Golden season of the Oro BlancoIt's green and round and...

Golden season of the Oro Blanco

It's green and round and looks like an overgrown grapefruit -- well, it is a grapefruit, a new variety called Oro Blanco, a cross between regular white grapefruit and the pomelo, or Chinese grapefruit, that is less acidic. The result is a grapefruit-like fruit with sweeter flavor. Oro Blancos were developed at the University of California, Riverside. The season for the fruit is December through mid-April. Watch for them at Eddie's of Roland Park's Charles Street store, where they sell for 99 cents each.

Keeping up with Pace

Tex-Italian pasta fiesta, orange Picante pork chops, and Texas two-step chicken Picante are among the recipes in the "Pace Family Recipe Roundup 50th Anniversary Cookbook" (Time-Life Books, $14.95). The book celebrates the span of years since Pace founder David Pace decided to spend full-time on marketing his spicy tomato-and-jalapeno-based sauce. The book is in some bookstores and warehouse clubs, or call (800) TRY-PACE.

The cost of aging

The latest issue of the Trends Journal, from the Trends Research Institute, a business forecast consulting firm in Rhinebeck, N.Y., offers predictions for the next millennium. Among their forecasts: Rising food budgets as Baby Boomers intent on battling aging spring for more costly "clean" foods. The journal says Boomers' food budgets will rise to as much as 30 percent of household income, from the current 11 percent.

Starts and finishes

Former Baltimore boy Stephen Raichlen, now a Miami food writer and cooking teacher, has two more books out in his "High-Favor, Low-Fat" series: "High-Flavor Low-Fat Appetizers," and "High-Flavor Low-Fat Desserts" (Viking, $15.95 each). Oven-baked egg rolls, nacho pizzettas, banana cream roulade, and "baked Hawaii," made with pineapple and meringue, are some of the offerings.

Pub Date: 12/25/96

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