Posts tagged “january food holidays”

National English Toffee Day

Five Food Finds about Toffee

Toffee and Caramel are sometimes interchangeable.

Toffees consist of mainly sugar and water, while caramels use dairy products in their production, making them softer

Almondy butter treats are toffee from England. This kind of candy is known globally and has many varieties.

Michigan toffee comes in varies styles, some hard and some chewy, some chocolate covered with nut sprinkles.

Tafia, a West Indian rum of molasses or sugarcane juice, is theorized to be the source of the word.

On This Day in Food History…

1676 Charles II of England revoked his previous proclamation suppressing Coffee Houses due to public response.

1800 The first soup kitchens in London were opened to serve the poor.

1823 Alfred Russel Wallace was born. Wallace was a British naturalist who developed a theory of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin. He sent his conclusions to Darwin, and their findings were both presented to the Linnaean Society in 1858.

1825 Eli Whitney died. Inventor of the cotton gin, but more important he developed the concept of mass producing interchangeable parts.

1872 African American inventor Thomas Elkins received his second patent. It was for a ‘Chamber Commode’ – a combination “bureau, mirror, book-rack, washstand, table, easy chair, and earth-closet or chamber-stool.”

1894 Pierre Joseph van Beneden died. A Belgian parasitologist, he discovered the life cycle of tapeworms.

1926 Comedian ‘Soupy Sales’ was born. Most of his routines ended with Soupy receiving a pie in the face.

1992 President George H.W. Bush becomes ill on a trip to Japan and vomits on Japanese Prime Minister Miyazawa Kiichi.

1998 Walter E. Diemer died. While working for the Fleer Chewing Gum Company, he experimented with recipes for chewing gum as a hobby. (He really liked his gum!). He invented bubble gum in 1928.

2002 Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s Hamburger chain, died.

some content is courtesy of FoodReference.com, used with permission

Categories: Food Holidays, January Food Holidays

Tagged: five food finds, january food holidays, national english toffee day, national food holidays, today in food history

January 7 is National Tempura Day

John-Bryan Hopkins

5 Star Recipe from MyRecipes.com

National Tempura Day

Five Food Finds about Tempura

Tempura was introduced to Japan in the mid-sixteenth century by Portuguese Jesuits, during the same period that panko and such dishes as tonkatsu were also introduced from Portugal.
Tokugawa Ieyasu, founder and first shogun of the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan, reportedly loved tempura.
The word “tempura”, or the technique of dipping fish and vegetables into a batter and frying them, comes from the word “tempora”, a Latin word meaning “times”, “time period” used by both Spanish and Portuguese missionaries to refer to the Lenten period or Ember Days (ad tempora quadragesimae), Fridays, and other Christian holy days.
Outside Japan (as well as recently in Japan), there are many nontraditional and fusion uses of tempura. Chefs over the world include tempura dishes on their menus, and a wide variety of different batters and ingredients are used, including the nontraditional broccoli, zucchini, asparagus and chuchu.
More unusual ingredients may include nori slices, dry fruit such as banana, and ice cream. American restaurants are known to serve tempura in the form of various meats, particularly chicken, and cheeses, usually mozzarella.

On this day in food history…

1618 Francis Bacon became Lord Chancellor of England.
1827 Sir Sanford Fleming was born. He devised the present system of time zones while working for the Canadian Pacific Railway.
1896 The ‘Fannie Farmer Cookbook’ was published.
1901 Alfred Packer is released from prison. He served 18 years for cannibalism after being stranded in the Rocky Mountains. (Actually he was convicted of murder, since cannibalism was not against the law).
1958 Ant Farms go on sale. Milton Levine had the idea at a July 4th family picnic. I wonder if he had dreams of fencing them in so they would not bother him at picnics?
1972 “American Pie” by Don McLean is #1 on the charts.

some content is courtesy of FoodReference.com, used with permission

Categories: Food Holidays, January Food Holidays

Tagged: five food finds, january food holidays, national food holidays, national tempura day, Tempura, today in food history

January 6 is National Shortbread Day

John-Bryan Hopkins

5 Star Recipe from MyRecipes.com

National Shortbread Day

Five Food Finds about Shortbread

Scottish shortbread evolved from medieval biscuit bread, which was a twice-baked, enriched bread roll dusted with sugar and spices and hardened into a Rusk.

