February 8 is National “Potato Lovers” Day

John-Bryan Hopkins

If you are a fan of the spud, then today is for you. For centuries they have been sliced, fried, boiled, baked, puréed, and served. Carbs be damned!

Celebrating February 8

National “Potato Lover’s” Day

Potato Facts:

A. The word , potato, is derived from a Native American word “Batata”

B. The first cultivated potatoes date back to 500o BC in Peru. Originally, they were purple. When cooked they turn a deep blue color.

C. Most of the nutrients found in potatoes are in the skin.

D. Sweet potatoes are distant relatives of the common potato, while Yams are not potatoes at all, they botanically are considered lilies.

E. The average American eats 140 pounds of potatoes per year.

F. The word spud actually means “to dig a small hole in the ground, similar to spade, a tool to dig small holes.

G. The Spanish claim that they first introduced the potato to Europe in 1550 while the Irish say that it was in 1585 when Sir Walter Raleigh introduced the potato to Europe.

Daily Quote:

“My idea of heaven is a great big baked potato & someone to share it with.” ~Oprah

Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1795 Friedlieb Ferdinand Runge was born. A German chemist who developed a method for obtaining sugar from beet juice.

1886 Wilhelm Koppers was born. This cultural anthropologist developed theories on the origins of society based on studies of hunter-gatherer tribes.

1898 John Sherman of Worcester, Massachusetts received a patent for the first machine to fold and seal envelopes.

1925 Actor Jack Lemmon was born. A couple of his film titles: ‘The Fortune Cookie’ and ‘Days of Wine and Roses’

1946 Adolfo De La Parra of the music group ‘Canned Heat’ was born.

Categories: February Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: events of february 8, national food holidays, national potato lover's day, original social media foodie, potato, potatoes, social media foodie

January 17 is National Hot Buttered Rum Day

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

Hot Buttered Rum is a mixed drink containing rum, butter, hot cider, sugar, & spice(usually cinnamon).
It’s considered one of the oldest “mixed drinks” in American History.
Mention of this drink date as far back as the 1600’s.
A notable variation is the so-called “Jay’s Famous Hot Buttered Rum,” in which the hot drink is “creamed together with vanilla ice cream and chilled into a paste.”
After molasses began being imported to Colonial America from Jamaica, and distilleries opened in New England in the 1650’s, colonists began adding distilled rum to hot beverages such as toddies and nogs.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1501 Leonhard Fuchs was born. A German botanist who compiled the first modern glossary of botanical terms. From which the flowering plant & color fuchsia were named.
1706 Benjamin Franklin was born. American publisher,diplomat & inventor. Penned the name for male turkeys, Tom, as a dig to Thomas Jefferson, who helped appoint the Bald Eagle, NOT the turkey, as the National Bird.
1775 Nine women in Kalisk, Poland were burned as “witches” for causing a series of bad harvests.
1890 Scottish-American scientist Peter Henderson died, considered the “Father of America Horticulture.”
1893 Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalana, the last monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, leaves the throne, bowing to pressure from sugar planters .
1904 Anton Chekov’s The Cherry Orchard premiered at the Moscow Art Theatre.
1944 WWII’s first “Tin Can Day” was held. One of the largest recycling efforts in American history
2001 Norway lifted a ban on whale meat exports.

Categories: Food Holidays, January Food Holidays

Tagged: hot buttered rum, national food holidays, national hot buttered rum day

December 2 is National Fritter Day

Here are today’s five thing to know about Fritters

In the United States, fritters typically refer to a variety of fried foods consisting of deep fried batter or breading that has been filled with ingredients, such as meat, fruit and seafood.
In British fish and chip shops, fritters means a food item that servers as a side dish to the fish and chips.
The most popular Burmese fritters is the gourd fritter, which are served as breakfast or tea snacks.
In South Asia, fritters are one of the most popular roadside snacks.
In Japanese cuisine, fritters are called tempura, which is a vegetable or seafood covered with light crispy batter.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1885 George Richard Minot was born. An American physician, he was one of the developers of a raw-liver diet used to treat pernicious anemia.
1923 Maria Cecilia Sophia Anna Kalogeropoulos was born. Otherwise known as opera diva Maria Callas. She is a passionate recipe collector.
1970 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began operations. William Ruckelhaus was the first director.
1995 Maria Telkes died. A Hungarian born American biophysicist & chemist, she was a pioneer in using solar energy in heating applications. Among other things, she developed a solar heated sea water distillation system and a solar powered stove.
2000 The music group ‘The Smashing Pumpkins’ play their final concert in Chicago before breaking up.

Categories: December Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: foodimentary, national food holidays, national fritter day, national Fritters day

May 11 is National “Eat What You Want” Day

What would you like to have to eat today?

Ready to have any and all of your favorite foods and snacks?

Because today, May 11th is the National Eat What You Want day!

Five Most Popular Foods in US

French Fries
Hamburgers
Fried Chicken
Eggs
Pizza

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1838 R.I.P. Thomas Andrew Knight. British horticulturist and botanist who experimented with geotropism, phototropism and heliotropism.
1886 W. Marshall patented a ‘grain binder.’
1934 The Dust Bowl. One of the worst dust storms ever to hit the Great Plains occurred. It lasted 2 days and the area lost massive amounts of top soil.
1946 The first CARE packages for survivors of WW II in Europe arrive at Le Havre, France. (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe).
1947 B.F. Goodrich announced the development of the tubeless tire.
2002 Joseph Bonanno, a former Mafia boss known as ‘Joe Bananas,’ died in Tucson, Arizona at age 97.

Categories: Food Holidays, May Food Holidays

Tagged: eat what you want, facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national eat what you want day, national food holidays, todays food history

May 9 is National Shrimp Day

Shrimp, low in fat and high in protein and a moderate source of omega-3 fatty acids,

is the most popular seafood in the United States,

Today’s five things to know about Shrimp

The pistol shrimp can deliver an explosive attack hotter than the surface of the sun and loud enough to rupture a human ear drum.
Every shrimp is actually born male, and some develop into females.
Some shrimp are actually capable of glowing in the dark.
Shrimp can vary in size from 1/2 inch to 12 inches.
In some areas, shrimp served with the head still attached is considered a delicacy.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1785 The beer-pump handle was patented by Joseph Bramah.
1845 Carl Gustaf Patrik de Laval was born. A Swedish scientist and inventor. Among his inventions was the centrifugal cream separator and a vacuum milking machine.
1914 R.I.P. C. W. Post (Charles William. He founded the Postum Cereal Co. in 1895 (renamed General Foods Corp. in 1922) to manufacture Postum cereal beverage; 1897 Grape Nuts, 1904 Post Toasties (originally called Elijah’s Mana).
1992 The record brown trout weighed over 40 pounds and was caught in Arkansas.

Categories: Food Holidays, May Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, national shrimp day, todays food history

May 8 is National Coconut Cream Pie Day

Coconut cream pie is a spin-off custard-cream pie,

a traditional Southern favorite that has been widespread.

Celebrate the National Coconut Cream Pie day in May 8th!

