John-Bryan Hopkins's Blog, page 67

August 29th is National Chop Suey Day!

Todays 5 facts about Chop Suey:

Chop suey is a Chinese American dish originating in the mid to late 19th century for Chinese immigrants in San Francisco
Many believe there are similar recipes in the Toisan region of China.
A chop suey fad swept the ‘big city’. In 1896, Americans began to visit New York Chinese restaurants in large numbers for the first time.
 Chop suey consists of small pieces of meat, chicken or shrimp stir-fried with celery, onions, bean sprouts, water chestnuts, mushrooms and/or other vegetables, and served over rice, usually with soy sauce.
Most Chinese servers in the 1890’s were know for their yellow jackets.


Today’s Food History

1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. American physician, poet and humorist. Author of ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Professor of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Poet of the Breakfast Table,’ and ‘Over the Teacups.’
1896 Supposedly, the Chinese-American dish, chop suey, was created in New York City by the Cantonese chef of Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang.
1905 Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist was born.
1915 Nathan Pritikin was born. A nutritionist who believed that exercise and a low fat, high unrefined carbohydrate diet helped reverse his own heart disease. He founded the Pritikin Longevity Center in 1976.
1953 Rick Downey of the rock group ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ was born.
2007 Alfred Peet died. He was the founder of Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California in 1966.  The founders of Starbucks were fans, and openly acknowledge his influence.

Filed under: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays Tagged: august-food-holidays, chop suey day, chop suey facts, chop suey history, national chop suey day

August 28th is National Cherry Turnover Day!

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

Darker cherries have higher antioxidant and vitamin levels than lighter ones.
On average, commercially grown cherry trees produce about 7,000 cherries annually.
Over 75% of the cherries sold in the U.S. come from Michigan.
There are two main species of cultivated cherries; the sweet cherry (also called wild cherry), and the sour cherry (also called tart cherry).
Freezing cherries not only preserves but also concentrates and improves their taste.

Today’s Food History

1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. American physician, poet and humorist. Author of ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Professor of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Poet of the Breakfast Table,’ and ‘Over the Teacups.’
1896 Supposedly, the Chinese-American dish, chop suey, was created in New York City by the Cantonese chef of Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang.
1905 Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist was born.
1915 Nathan Pritikin was born. A nutritionist who believed that exercise and a low fat, high unrefined carbohydrate diet helped reverse his own heart disease. He founded the Pritikin Longevity Center in 1976.
1953 Rick Downey of the rock group ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ was born.
2007 Alfred Peet died. He was the founder of Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California in 1966.  The founders of Starbucks were fans, and openly acknowledge his influence.

Filed under: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national cherry turnover day, today's food history, todays food history

July 27th is National Scotch Day

Five Food Finds about Scotch

Single Malt Scotch Whisky is made from 100% malted barley and distilled at a single distillery.
Blended Scotch Whisky is made by blending together a number of single malts and grain whiskies.
90% of all Scotch whisky sold in the market comprises of Blended Scotch Whisky.
The whisky in ‘Scotch Whisky’ is always spelt without an ‘e’.
In Britain, the term ‘whisky’ is taken to mean Scotch whisky only, unless it has been specified otherwise.


Today’s Food History

on this day in…

1880 A.P. Abourne patented a method for refining coconut oil.

1910 Large hailstones fall in Todd and Wadena counties in Minnesota, some weighing as much as 5 pounds.

1931 A swarm of grasshoppers destroyed thousands of acres of crops in Iowa, Nebraska and South Dakota. The corn fields were totally destroyed, without a stalk left standing.

1931 Auguste-Henri Forel was born. The next time you are on a picnic and become overtaken by ants, think of Forel. If you would like to know about ants, find a copy of his 5 volume ‘The Social World of the Ants.’

1940 Bugs Bunny makes his screen debut in ‘A Wild Hare.’

1962 Conrad Arnold Elvehjem died. An American biochemist, he identified nicotinic acid as one of the B vitamins, and that a deficiency caused the disease pellagra.

Filed under: Food Holidays, July Food Holidays Tagged: american biochemist, blended scotch whisky, facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national scotch day, single malt scotch, single malt scotch whisky, today's food history, todays food history

August 26th is National Cherry Popsicle Day!

Here are today’s five thing to know about Popsicle history:

In 1905 in San Francisco, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was mixing a white powdered flavoring for soda and water out on the porch
 He left it there, with a stirring stick still in it.
That night, temperatures reached a record low, and the next morning, the boy discovered the drink had frozen to the stick, inspiring the idea of a fruit-flavored ‘Popsicle’, a portmanteau of soda pop and icicle.
 Eighteen years later in 1923, Epperson introduced frozen pop on a stick to the public at Neptune Beach, an amusement park in Belmar, New Jersey. Seeing that it was a success, in 1924 Epperson applied for a patent for his “frozen confectionery” which he called “the Epsicle ice pop”.
He renamed it to Popsicle, allegedly at the insistence of his children.

