Trick or Treat? The Remaining 17 Android Releases

First, there was Cupcake. Then it was Donut. Then Eclair, and now Froyo. With the imminent release of “Gingerbread”, Android fans may be wondering what versions are coming down the pike. Here are some suggestions.

By Jason Perlow, Senior Contributing Writer on Oct. 28, 2010

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First, there was Cupcake. Then it was Donut. Then Eclair, and now Froyo. With the imminent release of “Gingerbread”, Android fans may be wondering what versions may be coming down the pike. In the tradition of naming code releases after successive letters in the English alphabet and tasty desserts, Google has announced that “Honeycomb” will follow over the next year and analysts are fairly certain that “Ice Cream” will follow that. But what comes after that? We're not sure, and Google hasn't announced them yet. Still, we think it might be a good idea, in the interest of customer feedback, to suggest future names for the remaining 17 releases. I've tried to avoid using brand names of products, as Google would likely run into trademarking issues if it used them. Sweet, sweet Android.

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This would be the first processed candy entry on the list, and is a distinctly American invention. Traditional Jellybeans were originally made with refined sugar and were first produced during the Civil War. Like most other processed candy today they are made with a combination of sugars, corn syrup and starches, along with natural and artificial flavorings. The most well-known brand of jelly bean is the Jelly Belly which came to fame from being President Reagan's favorite candy and has dozens of varieties of flavors.

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Invented during the Great Depression by the Home Economics department of the Kellogg company, the basic recipe is an amalgam of melted butter, margarine, marshmallows, and toasted rice cereal. Variations include ones with peanut butter and condensed milk as well as chocolate chips and other small candies added.

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One of the oldest types of processed candies, Liquorice is traditionally flavored with the extract from the liquorice plant which has natural pharmaceutical properties as a mild laxative and an expectorant, and has other uses in herbal medicine. Most popular in the United Kingdom and in Nordic countries (where a salty variety, “Salmiakki” is a popular confection) it is a simple candy made with the flavoring, sugar and a binder, usually a starch as well as gelatin or gum arabic to give it that elastic quality. Liquorice is formed into a paste and extruded and dried. In the United States and other countries, other flavors such as Strawberry and Chocolate have been introduced.

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Most people don't realize it, but today's Marshmallow candy is actually a modern confectionary analogue to the Marshmallow plant, althaea officinalis, which was used in ancient Egypt as a honey flavored sore-throat remedy. Modern marshmallows are made with sugar, corn syrup and gelatin. Modern marshmallows are frequently eaten toasted, such as over a campfire. In the United States, a popular use is in S'Mores, which is a toasted campfire sandwich of Graham Crackers, Chocolate, and Marshmallows.

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Nougat, which is a confection that dates back to the early 15th century and was first popularized in France, Italy and Spain, represents a wide variety of candies made with sugar, honey and nuts. The consistency of Nougat can be chewy or hard, and the caramel in which the nuts are aggregated can be light or dark. This type of candy is popular all over the world and comes in many different forms with all different types of ingredients added.

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Trademarked and produced by the Nabisco company, and the best-selling cookie of the 20th century, with over with almost 500 billion produced since 1912, the Oreo is actually a knockoff of the less-popular Hydrox which was introduced four years earlier by the Sunshine company. Regardless of the origin, however, the cookie is distinctive, with the two dark chocolate crispy wafers sandwiching a sweet, creme filling. It is commonly believed that the wafer recipe was the result of a happy accident by burning the cookie batter during product development, but this might be an urban myth.

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Virtually unknown to North America, the Pavlova is a popular Australasian dessert which was named in honor of the Russian ballet dancer Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand during the 1920s. Served frequently during festive occasions such as Christmas, the dessert is large meringue made of egg whites, caster sugar, vinegar and cornstarch, flavored with vanilla. This is then topped with fresh whipping cream and fresh fruits, such as strawberries, kiwifruit and bananas.

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The fruit of the Quince plant, or Cyndonia Oblonga, which is native to central Asia and the caucauses has been cultivated and eaten since around 2000 BCE. Some cultural anthropologists believe that humans may have been eating and cultivating them before apples, the fruit to which it is most closely related. It is also thought that the “Apple” mentioned in the Hebrew Bible as part of the erotic “Song of Solomon” may have actually been a quince fruit. Most varieties of quince are too hard to eat raw, so they typically used in jellies and other confections, such as quince fruit paste, which is popular in Europe and eaten along with cheeses. In Great Britain, Quince Pie is a very popular dessert, similar to the Apple Pie consumed in the United States.

