Foodimentary - National Food Holidays
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Posts tagged “five food finds”

September 25th is officially National Quesadilla Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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National Quesadilla Day

 

 

 

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1777 Johann Heinrich Lambert died. He proved that Apple pie was irrational.  Oops – never mind – that was ‘pi’ that he proved was an irrational number.

1843 Melville Reuben Bissell was born. Bissell invented the carpet sweeper in 1876.

1879 The Cream Separator was patented.

1974 It is first reported that freon from aerosol cans is destroying the ozone layer above the earth.

1976 The largest dolphin caught with rod and reel weighed 87 pounds. It was caught off the coast of Costa Rica.

1985 William Cumming Rose died. An American biochemist, he researched amino acids, and established the importance of the 8 essential amino acids in human nutrition.

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Categories: Food Holidays, September Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food service worker's day, today's food history, todays food history

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September 29th is National Mocha Day! ? #NationalMochaDay

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Today’s Mocha Trivia:

The term ‘Mocha’ actually originated as early as 1773 and referred to a variety of coffee bean. The Mochas variety

Five Food Finds about Coffee

  1. Coffee is only grown near the equator, from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn, within a 1,000 mile limit.
  2. 1,200 different chemical components are in coffee.  More than half of these components make up the distinguished flavor of coffee.
  3. There is between 80 and 140 milligrams of caffeine in a seven once cup of coffee.
  4. 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide, making it the most popular beverage.
  5. 91% of coffee consumed is taken at breakfast.  And sometimes is breakfast.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1860 Chapin Aaron Harris died. He was cofounder of the first dental school in the world, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery.

1967 Gladys Knight and the Pips released ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine.’

1974 The TV show ‘Alice’ debuted. Most of the action took place in Mel’s Diner.

1978 ‘Boogie Oogie Oogie’ by Taste Of Honey is #1 on the charts

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Categories: Food Holidays, September Food Holidays

Tagged: coffee history, five food finds, food, food holiday book, foodimentary, mocha day, national mocha day, todays food history

September 28th is National Strawberry Cream Pie Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Today’s Food Fact:

Strawberries are few fruits with its seeds on the outside

Five Food Finds about Strawberries

  • The garden strawberry, Fragaria × ananassa, is a hybrid species that is cultivated worldwide for its fruit, the (common) strawberry.
  • The fruit (which is not actually a botanical berry, but an aggregate ‘accessory fruit’)
  • It is consumed in large quantities, either fresh or in prepared foods such as preserves, fruit juice, pies, ice creams, and milkshakes.
  • Artificial strawberry aroma is 3rd most widely used in food products.
  • The garden strawberry was first bred in Brittany, France, in the 1750s via a cross of Fragaria virginiana from eastern North America and Fragaria chiloensis, which was brought from Chile by Amédée-François Frézier in 1714.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1895 Louis Pasteur died. A French scientist, who showed that microorganisms were responsible for disease, food spoilage and fermentation. He developed the process for killing these organisms by heat, called Pasteurization.

1902 Emile Zola died. French writer and critic who was also known as a gourmand. His detailed descriptions of simple meals, banquets and eating in his novels are among the best to be found anywhere. He was also known for his own luxury dinner parties. “What will be the death of me are bouillabaisses, food spiced with pimiento, shellfish, and a load of exquisite rubbish which I eat in disproportionate quantities.”

1954 George Harrison Shull died. An American botanist, he is frequently called the ‘father of hybrid corn.’

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Categories: Food Holidays, September Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, food holiday book, foodimentary, foodimentary book, national strawberry cream pie day, strawberry facts

September 24th is National Cherries Jubilee Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Cherries Jubilee:

  1. The cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus Prunus, and is a fleshy stone fruit.
  2. The cherry fruits of commerce are usually obtained from a limited number of species, including especially cultivars of the wild cherry, Prunus avium.
  3. The name ‘cherry’, often as the compound term ‘cherry tree’, may also be applied to many other members of the genus Prunus, or to all members of the genus as a collective term.
  4. The fruits of many of these are not cherries, and have other common names, including plum, apricot, peach, and others.
  5. The name ‘cherry’ is also frequently used in reference to cherry blossom.

Today’s Food History

  • 1870 Georges Claude was born. A French engineer, he invented the neon light, commonly used for signs. 1936 Jim Henson, puppeteer was born. Creator of the ‘Muppets’ – including Miss Piggy and the Cookie Monster.
  • 1944 Rosa Lee Hawkins of the vocal group ‘The Dixie Cups’ was born.
  • 1991 Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) died. Writer and cartoonist. A few of his childrens books were ‘Green Eggs and Ham,’ ‘One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish,’ ‘Scrambled Eggs Super!’ and ‘The Butter Battle Book’

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Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, genus prunus, green eggs and ham, jim henson puppeteer, life, national cherries jubilee day, prunus avium, restaurants, theodor seuss geisel, today's food history, todays food history

September 21st is National Pecan Cookie Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Pecan Cookie:

  1. If the body does not get enough zinc, it may have difficulty producing testosterone – a key hormone in initiating sexual desire in both men and women.  Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc.
  2. It would take 11,624 pecans, stacked end to end, to reach the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
  3. Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.  In fact, Texas Governor James Hogg liked pecan trees so much that he asked if a pecan tree could be planted at his gravesite when he died.
  4. Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S.  Albany hosts the annual National Pecan Festival, which includes a race, parade, pecan-cooking contest, the crowning of the National Pecan Queen and many other activities.
  5. Pecan trees usually range in height from 70 to 100 feet, but some trees grow as tall as 150 feet or higher.  Native pecan trees – those over 150 years old – have trunks more than three feet in diameter.

