National Taffy Day

Five Food Finds about Taffy

• Salt water taffy was “invented” in Atlantic City in 1883.

• Modern technology allows confectioners to produce 1,000 pieces of taffy a minute.

• In one hour enough pieces of taffy are made to cover one third of the length of Atlantic City (about 1.3 miles).

• The three most popular taffy flavors sold by Sweet Candy Company are peppermint, cinnamon and chocolate.

• America celebrates National Taffy Day May 23rd.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1707 Carolus Linnaeus was born. He was a Swedish botanist who developed the 2 name or binomial system for defining and naming plants.

1774 Residents of Chestertown, Maryland  react to news of the Boston Tea Party by staging a similar protest, dumping a shipment of tea into the Chester River.

1868 R.I.P. Kit Carson, American frontiersman. His last words were supposedly “Wish I had time for just one more bowl of chili.”

1922 Thomas Edison patented a method for making metal foils.

1960 R.I.P. Georges Claude. A French engineer, he invented the neon light, commonly used for signs.

1968 ‘Yummy, Yummy, Yummy’ by the Ohio Express is #1 on the charts.

National Vanilla Pudding Day

Five Food Finds about Pudding

• The Fortress hotel in Galle, Sri Lanka, is charging $14,500 a serving of the world’s most expensive pudding, which is called “The Fortress Stilt Fisherman Indulgence”.

• Hasty pudding, originally a British dish, this pudding could be made on very short notice.  Ingredients vary, but it was basically a sweetened porridge made from flour, tapioca or oatmeal and milk. The term originated in the late 16th century.

• In Colonial America cornmeal was cheaper and more readily available, so here, Hasty Pudding was a cornmeal mush (cornmeal added to boiling water and cooked) with molasses, honey, brown sugar or maple syrup and milk.

• There are both savory and dessert versions of this dish.

• Meat pudding would be a savory example of a pudding dish.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1859 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was born. Creator of Sherlock Holmes. Holmes would go for days without food while working on a case.

1892 Dr. Washington Sheffeld invented the collapsible metal toothpaste tube.

1894 African American inventor S. Newson patented an “oil heater or cooker.”

1931 Canned rattlesnake goes on sale. Packed by George K. End of Arcadia, Florida. Not quite as big a hit as Spam.

1934 R.I.P.David Wesson. An American chemist who developed a method to make cotton seed oil edible. Cotton seed oil has almost no taste, so it allows the flavors of other foods to come through. It is used in the manufacture of margarine, salad dressings, in commercially fried foods, and of course, Wesson Oil.

1946 The Culinary Institute of America is founded.

National Strawberries and Cream Day

Five Food Finds about Strawberries

• Strawberries are the only fruit with seeds on the outside.

• The ancient Romans believed that strawberries alleviated symptoms of melancholy, fainting, all inflammations, fevers, throat infections, kidney stones, bad breath, attacks of gout, and diseases of the blood, liver and spleen.

• Strawberries are the first fruit to ripen in the spring.

• Over 53 percent of seven to nine-year-olds picked strawberries as their favorite fruit.

• In a test, subjects who ate nitrate rich foods like strawberries, before exercising burned 100 more calories than those who did not.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1923 Delmonico’s Restaurant closed its doors, a victim of Prohibition. (Some sources list October 4, 1918).

1987 R.I.P.  Archie Fairley Carr. An American biologist and authority on turtles. His extensive studies and conservation efforts helped to increase turtle populations around the world.

2009 After months of numerous mechanical failures, a new recycling system was activated on the international space station. The new system recycles astronauts urine and sweat into drinking water.

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National Quiche Lorraine Day

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1506 R.I.P. Christopher Columbus, explorer.

1799 Honore de Balzac Born. French author. Balzac would lock himself away during creative bursts, drinking coffee and eating only fruit and eggs. When he finally took a break, he was known to consume huge quantities of food. One report recalls that at the Véry restaurant he ate “a hundred Ostend oysters, twelve cutlets of salt-meadow mutton, a duck with turnips, two partridges and a Normandy sole,” not to mention the desserts, fruit and liqueurs he also consumed.

1810 On this day Dolly Madison, wife of president James Madison, supposedly served the first ice cream at the White House, for a reception.

1862 President Lincoln signed the Homestead Act into law. It opened millions of acres Western land to settlers.

1874 Jeans with copper rivets are patented by Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis.

1875 The International Bureau of Weights and Measures was created.

1884 L. Blue patented a hand corn sheller.

1892 George Sampson received a patent for a clothes dryer.

1913 William Hewlett was born. Founder with David Packard of Hewlett Packard Company. Before they became famous for computers and printers etc., some of their early inventions were an automatic urinal flusher and a weight loss shock machine!

1961 The record Jewfish weighed 680 pounds and was caught in Fernandina Beach, Florida.

1993 The last episode of ‘Cheers’ aired on TV.

2005 Governor Jeb Bush signed a bill making the orange the official State Fruit of Florida. The orange blossom and orange juice have been previously declared the official state flower and official state beverage.

