<strong>Q: A story on Hanukkah made me wonder: Is there a difference between latkes and potato pancakes?</strong>
A: To commemorate the miracle when a temple lamp continued burning for eight days with only a single day's worth of oil, Jews all over the world celebrate by eating things fried in oil. That might be doughnuts in some places, but in Eastern Europe and America, it usually involves latkes.
Latkes are similar to fritters and can be made from all sorts of vegetables. But potatoes are the most common. Latkes are usually made with eggs, a little milk, flour or matzo meal and baking powder.
Potato pancakes turn up in most European cultures, from Polish placki to Swedish rarakor, German kartoffelpuffer and Irish boxty. They range from smooth cakes of leftover mashed potatoes to crispy shredded potatoes that resemble hash browns.
Dishes like that are simple, homey things that people make from what they have on hand, so it's hard to spot differences between them. Most have egg as a binder, but not all have flour or baking powder.
<strong>Q: One of my family's favorite holiday traditions was a recipe known as Mamie Eisenhower's Fudge. But it tastes too sweet to me now. A single batch has 4 { cups of sugar. Could I reduce the sugar by half or even more?</strong>
A: Sadly, reducing the sugar in candy isn't that simple. Sugar isn't just sweet. It provides bulk, structure, caramelization and crystalization. It even provides liquid when it melts.
In fact, in this old favorite recipe, the sugar isn't the sweetest thing in the mix. It contains both marshmallow cream and German chocolate. Those make it easier than a true fudge, which can be turn grainy if you aren't precise with the temperatures. Both of them also help to reduce the sugar in the recipe, but they are very sweet themselves.
Rather than attempt to reduce the sugar, which could be very messy and frustrating, you'd be better off trying to find a different recipe that suits your taste today. Or just save that special fudge as a once-a-year treat.
<strong>Q: How can you tell if a jar of minced garlic is still good? I have one that expired in June. It has darkened in color a little, but it still smells OK.</strong>
A: If it smells OK (or as OK as garlic ever smells) and there's no mold or obvious discoloration, it's probably fine.
Remember that the date on a jar often isn't an expiration date. It may be a sell-by date, meant to help stores rotate the stock on their shelves, or a best-by date, which is about the quality of a product, not the safety. Sometimes it will say that in very tiny print next to the date.
Jarred garlic usually has preservatives, such as citric acid, that give it a long shelf life. That's why fans of fresh garlic dislike the stuff in the jar: too many preservatives.