Today’s Food History

  • 1756 John Loudon McAdam was born. He invented macadam pavement for roads. The Macadamia Nut was named for him.
  • 1760 Olof Swartz was born. A Swedish botanist who collected plants in Jamaica and Hispaniola, and published several books on the plants of the Caribbean.
  • 1937 J.R.R. Tolkein’s ‘The Hobbit’ was published. Hobbits were well known as both gourmets and gourmands.
  • 1961 Earle Dickson died. He invented Band-Aids for his wife, who had frequent kitchen accidents, cutting or burning herself. He worked for Johnson & Johnson, who soon began manufacturing Band-Aids.
  • 1971 Coca Cola introduced the plastic bottle.

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Tagged: empire state building, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, governor james hogg, j r r tolkein, john loudon mcadam, life, national pecan cookie day, olof swartz, swedish botanist, today's food history, todays food history

September 20th is National Rum Punch Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Rum:

  1. Rum was manufactured, distilled, and made long before any other spirit. It’s history is a vast one filled with stories, and fables. It was the first branded spirit made.
  2. Rations of rum were given to sailors in the British Army to be mixed with lime juice because it fought off the scurvy.
  3. When wealthy titles were given to parsons, they were thanked with a glass of rum.
  4. In Australia, the rum hospital can recognize rum as it as its chief contributor of revenues that were generated via the rum exports they were known for.
  5. Triangular trade was introduced as slaves were traded for rum, sugars, and other items that were all carrying missionaries- this was known as ‘rum and bible.’

Today’s Food History

  • 1842 Sir James Dewar was born. He invented the ‘Dewar Flask,’ the original ‘thermos bottle’.
  • 1859 George B. Simpson patented the electric range.
  • 1878 Upton Sinclair was born. His novel, ‘The Jungle,’ was a detailed horror story about the conditions in the meat packing industry of the time. It led to extensive reforms.
  • 1890 Blues musician ‘Jelly Roll’ Morton was born.
  • 1969 ‘Sugar, Sugar’ by the Archies hits Number 1 on the charts.

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Tagged: chief contributor, dewar flask, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, james dewar, jelly roll morton, life, national rum punch day, sir james dewar, thermos bottle, today's food history, todays food history

September 18th is National Cheeseburger Day! / #NationalCheeseburgerDay

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Cheeseburger:

  • The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
  • The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
  • The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
  • However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
  • Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.

Today’s Food History

  • 1709 Samuel Johnson, dictionary author, was born. I have read somewhere that he served his cat fresh shucked oysters.
  • 1851 The first edition of the New York Times was published.
  • 1883 Elmer Maytag was born. Founder of the Maytag Co., washing machine manufacturer. One of his descendants was Fred Maytag II, whose Maytag Dairy Farms manufactures Maytag Blue Cheese.
  • 1990 A 500 pound, 6 foot high Hershey Chocolate Kiss was put on display at Times Square in New York City.

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Tagged: blue cheese, chocolate kiss, facts, fast food restaurant, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, hershey chocolate, life, national cheeseburger day, samuel johnson dictionary, shucked oysters, today's food history, todays food history

September 17th is National Apple Dumpling Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Dumplings:

  1. Dumplings are cooked balls of dough.
  2. They are based on flour, potatoes or bread, and may include meat, fish, vegetables, or sweets.
  3. They may be cooked by boiling, steaming, simmering, frying, or baking.
  4. They may have a filling, or there may be other ingredients mixed into the dough.
  5. Dumplings can also be sweet or spicy.

Today’s Food History

  • 1630 Boston, Massachusetts was founded. Nickname, ‘Bean Town.’
  • 1836 Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu died. A French botanist whose ideas formed the foundation of a natural plant classification system.
  • 1900 Hotelier John Willard Marriott was born. Beginning with Hot Shoppe restaurants, then airline catering, and then motels, Marriott built his business into one of the largest, fastest growing, and most profitable hotel and restaurant businesses in the U.S.
  • 1997 ‘Honey’ by Mariah Carey is #1 on the charts

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Tagged: airline catering, antoine laurent de jussieu, apple dumpling, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, french botanist, fun, john willard, life, national apple dumpling day, today's food history, todays food history, willard marriott

September 15th is 🍔 National Double-Cheeseburger Day 🍔!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about double cheeseburgers:

  1. The oldest fast food restaurant in the world is the White Castle franchise, which opened in 1921.
  2. The people of America eat more burgers out at restaurants or on the go than they do at home.
  3. The largest hamburger ever created was over 8,000 pounds and was cooked for a burger festival in Wisconsin.
  4. However, the hamburger in its current form, with ground beef and a bun, is a decidedly American creation.
  5. Hamburgers are made of beef, not ham, and there is much debate over whether they actually originated in Hamburg.

