High-res version

Happy National Vanilla Cupcake Day

The world’s favorite cupcake flavor!

#NationalVanillaCupcakeDay

Here are today’s five thing to know about Vanilla & Cupcakes:

 Vanilla is the only fruit-bearing member of the orchid family.

The flower that produces the vanilla bean lasts only one day. The beans are hand-picked and then cured, wrapped, and dried in a process that takes 4 to 6 months.

The first mention of a cupcake recipe goes as far back as 1796. Amelia Simms wrote a recipe in “American Cookery” which referenced, “a cake to be baked in small cups”.

 However, it wasn’t until 1828 that the actual word cupcake was used by Eliza Leslie in her cookbook “Seventy-five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats”.

Today’s Food History

• 1683 Robert Morison died. A Scottish botanist whose work, together with that of others, helped lead to the modern system of plant classification.
• 1793 Dr. Jared Kirtland was born. A physician, naturalist, botanist and teacher, he is credited with developing 26 varieties of cherries and 6 varieties of pears.
• 1871 Journalist Henry Morton Stanley finds missing explorer Dr. David Livingstone near Lake Tanganyika – “Dr. Livingstone, I presume?”
• 1876 The Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition closed.1930 The play ‘Light Wines and Beer’ opened at the Waldorf Theatre in New York City.
• 1951 As of this day in history, you could call from New York and make a reservation for dinner at a California restaurant without operator assistance. Coast to coast, direct dialing began.
• 1969 The children’s TV show, Sesame Street debuted, with the Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch and many more characters.
• 1974 The discovery of the ‘charmed quark‘, a subatomic particle, was announced.
• 1978 Sir Edward Salisbury died (born April 16, 1886). English botanist and ecologist. Director of Royal Botanical Gardens (1943-1956).  His books include ‘The Living Garden’ (1935), ‘The Biology of Garden Weeds’ (1962).