10 Weirdest Beer Flavors (BLOG)

We like a unique beer just as much as the next guy, but sometimes brewers go a bit overboard trying to be different. Here are 10 of the strangest beers to be bottled.

10. Lindemans' Tea Beer

Smells like iced tea with lemon but pours like a beer. This sweet-sour beverage from an old-school lambic producer has been favorably compared to drinking a carbonated Snapple.

9. Chocolate Donut Beer

The Shenandoah Brewery wanted to combine two of the best things on earth (according to Homer Simpson, at least): beer and donuts. The beer received fairly good reviews while it was on the market and was favorably compared to a fresh pack of cheap corner store donuts.

8. Crème Brûlée Beer

Dark and thick, when poured into a glass, this beer appears to be the exact opposite of its namesake. But when quaffed, flavors of burnt caramel, sweet vanilla, and a creamy body emerge. Handy for those who want the classic dessert but don't have a blowtorch handy.

More from Delish: 10 (Mostly) Failed Food Inventions

7. Steak-Flavored Beer (for dogs!)

It's hard to be a dog. So much sniffing to do, holes to dig, faces to lick. At the end of a long day, who's to say that man's best friend doesn't deserve a beer? That's why the hound-friendly folks over at Dutch Kwispelbier invented a non-alcoholic, beef-flavored brew.

6. Wostyntje (Mustard Beer)

This Belgian beer would be the perfect pairing for 7-Eleven's new hot dog-flavored chips. It's made with mustard seeds, which give it a distinctly tangy and, well, mustardy flavor.

5. Milk Beer (Bilk)

We all know that milk does a body good. But sometimes you don't want a plain, boring glass of two-percent. You want a beer. The Japanese have you covered. Bilk is the result of a smart company and a surplus of milk. The concoction is 30% milk and currently is only available in Japan. But if you decide to create you own Bilk, be sure to let us know how it goes.

More from Delish: 12 Weird Bacon Products You Weren't Believe

4. Tomato Beer (for kids!?)

Kids want to imitate their parents. They want mini cars to drive around. They want toy cell phones. They want beer. At least, that's what the makers of Kidsbeer figured. The (of course) non-alcoholic, vitamin-E-packed tomato beer — it supposedly tastes more like cola that tomato — originates in Japan and boasts the slogan, "Even kids cannot stand life unless they have a drink."

3. Oyster Stout

Oysters and beer, what can be better? How about a briny combination of the two? Multiple companies have created versions of an oyster beer - perhaps piggybacking on the success of Clamato, another bivalve-flavored beverage. While some beers advertising themselves as oyster stouts are simply meant to be paired with oysters, Harpoon Brewery's version is actually brewed with Island Creek oysters.

2. Bacon Beer

The bacon craze truly started jumping the shark when Brooklyn Brewery began creating limited amounts of bacon beer. It was a brown ale infused with bacon fat and then aged in bourbon barrels. Bourbon, bacon, and beer? How could this fail?

More from Delish: 10 Weird (And Great!) Ways to Use Vodka

1. Pizza Beer

Pizza and beer is a classic combo, so why not make it into one, easy-to-drink beverage? Tom Seerfurth's Mamma Mia Pizza Beer includes oregano, basil, tomato, and garlic in the mix in order to give efficiency-seeking drinkers the most optimal experience. While it has been fairly well-received and compared to the flavor of pizza-flavored Pringles, we can't help but note that no cheese is included in the brewing. And what's pizza without cheese? Focaccia.

Cantaloupe illnesses and deaths expected to rise (BLOG)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health officials said Wednesday more illnesses and possibly more deaths may be linked to an outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe in coming weeks.

So far, the outbreak has caused at least 72 illnesses — including up to 16 deaths — in 18 states, making it the deadliest food outbreak in the United States in more than a decade.

The heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration said consumers who have cantaloupes produced by Jensen Farms in Colorado should throw them out. If they are not sure where the fruit is from, they shouldn't eat it.

Neither the government nor Jensen Farms has supplied a list of retailers who may have sold the fruit. Officials say consumers should ask retailers about the origins of their cantaloupe. If they still aren't sure, they should get rid of it.