Today’s Food History

  • 1885 Jumbo, an African elephant exhibited by in France, the London Zoo, and finally in the Barnum & Bailey Circus, died after being hit by a locomotive in Ontario, Canada. Jumbo was supposedly 12 feet tall at the time of his death.
  • 1898 William S. Burroughs died. An American inventor, Burroughs invented and manufactured  the first adding machine with a printer.
  • 1962 The Four Seasons ‘Sherry’ hits number 1 on the charts.
  • 1965 Green Acres TV show debuted.
  • 1971 Greenpeace founded.
  • 1981 The USDA announced that ketchup could be counted as a vegetable in the school lunch program.
  • 1995 Tan M&Ms are replaced by the new blue M&Ms. The tan ones originally replaced violet M&Ms in 1949.

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Tagged: double cheeseburger, facts, fast food restaurant, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, green acres tv show, life, national double-cheeseburger day, restaurants, school lunch program, today's food history, todays food history, william s burroughs

September 14th is National Cream-Filled Doughnut 🍩Day 🍩!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Doughnuts :

  1. In the U.S. alone, more than 10 billion donuts are made every year.
  2. Between our 27 locations, LaMar’s Donuts produces 344,700 donuts per week, which is 17.9 million donuts per year.
  3. A Ray’s Original Glazed Donut has only 220 calories, while a bagel and cream cheese averages 450 calories.
  4. Per capita, Canada has more donuts shops than any other country.
  5. The Dutch are often credited with bringing donuts to the U.S. with their olykoeks, or oily cakes in the 1800s.

Today’s Food History

  • 1752 Yesterday was September 2, 1752. No, really!
  • 1849 Ivan Petrovich Pavlov was born. Pavlov’s work with dogs actually started as a study of digestion. He theorized that digestion was controlled in part by sensory inputs of sight, smell and taste – and as he discovered, sound; ‘conditioned reflex.’
  • 1976 ‘Play That Funky Music’ by Wild Cherry is #1 on the charts
  • 2006 The U.S. FDA reported an outbreak of E. coli 0157:H7. Fresh spinach is the suspected cause of the outbreak and consumers nationwide were advised not to eat bagged spinach.  Eventually more than 200 people were sickened in 22 states and several deaths were reported.

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Categories: Food Holidays, September Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national cream-filled doughnut day, today's food history, todays food history

September 12th is National Chocolate Milkshake Day! 🍫 + 🥛= 😋

John-Bryan Hopkins

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  1. Milkshakes got their name from being served in bars. If the customer enjoyed the milkshake, he shook hands with the bartender. If not, the bartender didn’t get a tip.
  2. Malted milk powder was invented in 1897 by James and William Horlick, but it was Ivar Coulson, a soda jerk for a Walgreen’s drug store, who first added it to milkshakes in 1922. This created the malted milkshake or just plain “malt.”
  3. Steven Poplawski invented the electric blender in 1922 just for milkshakes. Before that, the effort of shaking them up must have required a lot of upper body motion.
  4. It’d take 3,200,000 average-sized milkshakes to fill up an Olympic-sized pool. How fast do you think Michael Phelps could swim in that?
  5. Australians can still buy traditional milkshakes in “milk bars,” which are much like old-fashioned drugstores with counter service. They’re usually served still in the steel cup, but may be poured into a paper cup for carry out orders.

Today’s Food History

  • 1818 Richard Jordan Gatling was born. Before inventing the Gatling Gun, he developed a machine for sowing rice, wheat, and other grains, and invented a steam plow.
  • 1928 Katharine Hepburn makes her first New York stage appearance in ‘Night Hostess.’
  • 1940 The caves at Lascaux in France are discovered. They contain some of the earliest know art, dating back over 15,000 years. The prehistoric cave paintings (over 600) depict many large animals including aurochs, red deer, horses, stags, bison, etc.
  • 1959 The TV show ‘Bonanza’ premiers. The frontier adventures of the Cartwright family, father, 3 sons and Chinese cook Hop Sing, on the ‘Ponderosa’ ranch near Lake Tahoe, Nevada.
  • 1965 Norwood Fisher of the music group ‘Fishbone’ was born.
  • 1971 Palisades Amusement Park in New Jersey closed.

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Tagged: chocolate milkshake day, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, lake tahoe nevada, life, national chocolate milkshake day, palisades amusement park, prehistoric cave paintings, richard jordan gatling, today's food history, todays food history, william horlick

September 11th is National Hot Cross Buns Day! / A ‘Day’ for Remembrance.

John-Bryan Hopkins

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The celebration of ‘Soul Cakes’ is a perfect and respectful way to celebrate the 9/11 tragedy.

Here are today’s five thing to know about Hot Cross Buns:

  1. A hot cross bun is a spiced sweet bun made with currants or raisins and marked with a cross on the top.
  2. Ancient Greeks marked cakes with a cross, to symbolize remembrance of those who have past, ‘Soul Cakes’
  3. They are believed by some to pre-date Christianity, although the first recorded use of the term “hot cross bun” was not until 1733.
  4. It is believed that buns marked with a cross were eaten by Saxons in honour of the goddess Eostre (the cross is thought to have symbolised the four quarters of the moon); “Eostre” is probably the origin of the name “Easter”.
  5. In many historically Christian countries, buns are traditionally eaten hot or toasted on Good Friday, with the cross standing as a symbol of the Crucifixion.