Today’s Food History

1784 Stephen McCormick was born. Inventor and manufacturer of cast iron plow with removable parts.
1800 Felix Archimede Pouchet was born. A French naturalist, he was one of those who believed that life was created from nonliving matter in processes such as fermentation and putrification. Those flies and maggots, fungi, yeast and bacteria just appeared from nowhere. (He was wrong.)
1946 George Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ was published.
1972 ‘Coconut’ by Nilsson reached number 8 on the charts.
1978 Frankie Valli’s ‘Grease’ reached number 1 on the charts.

Filed under: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays, Uncategorized Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national cherry popsicle day, today's food history, todays food history

August 25th is National Whiskey Sour Day!

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

Pure ‘malt’ whiskey is produced only from malted barley.
After opening, a half-full bottle of whiskey will remain good for five years.
A closed bottle of whisky can be kept for more than 100 years and it will still be good to drink.
A whiskey stops maturing after it is bottled. It ‘ages’ in wooden barrels not glass.
Around 90 percent of Single Malt Whisky comes from Scotland.

Today’s Food History

1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born. American physician, poet and humorist. Author of ‘The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Professor of the Breakfast Table,’ ‘The Poet of the Breakfast Table,’ and ‘Over the Teacups.’
1896 Supposedly, the Chinese-American dish, chop suey, was created in New York City by the Cantonese chef of Chinese Ambassador Li Hung-Chang.
1905 Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist was born.
1915 Nathan Pritikin was born. A nutritionist who believed that exercise and a low fat, high unrefined carbohydrate diet helped reverse his own heart disease. He founded the Pritikin Longevity Center in 1976.
1953 Rick Downey of the rock group ‘Blue Oyster Cult’ was born.
2007 Alfred Peet died. He was the founder of Peet’s Coffee & Tea in Berkeley, California in 1966.  The founders of Starbucks were fans, and openly acknowledge his influence.

Filed under: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national whiskey sour day, today's food history, todays food history

August 24th is National Peach Pie Day!

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

Did you know?  Peaches were once known as Persian apples.
“You’re a real peach” originated from the tradition of giving a peach to the friend you liked.
Peaches were mentioned as early as 79 A.D. in literature.
Most peaches are cultivated by grafting different combinations of rootstocks to scions; not raised from seed
There are over 700 varieties of peaches-some Chinese varieties are even flat like hockey pucks.

Today’s Food History

79 R.I.P. Pliny The Elder. A Roman scholar and naturalist, he was the author of the 37 volume ‘Historia Naturalis’ (Natural History). This was a compilation of thousands of ancient books by hundreds of authors. It is an invaluable record of ancient theories on countless scientific subjects.
1853 The month and day are uncertain, but the year is correct. Native American Chef George Crum invented potato chips at Moon’s Lake House in Saratoga Springs, New York.
1869 Cornelius Swarthout received the first U.S. patent for a waffle iron.
1918 Ray McIntire was born. A chemical engineer who worked for Dow Chemical Company, he invented Styrofoam.
1969 The movie version of Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’ premiered in New York and Los Angeles.

Filed under: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national peach pie day, today's food history, todays food history

August 23rd is National Spongecake Day!

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

During the renaissance, Italian cooks became famous for their baking skills and were hired by households in both England and France.
The new items that they introduced were called “biscuits,” though they were the forerunner of what we now consider to be sponge cake.
Gervase Markham (1568-1637),  English poet and author, recorded the earliest sponge cake recipe in English in 1615.
These sponge cakes were most likely thin, crisp cakes (more like modern cookies).
By the middle of the 18th century, yeast had fallen into disuse as a raising agent for cakes in favor of beaten eggs.

Today’s Food History

1617 The first one way streets were established in London. Seventeen one way streets were created to regulate “disorder and rude behaviour of Carmen, Draymen, and others using Cartes.”
1813 Alexander Wilson died. Scottish naturalist, ornithologist and poet. Founder of American ornithology
1858 ‘Ten Nights in a Barroom,’ a melodrama about the evils of drink, opened at the National Theater in New York City.
1859 At the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City, the first elevator in an American hotel began operation.
1902 Fannie Merrit Farmer opened Miss Farmer’s School of Cookery in Boston, Massachusetts.
1955 Hail falls to a depth of 1 foot in Rushmore, Minnesota.
2004 The French Parliament passed a bill to combat obesity among French youth. The bill bans junk food and soft drink vending machines in French schools, and requires health warnings or an alternate tax on snack food and soft drink commercials. The provisions become effective in September, 2005.

!

Filed under: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays, Uncategorized Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national spongecake day, today's food history, todays food history

August 23rd is National Cuban Sandwich Day!

