"aol food" news and stories

Sometimes I wonder how certain food holidays are created. They seem so specific. Is there an Applesauce Cake Council that demands a day of their own?

Oh, by the way, today is National Applesauce Cake Day! I've never had it, but it sounds quite good. I keep picturing something that is moist and chewy and wet and dry all at the same time. AOL Food actually has two recipes for it, one from The Joy of Cooking and the other from Woman's Day.

AOL Food has brewed up an iced tea-stravaganza! Get recipes, tips & tricks with How to Brew Iced Tea, read our ongoing Bottled Iced Tea Reviews, and slurp up fun historical and cultural facts in our Iced Tea Quiz. Don't forget to c'mon back to share your quiz scores, tea brewing strategies, and suggestions about what store-bought blends we should sample next.

Get sipping!

And we had a few things to say about Southern Sweet Tea a while back.

I grew up with health food store peanut butter. The kind that is essentially just ground peanuts and a little salt, where the oil rises to the top and either has to be stirred in or poured off before you can make a sandwich. I was always envious of my friends who had jars of Skippy or Jif in their cabinets (our peanut butter had to be stored in the fridge so that it didn't go bad). These days I now prefer the peanut butter I grew up with, loving the flavor of the nuts and salt without any added sugar or fats.

The folks over at AOL Food threw themselves on sword of bad food and tasted 35 different jars of peanut butter in order to find the very best of the best. Their winner was Whole Foods 365 Brand Crunchy Peanut Butter. I'm not a huge fan of crunchy peanut butter typically, but hearing that a collection of reliable foodies determined that it was the best of the bunch makes me curious to give it a shot.

Okay folks, what do you think? Did the AOL Food testers get it right? What's your favorite peanut butter?

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I always have a big jar of kosher salt next to my stove. However, I don't just use it to season the food I cook. Every time I use my big cast iron skillet, I grab a handful of kosher salt and use it to scour the inside of the pan. This way I protect the seasoning of the pan from the harshness of soap and still get all the charred bits of food off the bottom of the pan.

There are lots of foods that can do double-duty like my jar of kosher salt. Our friends over at AOL Food have put together a photo gallery with 23 Weird Household Uses for Food. They've got foods that can help with to clean drains, keep bugs and pests at bay or clear a clogged drain. Their salt tip? Work a good amount of salt into a grease stain on an item of clothing before washing to help remove the stain.

If you have a food tip to share, please leave a comment!

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Everyone who eats out in restaurants has their list of pet peeves. My biggest is when waiters rush me though my meal.

AOL Food has a list of the 11 most annoying restaurant trends. I'm not sure if some of these are even "trends" or if they're just long-held policies that restaurants have had, like the recitation of menu specials. But some of these are spot on, such as the trend to add "tini" to the end of so many drink names and upselling. Luckily I don't eat in restaurants that have a guy who walks around with a baseball bat-sized pepper mill. Just put a normal-sized one on the table and I'll be happy.