"If it's not Jensen Farms, it's OK to eat," said Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC. "But if you can't confirm it's not Jensen Farms, then it's best to throw it out."

Jensen Farms of Holly, Colo. says it shipped cantaloupes to 25 states, though the FDA has said it may be more, and illnesses have been discovered in several states that were not on the shipping list. A spokeswoman for Jensen Farms said the company's product is often sold and resold, so they do not always know where it went.

The recalled cantaloupes may be labeled "Colorado Grown," ''Distributed by Frontera Produce," ''Jensenfarms.com" or "Sweet Rocky Fords." Not all of the recalled cantaloupes are labeled with a sticker, the FDA said. The company said it shipped out more than 300,000 cases of cantaloupes that contained five to 15 melons, meaning the recall involved 1.5 million to 4.5 million pieces of fruit.

The FDA said none of the cantaloupes had been exported, reversing an earlier statement that some of the tainted melons had been shipped abroad.

Frieden and FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg said that illnesses are expected for weeks to come because the incubation period for listeria can be a month or even longer. That means that someone who ate contaminated cantaloupe last week may not get sick until next month. Jensen Farms last shipped cantaloupes on Sept. 10. The shelf life is about two weeks.

"We will see more cases likely through October," Hamburg said.

The Food and Drug Administration said state health officials found listeria in cantaloupes taken from Colorado grocery stores and from a victim's home that were grown at Jensen Farms. Matching strains of the disease were found on equipment and cantaloupe samples at Jensen Farms' packing facility in Granada, Colo.

Sherri McGarry, a senior adviser in the FDA's Office of Foods, said the agency is looking at the farm's water supply and possible animal intrusions among other things in trying to figure out how the cantaloupes became contaminated. Listeria bacteria grow in moist, muddy conditions and are often carried by animals.

The health officials said this is the first known outbreak of listeria in cantaloupe. Listeria is generally found in processed meats and unpasteurized milk and cheese, though there have been a growing number of outbreaks in produce. Hamburg called the outbreak a "surprise" and said the agencies are studying it closely to find out how it happened.

Cantaloupe is often the source of outbreaks, however. Frieden said CDC had identified 10 other cantaloupe outbreaks in the last decade, most of them from salmonella.

Listeria is more deadly than well-known pathogens like salmonella and E. coli, though those outbreaks generally cause many more illnesses. Twenty-one people died in an outbreak of listeria poisoning in 1998 traced to contaminated hot dogs and possibly deli meats made by Bil Mar Foods, a subsidiary of Sara Lee Corp. Another large listeria outbreak, in 1985, killed 52 people and was linked to Mexican-style soft cheese.

Listeria generally only sickens the elderly, pregnant women and others with compromised immune systems. The CDC said the median age of those sickened is 78 and that 1 in 5 who contract the disease can die from it. Symptoms include fever and muscle aches, often with other gastrointestinal symptoms.

Unlike many pathogens, listeria bacteria can grow at room temperatures and even refrigerator temperatures. It is hardy and can linger long after the source of the contamination is gone — health officials say people who may have had the contaminated fruit in their kitchens should clean and sanitize any surfaces it may have touched.

The CDC said Tuesday that 13 deaths are linked to the tainted fruit. State and local officials say they are investigating three additional deaths that may be connected.

The death toll released by the CDC Tuesday surpassed the number of deaths linked to an outbreak of salmonella in peanuts almost three years ago. Nine people died in that outbreak. The CDC reported four deaths in New Mexico, two deaths each in Colorado and Texas and one death each in Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Maryland.

New Mexico officials said Tuesday they are investigating a fifth death, while health authorities in Kansas and Wyoming said they too are investigating additional deaths possibly linked to the tainted fruit.

The CDC reported the 72 illnesses and deaths in 18 states. Cases of listeria were reported in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The most illnesses were reported in Colorado, which has seen 15 sickened. Fourteen illnesses were reported in Texas, 10 in New Mexico and eight in Oklahoma.

While most healthy adults can consume listeria with no ill effects, it can kill the elderly and those with compromised immune systems. It is also dangerous to pregnant women because it easily passes through to the fetus. The CDC's Frieden said that two of those sickened were pregnant women but they have since recovered.