Today’s five things to know about Coconut Cream Pie

The coconut is not a nut. In fact, it isn’t a fruit either. It is a seed!
Coconut oils accelerate the metabolism. Of course, if you put them in pie you may not notice the effect.
The sailors aboard Vasco de Gama’s ships gave the coconut its name. They called it “Coco”, named after a grimacing face or hobgoblin.
The water from the coconut has traditionally been used when commercial IV solutions of plasma have not been available.
Coconut oils also contain four growth hormones, called cytokinins, and three sets of chromosomes – or triploids – that help the development of many organisms.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1842 Emil Christian Hansen was born. He was a Danish botanist who developed new methods to culture yeast. He revolutionized the beer industry, and proved that there are different species of yeast. He refused to patent the method, but instead made it available for free to other brewers.
1855 John Gates was born. Gates was an inventor, promoter and barbed wire manufacturer.
1886 Coca Cola is first sold to the public at Jacob’s Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia.
1968 Laurence M. Klauber died. Klauber was an American herpetologist and inventor who was a rattlesnake expert. If you want to know anything or everything about rattlesnakes, see his book “Rattlesnakes: Their Habits, Life Histories and Influence on Mankind.”

Categories: Food Holidays, May Food Holidays

Tagged: coconut cream pie, facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national coconut cream pie day, national food holidays

May 7 is National Leg of Lamb Day

For decades May 7 has been a day to celebrate leg of lamb,

the most popular cut of lamb in North America

Today’s five things to know about Lamb

The oldest organized industry is raising sheep.
The average American eats less than a pound of lamb a year
All American Lamb is hormone free and American Lamb can be offered as all-natural products that are antibiotic free.
This meat generally is more tender than that from older sheep and appears more often on tables in some Western countries.
Lamb should be stored in the refrigerator or freezer immediately after purchasing. Refrigerate fresh lamb at 40 degrees or below.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1660 Isaack B. Fubine of The Hague received a patent for macaroni.
(This fact is reported on many sites on the internet. No one has any further information listed, and I am in doubt as to its accuracy).
1873 Salmon Portland Chase died. He was Secretary of the Treasury under Abraham Lincoln, and later Chief Justice.
1947 The ‘Kraft Television Theater’ premiered on NBC TV
1953 The world record swordfish was caught in Chile: 1,182 pounds.
1987 Shelly Long, who played Diane Chambers, makes her final appearance as a regular on ‘Cheers.’

Categories: Food Holidays, May Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National roast leg of lamb Day, todays food history, wordpress

May 6 is National Crepe Suzette Day

Today’s five things to know about Crepe Suzette

The most common way to make Crêpe Suzette is to pour liqueur (usually Grand Marnier) over a freshly-cooked crêpe with sugar and light it.
This will make the alcohol in the liqueur evaporate, resulting in a fairly thick, caramelised sauce. In a restaurant, a Crêpe Suzette is often prepared in a chafing dish in full view of the guests.
The origin of the dish and its name is somewhat disputed. One claim is that the dish was created out of a mistake made by a fourteen year-old assistant waiter Henri Charpentier in 1895 at the Maitre at Monte Carlo’s Café de Paris. He was preparing a dessert for the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, whose guests included a beautiful French girl named Suzette.
Different sources (like the Larousse Gastronomique) however doubt that Charpentier was serving the prince instead of the head waiter because he would have been too young.
The other claim states Crêpes Suzette was named in honor of French actress Suzanne Reichenberg (1853–1924), who worked professionally under the name Suzette.

Fun Fact:

In the early days of the crepe, white flour was an expensive product, reserved only for royalty that why savory crepes were traditionaly made with buckweat , a esay to grow plant..

Crepe is the French word for pancake. Crepes differ from traditional pancakes in that they are lighter, thinner and are utilized in both sweet and savory dishes.

Unlike pancake batter where some lumps are of no consequence, crepe batter must be smooth and more fluid, like the consistency of heavy cream.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1806 Chapin Aaron Harris was born. He was cofounder of the first dental school in the world, the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery.
1833 John Deere developed the first steel plow.
1851 John Gorrie patented an ice making machine, the first U.S. patent for a mechanical refrigerator.
1862 RIP Henry David Thoreau, American author, philosopher, and naturalist. Author of ‘Walden; or, Life in the Woods.’
1898 Daniel Gerber of baby food fame was born.
1905 Toots Shor, restaurateur was born.
1940 John Steinbeck receives the Pulitzer Prize for his novel ‘The Grapes of Wrath.’
1959 Icelandic gunboats fired on British trawlers during their ‘Cod War’ over fishing rights

Categories: Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, National Crepe Suzette Day, national food holidays, todays food history, wordpress

May 5 is National Enchilada Day

Today’s five things to know about Enchilada

The enchilada is one of the dishes mentioned in Mexico’s first cookbook in 1831.
Enchilada is the past participle of Spanish enchilar, “to add chile pepper to”, literally to “season (or decorate) with chile.”
Enchiladas originated in Mexico, where the practice of rolling tortillas around other food dates back at least to Mayan times.
Writing at the time of the Spanish conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo documented a feast enjoyed by Europeans hosted by Hernán Cortés in Coyoacán, which included foods served in corn tortillas.
In the 19th century, as Mexican cuisine was being memorialized, enchiladas were mentioned in the first Mexican cookbook, El cocinero mexicano (“The Mexican Chef”), published in 1831, and in Mariano Galvan Rivera’s Diccionario de Cocina, published in 1845.

Fun Fact:

Enchiladas appeared in an English language cookbook in 1914 titled, California Mexican-Spanish Cookbook written by Bertha Haffner Ginger.

In Costa Rica, the enchilada is a common, small, spicy pastry made with puff pastry and filled with diced potatoes spiced with a common variation of tabasco sauce or other similar sauces.

In Honduras, enchiladas is called tostada. They are not corn tortillas rolled around a filling, but instead are flat, fried, corn tortillas topped with ground beef, salad toppings, a tomato sauce, and crumbled or shredded cheese.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1865 Nellie Bly (Elizabeth Jane Cochran) was born. In 1889 Bly successfully completed an attempt to beat the record of Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg to go ‘Around the World in Eighty Days’. Bly was a U.S. newspaper reporter and completed the journey in 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds.
1903 James Beard, culinary expert and cookbook author was born. Quote: “The kitchen, reasonably enough, was the scene of my first gastronomic adventure. I was on all fours. I crawled into the vegetable bin, settled on a giant onion and ate it, skin and all. It must have marked me for life, for I have never ceased to love the hearty flavor of raw onions”.
1926 Ann B. Davis was born. She played the role of Alice the housekeeper and cook on the TV show ‘The Brady Bunch’ (1969-1974).
1936 A patent was granted for the first bottle with a screw cap to Edward Ravenscroft of Glencoe, Illinois.

