Season’s BiscuitsNabisco is bringing back some of...

Season’s Biscuits

Nabisco is bringing back some of its seasonal specialties for the holidays, such as White Fudge Covered Oreos, Chocolate Dipped Ritz Crackers and Chips Ahoy with red, green and white sprinkles. Another colorful return: the holiday edition of Milk-Bone Flavor Snacks in red and green.

Science Crunches On

Two scientists at the Agricultural Research Service in Albany, Calif., have identified 30 chemicals critical to the taste of corn tortillas and tortilla chips. The main one turns out to be 2-aminoacetophenome; knowing this, the scientists, say, tortilla chip makers will be able to enhance flavor. The researchers’ names, by the way, are Louisa Ling and (we wouldn’t make this up) Ronald Buttery.

Youth Will Be Served

Budweiser is one of the top 10 beer brands in the U.K., and the second most popular beer in Ireland. It’s popular mostly with younger drinkers, who prefer a milder flavor than their elders do.

On Line With the Green One

The Jolly Green Giant is entering the information age. You can reach its interactive recipe service, Green Giant Mealtime Recipe Helpline, by calling (800) GREENGIANT (that’s 473-3644) and choose recipes, which will be customized to the number of people in your party, from an on-line database. (In some markets, including Los Angeles, the service is available in Spanish as well as English.) You can ask for the recipes to be FAXed to you if you want, and in February the service will be available--complete with color illustrations--on the Prodigy computer service’s food bulletin board.

Those Fightin’ Squids

Squid are ferocious predators, consuming their body weight every week in fish, small crustaceans and--what the heck, why not?--other squid. This may be why the Houma Indians of Lousiana had the squid as their battle symbol.

Slow Soup

So you say you have the time to cook but don’t want to cook from scratch. Lipton has you dead in its sights with its Kettle Creations Homemade Style soup mixes. These cello-pack mixes cook in 30 minutes (which required some careful calculation--the pasta shapes had to be thick enough that they won’t turn mushy, but not so thick that they won’t stay in your spoon). Flavors include minestrone and chicken flavor with long grain and wild rice. In supermarkets.