Today’s Food History

  • 1721 Rudolph Jacob Camerarius died. A German botanist, he showed the existence of sexes in plants, and identified the stamen and pistil as the male and female organs.
  • 1777 The Battle of Brandywine in the American Revolutionary War. The British win, enabling them to capture Philadelphia.
  • 1851 Sylvester Graham died in Northampton, Massachusetts. He advocated vegetarianism, temperance and the use of coarse ground whole wheat (graham) flour. He developed the Graham cracker in 1829.
  • 1959 Congress passed legislation creating the Food Stamp program.
  • 1961 The World Wildlife Fund, a  conservation organization, was founded.

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Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, food stamp program, foodimentary, fun, goddess eostre, hot cross bun, hot cross buns, life, national hot cross buns day, restaurants, stamen and pistil, today's food history, todays food history

September 10th is National Hot Dog Day! / 🌭#NationalHotDogDay 🌭

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Hot Dogs:

  1. It is estimated that over seven billion hot dogs will be eaten by Americans between Memorial Day and Labor Day.
  2. The term “hot dog” is credited to sports cartoonist Tad Dorgan. At a baseball game in New York in 1901, vendors began selling hot dachsund sausages in rolls.
  3. The most popular condiment for adults is mustard, while children prefer ketchup.
  4. The first words Walt Disney’s Mickey Mouse ever uttered in a cartoon were “hot dogs” in “The Karnival Kid” in 1929.
  5. The average American is believed to eat approximately 60 hot dogs every year.

Today’s Food History

  • 1859 Thomas Nuttall died. An English naturalist and botanist, he collected and studied plants around the Chesapeake Bay area in the U.S.
  • 1898 Waldo Lonsbury Semon was born. Semon was an American Inventor who is credited with the invention of Vinyl. Vinyl is the 2nd most used plastic in the world. Semon held over 100 patents.
  • 1913 The official route of the Lincoln Highway was announced. It was the first coast to coast highway, running from New York to San Francisco.
  • 1949 Barriemore Barlow of the music group ‘Jethro Tull’ was born.
  • 2001 The first case of mad-cow disease in Asian animals was reported in a dairy cow in Japan.

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Tagged: barriemore barlow, chesapeake bay area, english naturalist, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, mad cow disease, national hot dog day, sports cartoonist, thomas nuttall, today's food history, todays food history

September 8th is National Date-Nut Bread Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Bread:

  1. It takes 9 seconds for a combine to harvest enough wheat to make about 70 loaves of bread.
  2. Each American consumes, on average, 53 pounds of bread per year.
  3. An average slice of packaged bread contains only 1 gram of fat and 75 to 80 calories.
  4. One bushel of wheat will produce 73 one-pound loaves of bread.
  5. Breaking bread is a universal sign of peace.

Today’s Food History

  • 1621 Prince Louis II de Condé, known as the Great Condé, was born. He was a French general who loved to hunt and had a passion for rice. Several dishes have been named for him, including Consommé Condé and Creme Condé.
  • 1636 The Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony established Harvard College (New College), the first college in the Americas.
  • 1930 Richard Drew invented Scotch tape.
  • 1966 The first episode of the TV show ‘Star Trek’ airs. Chemically synthesized food on the Enterprise – we seem to be getting close to that now.

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Categories: Food Holidays, September Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national date nut bread day, today's food history, todays food history

September 6th is National Coffee Ice-Cream Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Coffee Ice Cream:

  1. Coffee is only grown near the equator, from the Tropic of Cancer to the Tropic of Capricorn, within a 1,000 mile limit.
  2. 1,200 different chemical components are in coffee.  More than half of these components make up the distinguished flavor of coffee.
  3. There is between 80 and 140 milligrams of caffeine in a seven once cup of coffee.
  4. 400 billion cups of coffee are consumed worldwide, making it the most popular beverage.
  5. 91% of coffee consumed is taken at breakfast.  And sometimes is breakfast.

Today’s Food History

  • 1620 The Pilgrims set sail from England aboard the Mayflower.
  • 1800 Catherine Esther Beecher was born. American educator and author of ‘Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book’, etc.
  • 1892 John Froelich made the first gasoline powered tractor.
  • 1899 Carnation began producing evaporated milk.

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Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national coffee ice-cream day, today's food history, todays food history

September 5th is National Cheese Pizza Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Cheese Pizza:

  1. About 93% of Americans eat at least one pizza every month.
  2. About 350 slices of pizza are consumed every second in the United States.
  3. The most pizzas are delivered (and eaten) on New Year’s Day, New Year’s Eve, Halloween, Thanksgiving Eve, and Super Bowl Sunday.
  4. The three dots in the Domino’s Pizza logo represent the first three Domino’s Pizza stores.
  5. Pepperoni is the most popular pizza topping in the United States.

Today’s Food History

  • 1643 Louis XIV, King of France (the ‘Sun King’) was born. A gourmet, gourmand and many say a glutton. During his reign food began to be served in courses, rather than placed on the table all at once, and forks came into widespread use.
  • 1698 Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards.
  • 1946 Dean Ford of the music group ‘Marmalade’ was born.
  • 1949 Clem Clempson of the music group ‘Humble Pie’ was born.
  • 2001 Justin Wilson, Cajun chef and humorist died. He wrote five cookbooks, hosted several cooking shows on TV, including ‘Louisiana Cookin’ and ‘Cookin’ Cajun.’