Categories: Food Holidays, May Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, National Enchilada Day, national food holidays, todays food history, wordpress

May 4 is National Hoagie Day

commons.wikimedia.org

Today’s five things to know about Hoagie

The original “hoagie” is what is now referred to as an “Italian Hoagie” which includes a variety of traditional Italian lunch meats, including dry salami, mortadella, capicolla, and provolone served with lettuce, tomato and onions with a light vinegar and oil dressing.
Former Philadelphia mayor (also once Pennsylvania governor) Ed Rendell declared the hoagie the “Official Sandwich of Philadelphia”.
Most hoagie shops offer single-meat hoagies (for example, ham or salami hoagies) as well as premium hoagies with upscale ingredients: prosciutto, imported Italian lunchmeats (cotechino, mortadella, sopressata, etc.). A popular variant is the grinder or cosmo, which is essentially a hoagie that has been toasted under a broiler.
Many takeout shops in Chicago sell a “hoagy” (sic.), usually containing steak and other ingredients, with the option of being “heated.” They also sell cheesesteak, referred to most often as “Philly Steak.”
In many areas the default cheese on a hoagie is Provolone, while in others it is white American cheese. Cheese-only hoagies (Provolone, American, or Mixed) replace the meat with extra slices of cheese.

Fun Fact:

Hoagie was declared the “Official Sandwich of Philadelphia” in 1992.

The most widely accepted story of hoagie’s origin centers on an area of Philadelphia known as Hog Island, which was home to a shipyard during World War I (1914-1918).

During the late 1930s, DePalma joined forces with Buccelli’s Bakery and developed the perfect hoagie roll (an eight-inch roll that became the standard for the modern-day hoagie).

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1494 Columbus landed at Jamaica and met the Arawak Indians. The Arawak used Jamaican pimento (allspice) to season and smoke meat (usually pigs), the foundation upon which Jamaican Jerk developed.
1854 Asa Fitch was appointed as New York state entomologist, the first such in the U.S. He studied insects and their effects on agricultural crops.
1942 War time food rationing began in the U.S.

Categories: Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Hoagie Day, todays food history, wordpress

May 2 is National Chocolate Mousse Day

http://www.bettycrocker.com

Here are today’s five things to know about Chocolate Mousse

The word mousse is French and translates as “froth” or “foam.”
Cold dessert mousses are often poured into decorative glasses and garnished with fruit, sweet sauces, or whipped cream.
Savory mousses can be made from fish, shellfish, meat, foie gras, etc.
There are three key constituents to a mousse: base, binder, and aerator.
They may be hot or cold and are often squeezed through a piping bag onto some kind of platform to be used as hors d’oeuvres.

Fun Fact:

Savory mousse dishes were an 18th century French achievement. Dessert mousses (generally fruit mousses) began to appear much later, in the second half of the 19th century.

The first written record of chocolate mousse in the United States comes from a Food Exposition held at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1892.

Chocolate mousse came into the public eye in the U.S. in the 1930s, about the time as chocolate pudding mixes were introduced.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1878 At 7 a.m., the Washburn A flour mill in Minneapolis exploded, sending the roof 500 feet in the air. 18 workers were killed and seven other flour mills were also destroyed.
1885 Good Housekeeping magazine begins publication. Founded by Clark W. Bryan, the magazine was purchased by Hearst publishing in 1911.
1934 Sergey Vasilyevich Lebedev died. A Russian chemist who developed a method for large scale production of synthetic rubber. Production of polybutadiene was begun in 1932 using potatoes and limestone as raw materials.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: aviation, chocolate, chocolate mousse, climate, dessert, facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national chocolate mousse day, national food holidays, restaurants, snack, sugar, sweet, transportation

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May 1 is National Chocolate Parfait Day

Here are today’s five things to know about Parfait

Dark chocolate has more antioxidants than green tea and just as many as blueberries.
White chocolate really isn’t chocolate. It’s made from cocoa butter, the substance you get by pressing cocoa beans. Cocoa butter is absent of the cocoa solids used to make chocolate.
Chocolate was consumed by the ancient Aztecs as a frothy beverage, somewhat like hot chocolate we drink today.
Chocolate comes from a plant, called Theobroma cacao, which translates “Food of the Gods”.
Eating chocolate can also reduce the symptoms of stress.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1683 Supposedly, a patent for a system of extracting salt from sea water was granted in England.
1841 The first wagon train left Independence, Missouri for California.
1851 London’s Great Exhibition opened in Hyde Park. It was the first international exhibition ever to be held. The Exhibition was housed in the Crystal Palace.
1889 Bayer introduced aspirin powder in Germany.
1927 Imperial Airways became the first British airline to serve hot meals.
1931 Empire State Building opens. It was built on the site of the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel
1971 ‘Brown Sugar’ by the Rolling Stones is released.
1991 Charles Elton died. Elton was an English biologist who first developed the idea of a ‘food chain.’
2001 Hindus in Seattle filled suit against McDonald’s restaurant chain for not disclosing the use of beef flavoring in its French Fries.
2005 A 9 foot, 640 pound freshwater catfish was caught by fishermen in northern Thailand on the Mekong River. According to many, this is the largest freshwater fish ever caught.

Categories: Food Holidays, May Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, National Chocolate Parfait Day, national food holidays, todays food history

April 30 is National Raisin Day

http://www.insockmonkeyslippers.com

Here are today’s five things to know about Raisin

In 1873, a freak hot spell withered the grapes on the vine. One enterprising San Francisco grocer advertised these shriveled grapes as “Peruvian Delicacies” and the rest is history.
It takes more than 4 tons of grapes to produce 1 ton of raisins.
The finest raisins come from Malaga in Spain.
Raisin – comes from the Latin racemus and means “a cluster of grapes or berries”.
Fresno, California is the Raisin Capital of the World.

Fun Fact:

Raisin colors vary by drying process. For example, a dark purplish/black raisin is sun-dried. A light to medium brown raisin is mechanically dehydrated in special drying tunnels. A golden to bright yellow raisin is mechanically dried and treated with sulfur dioxide to retain color and a green raisin is dried by air in adobe houses.

Golden raisins are made by treating the raisins with a lye solution, sometimes with lye and then burning sulfur, and sometimes with sulfur dioxide.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1792 John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich died. Captain Cook named the Sandwich Islands after him (now known as Hawaii). He is supposed to have invented the sandwich as a quick meal so as not to interrupt his gambling sessions.
1904 The Louisiana Purchase Exposition opened in St. Louis (St. Louis World’s Fair). It was at the Fair that the ice cream cone was supposed to have been invented. The hot dog and iced tea were also popularized at the Fair.
1952 Mr. Potato Head is introduced to the world. Mr. Potato Head is the also the first toy to be advertised on television.
1955 ‘Cherry Pink & Apple Blossom White’ by Perez Prado hits number one on the charts.
1981 Dunkin Donuts opened its first store in the Philippines.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Raisin Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 29 is National Shrimp Scampi Day

damndelicious.net

Here are today’s five things to know about Shrimp Scampi

The word “scampi” means “shrimp”. Therefore, “shrimp scampi” is “shrimp shrimp” (or “scampi scampi”).
The pistol shrimp can deliver an explosive attack hotter than the surface of the sun and loud enough to rupture a human ear drum.
Every shrimp is actually born male, and some develop into females.
Some shrimp are actually capable of glowing in the dark.
Shrimp can vary in size from 1/2 inch to 12 inches.

