Cloves have a signature scent in kitchens — and beyond
Vanilla ice cream doesn’t have to be, well, so vanilla. Ice & Vice, the Lower East Side shop that takes pride in being “experimental,” brings back one of its tasty trials that went oh-so-right. The shop sandwiches Mexican vanilla ice cream between black-and-white cookies, then the ice cream edges are coated in everything seasoning. Does that make it a breakfast item? Sure. It’s $6 — and only at the brand’s stand at Mad. Sq. Eats at 25th St. and Fifth Ave. through June 1. (iceandvice.com)
TOne of the most refreshing warm-weather drinks will be churned into an early-summer special flavor at every Van Leeuwen location, including Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the West Village and Nolita, in about a week. (Check in with locations before you go.) Fresh-squeezed lemon juice infused with hibiscus tea will be blended into a vegan ice cream base. House-made caramel corn cakes and red-currant jam are folded in. Single scoop: $5.75. (vanleeuwenicecream.com) he sweetly pungent flavor of cloves adds a signature kick to everything from roasted meats and poached pears to a pitcher of sangria.
The spice, which can be used whole or ground, also has a telltale aroma that’s recognizable in one sniff. Just ask New Yorkers who had a clove encounter last week.
“Any idea why all of Central Park West from 81st to 86 street smells like nutmeg and cloves?” one lifelong resident tweeted last week.
The spicy scent is actually connected to a matter of life and death — of pesky weeds.
“The smell was an organic herbicide, acetic acid and clove oil, to control weeds in granite block pavement,” a spokeswoman for the Central Park Conservancy tells the Daily News. “The Central Park Conservancy uses this as an alternative to conventional pesticides.”
Weeds compete for nutrients with “the magnificent stand of elms and oaks that surround the park,” the Conservancy previously noted. “To protect these trees, we apply clove oil directly to the weeds a few times and see fewer weeds all summer long.”
The application of the environmentally friendly weed wacker is done from 4 to 5 a.m. and may linger, especially in overcast, high-humidity conditions.
“It normally dissipates in 24 hours,” the Conservancy noted. To celebrate its new espresso double blends, Nespresso merged with Morgenstern’s Finest Ice Cream, on the East Lower Side, to create this melt-in-your-mouth You can treat. enjoy it by the ($6.50) scoop or in a sundae graham with cracker, fudge and marshmallow ($12). way, it’s Either a cool kick of that’s caffeine as smooth as Clooney, George the public face of Nespresso. But hurry. It’ll only served be through this So get Sunday . going. (2 Rivington morgensternsnyc.com) St.; Boozy frozen fruit popsicles from Tipsy Scoop, which just celebrated its first anniversary in Kips Bay, get a kick from vodka. And so do you. They launch Thursday and are $6 a pop. (217 E. 26th St.; tipsyscoop. com)