2009 Hot Dog Wars: Sara Lee (Ball Park Franks) sued Kraft Foods (Oscar Mayer Jumbo Beef Franks) over claims that Oscar Mayer franks are better than Ball Park Franks.

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National Devil’s Food Cake Day

Five Food Finds about Devil’s Food Cake

•  Devil’s food cake is considered a counterpart to the white or yellow angel food cake.

• Devil’s food cake is generally more moist and airy than other chocolate cakes, and often uses cocoa as opposed to chocolate for the flavor as well as coffee.

• Devil’s food cake was introduced in the United States in the early 20th century with the recipe in print as early as 1905.

• A similar cake, the red velvet cake, is closely linked to a devil’s food cake, and in some turn of the century cookbooks the two names may have been interchangeable.

• Devil’s food cake incorporates butter (or a substitute), egg whites, flour (while some chocolate cakes are flourless) and less egg than other chocolate cakes.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1834 Catharine Furbish was born. An American botanist, she spent almost 40 years traveling and painting watercolors of the flora of the state of Maine.

1910 The Earth passed through the tail of Halley’s Comet and nothing happened.  There had been dire predictions that everyone would die, and many hucksters sold ‘comet pills’ to counter the effects of the ‘comet gas.’

1962 Marilyn Monroe sings ‘Happy Birthday’ at a birthday salute to President John F. Kennedy at Madison Square Garden.

2006 Nicole Belinda Franzen Reese was chosen as the 59th ‘Alice in Dairyland’ by the Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. She will be the spokesperson for the states agriculture industry.

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National Cheese Souffle Day

Five Food Finds about Souffle

• A souffle is essentially a simple white sauce enriched with egg yolk. Stiff egg whites are folded right into the mixture. At this point, you can add whatever flavor you like: cheese, vegetables, chocolate or fruit.

• The secret to a great souffle is to beat the egg whites into stiff white peak consistency and to fold them carefully into the sauce to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.

• Savory souffles are often too light for a main course, but the addition of chicken and spinach here bolsters this into a substantial main course. When you break into it with your fork, the seductive aroma of cheese, chicken and spinach pours out. It’s elegant, airy and fluffy.

• The secret to success is making sure your timing is just right. So plan ahead carefully; figure out what you will be serving first — such as a salad or soup — and time the souffle to go into the oven as you sit down for your first course.

• You can wait for a souffle, but a souffle waits for no one. You don’t want to serve a deflated souffle.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1808 R.I.P. Elijah Craig. A Baptist minister in Kentucky, he is an important figure in the invention of Bourbon Whiskey. He ran a paper mill and started a distillery in 1789. Legend credits him with being the first to use new charred oak barrels to age corn whiskey, which is a key step in making bourbon.

1935 Allan Burns was born.  Screenwriter and producer, co-creator of The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rhoda.  He also created the character Captain Horatio Magellan Crunch for Quaker Oats ‘Cap’n Crunch’  breakfast cereal.

1955 Chow Yun-Fat was born. Internationally famous Hong Kong actor.

1995 R.I.P. Elisha Cook Jr. A well known character actor in films and TV. I remember him mainly in his role as Wilmer, in the ‘Maltese Falcon’.

2001 Hong Kong ordered more than 1 million chickens and other poultry killed to halt the spread of another bird flu epidemic.

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National Cherry Cobbler Day

Five Food Finds about Cobbler

• A cobbler is a deep dish (casserole or soufflé dish) fruit pie (peach is most common) with only a top biscuit dough crust.

• Fruit cobblers can be made with almost any fruit, singly or in combination.

• The cobbler takes its name from the biscuit dough crust on top – it is rough looking or ‘cobbled.’   It originated in the U.S. sometime in the early to mid 19th century.

• A Cobbler is also a drink, which probably predates the fruit cobbler pie.

• A cobbler usually consisted of whiskey or rum with fruit juice and/or sugar, garnished with mint and/or citrus.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1733 England passes the Molasses Act, putting high tariffs on rum and molasses imported to the colonies from anyplace other than Britain and its possessions.

1803 John Hawkins & Richard French patent a Reaping Machine.

1838 R.I.P. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Perigord, known simply as Talleyrand, French statesman, diplomat and grand gourmet, called the ‘first fork of France.’ He served at the top levels of French governments for almost 50 years. During this time his chefs included Bouchee, Careme, and Avice. Many culinary preparations have been created or named for him.

1886 R.I.P. John Deere. Inventor and manufacturer, he developed the first steel plow in the 1830s, and founded John Deere & Company in 1868.

1967 Tennessee repealed its 1925 law making it illegal to teach evolution in public schools.

1985 The largest salmon, a Chinook salmon, caught with rod and reel weighed over 97 pounds and was caught in Alaska.

1986 ‘Chicken Song’ by Spitting Image hit #1 in UK.

