Happy National Chocolate Wafer Day
Five Food Finds about Chocolate
- Ancient Aztecs thought chocolate had magical powers; like the ability to give them strength.
- Chocolate was consumed by the ancient Aztecs as a frothy beverage, somewhat like hot chocolate we drink today.
- Chocolate contains over 300 mineral properties that are beneficial to your health.
- Chocolate comes from a plant, called Theobroma cacao, which translates “Food of the Gods”.
- Dark chocolate has more antioxidants than green tea and just as many as blueberries.
Today’s Food History
on this day in…
1806 Michael Keens presented the first cultivated strawberry combining flavor and appearance, at the Royal Horticultural Society. “…. I have for a considerable time employed myself in raising new varieties from seed, which has been not only a source of great amusement to me, but also very profitable in my profession.”
1844 The last pair of Great Auks was killed near Iceland. They had been hunted to extinction for food and bait. Great Auks (Garefowl) were almost 3 feet tall, with short wings, similar to penguins. They were flightless, which made them vulnerable to hunters.
1890 Idaho became the 43rd state, the Potato State.
1908 M.F.K. Fisher (Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher) was born. Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was an American food critic and writer and the author of various articles, essays and books about food. She also translated Brillat-Savarin’s ‘The Physiology of Taste’ in 1949.
1922 ‘Fruit Garden & Home Magazine’ was founded. Two years later it was renamed ‘Better Homes & Gardens’.
1924 Clarence Birdseye, with the financial backing of W. Hodges, W. Gamage, B. Jones, I.L. Rice and J.J. Barry, founded the General Seafood Corporation. The birth of the frozen food industry.
1929 More unusual uses for kitchen appliances: Foam rubber was developed at Dunlop Laboratories. British scientist E.A. Murphy used a kitchen mixer to whip natural latex rubber.
1954 Rationing finally ended in Britain, almost nine years after the end of World War II.
1985 The honey bee was designated the official state insect of Missouri on July 3, 1985.