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September 4th is National Macadamia Nut Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Macadamia:

  1. Macadamia nuts are native to Australia. They are named for John Macadam, a Scottish born physician and chemist who promoted the nuts cultivation in Australia.
  2. The Macadamia Nut is one of Australia’s few contributions to the world’s food plants, and this rich, buttery nut is considered by many to be the most delicious of all nuts.
  3. The Macadamia was introduced into Hawaii around 1881 and used as an ornamental. The first commercial orchards of macadamias in Hawaii were not planted until 1921.
  4. Most of the world’s macadamia nuts are grown on the island of Hawaii.
  5. Today Macadamias are cultivated in many areas, including Indonesia, Central America, South Africa, the West Indies, Mediterranean countries and California.

Today’s Food History

  • 1768 Francois Auguste Rene Vicomte de Chateaubriand was born. Chateaubriand was a French writer and politician. His chef, Montmireil, created the famous recipe consisting of a center cut from the beef tenderloin, grilled and served with béarnaise sauce and chateau potatoes. He named the dish Chateaubriand.
  • 1781 The settlement known as “El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula” (City of the Queen of the Angels) was founded. Now known as simply Los Angeles, California.
  • 1885 The Exchange Buffet opened, the first self service restaurant.
  • 1920 Craig Claiborne, food writer and critic, was born.
  • 1967 The final episode of ‘Gilligans Island’ TV show airs.

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Tagged: claiborne food writer, commercial orchards, craig claiborne, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, john macadam, life, macadamia nut, macadamia nuts, national macadamia nut day, today's food history, todays food history

September 2nd is National “Grits for Breakfast” Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Grits:

  1. Grits (also sometimes called sofkee or sofkey from the Muskogee word) are a food of Native American origin common in the Southern United States and mainly eaten at breakfast.
  2. They consist of coarsely ground corn, or sometimes alkali-treated corn (hominy).
  3. Grits are similar to other thick maize-based porridges from around the world, such as polenta, or the thinner farina.
  4. Grits are usually prepared by adding one part grits to two-to-three parts boiling water, sometimes seasoned with salt or sugar.
  5. They are usually cooked for 5–10 minutes for “quick” grits or 20 or more minutes for whole kernel grits, or until the water is absorbed and the grits become a porridge-like consistency.

Today’s Food History

  • 1666 The Great Fire of London began in the shop of the King’s baker. After burning for four days, more than 13,000 buildings had been destroyed.
  • 1752 Tomorrow was September 14. The Gregorian Calendar went into effect in Great Britain and its colonies, to correct an accumulated 11 day discrepancy. Most of the rest of the world had switched from the Julian Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar in 1582.
  • 1935 The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 hit the Florida Keys. Over 400 were killed and the Railroad to Key West was destroyed. It was the most powerful hurricane to ever hit the U.S., with winds estimated at 200 mph.
  • 1969 The first ATM is installed at the Chemical Bank in  Rockville Centre, New York.
  • 1973 J.R.R. Tolkien died. Author of ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. Food and hospitality play important roles in both.
  • 1985 The wreckage of the British luxury liner ‘Titanic’ was located 73 years after it sank. This inspired a new interest in the menu and last meals that were served on the ship.

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August 31st is National Trail Mix Day! / #TrailMixDay

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Trail Mix:

  1. Trail mix is a combination of dried fruit, grains, nuts, and sometimes chocolate, developed as a snack food to be taken along on outdoor hikes.
  2. Trail mix is considered an ideal snack food for hikes, because it is tasty, lightweight, easy to store, and nutritious, providing a quick boost from the carbohydrates in the dried fruit and/or granola, and sustained energy from the mono- and polyunsaturated fats in nuts.
  3. Many claim that trail mix was first invented in 1968 by two California surfers who blended peanuts and raisins together for an energy snack.
  4. However, trail mix is also mentioned in Jack Kerouac’s 1958 novel The Dharma Bums as the two main characters describe their planned meals in their preparation for a hiking trip.
  5. The recipe for trail mix is most likely European in origin, where it has been known as a snack under various names  in various countries since the 17th century.

Today’s Food History

  • 1742 A plague of grasshoppers destroyed crops in Pennsylvania.
  • 1900 Sir John Bennet Lawes died. An English agronomist, he founded the artificial fertilizer industry. Together with Sir Joseph Gilbert, they conducted agricultural experiments at Rothamsted Experimental Station, the oldest agricultural research station in the world. They are considered the founding fathers of agricultural sciences.
  • 1900 Coca-Cola goes on sale for the first time in Britain.
  • 1921 The first successful demonstration of aerial crop dusting was performed in Ohio by Lt. John A. Macready. He was flying a Curtiss JN-6H (Jenny).
  • 1960 The National Agricultural Center & Hall of Fame established.
  • 1995 The summer was so hot in Missouri, that at the end of August, methane gas emitted within large bales of freshly-cut hay began to spontaneously combust.

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August 30th is National Toasted Marshmallow Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Marshmallow:

  1. This confection is the modern version of a medicinal confection made from Althaea officinalis, the marshmallow plant.
  2. Not all marshmallows are vegan, most marshmallows contain eggs or animal based gelatin.
  3. The marshmallow is a confection that, in its modern form, typically consists of sugar, corn syrup, water, gelatin that has been softened in hot water, dextrose, vanilla flavorings, and sometimes coloring, whipped to a spongy consistency.
  4. The marshmallow probably first came into being as a medicinal substance, since the mucilaginous extracts comes from the root of the marshmallow plant, Althaea officinalis, which were used as a remedy for sore throats.
  5. Concoctions of other parts of the marshmallow plant had medical uses as well.

