May 23rd is National Taffy Day

Five Facts 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.

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.

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.

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.