Celebrating February 10


Five Food Facts about Brownies

1. It is said that the brownie was created at the Palmer House Hotel during the 1893 Columbian Exposition( The largest World’s Fair of it’s time) when the owner Bertha Palmer asked the chef to make a ‘ladies dessert’.

2. The word ‘brownie’ became so popular that soon after the Expedition even Kodak named one of it’s first hand held cameras after them, the little ‘brownie.’

3. Brownies were one of the very first prepackaged food ‘mixes’ ever sold. First appearing in the Sears, Roebuck catalogue in 1897.

4. Fannie Farmer, the First Lady of American Cookery, published the first written recipe for brownies in 1896.

5.A popular turn of the century alternative was considered of equal importance, the ‘blondie‘, which used many of the same ingredients except chocolate. Many believed chocolate to be a ‘vice’ on the same level as alcohol and even coffee.

Daily Quote:

“A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges.”
Benjamin Franklin

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

  • 1846 Ira Remsen was born. He was an American chemist, co-discoverer of saccharin, the artificial sweetener.
  • 1933 The Postal Telegraph Co. of New York City delivers the first singing telegram with a box of chocolates.
  • 1944 Author Frances Moore Lappe was born. Author of the best selling ‘Diet for a Small Planet’ (1971) The first best seller to encourage a vegetarian diet. Her premise was that the raising of animals was wasteful & potentially harmful to the environment.
  • 1945 The Andrews Sisters recording of ‘Rum and Coca Cola’ hit #1 on the popular music charts.
  • 1957 The ‘Styrofoam’ cooler was invented.