Ingredients

I've got the scoop for you on dipping do's and don'ts, just in time for our all-American 4th-Fest:

Double-dipping? It sure doesn't make you the "hit of the party." In fact, double-dipping is no longer just a matter of good manners -- it's a food safety issue. That's right. Anytime food goes into our mouths, it should never again touch food we're sharing with others.

When it comes to the choice of food to use as dippers for our dipping - and that's from the creamy ones to the salsas and everything in between -- if the food we use isn't sturdy enough to hold down the weight of our dip on its way to our mouth, it might fall apart and tumble all over!

The general rule is that food should be wide enough to hold the dip, but short enough to be eaten in one bite -- like a chunk of green pepper is preferable to a long thin strip and a small oval cracker is a better choice than a long breadstick. For hot dips, a potato chip might become soggy and collapse into the bowl, so a better choice could be a sturdier cracker like one with raised edges, or tortilla chips, cup-shaped ones, or mini toasted French bread varieties.

For cold dips, crispy raw veggies will hold up better than cooked ones -- or a quick blanching before dunking in ice cold water will also keep them crisp and colorful.

With a hot or cold dip, remember the 2-hour rule -- don't leave it out longer than that. And this time of year, with our star-spangled 4th-fest coming up, a good idea is to place our dip bowl in a larger bowl filled with ice to keep it chilled, especially if we're entertaining outdoors in the heat.