SATURDAY - APRIL 20, 2013

TODAY’S FOOD QUOTE

“I've always relished wordplay and have a consuming interest in culinary puns. Sometimes I'll loaf around all day, devising bone mots just for the halibut.”
Mark Morton, 'Arts & Scantlings' (Gastronomica, Fall 2006)


TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY

- National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day
- UK: National Gardening Week (April 15-21, 2013)
- Grange Heritage Day (2013)
- National Library Week (April 14-20, 2013)

On this day in:

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.

1821 Franz Karl Achard died (born April 28, 1753). A German chemist, he developed the first commercial process to produce sugar from sugar beets in 1796, and in 1802 established the first sugar beet refinery.

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, I am just a big fan of both detective fiction and Poe.

1999 The Disney film 'A Bug's Life' was released. It was the first 100% digital DVD. It was transferred directly form the digital source to DVD.



DID YOU KNOW?

In sugar refining, molasses is separated from the sugar crystals after each of three boiling or extraction processes that sugar cane goes through. The 3rd and final separation is called blackstrap molasses, and is used mostly as an ingredient in cattle feed.


THIS WEEKS FEATURED FOOD FESTIVALS:

April 15-21, 2013 43rd Annual Grifton Shad Festival - Grifton, N. Carolina
April 18-21, 2013 36th Annual Vidalia Onion Festival - Vidalia, Georgia
April 20, 2013 11th Annual Grilled Cheese Invitational - Los Angeles, Calif.
April 20, 2013 Dairy State Cheese & Beer Festival - Kenosha, Wisconsin
April 20-21, 2013 NYC Hot Sauce Expo - Brooklyn, New York
• See the Food Festivals section for over 7,000 Food Festivals & Shows!


FEATURED ARTICLE:
Creating Healthier Food and Agriculture Systems
The world today is facing a food paradox. There are nearly one billion people hungry and one billion people overweight, and in many countries these problems now exist simultaneously. Although they may seem to be opposite problems, reports have linked both hunger and obesity with diets lacking in nutrients. Read More....


FOOD TRIVIA QUIZ (new on April 19, 2013)

1) Originating in Southeast Asia and India, cultivated for 5000 years, this member of the cashew family can range in size from a plum to 5 pounds. It is one of the most popular fruits in the world, but was originally a small, fibrous, acrid, sometimes toxic fruit that tasted of turpentine.
Can you name this fruit?

2) This plant is an herb that most likely originated in and around Malaysia some 4,000 years ago. It spread and developed many varieties over a wide area from India to the Philippines and New Guinea. About 2000 years ago travelers carried it eastward through the Pacific and westward across the Indian Ocean to tropical Africa.
Various sacred texts of Oriental cultures mention it. There are references to it in the Hindu Mahabharata and the Ramayana of the poet Valmiki. Buddhist writings mention a beverage made from it that Buddhist monks were allowed to drink, and Yang Fu, a Chinese official of the 2nd century A.D., describes it in his Encyclopedia of Rare Things.
Theophrastus, who wrote one of the first scientific botanical works describes this plant in the 4th century B.C. Alexander the Great saw it growing in the Indus Valley in 327 B.C. and Pliny the Elder describes it in 77 A.D. The Arabs introduced it to Egypt, and it made its way westward across the African continent.
The Portuguese found it on Africa's Atlantic coast in the 15th century, and Prince Henry the Navigator had some transplanted to the Portuguese island of Madeira, where they still flourish.
In 1516 Friar Tomas de Berlanga planted it in the islands of the Caribbean. It made the trip to Britain from Bermuda in 1633, and the Portuguese also introduced it to France, and it became common in the 18th century.
Its present name probably comes from one of the languages of the Congo area. Today it is even grown in Iceland as a commercial crop, and world production is spread out in both the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
In some areas its sprouts are covered and allowed to grow without sunlight so they mature into thick, long spikes that resemble large white asparagus. It's sap causes extremely serious stains that are very hard to remove from both hands and clothes!
Can you name this herbaceous plant?

3) Where does cream of tartar come from?
[a] tartar sauce; [b] old wine casks; [c] a plant

4) Where is the highest concentration of vitamin C found in a tomato?
[a] the skin
[b] the seeds
[c] the jelly-like substance around the seeds

5) Which of the following fruits are grown on every continent except Antarctica?
[a] plums; [b] apples; [c] grapes

6) Those with thyroid problems should avoid eating large amount of these foods.
[a] salt and lemons
[b] cabbage and cauliflower
[c] asparagus and broccoli

7) This food item was created in 1942 for the Texas State Fair by Neil Fletcher; a maize hound.

8) The fruit from this tree is called 'monkey bread' and is eaten as is or used to make a drink, its flesh is dried and ground into flour, and the leaves are dried and crushed for flavoring. Even the pulp of the tree is sometimes eaten.
What is the name of this tree?

9) In April, 2001, Italian astronaut Umberto Guidoni and Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield brought some luxury food items with them to the International Space Station.
Can you name these luxury foods?

10) This member of the buckwheat family has roots and leaves that contain poisonous substances, and only one part of the plant is edible. It is native to the region around Turkey, and some species have been used medicinally in China and Tibet for at least 4000 years. It was not used in Western cooking until the 18th century. It is used in compotes, chutneys, jams, pies, and in an Italian aperitif. In 1947 it was legally classified as a fruit in the U.S., even though botanically it is a vegetable.
Name this plant.

Click here for the answers to this Culinary Quiz



Dedication
This website is dedicated to:
Gladys Ehler, my mother, who taught me patience and how to make Sauerbraten
(it is still my favorite)
Edward Ehler, my father, who taught me a love of books and history.
Cpl. Thomas E. Saba, my nephew. Died in action on Feb. 7, 2007 in Iraq.
He was 30 yrs. young.

Chef James