Fun Fact:

One billion pounds of shrimp are eaten every year by Americans.
The name for raw, uncooked shrimp is “green”.
Every shrimp is actually born a male and then become females as they mature.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1768 Georg Brandt died. A Swedish chemist, he discovered the element cobalt in 1730. Cobalt is used in steel making, and is an essential part of vitamin B12
1856 A shipment of 33 camels arrived at the Texas port of Indianola. They had been purchased on the North African Coast, for the U.S. army to use in the deserts of the Southwest.
1913 The zipper was patented by Gideon Sundback. Most checked chefs pants still have buttons.
1988 McDonald’s announced it will be opening 20 Moscow restaurants. They will serve Bolshoi Mak instead of Big Macs.
1989 Donald Deskey died. An industrial designer, he designed the packaging for Tide laundry detergent and Crest toothpaste among others.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Shrimp Scampi Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 28 is National Blueberry Pie Day

http://www.dishmaps.com

Here are today’s five things to know about Blueberry

Blueberries are one of the only natural foods that are truly blue in color.
The pale, powder-like protective coating on the skin of blueberries is called “bloom.”
A blueberry extract diet improves balance, coordination, and short-term memory in aging rats.
Blueberries are the official berries of Nova Scotia, Canada.
The anthocyanin present in blueberries is good for eyesight.

Fun Fact:

The U.S. is the world’s largest producer of blueberries, harvesting a total of 564.4 million pounds of cultivated and wild blueberries in 2012.

Blueberries can be harvested by gently shaking a bush and catching the falling berries.

Blueberries don’t ripen after they have been picked.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1789 The most famous mutiny in history took place on the English ship, ‘Bounty’, against Captain William Bligh. The ship was sailing to Tahiti to bring back breadfruit trees.
1796 ‘American Cookery’ by Amelia Simmons is published in Hartford. It is the first cookbook written by an American. This is one of the classic cookbooks that can be found on the Food Reference Website.
1899 The comedy short ‘Stealing a Dinner’ was filmed by cameraman G.W. ‘Billy’ Bitzer for the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. (Mutoscope were ‘peephole’ motion pictures on cards mounted on a rotating drum turned by hand.)
1940 Italian operatic soprano, Louisia Tetrazzini, died. Chicken Tetrazzini, created by an American chef (San Francisco?), was named in her honor.
1944 Alice Waters was born. Executive Chef and Owner of Chez Panisse Restaurant, opened in 1971 in Berkeley, California
1953 Howard C. Rossin was issued a patent for an overcoat built for two (or Siamese Twins).
2005 Loaded Burrito Scare: Clovis, New Mexicao police were called to a middle school when someone saw what appeared to be a weapon being carried in by a student. Police did not find any weapon, but finally an 8th grader realized that what someone had seen was his extra credit commercial advertising project – a 30 inch long steak burrito wrapped in tin foil and a T-Shirt.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, National Blueberry Pie Day, national food holidays, todays food history, wordpress

April 27 is National Prime Rib Day

Interesting Food Facts about Prime Rib

A standing rib roast is a prime rib consisting of SEVEN ribs.
A scooped & tied standing rib roast will have the bones taken off and then tied back on.
A rib eye roast is a boneless prime rib.
The beef is cut from the rib section, the largest central area of the steer, located in between the chuck and the short loin, just above the plate.
If choosing a prime rib at the butcher, look for a cut that has a bright color and milky white fat.

Fun Fact:

“Au Jus” refers to the drippings that come off the meat during cooking, and it is often served alongside the prime rib.

The prime rib comes from ribs 6-12 of the cow.

Prime rib cooking temperatures are: rare:120°-125°, medium rare: 130°-135°, medium:140°-145° and well done:160°.

Today’s Food History

1773 The British Parliament passed the ‘Tea Act,’ one of the events that led to the American Revolution.
1865 Cornell University was chartered. Cornell is an agricultural land grant university endowed by Ezra Cornell, one of the founders of Western Union Telegraph Co. Today, Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, offers many programs, including Agricultural and Life Sciences, Hotel Administration, and Nutritional Sciences.
1871 The American Museum of Natural History in New York City was opened to the public.
1902 Julius Sterling Morton died. He was the founder of Arbor Day, first observed in Nebraska on April 10, 1872. Over one million trees were planted.
1947 Pete Ham of the rock group Badfinger was born.
1965 R. C. Duncan was granted a patent for ‘Pampers’ disposable diapers.
1995 On ‘Seinfeld’ Kramer began sculpting with pasta.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Prime Rib Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 26 is National Pretzel Day

http://www.notjusthotdogs.com

Today’s five things to know about Pretzel

The first pretzel was created in 610 A.D. by a monk in southern France or northern Italy. It was originally called a ‘pretiola’ and was renamed ‘pretzel’ later when the idea migrated to Germany and Austria.
In 1861, pretzel twisting was the second highest-paying job in the Philadelphia region. Today, machines do the twisting, although at some artisan shops, tourists can still see it done the old-fashioned way.
The birthplace of the hard pretzel was Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. The pretzel, or bretzel as it was called then, first came to America in 1710 with Palatine German immigrants (from the Rhineland) who settled in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and became known, incorrectly, as the “Pennsylvania Dutch.”
In the 18th century, German children would wear pretzel necklaces at the beginning of a new year for prosperity, health and good fortune.
In the 17th century, pretzels were known as a marriage knot. During a wedding ceremony, a couple would wish upon a pretzel, break it (like a wishbone), and eat it to signify their oneness. It is speculated that the term, “tying the knot,” originated in Switzerland in 1614 during a wedding between two prominent families.

Fun Fact:

In a prayer book used by Catherine of Cleves in 1440, there was a picture of St. Bartholomew surrounded by pretzels. By this time, pretzels were considered a sign of good luck and spiritual wholeness—possibly due to the three holes in the common pretzel shape touted to represent the Holy Trinity at this point.

Pretzels have long been integrated into the Christian faith. By the 16th century, it had become tradition to eat pretzels on Good Friday in Germany, and Catholics once considered them the “official food of lent.”

The largest ever pretzel was 40 pounds, baked by Philadelphia resident Joe Nacchio. The baked good was 5 feet across.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1785 John James Audubon was born. Ornithologist, naturalist and artist, known mainly for his paintings and sketches of North American birds.
1877 Minnesota held a state day of prayer to plead for an end to a 4 year plague of Rocky Mountain locusts. In southwestern Minnesota, locusts had been eating crops, trees, tobacco, fence posts, leather, dead animals, sheep’s wool – everything but the mortgage. Two days later a snowstorm moved through and the locusts were never seen again. No one knows what caused the locust plague, nor why the Rocky Mountain locust became extinct after the plague.
1947 Pete Ham of the music group ‘Badfinger’ was born
1962 ‘Mashed Potato Time’ by Dee Dee Sharp is #1 on the charts.
1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant in the Ukraine explodes. The worst nuclear disaster in history. In addition to the human toll, agriculture and livestock was contaminated by radiation in large areas of Europe for years to come.
1989 Lucille Ball died. Two of the funniest food related comedy routines ever done were the chocolate factory and the grape stomping episodes from her TV show, ‘I Love Lucy.’
2005 A herd of buffalo escaped from a farm and wandered around a Baltimore, Maryland suburb disrupting traffic, and shutting down several major highways. Police eventually herded them onto a nearby tennis court.
2006 Chicago banned the sale of foie gras.