1992 R.I.P. Lawrence Welk, champagne music-maker.

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National Barbecue Day

Five Food Finds about Barbecue

• Grilling is no longer considered a male dominated activity. While 51 percent of males cha-cha with the charcoal, 49 percent of women flamenco with the flames.

• 263,000 moist towelettes will wipe up BBQ sauce covering fingers and faces.

• The most common ingredient added to barbecue sauce is garlic, followed by brown sugar.

• The original barbecue sauce, dating back hundreds of years, consisted of vinegar and pepper.

• Lyndon B. Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, hosted the first barbecue at the White House that featured Texas-style barbecued ribs.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1832 Philip Danforth Armour was born. An American industrialist, he was a pioneer in use of refrigeration and meat canning. Armour & Co. helped make Chicago the meatpacking capital of the world.

1861 R.I.P. John Stevens Henslow. This British clergyman and botanist was a mentor of Charles Darwin. To get farmers to apply scientific methods, he gave lectures on the fermentation of manure. He also showed Irish farmers how to get starch from rotten potatoes during the potato famine of 1845-1846.

1866 Charles Elmer Hires invents root beer.

1947 R.I.P. Sir Frederick Gowland Hopkins. He discovered what we now call ‘vitamins,’ essential nutrients needed to maintain health.

2005 The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Michigan and New York could not prohibit people from buying wine online from out of state wineries. Some 23 other states have similar laws that presumably would also be affected by the ruling.

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National Chocolate Chip Day

Five Food Finds about Chocolate Chips

1. Originally, chocolate chips were made of semi-sweet chocolate, but today there are many flavors. These include bittersweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, mint chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, and white and dark swirled chocolate chips.
2. Chocolate chips were invented in 1933 when Ruth Graves Wakefield of the Toll House Inn in the town of Whitman, Massachusetts added cut-up chunks of a semi-sweet Nestlé chocolate bar to a cookie recipe.
3. The cookies were a huge success, and Wakefield reached an agreement with Nestlé to add her recipe to the chocolate bar’s packaging in exchange for a lifetime supply of chocolate.
4. Initially, Nestlé included a small chopping tool with the chocolate bars, but in 1939 they started selling the chocolate in chip (or “morsel”) form.
5. The Nestlé brand Toll House cookies is named for the inn.

On this day in food history…

on this day in…

• 1923 Listerine was registered as a trademark.
• 1930 Mrs. Ellen Church, a registered nurse, became the world’s first airline stewardess (flight attendant). The 11 passengers were flying on a United Airlines tri-motor Boeing 80A from San Francisco to Cheyenne, Wyoming. The meal was chicken, fruit salad and rolls.
• 1940 Nylon stockings went on sale for the first time in the U.S. in Wilmington, Delaware.
• 1989 Hershey’s reduces the size of the Hershey bar to 1.55 ounces. The price remains 40 cents.
• 1991 The famous Paris cooking school, L’Ecole de Cordon Bleu, opens a branch in Tokyo, Japan.
• 2007 Karen Hess, culinary historian, died. Some of her books were ‘The Taste of America‘ (1977) and ‘Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection‘ (1992). She also annotated Mary Randolph’s ‘Virginia Housewife‘ (1983).

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National Buttermilk Biscuit Day

Five Food Finds about Biscuits

• In the United Kingdom, the word “biscuit” is used to refer to what we in the United States would call a “cookie”.

• White flour, commonly used to bake biscuits, is almost instantly metabolized into sugar.  Biscuits will quickly spike your blood-sugar level.

• Mustard is a common condiment to use on biscuits in the south, especially to accompany ham.

• Most biscuit recipes call for a healthy dose of butter in the baking process.  Despite this, many people butter their biscuits after they are served as well.

• The main difference between biscuits and rolls is the leavening agent.  Biscuits use baking soda.  Rolls use yeast.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1686 Gabriel Fahrenheit was born. Fahrenheit was a German physicist who invented the Fahrenheit temperature scale thermometer. It was the first thermometer to use mercury instead of alcohol, which also extended the temperature range of thermometers.

1853 Gail Borden applied for a patent for condensed milk.

1878 Vaseline petroleum jelly was trademarked by Robert August Chesebrough.

1896 The coldest May temperature ever recorded in the U.S. lower 48 states: Minus 10 F at Climax, Colorado.

1919 R.I.P. Henry John Heinz. Founder of the H.J. Heinz company and creator of its slogan ’57 varieties.’

1943 Jack Bruce of the music group ‘Cream’ was born.

1985 The first McDonald’s restaurant, in Des Plains, Illinois, became the first fast food museum.

1991 World’s largest burrito created, 1,126 pounds

1994 The FDA announced that the ‘Flavr Savr’ tomato, a biotech developed food, is safe.

2008 The Chicago City Council repealed its ban on the sale of Foie Gras.

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