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Perhaps the most quintissential dessert from the Southern United States, its origins are clouded in mystery. However, recipes for the red flour cake, which is traditionally colored with natural beet root food coloring date back to the late nineteenth century. Considered to be a derivative of the Devil's Food Cake, which originated around the same time, it is flavored with processed cocoa and typically topped with cream cheese or a buttermilk frosting. The 1989 film Steel Magnolias, in which the cake is prominently featured in the shape of an armadillo, has caused a resurgence in the dessert's popularity in the United States in the last 20 years.

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While best associated with Scotland, which has numerous recipes and commercial brands of this popular unleavened biscuit, it is popular all over Great Britain including Ireland, and in other countries including Denmark and Sweden. Traditional recipes call for white sugar, butter, and oatmeal flour, but white flour is commonly used today in commercial shortbread products. Shortbread is named for its crumbly texture, from an old meaning of the word “short”, which is caused by its high fat content that inhibits the formation of long protein strands, aka “Shortening”.

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Perhaps the most widely-known Italian desssert, the basic recipe which is composed of layers of espresso coffee-soaked ladyfinger (Savoiardi) biscuits, sweet wine or liquor such as marsala, port, dark rum or cognac, Marscapone cream cheese and Zabaglione cream. Cocoa powder is usually sifted on top to complete the presentation and to add a bitter counterpart to the sweetness of the dessert. It is widely believed that Tiramisu is a modern dessert, dating back only to the late 1960s.

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The Upside-Down Cake is made in a pan or a mold with a curved bottom, with the batter poured over sliced fruit, such as pineapples, cherry or apple, which forms a decorative topping once the cake is baked and popped out of the mold. The American Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, the French Tarte Tatin and the Brazilian “Bolo de Banana” are different cultural examples of this baking method.

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While not a dessert or a confection per se, there is no doubt that this exotic bean is one of the most important dessert and candy flavorings in the world. While the term “Vanilla” is associated with plainness in modern times, the natural bean which is harvested from a wild orchid that originates from Pre-Columbian ancient Mesoamerica is prized by pastry chefs and confectioners for its racy and sensual floral flavor, which comes at a significant cost – it's the second-most expensive spice in the world next to saffron. Because of this, commercial Vanilla flavorings are artificial or alcohol-based extracts from poorer-quality beans.

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Dating back to the Japanese Asuka period and the Chinese Tang dynasty, this gooey confections is made with a combination of glutinous rice, azuki beans, fruit and various flavoring extracts. Wagashi is a traditionally serverd with tea, and is artfully formed into different shapes, much like Marzipan is used in European confections.

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Today we know it as Chocolate, the most popular form of candy and dessert flavoring in the entire world. But to the ancient Aztecs, it was Xocolatl, which is composite of the Nahuatl words for “sour” or “bitter” and “drink”, and was traditionally consumed as a beverage by Aztec and Mayan rulers during special ceremonies. Modern Chocolate, which was first introduced in 1847 using the “Dutch” cocoa process, comes from the processed bean of the Cacao plant, which is native to Mexico, Central and South America.

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Perhaps the most ubiquitous form of cake in the United States, this basic butter, egg, sugar and flour cake was most popularized by the Betty Crocker brand of the General Mills company. However, simple yellow cake which forms the foundation for just about every type of large sheet pan-based cake has been baked by pastry chefs for many generations. While not a dessert, “Yellowcake” also refers to the powder produced from processed Uranium ore, one of the most toxic and expensive substances known to man. Yellowcake is used in the production of uranium fuel for nuclear reactors and can be further enriched to make nuclear weapons.

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Zabaglione, or Sabayon, is a traditional Italian and French dessert and a loose custard made with egg yolks, sugar and sweet wine, such as Marsala, and dates back to the 15th century. Zabaglione is usually whipped in copper bowls by hand over a hot water bath to incorporate a large amount of air and to cause the custard to thicken faster due to copper's improved heat conductivity. The custard can be served by itself, topped with berries or also incorporated into other desserts.

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