12 Ways to Get Your Daily Vitamin D (BLOG)

The sun is less likely to provide your daily needs at higher latitudes, in the winter, or if you're older or dark skinned (skin pigment blocks light and the process is less efficient with age). And FYI: Light through a window won't work.

Fatty fish

Fatty fish can be a good source of vitamin D. Common options include salmon, trout, mackerel, tuna, and eel.

A 3-ounce sockeye salmon fillet contains about 450 international units (IUs) of vitamin D—a good portion of the 600 IUs that is the Institute of Medicine's recommended dietary allowance (800 IUs if you're over 70).

And you get a bonus—heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids!

Canned tuna fish

Fresh fish aren't the only way to boost your vitamin D intake; you can get vitamin D from a can, too.

Canned tuna fish and canned sardines both contain vitamin D, and are usually less expensive than fresh fish.

Plus, a longer shelf life makes the canned products easy to stock up on and use at your leisure. Canned light tuna has the most vitamin D—about 150 IUs per 4 ounces—while canned albacore tuna has about 50 IUs per 4 ounces, and canned sardines have a little more than 40 IUs per two sardines.

Certain mushrooms

Just like humans, mushrooms have the capacity to produce vitamin D when exposed to ultraviolet light.

Mushrooms, however, are usually grown in the dark and don't contain the vitamin. Specific brands, however, are grown in ultraviolet light to spur vitamin D production.

Check to see if vitamin D–rich 'shrooms, like Dole's Portobello Mushrooms, are available at a store near you. They're perfect for vegetarians looking for plant-based foods that contain the vitamin. Dole's portobellos will give you 400 IUs of vitamin D per 3-ounce serving (about 1 cup of diced mushrooms).

Fortified milk

Almost all types of cow's milk in the U.S. are fortified with vitamin D, but ice cream and cheese are not.

In general, an 8-ounce glass of milk contains at least 100 IUs of vitamin D, and a 6-ounce serving of yogurt contains 80 IUs, but the amount can be higher (or lower) depending on how much is added.

Some soy and rice milks are fortified with about the same amount, but check the label since not all contain vitamin D.

Some types of orange juice

Not a dairy fan? No problem. You can get vitamin D from fortified orange juice.

One 8-ounce glass of fortified juice usually has around 100 IUs of vitamin D, but the amount varies from brand to brand. Not all brands are fortified, so check the label.

Two fortified brands, Florida Natural Orange Juice and Minute Maid Kids+ Orange Juice, contain 100 IUs per 8-ounce serving.

Supplements

Vitamin D supplements can help you get your proper daily dose, and as Dr. Honig points out, you don't run into the issue of skin cancer as you might with UV rays. "And it's not like calcium," he says. "You don't have to split up your vitamin D dose; you can take it all at one time."

Too much vitamin D can be toxic, however. The IOM sets the upper limit at 4,000 IUs for people aged 9 and older. That includes all sources—food, sun, and supplements.

Talk to your doctor before choosing a dosage.

Egg yolks

Eggs are a convenient way to get vitamin D. They're popular in many breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert recipes.

Since the vitamin D in an egg comes from its yolk, it's important to use the whole egg—not just the whites. One yolk will give you about 40 IUs, but don't try to get your daily vitamin D just from eggs.

One egg contains about 200 milligrams of cholesterol, and the American Heart Association recommends consuming no more than 300 milligrams a day for heart health.

Fortified cereal

If you're a vitamin D seeker looking for a crunch, look no further than fortified cereals. Choose a low-calorie fortified cereal like Multi Grain Cheerios to get part of your daily fill of vitamin D. You can pair it with fortified milk and a glass of fortified OJ too.

A 1-cup (29 gram) serving of Multi Grain Cheerios with one-half cup of fortified milk is 90 IUs; add in an 8-ounce glass of fortified orange juice, and your total is close to 200 IUs.

Beef liver

Although it might not be the most appealing source, a 3.5-ounce serving of cooked beef liver contains about 50 IUs of vitamin D—and several other nutrients. You'll also be getting vitamin A, iron, and protein.

However, beef liver is also high in cholesterol, so you might want to choose an oily fish instead.

Cod liver oil

While its name might suggest a less-than-savory flavor, cod liver oil is often flavored with mint or citrus, or comes in capsule form.