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Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Pretzel Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 25 is National Zucchini Bread Day

http://www.joyofkosher.com

Here are today’s five things to know about Zucchini Bread

A zucchini has more potassium than a banana.
The word zucchini comes from ‘zucca’ the Italian word for squash.
Biggest is NOT best. The most flavorful zucchinis are small- to medium-sized.
According to World’s Healthiest Foods Nutrition info, nutrients and vitamins found in zucchini can help prevent cancer and heart disease.
The flower of the zucchini plant is also edible.

Fun Fact:

The world’s largest zucchini on record was 69 1/2 inches long, and weighed 65 lbs. Bernard Lavery of Plymouth Devon, UK, grew the humongous veggie.

Mild bitterness in zucchini, like that in related species like cucumbers, may be result from environmental factors such as high temperature, low moisture, low soil nutrients, etc. The bitterness is caused by compounds called cucurbitacins.

A zucchini has more potassium than a banana.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1856 Charles Luttwedge Dodgson met a little girl named Alice Liddell. Alice had a penchant for consuming unknown (and apparently psychoactive) food, pills and liquids that she found while exploring a very large rabbit hole.
1932 Meadowlark Lemon, basketball star, was born.
1945 Stu Cook of the music group ‘Creedence Clearwater Revival’ was born.
1959 The St. Lawrence Seaway opened. It connects the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. Its completion opened the heart of Americas industrial and agricultural areas to ocean going vessels for shipping. (The official opening ceremony is June 26)

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April 24 is National Pigs-in-a-Blanket Day

http://www.foodnetwork.com

Here are today’s five things to know about Pigs-in-a-Blanket

The first written record of pigs in a blanket occurs in Betty Crocker’s Cooking for Kids in 1957.
Pigs in a blanket are also known as devils on horsebacks, kilted sausages, and wiener winks.
In the United Kingdom, pigs in blankets are small sausages, or chipolatas wrapped up in bacon.
In America, pigs in a blanket often refers to hot dogs, Vienna sausages, or breakfast sausages wrapped in biscuit dough, croissant dough or a pancake and then baked.
You can combine these dishes by wrapping your sausage in bacon, then cooking them into a biscuit or croissant.

Fun Fact:

Pigs in a blanket are usually different from sausage rolls, which are a larger, more filling item served for breakfast and lunch in parts of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and, more rarely, the United States and Canada.

The name can also refer to klobasnek (a kind of kolache filled with sausage or ham slices). The German Würstchen im Schlafrock (“sausage in a dressing gown“) uses sausages wrapped in puff pastry, or, more rarely, pancakes. Cheese and bacon are sometimes present.

In Russia, this dish is named Сосиска в тесте (Sosiska v teste, “sausage in dough“).

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1766 Robert Bailey Thomas was born. He was the founder and long time editor of the ‘Farmer’s Almanac’ now known as the ‘Old Farmer’s Almanac.’
1833 Jacob Ebert and George Dulty patented the first soda fountain.
1914 Justin Wilson, Cajun chef and humorist was born. He wrote five cookbooks, hosted several cooking shows, including ‘Louisiana Cookin’ and ‘Cookin’ Cajun.’
1949 Chocolate rationing ended in Britain.
1994 The world’s largest lollipop, 3,011 pounds, is made in Denmark.

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April 22 is National Jelly Bean Day

http://www.friars.co.uk

Here are today’s five things to know about Jelly Bean

They were President Reagan’s favorite candy and he used them to help him quit smoking when he was the governor of California.
Each year in the U.S, there are 16 billion jelly beans manufactured just for Easter. This is enough to circle the Earth more than 3 times if they were laid end to end.
The jelly bean is associated with Easter because of its egg-like shape.
In the early 20th century, a “jelly-bean” was slang for a man of style and no substance.
They were the first candy to be sold by weight rather than by piece.

Fun Fact:

The first jelly bean was created by an unknown American candy maker in the 1800s. An 1861 advertisement recommended sending jelly beans to soldiers fighting in the Civil War.

The original eight flavors of Jelly Belly beans introduced in 1976 were Very Cherry, Root Beer, Cream Soda, Tangerine, Green Apple, Lemon, Licorice and Grape.

Jelly Belly beans were the first jelly beans in outer space when President Reagan sent them on the 1983 flight of the space shuttle Challenger.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1662 John Tradescant died. He succeeded his father as naturalist and gardener to Charles I. 1818 Cadwallader C. Washburn is born in Livermore, Maine. In 1866 he built a flour mill at St. Anthony Falls, Minnesota and his Washburn-Crosby Co. (forerunner of General Mills) would market Gold Medal flour.
1832 Julius Sterling Morton was born. He was the founder of Arbor Day, first observed in Nebraska on April 10, 1872. Over one million trees were planted.
1889 The U.S. opened Oklahoma to homesteaders and the Oklahoma land rush officially began at 12 noon.
1913 Thomas Wright of New Jersey patented a method to load ice on to refrigerator railroad cars.
1948 Prosper Montagne died. Montagne was one of the great French chefs of all time. He is mainly remembered as the creator of Larousse Gastronomique (1938), a comprehensive encyclopedia of French gastronomy.
1964 The New York World’s Fair opens in Flushing Meadows on the same site as the 1939 World’s Fair. I had my first Heineken beer at their exhibition there. As a matter of fact, I spent every weekend there from April to October for the 2 years the Fair was open. I sampled music, food, beer and wine from around the world, and it helped to inspire my interest in cooking and food history.
1970 The first Earth Day was celebrated. Is our environment better or worse today?
1996 Erma Bombeck died. Writer, humorist, you will find some of her quotes about family and food on the Food Reference website.

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Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Jellybean Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 21 is National Chocolate-Covered Cashews Day

http://www.paperplatesblog.com

Here are today’s five things to know about Cashews

Pistachio, mango, cashew and poison ivy are in the same family.
Cashews are native to Costa Rica and Central America. The fresh cashew nut has a substance inside that produce a big burn and rash in skin and mouth, at the same time this is a highly valuable product known as Cashew Nut Shell Liquid or CNSL, ingredient that have special structural features for transformation into specialty chemicals and high value polymers, this is important considering the fact that, since this is a renewable resource, is better than synthetics.
One thing is the cashew nut and a different thing is the cashew apple, this last one is a kind of fruit to which it’s attached the nut, this fleshy fruit has an aroma some people love while others dislike, the most common way of preparation of this fruit is doing a tasteful juice mixed with water and sugar.
Cashews in Costa Rica are harvested during March and April.
A quite interesting experience is to burn in wood fire a raw cashew nut, this CNSL is highly flammable and while it burns produces impressive tiny explosions. Kids shouldn’t try this without parent’s supervision. Gases and fumes can also irritate, so this experiment should be done in open spaces.

Fun Fact:

India is the world’s largest producer of cashews, with Brazil second and Africa a distant third.

While high in fat, cashews actually contain less fat than other mass-produced nuts, such as almond and walnuts, and the amount of dietary fiber contained make them a good food for weight loss when eaten in moderation.

