Celebrating ‘grape’ discoveries

When a friend offers you a laundry basket full of ripe Concord grapes, what do you do? If you are me, you say “thank you” and proceed to the open EYB Library tab on your computer to find recipes that use them. I knew I wanted to make grape preserves and already knew where to look for that recipe, but beyond that I was stumped. I anticipated finding an online recipe in the Library, but to my surprise there were plenty of Concord grape recipes in my own cookbooks, the vast majority of which I didn’t even know existed. Without EYB I wouldn’t have found my new favorite recipe, Concord grape and rosemary sherbet from Hello, My Name is Ice Cream by Dana Cree.

I realize I am preaching to the choir, but I can’t help but extol the virtues of EYB. In addition to the Library, another place I draw inspiration from is the sometimes overlooked Member Forum. In a way this is a throwback to the times before Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok ruled the internet – back when people gathered on message boards to discuss topics in which they were deeply interested. These types of boards, including the EYB Forum, are great because the tone is always convivial and there aren’t any annoying ads to scroll through. No random weirdo will pop in and disrupt things (you’ll only see the regular weirdos that you know and love).

One thread I’ve found invaluable dates back nine years and in it Members share the odd or especially useful kitchen gadgets they can’t imagine cooking without. From this thread I’ve learned that a grapefruit spoon works great for peeling ginger, that a tiny battery-powered fan is the ticket for tear-free onion dicing, and that a canning jar lifter works great for retrieving small ramekins from a water bath. These were amazing discoveries!

The Forum is divided into sections based on topics, and overall there are over 15,000 posts on 2,200+ topics. You can elect to watch a topic (click on Options in the upper right of the page) to receive notifications of activity via e-mail. This is perfect for topics like the kitchen gadget thread mentioned above or when you start a topic so you can be alerted to responses without having to remember to check in on the thread. There is also an option for EYB to make a topic “sticky” so it will always appear at the top of the listing – we have done this with one in the Recipes and Cooking Advice section about the famous (infamous?) Dorie Greenspan pumpkin pie recipe that was misprinted in Baking with Dorie. Thanks for all the members who make the Forums such a wonderful place to visit.