I hope all our US Members had a happy and safe 4th of July. I spent part of this weekend digging out creeping bellflower. This plant, while attractive, is highly invasive and will take over every part of a garden if you let it. I was somewhat surprised to learn that all parts of this plant are edible. In his newsletter, chef Alan Bergo discusses how you can eat the flowers, leaves, and roots of creeping bellflower. Alan's posts are always interesting, and his book The Forager Chef's Book of Flora is fantastic. There are so many free foods all around you, if you know where to look.

Homemade crème fraîche from Bake from Scratch Magazine

The "waste not" cooking tip for the week comes from The Guardian, which reminds us that excess cream is never a bad thing. This article explains how you can turn double cream into mascarpone quickly and easily. I don't believe this trick will work with heavy whipping cream (which has 36% butterfat compared to 48% for double cream), but you can always make butter or crème fraîche from an excess of heavy cream.

Earlier this week, Aotearoa New Zealand's restaurants received their first ever Michelin stars. At a ceremony in Auckland, listings for 110 restaurants across Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown were announced, including 14 one-star venues and the nation's first ever two-Michelin-star restaurant: Essence, led by chef Paul Froggatt. René de Monchy, Chief executive of Tourism New Zealand, said in a statement, “This recognition is an acknowledgement of the people, the land, and the culture that make dining in New Zealand a truly unique experience."

Imagine browsing through an old food magazine and finding someone in your family was the author of several recipes in that issue. That's what recently happened to Southern Living's Cameron Beall. As part of a deep dive into the magazine's archives to pull out the recipes, Beall was assigned to go through 1991 and 1992. Looking through the December 1992 issue, Cameron spotted familiar name: Kris Beall, her grandmother. Cameron was surprised to learn that her grandmother had contributed recipes to Southern Living and immediately called her. Kris recounted the photoshoot that happened in her Tennessee farmhouse in 1991. What a way to learn something new about your family!

Radio Cherry Bombe has an interview with the founders of Levain Bakery, Pam Weekes and Connie McDonald. The duo explain the wild origin story of Levain, complete with a series of twists and turns. Did you know that originally, Levain was a bread bakery? Pam and Connie also discuss why their first book, Levain Bakery: A Story of Friendship, Community, and Cookies, is not a cookbook. (It does have five recipes, so technically...)

The latest TikTok food drama involves Fruity Pebbles cake pops, an accusation of stealing, tearful videos, and apologies. Two cake-pop makers, Cake by Kaity and Sweet Treats by Ashley, got into a feud after Kaity claimed Ashley stole her Fruity Pebbles cake pop recipe from an online cookbook and alleged copyright infringement. However, recipes cannot be copyrighted, and furthermore, Ashley says she didn't even use that recipe. Commenters mostly took Ashley's side, and there was other blowback for Kaity: some companies that she had partnered with to sell cake pop molds dropped her product. Kaity then posted an apology video, and Ashley posted a note urging her followers to "stop the hate" toward Kaity. All of this over cake pops with cereal on them...maybe the internet was a mistake.

England managed to beat Mexico in a chaotic World Cup match this evening, but in the leadup to the match, I saw several posts saying that Mexico should win to avenge their country from the disastrous "Mexican week" on the Great British Bake Off in 2022. In our weekly recap, Jenny and I wrote about the cultural insensitivity of that episode. Alas, Mexico will have to find a different way to get even.