Today’s Food History

  • 1812 Agoston Haraszthy de Mokcsa was born. Mokcsa imported 1,400 varieties of grapevines to California in 1862 and planted the first large vineyard in California in the Sonoma Valley. After the devastating blight destroyed much of Europe’s vineyards, some of these same vines, now on resistant root stock, helped rescue the French and German wine industries.
  • 1939 The first Wheaties commercial (live) aired when host Red Barbar promoted it during a Brooklyn Dodgers game (Variety, August 30, 1939). Later the Dodgers did a promotion dressed in street clothes saying ‘Yum, Yum Stuff!’ (‘Variety’, April 24, 1940)
  • 1979 President Jimmy Carter was attacked by a rabbit while on a canoe trip in Georgia. He beat it away with a paddle. (Man eating, aquatic rabbits?)
  • 2007 Michael Jackson, a leading beer critic, died at age 65.He was the author of ‘The World Guide to Beer’ (1977), and wrote for articles for various newspapers and food magazines, etc.

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August 28th is National Cherry Turnover Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Cherries:

  1. Darker cherries have higher antioxidant and vitamin levels than lighter ones.
  2. On average, commercially grown cherry trees produce about 7,000 cherries annually.
  3. Over 75% of the cherries sold in the U.S. come from Michigan.
  4. There are two main species of cultivated cherries; the sweet cherry (also called wild cherry), and the sour cherry (also called tart cherry).
  5. Freezing cherries not only preserves but also concentrates and improves their taste.

Today’s Food History

  • 1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. American physician, poet and humorist. Author of ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Professor of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Poet of the Breakfast Table,’ and ‘Over the Teacups.’
  • 1896 Supposedly, the Chinese-American dish, chop suey, was created in New York City by the Cantonese chef of Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang.
  • 1905 Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist was born.
  • 1915 Nathan Pritikin was born. A nutritionist who believed that exercise and a low fat, high unrefined carbohydrate diet helped reverse his own heart disease. He founded the Pritikin Longevity Center in 1976.
  • 1953 Rick Downey of the rock group ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ was born.
  • 2007 Alfred Peet died. He was the founder of Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California in 1966.  The founders of Starbucks were fans, and openly acknowledge his influence.

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August 26th is National Cherry Popsicle Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Popsicle history:

  1. In 1905 in San Francisco, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was mixing a white powdered flavoring for soda and water out on the porch
  2.  He left it there, with a stirring stick still in it.
  3. That night, temperatures reached a record low, and the next morning, the boy discovered the drink had frozen to the stick, inspiring the idea of a fruit-flavored ‘Popsicle’, a portmanteau of soda pop and icicle.
  4.  Eighteen years later in 1923, Epperson introduced frozen pop on a stick to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Belmar, New Jersey. Seeing that it was a success, in 1924 Epperson applied for a patent for his “frozen confectionery” which he called “the Epsicle ice pop”.
  5. He renamed it to Popsicle, allegedly at the insistence of his children.

Today’s Food History

  • 1784 Stephen McCormick was born. Inventor and manufacturer of cast iron plow with removable parts.
  • 1800 Felix Archimede Pouchet was born. A French naturalist, he was one of those who believed that life was created from nonliving matter in processes such as fermentation and putrification. Those flies and maggots, fungi, yeast and bacteria just appeared from nowhere. (He was wrong.)
  • 1946 George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ was published.
  • 1972 ‘Coconut’ by Nilsson reached number 8 on the charts.
  • 1978 Frankie Valli’s ‘Grease’ reached number 1 on the charts.

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August 25th is National Whiskey Sour Day! /#NationalWhiskeySourDay

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Whiskey:

  1. Pure ‘malt’ whiskey is produced only from malted barley.
  2. After opening, a half-full bottle of whiskey will remain good for five years.
  3. A closed bottle of whisky can be kept for more than 100 years and it will still be good to drink.
  4. A whiskey stops maturing after it is bottled. It ‘ages’ in wooden barrels not glass.
  5. Around 90 percent of Single Malt Whisky comes from Scotland.

Today’s Food History

  • 1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. American physician, poet and humorist. Author of ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Professor of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Poet of the Breakfast Table,’ and ‘Over the Teacups.’
  • 1896 Supposedly, the Chinese-American dish, chop suey, was created in New York City by the Cantonese chef of Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang.
  • 1905 Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist was born.
  • 1915 Nathan Pritikin was born. A nutritionist who believed that exercise and a low fat, high unrefined carbohydrate diet helped reverse his own heart disease. He founded the Pritikin Longevity Center in 1976.
  • 1953 Rick Downey of the rock group ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ was born.
  • 2007 Alfred Peet died. He was the founder of Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California in 1966.  The founders of Starbucks were fans, and openly acknowledge his influence.

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August 24th is National Peach Pie Day! / #NationalPeachPieDay

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Peaches:

  1. Did you know?  Peaches were once known as Persian apples.
  2. “You’re a real peach” originated from the tradition of giving a peach to the friend you liked.
  3. Peaches were mentioned as early as 79 A.D. in literature.
  4. Most peaches are cultivated by grafting different combinations of rootstocks to scions; not raised from seed
  5. There are over 700 varieties of peaches-some Chinese varieties are even flat like hockey pucks.