Eventually butter was substituted for yeast, and shortbread was born.

Since butter was such an important ingredient, the word “shortbread” derived from shortening.

Shortbread may have been made as early as the 12th Century, however its invention is often attributed to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th Century.

Petticoat Tails were a traditional form of shortbread said to be enjoyed by the queen. The round shortbread was flavored with caraway seeds, baked and cut into triangular wedges.

On This Day in Food History…

1884 Gregor Johann Mendel died. Mendel was an Austrian botanist whose work was the foundation of the science of genetics. Working mainly with garden peas (some 28,000 plants over 7 years), he discovered what was to become known as the laws of heredity.

1901 Philip Danforth Armour, died. American industrialist who pioneered the use of refrigeration and meat canning. Armour & Co. became the largest meatpacker in the world and this helped Chicago become the meatpacking capital of the world. (The fact that Chicago is the ‘Windy City’ may have helped also).

1910 ‘Kid Chocolate’ (Elgio Saldana) was born. He became Cuba’s first world boxing champion in 1931 after defeating Benny Bass for the Jr. Lightweight Championship.

1929 Sheffeld Farms of New York began using wax paper cartons instead of glass bottles for milk delivery.

1936 Warner Bros. Loony Tunes character ‘Porky Pig’ makes his debut.

1988 The famous Paris restaurant ‘La Coupole’ was sold and eventually replaced by an office building. It was famous for its Welsh rarebit, and had been frequented by James Joyce, Henry Miller and many other notable Americans.

some content is courtesy of FoodReference.com, used with permission

Categories: Food Holidays, January Food Holidays

Tagged: january food holidays, national food holidays, national shortbread day, shortbread, today in food history

January 1 is National Bloody Mary Day

John-Bryan Hopkins

5 Star Recipe from MyRecipes.com

National Bloody Mary Day

Five Food Finds about the Bloody Mary

The drink’s namesake is Mary of England, whose 16th-century persecution of Protestants earned her the nickname.

Some drink aficionados believe the inspiration for the name was Hollywood star Mary Pickford.

The Bloody Mary is sometimes mistakenly believed to alleviate hangovers when it is served in the morning. While it will temporarily alleviate some of the symptoms, it will also further dehydrate the drinker, causing the symptoms to worsen later.

The Bloody Mary is the US’s most popular alcoholic drink for brunch.

This drink has been called “The world’s most complex cocktail.”

On This Day in Food History…

45 BC New Year’s Day was celebrated for the first time on January 1 when the Julian calendar took effect.

1449 Lorenzo de Medici (The Magnificent) of Florence was born. Many in this Italian noble family were patrons of learning and the arts. Lorenzo’s great granddaughter, Catherine, is known as the ‘mother of French haute cuisine’ because when she married the French king Henry II, she brought the finest Italian chefs, and her passion for fine food, with her to France. (With apologies to my French readers. Reasonable rebuttals accepted for future publication).

1735 Paul Revere was born. A silversmith and American Revolutionary folk hero, he also made surgical instruments and false teeth.

1772 The London Credit Exchange Company issued the first traveler’s checks.

1800 Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton died. A French naturalist, he was a pioneer in several fields including plant physiology. He conducted many agricultural experiments and introduced Merino sheep to France. First director of the Museum of Natural History in Paris.

1863 Daniel Freeman is the first to submit a claim under the new Homestead Act, for 160 acres near Beatrice, Nebraska.

1876 The first world’s oldest trademark is the red triangle registered for Bass Pale Ale. (Some sources say 1883 or 1890)

1876 The first agricultural experiment station was established at Middleton, Connecticut.

1895 C.W. Post of Battle Creek, Michigan introduced Postum Food Coffee, a coffee substitute made from wheat, bran and molasses.