Cashews have a high fat content, which means that if they are left at room temperature, they won’t stay fresh for long.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1838 John Muir was born. Muir was a naturalist who was largely responsible for the establishment of Sequoia and Yosemite national parks in California in 1890.
1878 The White House hosted the first Easter Egg Roll. Previously, the activities had been held on the Capitol grounds. Congress passed a law banning the practice due to a limited maintenance and landscaping budget (Bah humbug!). President Rutherford B. Hayes was asked if children could hold the activities on the South Lawn of the White House and he enthusiastically agreed. The event has been held there ever since.
1910 R.I.P. Samuel Langhorne Clemens (Mark Twain. American author, pen name Mark Twain, who wrote ‘Tom Sawyer’, ‘Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,’ etc. There are many quotes and descriptions about food and dining in his works (and on FoodReference.com). An example is: “A man accustomed to American food and American domestic cookery would not starve to death suddenly in Europe, but I think he would gradually waste away, and eventually die.” (From ‘A Tramp Abroad’).
1962 The Top Of The Needle restaurant in the Seattle, Washington Space Needle, was officially opened. It was the second revolving restaurant in the U.S. It seats 260 and rotates completely once every hour. (The world’s first revolving restaurant was the La Ronde Restaurant built in 1961 atop the Ala Moana building fronting the Ala Moana shopping center. The restaurant has since closed down.)
1963 The Beatles and the Rolling Stones met for the first time at the Crawdaddy Club.

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April 20 is National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day

http://www.bettycrocker.com

Here are today’s five things to know about Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

The term ‘upside down cake’ wasn’t used very much before the middle of the 19th century, but the style of baking probably dates back much further, probably to the Middle Ages.
The early recipes for fruit upside down cakes were made in cast iron skillets on top of the stove.
The classic American ‘Pineapple Upside Down Cake’ dates to sometime after 1903, when Jim Dole invented canned pineapple.
The Hawaiian Pineapple Co. (now Dole Pineapple) held a pineapple recipe contest in 1925, with judges from Fannie Farmer’s School, Good Housekeeping and McCall’s magazine on the judging panel. The 100 winning recipes would be published in a cookbook the following year.
The Hawaiin Pineapple Company ran an ad campaign in 1926 based on the fact that so many recipes for the cake had been submitted, naturally making the Pineapple Upside Down Cake even more popular.

Fun Fact:

Caribbean Indians placed pineapples or pineapple crowns outside the entrances of their homes to symbolize friendship and hospitality.

The Spanish explorers thought pineapples looked like pinecones, so they called them “Pina.” The English added “apple” to associate it with juicy delectable fruits.

Pineapple, “halakahiki” in Hawaiian, meaning foreign fruit, has been grown in Hawaii since the early 1800’s.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1770 Marie-Anne de Cupis de Camargo died. Born in Belgium, this ballerina danced with the Paris Opera. Escoffier named many gourmet dishes in her honor.
1841 Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Murders in the Rue Morgue’ was published, the first modern detective story. This has nothing to do with food, but I am an avid fan of both detective fiction and Poe.

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April 19 is National Rice Ball Day

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Here are today’s five things to know about Rice Balls

The rice balls preserve very well, and can even be used to preserve meats or other foods within its airtight seal.
The rice ball is traditionally Japanese.
Typically the rice is soaked in vinegar and made to stick together. Dipping it in soy sauce will cause it to fall apart again.
Rice balls date back at least as far as the 11th century.
Another word for the rice ball is “Onigiri”, a word commonly misused to refer to sushi.

Fun Fact:

Popular onigiri fillings include tuna salad, salmon flakes, seafood salad, konbu (a type of sea vegatable), umeboshi (a sour bright-red pickled Japanese plum), tempura, and even natto (eat this one at your own risk!).

“Onigri” literally means “to hold on to”.

It was believed that onigiri could not be mass-produced as the hand-rolling technique was considered too difficult for a machine to replicate. In the 1980s, however, a machine that made triangular onigiri was devised.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1877 Ole Evinrude was born. He invented the first practical outboard motor in 1909. The idea came to him while rowing a boat to a picnic one day. He decided there must be an easier way to move a small boat on the water.
1882 Charles Darwin Died. Pioneering English naturalist who developed the theory of evolution. His works include ‘Origin of Species’ and ‘The Descent of Man.’
1904 Richard Pough was born. An American ecologist he was the founding president of the Nature Conservancy and helped found the World Wildlife Fund. In 1945, he was one of the first to warn about the dangers of DDT to fish and birds.
1933 Jayne Mansfield was born. American beauty contest winner, stage and screen actress. Supposedly the only title she ever turned down was ‘Miss Roquefort Cheese,’ because she believed it “just didn’t sound right.”
1947 Mark Volman of the music group ‘The Turtles’ was born.
1968 ‘Honey’ by Bobby Goldsboro is #1 on the charts.
1975 Percy L. Julian died. An African American chemist, he worked on synthesizing various compounds from soy beans. One of his creations was a foam fire extinguisher refined from soya protein.
1995 The Supreme Court ruled that alcohol content could be listed on beer labels, overturning a 1935 law which had prohibited it.

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Tagged: d, facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Rice Ball Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 18 is National Animal Crackers Day

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Here are today’s five things to know about Animal Crackers

The famous Barnum’s animal crackers box was originally a Christmas ornament hung by a string. The string can still be found on boxes.
A box of Animal Crackers sold for 5 cents in 1902.
Animal Crackers originated in England where they were known as animal biscuits.
54 different animals have been created as animal crackers. The most popular brand, Barnum’s Animal Crackers, has featured 37 different animals since 1902.
The most recent addition to the Barnum’s animal crackers is the Koala bear.

Fun Fact:

Over the years, the only ones that have survived the entire lifetime of the product are bears, elephants, lions and tigers.

Shirley Temple sang “Animal crackers in my soup, Monkeys and rabbits loop the loop,”, but rabbits never found their way into a box of Barnum’s Animal Crackers.

The name referred to P. T. Barnum (1810-1891), the famous circus owner and showman.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1834 William Lamb became prime minister of England. (I know it’s a stretch, but his name is Lamb!).
1904 ‘Pigmeat’ Markham was born. American actor, comedian. (“Here comes the Judge.”).
1906 San Francisco was hit by a devastating earthquake at 5:12 a.m.
1907 The Fairmont hotel reopened in San Francisco, one year after being severely damaged by the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906.
1944 Skip Spence of the music group ‘Moby Grape’ was born.

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April 16 is National Eggs Benedict Day

modernflavormagazine.com

Here are today’s five thing to know about Egg Benedict:

Eggs Blackstone substitutes streaky bacon for the ham and adds a tomato slice.
Huevos Benedict substitutes avocado for the ham, and is topped with both salsa and hollandaise sauce.
Eggs Sardou substitutes artichoke bottoms and crossed anchovy fillets for the English muffin and ham, then tops the hollandaise sauce with chopped ham and a truffle slice. The dish was created at Antoine’s Restaurant in New Orleans in honor of the French playwright Victorien Sardou. A more widespread version of the dish starts with a base of creamed spinach, substitutes artichoke bottoms for the English muffin, and eliminates the ham.
Portobello Benedict substitutes Portobello mushrooms for the ham, and is a popular alternative for Catholics observing the Friday Fast.
Eggs Provençal replaces the Hollandaise sauce with Béarnaise Sauce.

Fun Fact:

Historians attribute the invention of Eggs Benedict to two different events.

