million recipes contained within those books (1,509,996 at last count).

Have you ever wondered what the difference between sour cream and crème fraîche? Wonder no more, thanks to Eater. They provide helpful information including the fat percentages of each, plus the differences in the flavor profiles between the two creamy dairy products. In the same vein, Food and Wine has answered the burning question of what is pastry flour, anyway? They explain the difference between cake, all-purpose, and pastry flour, and how you can make a pastry flour substitute.

Love vintage cookbooks but don’t feel like venturing out to thrift stores or musty bookshops in search of them? Now you can download them for free – at least a few of them. The Sallie Bingham Center for Women’s History and Culture at Duke University’s Rubenstein Library has made 82 items from the Nicole Di Bona Peterson Advertising Cookbook Collection available for free download.

As we grow older, we often ponder the legacy we will leave. One Brooklyn woman’s gravestone provides an example that should inspire everyone who bakes to nourish others. The top of the monument is a shaped like an open book, but instead of a Bible verse, a recipe is etched into the stone. Her family wanted to honor her memory in a way that reflected the best time they spent together. What a sweet memory.

Photo of How to make crème fraîche at home from Cannelle et Vanille by Aran Goyoaga