1896 Alfred Ely Beach died. American inventor and publisher of Scientific American magazine.

1898 Post Grape Nuts are introduced by C. W. Post of Battle Creek, Michigan. (There are no grapes or nuts in Grape Nuts).

1905 The New York Times builds the Times Tower at Long Acre Square, has the name changed to Times Square and celebrated the event with a New Year’s Eve Fireworks show. The beginning of an American tradition at Times Square.

1907 The Times introduced the New Years Eve Ball on their building at Times Square in New York. Descending to mark the end of the old and the beginning of the New Year ever since.

1909 Marcel Proust had a flashback. On January 1, 1909, he ate a piece of tea-soaked toast whose taste caused a flood of childhood memories. In his 7 volume allegorical novel ‘Remembrance of Things Past,’ the character named Swann has a similar experience when he bites into a lemon cookie (a ‘Madeleine’) which brings on a similar flood of memories.

1935 In Miami, the first Orange Bowl was played on this day in 1935. Bucknell University wins over the University of Miami, 26-0.

1935 The first Sugar Bowl football game was played on this day in 1935 in New Orleans.

1935 B. (Barnard) Kliban was born. A satirical cartoonist, best known for his cat cartoons. A few of his cartoon book titles: ‘Never Eat Anything Larger Than Your Head’, ‘The Biggest Tongue in Tunisia’.

1942 Country Joe McDonald of ‘Country Joe and the Fish’ was born.

1958 The agreements establishing the European Economic Community (EEC or Common Market) went into effect.

1994 The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) went into effect between the U.S., Canada and Mexico.

1996 The last Polynesian tree snail, species Partula turgida, died at the London Zoo. They lived on the South Pacific island of Raiatea, where the residents imported predatory snails from Florida to eat a pest snail, originally imported from Africa. Instead they ate the native Tree Snail to extinction. We never seem to learn about the consequences of introducing nonnative species.

1998 Smoking is banned in California restaurants and bars.

2002 The ‘euro’ was introduced, the new monetary unit of the European Union.

some content is courtesy of FoodReference.com, used with permission

Categories: Food Holidays, January Food Holidays

Tagged: bloody mary, Daniel Freeman, five food finds, Hollywood star Mary Pickford, january food holidays, London Credit Exchange Company, Lorenzo de Medici, Mary of England, national bloody mary day, national food holidays, Paul Revere, today in food history

January 9 – National Apricot Day

5 Star Recipe from MyRecipes.com

National Apricot Day

Five Food Finds about Apricots

In Latin, apricot means ‘precious’.

The apricot, discovered about 4,000 years ago in China, was introduced to the United States in the 18th century.

Brought to California by Spanish explorers, the apricot quickly became a popular crop.

Today, apricot farmers in California produce more than 95 percent of the apricots grown in the United States.

Choose an apricot that’s plump and that responds to the slight pressure of your thumb. It should be slightly soft.

On This Day in Food History…

1838 The first Flea Circus in the U.S. opened at 187 Broadway in New York City.

1858 Elizabeth Gertrude Knight Britton was born. An American botanist, her efforts were a major factor in the establishment of the New York Botanical Gardens.

1956 The first ‘Dear Abby’ column was published.

1969 “I Heard It Through The Grapevine” by Marvin Gaye is #1 on the charts.

1980 “Escape (The Pina Colada Song)” by Rupert Holmes is #1 on the charts.

1995 Peter Cook, British actor and comedian died.

some content is courtesy of FoodReference.com, used with permission

Categories: Food Holidays, January Food Holidays

Tagged: apricots, five food finds, january food holidays, national apricot day, national food holidays, today in food history

January 8 – National English Toffee Day

5 Star Recipe from MyRecipes.com

National English Toffee Day

Five Food Finds about Toffee

Toffee and Caramel are sometimes interchangeable.

Toffees consist of mainly sugar and water, while caramels use dairy products in their production, making them softer

Almondy butter treats are toffee from England. This kind of candy is known globally and has many varieties.

Michigan toffee comes in varies styles, some hard and some chewy, some chocolate covered with nut sprinkles.

Tafia, a West Indian rum of molasses or sugarcane juice, is theorized to be the source of the word.