Origin Story 1: In the 1860’s, a regular patron of the restaurant, Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, finding nothing to her liking and wanting something new to eat for lunch, discussed this with Chef Charles Ranhofer(1936-1899), Ranhofer came up with Eggs Benedict.

Origin Story 2: In 1894, Lemuel Benedict, a Wall Street broker, who was suffering from a hangover, ordered “some buttered toast, crisp bacon, two poached eggs, and a hooker of hollandaise sauce” at the Waldorf Hotel in New York. The Waldorf’s legendary chef, Oscar Tschirky, was so impressed that he put the dish on his breakfast and luncheon menus after substituting Canadian bacon for crisp bacon and a toasted English muffin for toasted bread.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1521 Martin Luther arrived at the Diet of Worms. This was NOT the first fad diet.
1906 William James Farrer died. An Australian agriculturist, he developed new varieties of wheat.
1924 Henry Mancini was born. Oscar winning music composer, he wrote many songs and film scores, including the score for ‘Breakfast at Tiffany’s’
1928 Ellsworth Milson Statler died. American hotel owner, founder of Statler Hotels. His Statler Hotel in Buffalo, New York was the first hotel in the U.S. to have running water and private baths in each room.
1941 The original Elsie the Cow died. Elsie the cow was originally a cartoon character appearing in ads for Borden Milk. At the 1939 New York World’s Fair, when people began asking where Elsie was, Borden’s picked a cow originally named ‘You’ll do Lobelia’ from their herd to be Elsie. Elsie stared in commercials, made personal appearances, and even starred in an RKO movie, ‘Little Men.’ Elsie was injured in a truck accident in 1941 and had to be put to sleep. She is buried in Plainsboro, New Jersey.
1956 On the ‘I Love Lucy’ show, Lucy stomped grapes in Rome, and wrestled with another female grape stomper. An inspiration for future ‘food wrestling’ entrepreneurs. Actually, this is one of the funniest sitcom episodes ever made.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

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April 15 is National Ham Day

http://www.bonnemaman.us

Here are today’s five thing to know about Glazed Ham:

The Hormel Company of Austin, Minnesota sold the first canned ham in 1926.
Hams are produced by almost every country in the world.
Mainz ham is a German ham that is brined, soaked in brandy or wine lees (or a mixture of both) and then smoked for a long period.
A country ham is much drier than injected-cured hams and has a sharper flavored due to its high salt content.
A pig scratches himself with his right leg, which uses the muscles more often, so the meat will be tougher. Aim for the left leg if you can.

Fun Fact:

On the Apollo 13 mission, the crew managed to create a functioning CO2 filter out of duct tape and glazed ham.

Chicago artist Dwight Kalb made a statue of Madonna from 180 pounds of ham.

Names of some of the better known hams of the world include: Smithfield, prosciutto, Westphalian, Parma, Virginia, Kentucky, Country, Canned, Bayonne, York, Mainz, Prague, Asturias, Toulouse, Dijon, Black Forest, Bohemian, Serrano, presunto, Bradenham, Estremadura, Prazska sunks, and szynka.

Today’s Food History

1710 Marie-Anne de Cupis de Camargo was born. Born in Belgium, this ballerina danced with the Paris Opera. Escoffier named many gourmet dishes in her honor.
1854 New York became the first state to fund a study of insects harmful to plants.
1874 George Harrison Shull was born. An American botanist, frequently called the ‘father of hybrid corn.’
1878 Harley Proctor created Ivory Soap.
1912 John Jacob Astor IV died. Great grandson of John Jacob Astor, who founded the family fortune. John Jacob IV built the Astoria section of what would become the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (1897) in New York city (this was on the site that were the Empire State building would be built in 1929). He also built the Knickerbocker and the St. Regis hotels. He died on the Titanic.
1951 Household hints columnist, Heloise, was born in Waco, Texas.
1955 The first franchised McDonald’s was opened in Des Plaines, Illinois, by Ray Kroc, who bought the hamburger restaurant owned by the McDonald brothers. On opening day a 2 patty hamburger was 15 cents and French Fries were 10 cents

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Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Glazed Ham Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 14 is National Pecan Day

luxebeatmag.com

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

Pecans come in a variety of sizes – mammoth, extra large, large, medium, small and midget.
Before a shelled pecan is ready to be sold, it must first be cleaned, sized, sterilized, cracked and finally, shelled.
There are over 1,000 varieties of pecans. Many are named for Native American Indian tribes, including Cheyenne, Mohawk, Sioux, Choctaw and Shawnee.
Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.
2 Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc.

Fun Fact:

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.
The U.S. produces about 80 percent of the world’s pecan crop.
Native Americans utilized and cultivated wild pecans in the 1500s. It is the only tree native to North America and is considered one of the most valuable North American nut species.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1828 The first edition of Noah Webster’s dictionary is copyrighted.
1912 The British luxury liner Titanic struck an iceberg shortly before midnight. It sank at 2:20 a.m. on April 15.
1927 Clarence Birdseye of Massachusetts received a U.K. patent for frozen fish fingers.
1939 ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ by John Steinbeck was published.
1964 Rachel Louise Carson died. An American biologist and author of ‘Silent Spring,’ about environmental pollution, especially the dangers of DDT.
1989 ‘She Drives Me Crazy’ by Fine Young Cannibals is #1 on the charts

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Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, National Pecan Day, todays food history, wordpress

April 13 is National Peach Cobbler Day

Here are today’s five thing to know about Peach Cobbler:

Peach Cobblers are an American deep-dish fruit dessert or pie with a thick crust (usually a biscuit crust) and peach filling.
Peach Cobbler day was created by the Georgia Peach Council in the 1950’s to sell canned peaches.
The rough look of the pie gives the dish its name. It looks “cobbled” together.
There are 419 calories in 1 cup of Peach Cobbler.
Peach cobbler was invented by early American settlers.

Fun Fact:

The “World’s Largest Peach Cobbler” can be seen and tasted at the annual Georgia Peach Festival. This huge dish is 11 by five feet (about three by two meters) and eight inches (about 20 centimeters) deep.
The recipe requires 75 gallons (285 liters) of local peaches, 90 pounds of real butter, 32 gallons (about 122 liters) of whole milk, 150 pounds of wheat flour, and 150 pounds of sugar.
Some versions of Peach Cobbler are enclosed in the crust, while others have a drop-biscuit or crumb topping.

Today’s Pinterest Board : Foodimentary

Today’s Food History

1748 Joseph Bramah was born. An English engineer, among his many inventions was a beer engine, used to deliver beer from keg to glass without artificial carbonation being added.
1796 The first elephant to be brought to the U.S. arrived from Bengal, India. It was exhibited in New York, and its diet was described as: “thirty pounds of rice besides hay and straw…. all kinds of wine and spiritous liquors….and every kind of vegetable; it will also draw a cork from a bottle in its trunk.”
1883 Alfred Packer was convicted of cannibalism in Colorado. (Actually he was convicted of murder, since cannibalism was not against the law). He was sentenced to death, but was retried in 1886 and sentenced to 40 years. He was paroled in 1901, and died in 1907.
1902 Baron Philippe de Rothschild was born. (Wine producer).
1909 Mervyn Hugh Cowie was born. Cowie was a British wildlife conservationist, founder and director of Kenya’s Royal National Parks.
1916 Funk Brothers Seed Company sold the first U.S. shipment of hybrid seed corn to Samuel Ramsay of Jacobsburg, Ohio. Todayinsci.com
1916 Edna Lewis was born, southern chef and author of ‘The Taste of Southern Cooking’ (1976).
1917 James Buchanan (‘Diamond Jim’) Brady died. An American financier and philanthropist, Diamond Jim was known for his diamond jewelry and his huge appetite.
1944 Jack Casady of the music group ‘Hot Tuna’ was born.
1976 The $2 bill is reintroduced by the U.S. Treasury.
2008 The National Meats Institute in Uruguay organized a record Largest BBQ, grilling about over 26,000 pounds of beef on a mile long bbq grill using 6 tonnes of charcoal.