One tablespoon contains about 1,300 IUs of vitamin D, which is more than twice the recommended dietary allowance of 600 IUs per day.

That amount doesn't exceed the maximum upper-level intake of 4,000 IUs for people over 8 years old, but it exceeds the daily maximum for infants (1,000 IUs).

Ultraviolet lamps and bulbs

People at high risk of vitamin D deficiency may resort to UV-emitting lamps and bulbs. This includes people unable to absorb the vitamin (malabsorption) or those who can't get enough in winter months, says Michael F. Holick, MD, a professor of medicine, sociology, and biophysics at Boston University Medical Center.

These are similar to tanning beds, but smaller. "The lamp is only about 24 inches by about 16 inches," says Dr. Holick.

These lamps carry the same skin-cancer risks and need for protective eyewear, so they're best for those with a doctor's recommendation.



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Wendy’s remakes its 42-year-old hamburger (BLOG)

NEW YORK — When Wendy's decided to remake its 42-year-old hamburger, the chain agonized over every detail. A pickle chemist was consulted. Customers were quizzed on their lettuce knowledge. And executives went on a cross-country burger-eating tour.

The result? Dave's Hot 'N Juicy, named after late Wendy's founder Dave Thomas. The burger — with extra cheese, a thicker beef patty, a buttered bun, and hold the mustard, among other changes — will be served in restaurants starting Monday.

"Our food was already good," said Denny Lynch, a Wendy's spokesman. "We wanted it to be better. Isn't that what long-term brands do? They reinvent themselves."

For Wendy's Co., based in Dublin, Ohio, reinvention is critical. That's why executives at the 6,600-restaurant chain spent the past two and a half years going over burger minutiae during an undertaking they call Project Gold Hamburger. That included deciding whether to switch from white onions on its burgers to red (they did), to change the fat/lean ratio of the meat (they didn't), or to go with plain or crinkled pickles (they picked crinkled.)

Wendy's is trying to boost lackluster sales and fight growing competition from much bigger rival McDonald's on one end and expanding fast-casual chains like Five Guys on the other. Part of the problem is that Americans, who are being squeezed by the tight economy, are being pickier about how they spend their dining-out dollars. But the biggest issue is that Wendy's, which hadn't changed its burger since the chain began in 1969, let its food offerings get stale over the years while its competitors continued to update their menus.

Still, it can be risky to tweak an old and familiar product. In fact, the past is littered with examples of this, including New Coke and Clear Pepsi, which were eventually pulled from store shelves because customers didn't like the new versions. Wendy's itself stumbled a few years ago when it tried to introduce breakfast foods. The company now says it made a mistake by offering omelets and pancakes, which aren't conducive to eating on the go.

"We have a lot of catching up to do in some areas," said Gerard Lewis, Wendy's head of new product development. "But after we launch this hamburger there will be folks who need to catch up to us."

How it all began
Project Gold Hamburger started around early 2009, shortly after hedge fund magnate Nelson Peltz bought Wendy's and combined it with Arby's. The marriage ultimately failed, with Peltz selling Arby's to a private-equity firm this summer.

It was clear Wendy's had lost its way. In six of the past 11 quarters, the company has reported lower or flat revenue at restaurants open at least a year, a key measure of a company's growth. And after Thomas died in 2002, Wendy's fell flat on finding a new face for its advertising, at one point running bizarre commercials featuring a man wearing a red pigtailed wig.

Also looming over Wendy's is strong competition from McDonald's, which has grown even larger in the past couple of years by remaking itself into a hip, healthy place to eat, with smoothies, Wi-Fi and high-margin coffee drinks. Last year, McDonald's had 49.5 percent of the fast-food burger market in the U.S. up from 41.6 percent in 2002, according to research firm Technomic. In the same period, Wendy's share fell to 12.8 percent from 14 percent. Burger King's fell to 13.3 percent from 17 percent.

Anxious to gain market share, Wendy's polled more than 10,000 people about their likes and dislikes in hamburgers. It found that people like the food at Wendy's but thought the brand hadn't kept up with the times. So, executives were shipped off to eat at burger joints around the country and measured each sandwich on characteristics like fatty flavor, salty flavor and whether the bun fell apart.

