My family and I were in Parma, Italy (one of the gastronomic capitals of the world, and believe me, we went to town!) last summer, and I had violet gelato. That's right, violet. Oh. My. Frickin'. God. It was like eating essence of flowers. I can still taste it! That being said, my favorite flavor may be Italian hazelnut (nocciola), and to all who say there's no difference between store-brand and higher end, them's fightin' words. In summer, my favorite's peach. Lest you now think I'm a total food snob (OK, I actually AM a total food snob, but I go lowbrow too: cheez doodles, street hot dogs, etc.), the something strange is, during college I used to stash my leftover pizza in the box, on the floor underneath my bed. That cold linoleum kept it chilled, nobody with the late nite munchies could steal it, and it was right there for breakfast in the morning! Extra bonus strange: my Dad, whose interest in experimental cooking predated fusion cuisine and all that, used to put grapefruit peel in the marinara sauce. No, it did not taste good. Jim

Hey guys. I've actually had a good year. I harvested almost every week, to keep a supply to sell at the weekly markets I sell at. My last harvest was in Mid August, and I would have run out in another week or two, but I pulled in all the supers at a farm about a mile away, and some are not capped well, and they're all goldenrod. Nonetheless, I extracted two shallows or so, and got nearly 5 gallons. I have to extract the rest in the next day or so while the temps are up... then pull the supers in my own backyard... probably 15-20 supers. Last year, sales were lower, and I ran out by Christmas. This year, up to Friday night, my sales for this year to date are 40% above the entire year 2006. I may still run out before spring, but with sales so much better, I've really done ok. weather is drought punctuated by spotty rains, but hey, almost every downpour has been right over my head! Not everyone around here is as happy. A farmer 12 miles away says they've had no rain since mid august.

I've made Sarsaparilla tea that tasted like root beer but never made root beer. Like Bumblebeez, I tend to use liqueurs rather than extracts, and my favorites are Frangelico, Amaretto, Cointreau, Godiva Chocolate liqueur, and several versions of Kahlua, including Mocha (my favorite) and hazelnut. I really like Mocha Kahlua on ice cream but am almost out and am having trouble finding it again. I think they may make it only at Christmas and New Year's. The liqueurs are not as strong as extracts and work in a lot of drinks as well as recipes. I use them a lot with ice cream but also in other creme anglaise recipes such as Bavarian Cream. For extracts, I only have vanilla (Cook's brand, which is okay) and almond (brand unknown). I seldom use the almond extract since I generally substitute Amaretto instead. I've noticed that Indian markets sell a lot of extracts, but I have not used many of them yet, including several that I have in my pantry. Lars

After more research, it seems like Page might offer good, deep, strong flavor I'm after. But the University of Florida says it should be planted near a pollinizer such as Lee. See here: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/ch067. Page is a Mineola Tangelo/clementine hybrid and Lee is an Orlando Tangelo/clementine hybrid. My neighbor who runs a plant nursery at his house has a nice big Lee for sale. He's had it for a few years. I could get the Lee from him and get a Page and plant them together- match made in Heaven? Would planting them together like that help with any disease problems? I've also found out about the new Sugarbelle mandarin. Read about it: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=sugarbelle+mandarin. After reading about it, I'm definitely getting at least one, might even get two, heck why not? My question is should I forget about the Page/Lee combo and just get a Sugarbelle? It seems my research has led me to believe that Page and Sugarbelle have similar (strong, deep, complex, intense) flavors, but the Sugarbelle has the advantage of being more disease resistant and hardy. And are Kishus overrated? Are they mild? I am still thinking about getting one. I will be buying from Harris Nursery. Mandarins: http://www.harriscitrus.com/store/index.php?cPath=5 Tangerines: http://www.harriscitrus.com/store/index.php?cPath=21. Look at all the varieties! What about Kinnow, brown select, Ortanique, Temple tangor, Fina Sodea, etc..