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Tagged: facts, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national food holidays, peach cobbler day

April 12 is National Licorice Day

Interesting Food Facts about Licorice

The botanical name for licorice translates to “sweet root.”
The licorice plant is actually a member of the pea family.
Licorice gets its flavor from glycyrrhizic acid, a chemical 50x sweeter than sugar!
This flavor is used in many products other than licorice candy, such as alcohol, tobacco, and of course food.
Carbenoxolone, a compound derived from licorice root, may help slow the effects of aging on the brain.

Fun Fact:

Licorice helps relieve the pains that accompany certain types of ulcers, and it is good for the adrenal glands.

Licorice root is a botanical ingredient in modern Chinese medicines used to manage cancers. Current research conducted at Rutgers, the
State University of New Jersey, supports the use of licorice in the treatment of prostate and breast cancer.

In Egypt the Pharaohs used liquorice to create a traditional drink called erqesos, which was consumed as a healing tonic.

1748 Antoine-Laurent de Jussieu was born. A French botanist whose ideas formed the foundation of a natural plant classification system.
1985 The four ‘unicorns’ of Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus were declared to be only goats with surgically implanted horns by federal inspectors. The circus was ordered to stop advertising them as unicorns
1988 The first U.S. patent on an animal life form was issued to Harvard scientists for a genetically engineered mouse.
1989 The USSR issued ration cards for sugar due to a shortage
2001 Maryland banned the farming of genetically modified fish in any waters linked to other bodies of water.

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Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, licorice, life, national food holidays, national licorice day, todays food history

April 11 is National Cheese Fondue Day

Interesting Food Facts about Cheese Fondue

The melted cheese dish known as fondue is Swiss in origin.
Cow herders, who had long winters with few provisions, invented the dish.
Other nationalities have similar recipes involving things like creamy eggs.
The way the Swiss dish obtained a French name is a mystery, though there is a powerful influence of French language speakers in Switzerland even today.
The Swiss nobles liked the dish so much that they adapted it from its humble beginnings to make it a dish of the nobility.

Fun Fact:

Fondue became popular in the U.S. during the mid-1960s after American tourists discovered it in Switzerland.
Over 100 varieties of cheese fondue exist, each with a unique name and different blend of cheeses, wine and seasoning.
Tradition states that if bread falls off a woman’s fork and into the pot she must kiss her neighbor. If a man drops anything into the pot he has to buy a round of drinks for the table.

Today’s Food History

1899 Percy L. Julian was born. An African American chemist, he worked on synthesizing various compounds from soy beans. One of his creations was a foam fire extinguisher refined from soya protein.
1926 Luther Burbank died. American horticulturist, he developed many new varieties of fruits and vegetables, including the Burbank Potato (1873), the Shasta Daisy, over 100 varieties of plums and prunes and 10 varieties of berries.
1958 ‘Tequila’ by The Champs is #1 on the charts.
1986 Kellogg’s ended tours of its breakfast cereal plant for fear that industrial spies would obtain company secrets.
1992 The largest Barracuda caught with rod and reel was a great barracuda that weighed 85 pounds. It was caught off Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national cheese fondue day, national food holidays, todays food history

April 8 is National Empanada Day

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

The Spanish word for bread is “pan”. “Empanar” is a verb form that means “to bread”. Emapanada is the past-participle, “breaded”.
It’s basically a single-serving turnover. It can be filled with sweet foods like fruits, sugars, and syrups, or savory foods like meats, cheeses, and oils.
They originated in northwest Spain, in a region known as Galicia.
Today they are most popular in Spanish-speaking countries across Europe and South America.
Originally they were made with bread dough, but now they are made with pastries as well.

Fun Fact:

The bolani is an Afghan variant of the empanada. Bolanis are flatbreads stuffed with vegetables such as spinach or potato. They are served in the evenings during the Muslim feast of Ramadan as well as at other times.

Bolivian empanadas are made with beef, pork, or chicken, and usually contain potatoes, peas and carrots, as well as a hard-boiled egg, an olive, or raisins. They are called salteñas and are moon-shaped pouches of dough customarily seamed along the top of the pastry.

Empanadas are known as panada or pastel in Indonesia. The panada, has thick crust made of fried bread, giving it bread texture and is filled with spicy tuna and chili peppers. The pastel has thin crust and a fillings typically made of finely diced potatoes, carrot, green onions, chicken, garlic, and glass noodles.

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1513 Ponce de Leon landed in Florida while searching for the Fountain of Youth. He thought it was just another island of the Bahamas.
1862 John D. Lynde of Philadelphia patented the first aerosol dispenser.
1873 Alfred Paraf received a patent for the first commercially viable margarine manufacturing process.
1879 The Echo Farms Dairy of New York began selling milk in glass bottles, the first in the U.S.
1946 ‘Catfish’ Hunter, baseball pitcher, was born.
1992 R.I.P. Benjamin Eisenstadt. He invented the artificial sweetener, ‘Sweet ‘n Low’ (granulated saccharin and dextrose).

Categories: April Food Holidays, Food Holidays

Tagged: aerosol dispenser, artificial sweetener, empanada, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, international cuisine, international foods, island of the bahamas, life, national empanada day, national food holidays, northwest spain, ponce de leon, restaurants, todays food history

Posts tagged “national food holidays”

Celebrating February 8

National “Potato Lover’s” Day

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

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What would you like to have to eat today?

Ready to have any and all of your favorite foods and snacks?

Because today, May 11th is the National Eat What You Want day!

Five Most Popular Foods in US

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Shrimp, low in fat and high in protein and a moderate source of omega-3 fatty acids,

is the most popular seafood in the United States,

Today’s five things to know about Shrimp

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Coconut cream pie is a spin-off custard-cream pie,

a traditional Southern favorite that has been widespread.

Celebrate the National Coconut Cream Pie day in May 8th!

Today’s five things to know about Coconut Cream Pie

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For decades May 7 has been a day to celebrate leg of lamb,

the most popular cut of lamb in North America

Today’s five things to know about Lamb

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Today’s five things to know about Crepe Suzette

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Today’s five things to know about Enchilada

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Today’s five things to know about Hoagie

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Here are today’s five things to know about Chocolate Mousse

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Here are today’s five things to know about Parfait

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Here are today’s five things to know about Raisin

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Here are today’s five things to know about Shrimp Scampi

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Here are today’s five things to know about Blueberry

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Interesting Food Facts about Prime Rib

Fun Fact:

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