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Five Food Finds about Fruitcake

The Egyptians liked these cakes so much that they put them in tombs. They thought that fruitcakes would survive the long journey to the afterlife

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Even Crusaders knew that fruitcakes could withstand a long journey. Not only did these cakes withstand long journeys, but they were also full of nutritious items like dried fruit and nuts.

Fruitcakes were the wedding cake of choice in England.  Single female wedding guests would take a piece home and place it under their pillow in hopes of dreaming of the man they would marry.

Fruitcake is perfectly edible as long as there is no mold on it.

If your fruitcake dries out, soak it in alcohol or some other liquid and it will become as edible again.

Today’s Food History

1741 Jean Etienne Bore was born. The inventor of the sugar granulating process (1794 or 1795), founder of the sugar industry in Louisiana.

1822 Louis Pasteur was born. A French scientist, he showed that microorganisms were responsible for disease, food spoilage and fermentation. He developed the process for killing these organisms by heat, called Pasteurization. He also developed vaccines for anthrax, cholera and rabies.

1831 Charles Darwin sets off aboard the HMS Beagle, on his historic 5 year voyage of scientific discovery.

1834 English author and poet Charles Lamb died.

1947 The children’s TV show ‘Howdy Doody’ debuts on NBC.

1960 Ray Charles recorded ‘One Mint Julep.’

1968 Victor Shelford died. An American zoologist and ecologist, he was one of the first to treat ecology as a separate science. He was active and influential in several ecological organizations, including the Nature Conservancy formed in 1951.

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