Today’s Food History

  • 79 R.I.P. Pliny The Elder. A Roman scholar and naturalist, he was the author of the 37 volume ‘Historia Naturalis’ (Natural History). This was a compilation of thousands of ancient books by hundreds of authors. It is an invaluable record of ancient theories on countless scientific subjects.
  • 1853 The month and day are uncertain, but the year is correct. Native American Chef George Crum invented potato chips at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York.
  • 1869 Cornelius Swarthout received the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron.
  • 1918 Ray McIntire was born. A chemical engineer who worked for Dow Chemical Company, he invented Styrofoam.
  • 1969 The movie version of Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ premiered in New York and Los Angeles.

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August 22nd is National Pecan Torte Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Pecan Torte:

  1. If the body does not get enough zinc, it may have difficulty producing testosterone – a key hormone in initiating sexual desire in both men and women.  Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc.
  2. It would take 11,624 pecans, stacked end to end, to reach the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
  3. Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.  In fact, Texas Governor James Hogg liked pecan trees so much that he asked if a pecan tree could be planted at his gravesite when he died.
  4. Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S.  Albany hosts the annual National Pecan Festival, which includes a race, parade, pecan-cooking contest, the crowning of the National Pecan Queen and many other activities.
  5. Pecan trees usually range in height from 70 to 100 feet, but some trees grow as tall as 150 feet or higher.  Native pecan trees – those over 150 years old – have trunks more than three feet in diameter.

Today’s Food History

  • 1647 Denis Papin is born. The French physicist who invented the pressure cooker (Papin’s Digester) in 1679
  • 1865 William Sheppard of New York City received a patent for liquid soap.
  • 1867 Charles Francis Jenkins was born. An inventor who is best known as an early television pioneer. Among his many inventions was a cone-shaped drinking cup.
  • 1867 Maximilian Bircher-Benner was born. He was a Swiss doctor who developed the cereal product ‘Muesli,’ which is similar to Granola.
  • 1939 The first U.S. patent was issued for a disposable whipped cream aerosol container. Julius S. Kahn’s patent was titled “An Apparatus for Mixing a Liquid with a Gas” and was specifically concerned with making whipped cream, using a ordinary soda bottle.
  • 1970 ‘Spill The Wine’ by Eric Burdon & War hit number 3 on the charts.
  • 2004 Sonya Thomas won $500 and a trophy belt at the World Lobster Eating Contest in Kennebunkport, Maine. She ate 9.76 pounds of lobster meat (38 lobsters) in 12 minutes.  She also holds the record for hard boiled eggs, and pork & beans (8.4 pounds in 2 minutes 47 seconds). She weighs only 105 pounds.
  • 2007 A 12 year-old boy in Manchester, England was charged with assault for throwing a cocktail sausage at a 74 year-old man.

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August 20th is National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Pecan Pie

  1.  A handful of Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc
  2. It would take 11,624 pecans, stacked end to end, to reach the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
  3. Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.  In fact, Texas Governor James Hogg liked pecan trees so much that he asked if a pecan tree could be planted at his gravesite when he died.
  4. Albany, Georgia, which boasts more than 600,000 pecan trees, is the pecan capital of the U.S.  Albany hosts the annual National Pecan Festival, which includes a race, parade, pecan-cooking contest, the crowning of the National Pecan Queen and many other activities.
  5. Pecan trees usually range in height from 70 to 100 feet, but some trees grow as tall as 150 feet or higher.  Native pecan trees – those over 150 years old – have trunks more than three feet in diameter.

Today’s Food History

  • 1913 Stainless steel was cast for the first time in Sheffield, England. Harry Brearly of Thomas Firth & Sons discovered how to make ‘the steel that doesn’t rust’ by accident.
  • 1948 Robert Plant of the music group ‘Led Zeppelin’ was born.
  • 1955 ‘The Popcorn Song’ by Cliffie Stone hit number 14 on the charts.
  • 1968 The largest sea bass caught with a fishing rod weighed over 563 pounds. It was caught off the coast of California.

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Yum! August 19th is National Soft Serve Ice Cream Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s 5 amazing Ice Cream facts:

  1. An average dairy cow can produce enough milk in her lifetime to make a little over 9,000 gallons of ice cream.
  2.  The first ice cream recipe was handwritten in the recipe book of Lady Anne Fanshawe in 1665
  3. Chocolate ice cream was invented long before vanilla, and the first documented recipe for it appeared in the book The Modern Steward, published in Italy in 1692.
  4. In the U.S., all ice cream needs to have a minimum of 10% milkfat if it is to be labeled “ice cream”. This includes custard based (French Style) ice creams.
  5.  The Häagen-Dazs brand was established by two Americans – Reuben and Rose Mattus – and the name was made up to sound Danish and sophisticated. The Danish language does not actually use umlauts.

Today’s Food History

  • 1851 Charles E. Hires was born. Manufacturer and inventor of Hires Root Beer.
  • 1856 Gail Borden was granted a patent for a process to make condensed milk, which he developed in 1853.
  • 1887 Spencer Fullerton Baird died. An American naturalist and zoologist, he was the second Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution.
  • 1947 J. Arens and D. van Villages synthesized vitamin A.
  • 1996 Miss Universe was told to lose 27 pounds or lose her crown.

