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Posts tagged “historic”

A History of Frozen Food

John-Bryan Hopkins

Clarence Birdseye invented, developed, and commercialized a method for quick-freezing food products in convenient packages and without altering the original taste. “Frosted foods” were sold to the public for the first time in 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts, under the tradename Birds Eye Frosted Foods®. While Clarence Birdseye has become a household name, his process has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry.

Fruits and vegetables chosen for fresh produces isles are usually picked before they ripen, which gives them less time to reach higher amounts of vitamins and minerals. The appearance of ‘ripening’ still occurs, but this produce will never have the same nutritive value as if they had been allowed to fully ripen on the plant.

Clarence Birdseye was born in 1886 in Brooklyn, New York A taxidermist by trade, but a chef at heart, Clarence Birdseye wished his family could have fresh food all year. After observing the people of the Arctic preserving fresh fish and meat in barrels of sea water quickly frozen by the arctic temperatures, he concluded that it was the rapid freezing in the extremely low temperatures that made food retain freshness when thawed and cooked months later.

In 1923, with an investment of $7 for an electric fan, buckets of brine, and cakes of ice, Clarence Birdseye invented and later perfected a system of packing fresh food into waxed cardboard boxes and flash-freezing under high pressure.  The Goldman-Sachs Trading Corporation and the Postum Company (later the General Foods Corporation) bought Clarence Birdseye’s patents and trademarks in 1929 for $22 million. The first quick-frozen vegetables, fruits, seafoods, and meat.

Clarence Birdseye turned his attention to other interests and invented an infrared heat lamp, a spotlight for store window displays, a harpoon for marking whales, then established companies to market his products.

Nutritional Five Food Finds about Frozen Food

  • Fruits and vegetables tend to be frozen at their peak ripeness, a time when they have the most nutrients.
  • Pumpkins and tomatoes lose little nutritional value during the freezing process.
  • When shopping for frozen foods, choose those marked with the USDA ‘U.S. Fancy’ shield.  Vegetables of this standard tend to be more nutrient-rich than the lower grades ‘U.S. No. 1’ or ‘U.S. No. 2.’
  • Steaming or microwaving (instead of boiling) frozen foods minimizes the loss of vitamins & nutrients.
  • Frozen produce sales have climbed faster than fresh produce sales over the past five years.

 

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Categories: Encyclopedia

Tagged: birdseye, clarence birdseye, food, foodimentary, fresh produce, fresh vs frozen, frozen food, frozen foods, frozen fruit, frozen produce, frozen vegetables, fruits, fun, historic, historical, history, life, microwave dinner, news, produce, vegetables, wordpress

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Udon noodles, eaten by billions every day

John-Bryan Hopkins

Did you know that a Buddhist priest was the first one to bring Udon noodles from China?  Kūkai, a Buddhist priest, traveled to China around the beginning of the 9th century to study. Sanuki Province claimed to have been the first to adopt udon from Kūkai. Enni, a Rinzai monk, went to China in the 13th century; Hakata claimed to have produced udon based on Enni’s recipe. Udon is usually served hot as noodle soup in its simplest form as kake udon, in a mildly flavoured broth called kakejiru which is made of dashi, soy sauce (shōyu), and mirin. It is usually topped with thinly chopped scallions. Other common toppings include tempura, often prawn or kakiage (a type of mixed tempura fritter), or abura…

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Categories: Encyclopedia

Tagged: china, chinese food, food, foodimentary, fun, historic, historical, history, life, noodles, udon, udon noodles

A History of Aunt Jemima

Aunt Jemima’s pancake mix was one of the first “mixes” ever sold (from the R.T. Davis Milling Company). Former slave Nancy Green was hired as a spokesperson for the Aunt Jemima pancake mix in 1890. Green  played the Jemima character from 1890 until 1923. The world first “discovered” the real Aunt Jemima (Green)  at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893, where she would make pancakes. Today, most of us know her from the kindly portrait on the label of the American iconic syrup and mixes.

Five Food Finds about Aunt Jemima

  • Most people think of the Aunt Jemima brand as a syrup, but it actually wasn’t introduced as a syrup until 1966.
  • Some view Aunt Jemima as a negative racial stereotype.  Throughout the years, the brand has done some work to create a more empowering image of her.
  • Aunt Jemima’s pancake mix was one of the first “mixes” ever sold.
  • At the World’s Columbian Exposition, Aunt Jemima’ (Nancy Green) demonstrated how to use the new mix.  The exhibit was so popular, police had to control the crowds at the Aunt Jemima booth.
  • Aunt Jemima was the first pancake mix available, and it continues to be one of the best-selling in the world.

 

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Categories: Encyclopedia

Tagged: aunt jemima, columbian exhibition, food, Food Facts, foodimentary, fun, historic, historical, history, life, news, pancake, pancake mix, syrup, wordpress

A History of Betty Crocker – The Home Cook Who Never Was

John-Bryan Hopkins

The History of Betty Crocker

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Categories: Encyclopedia

Tagged: american, baking crocker, betty crocker, chef, cook, cooking, facts, food, foodimentary, fun, general mills, historic, historical, history, life, news

A History of Frozen Food

Clarence Birdseye invented, developed, and commercialized a method for quick-freezing food products in convenient packages and without altering the original taste. “Frosted foods” were sold to the public for the first time in 1930 in Springfield, Massachusetts, under the tradename Birds Eye Frosted Foods®. While Clarence Birdseye has become a household name, his process has evolved into a multi-billion dollar industry. Fruits and vegetables chosen for fresh produces isles are usually picked before they ripen, which gives them less time to reach higher amounts of vitamins and minerals. The appearance of ‘ripening’ still occurs, but this produce will never have the same nutritive value as if they had been allowed to fully ripen on the plant. Clarence Birdseye was born in 1886 in Brooklyn, New…

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Tagged: birdseye, clarence birdseye, food, foodimentary, fresh produce, fresh vs frozen, frozen food, frozen foods, frozen fruit, frozen produce, frozen vegetables, fruits, fun, historic, historical, history, life, microwave dinner, news, produce, vegetables, wordpress

Taco Bell: A History in Pictures




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Categories: Encyclopedia, Food Facts

Tagged: food, fun, gallery, historic, historical, history, life, news, pictures, retro, taco bell, vintage

March 3 – National Cold Cuts Day

John-Bryan Hopkins

Most people don’t know that most can sugar is processed using bone char, therefore making it not acceptable for most vegetarian or vegan diets. Beet sugar is a perfect substitute. We have German chemist, Sigismund Marggraf to thank for helping to create an alternative sugar source. Before beet sugar became common, most homes were incapable of affording sugar. They would use molasses, a much cheaper byproduct of cane sugar processing. Today’s Food History on this day in… 1709 Andreas Sigismund Marggraf was born. A German chemist, in 1747 he extracted sugar from the sugar beet and determined it was identical to cane sugar. It wasn’t until 1802 that the first beet sugar refinery would be built. 1797 The first patent for a washing machine was…

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Categories: Food Holidays, March Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, historic, historical, history, news, today's food history, wordpress

  

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