"I've traveled more with this burger than I have in my entire life," said Shelly Thobe, Wendy's director of hamburgers and new platforms.

Then, it was time for Wendy's researchers to consider the chain's own burger, ingredient by ingredient. Each time they made a change, they asked for feedback, visiting research firms around the country to watch through two-way mirrors as people tried each variation.

Wendy's chefs also tested new products at the headquarters in Dublin, just outside Columbus. From the test kitchens, they slipped new burger incarnations through little windows into a "Sensory Test Area," a white-walled room with 16 cubicles where tasting volunteers, or sometimes employees, ranked each burger.

Many suggestions sounded good but didn't ring true with tasters. They tried green-leaf lettuce, but people preferred to keep iceberg for its crunchiness. They thought about making the tomato slices thicker but decided they didn't want to ask franchisees to buy new slicing equipment. They even tested a round burger, a trial that was practically anathema to a company that's made its name on square burgers. (Wendy's ultimately did not go with the round shape, but changed the patty to a "natural square," with wavy edges, because tasters said the straight edges looked processed.)

Amid all the changes that were proposed that didn't make it, there were some golden nuggets. Tasters said they wanted a thicker burger, so Wendy's started packing the meat more loosely, trained grill cooks to press down on the patties two times instead of eight, and printed "Handle Like Eggs" on the boxes that the hamburger patties were shipped in so they wouldn't get smashed. And Wendy's researchers knew that customers wanted warmer and crunchier buns, so they decided that buttering them and then putting them through a toaster was the way to go.

In the end, Wendy's researchers changed everything but the ketchup. They switched to whole-fat mayonnaise, nixed the mustard, and cut down on the pickles and onions, all to emphasize the flavor of the beef. They also started storing the cheese at higher temperatures so it would melt better, a change that required federal approval.

"It's not about getting real exotic," said Lori Estrada, Wendy's senior vice president of menu innovation and packaging. "It's about making everything work."

Change is good — but hard
But Wendy's acknowledges that remaking a burger that's been around for more than four decades isn't easy.

The company in July sued a group of franchisees who refused to install the toasters needed to make the buns for the new burger. Each restaurant was asked to install two toasters, at a cost of $5,000 to $6,000 per restaurant. Locations with older grills had to replace those too, at a cost of about $15,000.

But the franchisees, who own or have stakes in more than 300 of the 5,200 franchise locations, say that Wendy's hasn't addressed their concerns about the safety of the toasters. The suit's two lead franchisees, whose pictures hang on a "Hall of Fame" in the headquarters' front lobby, say that employees could burn or cut themselves while using the toasters. The suit is still pending.

Wendy's also faces the reality that some customers may not like the new burger — or its price. At a time when Americans are cutting back in the down economy, Wendy's says prices for the burgers will probably increase, maybe by 10 or 20 cents, because of the higher-quality ingredients. Franchisees set their own prices, though. A Wendy's down the road from the Dublin headquarters, which was already selling the new sandwiches last week, was charging $3.49 for the quarter-pound burger, $4.69 for the half-pound, and $5.79 for the three-quarters pound.

Wendy's officials say complaints about the new burger are inevitable. After all, the company was bombarded with complaints for three or four weeks last year when it made changes to the fries, including flavoring them with sea salt. But Lynch said fry sales eventually went up and "exceeded expectations," although he declined to give figures. He also said the new burger "speaks for itself."

Analysts, meanwhile, are mixed on their views of the potential effect of the new burger. "It probably would have been a bigger deal if it had happened a lot sooner," said Bob Goldin, an executive vice president at Technomic. "It's still a big chain but it's got so much catching up (to do)."

Jeff Davis, at research firm Sandelman & Associates, said Wendy's still has a long-term reputation for quality and credibility that it can harvest. "If they can hit those buttons, it's going to work for them," he said.

For its part, Wendy's is hoping the burger will be one of many successful changes at the chain. Wendy's, which just got a new CEO last week, wants to expand overseas and on the West Coast, relaunch a breakfast line that's easier for on-the-go eating, and sell more high-margin snacks and beverages.

And early next year, it will introduce new chicken sandwiches.

The new undertaking has been code-named Project Gold Chicken.


AP