A peculiar plant which looks like ice crystals but feels like a cat's tongue. It was used traditionally as a salad plant, being very tender. It fell out of flavour mainly because slugs and snails are inclined to get to it first.
Wine made from frozen grapes. This wine was originally made in the cooler parts of Europe but is now produced in Canada as well. Having ripened at the usual time, around October, the grapes are left on the vine until winter. During the time on the vine the grapes dry out and the flavours are concentrated. Temperatures fall during December and January, ideally to below -10ºC. When the grapes have frozen solid they are harvested by hand and pressed. The yield is low as the dried grapes produce little juice. The resulting wine is complex with deep natural sweetness, making a fine dessert wine.
Icing sugar (US: powdered sugar) is as fine as talcum powder, used for the decoration of cakes when mixed with water, sometimes with egg, or dusted over desserts.
Idaho Russet is a variety of floury potato, good for mashing.
A late season, white-fleshed apple having shiny red skin, without much interest to the texture. As good for cooking as for eating but has a nondescript flavour and can be used in pies or sauces. It was raised by Leif Verner at the Idaho Agricultural Experimental Station in Moscow in Idaho as a cross between Jonathan and Wagener and introduced commercially in 1942. As one might expect, it is an apple with a bright red flush. This late-season variety is harvested from mid-October in South-East England and is at its best from November to March, mellowing on storage. It is used in Austria particularly for cooking strüdel and is good in both sauces and pies.