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August 16th is National Rum Day!🥃🥃 / #NationalRumDay

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Here are today’s five thing to know about Rum

  1. Rum was manufactured, distilled, and made long before any other spirit. It’s history is a vast one filled with stories, and fables. It was the first branded spirit made.
  2. Rations of rum were given to sailors in the British Army to be mixed with lime juice because it fought off the scurvy.
  3. When wealthy titles were given to parsons, they were thanked with a glass of rum.
  4. In Australia, the rum hospital can recognize rum as it as its chief contributor of revenues that were generated via the rum exports they were known for.
  5. Triangular trade was introduced as slaves were traded for rum, sugars, and other items that were all carrying missionaries- this was known as ‘rum and bible.’

Today’s Food History

  • 1888 John Styth Pemberton died. Pemberton was the pharmacist who invented Coca-Cola in 1885.
  • 1966 ‘Summer In The City’ by the Lovin’ Spoonful is #1 on the charts

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August 15th is National Lemon Meringue Pie Day!🍋+🥧=😋

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Happy National Lemon Meringue Day!

Here are today’s five thing to know about Lemons

  1. Lemon trees bloom and produce fruit year-round. Each tree can produce between 500 and 600 pounds of lemons in a year.
  2. Add the juice of one lemon to an equal amount of hot water for an anti-bacterial gargle.
  3. Food historians say lemons have been in cultivation around the Mediterranean from as early as the first century A.D.
  4. High in vitamin C, lemons prevent scurvy, a disease that causes bleeding gums, loose teeth and aching joints. To this day, the British Navy requires ships to carry enough lemons so that every sailor can have one ounce of juice a day.
  5. California and Arizona produce 95% of the entire U.S. lemon crop.

Today’s Food History

  • 1794 Elias Fries was born. A Swedish botanist who developed the first system for classifying fungi.
  • 1796 John Torrey was born. American botanist who did extensive studies of North American flora. He was the first professional botanist in the New World.
  • 1835 C.H. Farnham was issued a patent for a hand cranked rotary washing machine.
  • 1848 M. Waldo Hanchett patented a dental chair.
  • 1911 Crisco is introduced by Procter & Gamble. Crisco is a hydrogenated shortening made from vegetable oil, which keeps its solid form even in warm weather.
  • 1912 Julia Child was born. American cooking authority, cookbook author, TV Cooking show host, etc. During World War II, she also worked for the OSS from 1941-1945 (The OSS is the forerunner of the CIA).
  • 1914 The Panama Canal was officially opened when a ship sailed from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean.
  • 1928 Walter E. Diemer died. While working for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company, he experimented with recipes for chewing gum as a hobby. He invented bubble gum in 1928.
  • 1943 Sgt. Edward Dzuba received the Legion of Merit award because of his talent to use food scraps in unusual and appetizing recipes.
  • 1969 The 3 day Woodstock Music and Arts Fair began on a dairy farm in Upstate New York.
  • 2009 In Detroit, Michigan, GourmetGiftBaskets.com set a new record for the world’s largest cupcake at 1,224 pounds.

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August 14th is National Creamsicle Day!

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Happy National Creamsicle Day!

Five Facts about the Creamsicle

  1. Creamsicle is a brand name for a different frozen dessert also owned by Unilever.
  2. Again on the same flat wooden stick, it is made as a single flat bar with a rounded end.
  3. The center is vanilla ice cream, covered by a layer of flavored ice. Creamsicle flavors include orange, blue raspberry, lime, grape and cherry.
  4. They are available in several varieties, including 100 Calorie Bars, Low Fat Bars, No Sugar Added Bars, and Sugar Free Bars.
  5. 50-50 bar is an alternative name for a Creamsicle.

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1873 The first issue of ‘Field & Stream’ was published.

1897 The largest sturgeon was caught, 1,387 pounds, in the Fraser River.

1941 Paul Sabatier died. Organic chemist. The margarine, oil hydrogenation and methanol industries grew out of his research.

 

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Categories: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national creamsicle day, today's food history, todays food history

August 4th is National Chocolate Chip Day! / NationalChocolateChipDay

John-Bryan Hopkins

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Happy National Chocolate Chip Day!

Here’s today’s facts about Chocolate Chips

  1. Chocolate chips are a required ingredient in chocolate chip cookies, which 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.
  2. 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.
  3. Initially, Nestlé included a small chopping tool with the chocolate bars, but in 1939 they started selling the chocolate in chip (or “morsel”) form.
  4. The Nestlé brand Toll House cookies is named for the inn.
  5. Originally, chocolate chips were made of semi-sweet chocolate, but today there are many flavors.

 

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1608 John Tradescant was born. He succeeded his father as naturalist and gardener to Charles I.

1693 Dom Perignon discovers the process for making champagne. “Come quickly, I am tasting the stars!”
(A widely held legend, but only a only a legend.)

1755 Nicolas-Jacque Conte was born. He invented the modern graphite pencil.

1958 The first potato flake manufacturing plant opened in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

1983 Dave Winfield, a N.Y. Yankee outfielder accidentally killed a seagull with an errant throw in a game against the Toronto Blue Jays. He was arrested, charged with cruelty to animals and had to post a $500 bond. The charges were dropped the following day.

 

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Categories: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national chocolate chip day, today's food history, todays food history

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