Today’s Food Facts about Cuban Sandwiches:

1. A Cuban sandwich is a variation of a ham and cheese sandwich that originated in cafes catering to Cuban workers in Key West and Ybor City, Tampa; two early Cuban immigrant communities in Florida.

2 Many say a “true” Cuban sandwich, starts with Cuban bread. The loaf is sliced into lengths of 8–12 inches, lightly buttered or brushed with olive oil on the crust, and cut in half horizontally. A coat of yellow mustard is spread on the bread. Then sliced roast pork, glazed ham, Swiss cheese, and thinly sliced dill pickles are added in layers. Sometimes the pork is marinated in mojo and slow roasted.

3. In 2012, the “Historic Tampa Cuban Sandwich” was designated as the “signature sandwich of the city of Tampa”

4. It is believed by some that the sandwich was a common lunch food for workers in both the cigar factories and sugar mills of Cuba during the 1870’s. When the cigar industry in Florida shifted to Tampa in the 1880’s, the sandwich quickly appeared in workers’ cafés in Ybor City and (later) West Tampa,Fl.

Filed under: Uncategorized

August 22nd is National Pecan Torte Day!

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

If the body does not get enough zinc, it may have difficulty producing testosterone – a key hormone in initiating sexual desire in both men and women.  Pecans provide nearly 10 percent of the recommended Daily Value for zinc.
It would take 11,624 pecans, stacked end to end, to reach the top of the Empire State Building in New York City.
Texas adopted the pecan tree as its state tree in 1919.  In fact, Texas Governor James Hogg liked pecan trees so much that he asked if a pecan tree could be planted at his gravesite when he died.
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.
Pecan trees usually range in height from 70 to 100 feet, but some trees grow as tall as 150 feet or higher.  Native pecan trees – those over 150 years old – have trunks more than three feet in diameter.

Today’s Food History

1647 Denis Papin is born. The French physicist who invented the pressure cooker (Papin’s Digester) in 1679
1865 William Sheppard of New York City received a patent for liquid soap.
1867 Charles Francis Jenkins was born. An inventor who is best known as an early television pioneer. Among his many inventions was a cone-shaped drinking cup.
1867 Maximilian Bircher-Benner was born. He was a Swiss doctor who developed the cereal product ‘Muesli,’ which is similar to Granola.
1939 The first U.S. patent was issued for a disposable whipped cream aerosol container. Julius S. Kahn’s patent was titled “An Apparatus for Mixing a Liquid with a Gas” and was specifically concerned with making whipped cream, using a ordinary soda bottle.
1970 ‘Spill The Wine’ by Eric Burdon & War hit number 3 on the charts.
2004 Sonya Thomas won $500 and a trophy belt at the World Lobster Eating Contest in Kennebunkport, Maine. She ate 9.76 pounds of lobster meat (38 lobsters) in 12 minutes.  She also holds the record for hard boiled eggs, and pork & beans (8.4 pounds in 2 minutes 47 seconds). She weighs only 105 pounds.
2007 A 12 year-old boy in Manchester, England was charged with assault for throwing a cocktail sausage at a 74 year-old man.

Filed under: August Food Holidays, Food Holidays Tagged: facts, five food finds, food, foodimentary, fun, life, national pecan torte day, today's food history, todays food history

Just a few more days to celebrate! Here’s August’s ‘Food Holiday’ list:

[image error]




National Catfish Month

National Panini Month

National Peach Month

National Sandwich Month





Daily Holidays

August 1 

National Raspberry Cream Pie Day

August 2 

National Ice Cream Sandwich Day

National Ice Cream Soda Day

August 3 

National Watermelon Day

August 4 

National Chocolate Chip Day

August 5 

National Mustard Day

National Waffle Day

August 6 

National Root Beer Float Day

August 7 

Raspberries ‘n Cream Day

August 8 

National Frozen Custard Day

August 9 

National Rice Pudding Day

August 10 

National S’mores Day

August 11 

National Raspberry Bombe Day

August 12

National Julienne Fries Day

August 13

National Fillet Mignon Day

August 14 

National Creamsicle Day

August 15 

National Lemon Meringue Pie Day

August 16

National Rum Day

August 17 

National Vanilla Custard Day

August 18 

National Ice Cream Pie Day

August 19 

National Soft Ice Cream Day

National Hot & Spicy Food Day

August 20 

National ‘ Bacon Lovers ‘ Day

National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day

August 21 

National Spumoni Day

August 22 

National Pecan Torte Day

National “Eat a Peach” Day

August 23 

National Spongecake Day

August 24 

National Peach Pie Day

August 25 

National Banana Split Day

August 26 

National Cherry Popsicle Day

August 27 

National Pots de Creme Day

August 28 

National Cherry Turnovers Day

August 29

National Whiskey Sour Day

August 30 

National Toasted Marshmallow Day

August 31 

National Trail Mix Day
Filed under: August Food Holidays, Uncategorized Tagged: august food holidays, food holidays