Food Facts for the Fall!
Chef Rick Schmitt, CDM, CFPP
October is international Microwave Month and,
according to Bi-Folkal Productions, Inc., “Wake Up
and Smell the Coffee Month!”
Microwave ovens were made available for home use
in the 1950s, but really didn’t start to catch on until
the 1970s. In the 1975 edition of Joy of Cooking
thoughts of the overwhelming majority of Americans
were echoed:
“Our experience with the microwave has followed a
familiar contemporary pattern: inadequate response
to great expectations… Even microwave’s most
obvious advantage - Defrosting and reheating frozen
foods – has proved of limited value…”
Even though the microwave started out rocky at best,
it has won its worth with many since the mid-80s.
The public began to notice that fresh vegetables that
are microwaved keep their color, vitamins, and
crunch. It is also a good place to melt chocolate,
poach fish, cook asparagus, or bake a potato. So, for
some applications, the microwave is a good appliance
to have. Do you remember when and where you saw
your first microwave? How do feel about cooking
with a microwave? Has that feeling changed over the
years?
It is believed that coffee originated in the Ethiopian
Highlands, and was discovered by goat herders when
they saw their goats eat the berries off of a tree. The
goats then became so spirited that they had trouble
sleeping at night.
The herders told the abbot about the berries, and he
made a drink from it. He discovered that the drink
kept him alert for the long hours of evening prayer.
Soon the abbot shared his discovery with the other
monks at the monastery, and ever so slowly
knowledge of the energizing effects of the berries
began to spread.
As word moved east and coffee reached the Arabian
peninsula, it began a journey which would spread its
reputation across the globe.
The Arabs were the first, not only to cultivate coffee
but also to begin its trade. By the fifteenth century,
coffee was being grown in the Yemeni district of
Arabia and by the Sixteenth century it was known in
Persia, Egypt, Syria and Turkey. Its popularity was
perhaps due, in part, to the fact that Muslims,
forbidden alcoholic drink by the Koran, found
coffee's energizing properties to be an acceptable
substitute.
With thousands of pilgrims visiting the holy city of
Mecca each year from all over the world, word of the
'wine of Araby' as the drink was often called, was
beginning to spread far beyond Arabia. In an effort to
maintain its complete monopoly in the early coffee
trade, the Arabians continued to closely guard their
coffee production.
European travelers to the Near East brought back
stories of the unusual dark black beverage. By the
17th century, coffee had made its way to Europe and
was becoming popular across the continent.
Opponents were overly cautious, calling the beverage
the 'bitter invention of Satan.' With the coming of
coffee to Venice in 1615, the local clergy condemned
it. The controversy was so great that Pope Clement
VIII was asked to intervene. Before making a
decision however, he decided to taste the beverage
for himself. He found the drink so satisfying that he
gave it Papal approval.
Despite such controversy, in the major cities of
England, Austria, France, Germany and Holland,
coffee houses were quickly becoming centers of
social activity and communication. In England
'penny universities' sprang up, so called because for
the price of a penny one could purchase a cup of
coffee and engage in stimulating conversation. By
the mid-17th century, there were over 300 coffee
houses in London, many of which attracted patrons
with common interests, such as merchants, shippers,
brokers and artists.
Many businesses grew out of these specialized
coffee houses. Lloyd's of London, for example,
came into existence at the Edward Lloyd's Coffee
House.
In the mid-1600's, coffee was brought to New
Amsterdam, a location later called New York by the
British.
Though coffee houses rapidly began to appear, tea
continued to be the favored drink in the New World
until 1773 when the colonists revolted against a
heavy tax on tea imposed by King George. The
revolt, known as the Boston Tea Party, would
forever change the American drinking preference to
coffee.
November 1-7 is National Fig Week according to the
California Fig Advisory Board. The Fig is a truly old
fruit. Sumerian stone tablets dating back to 2500 BC
record the use of Figs. The fig tree (can live as long
as 100 years and grow as tall as 100 feet) was
mentioned prominently in the Bible (some scholars
believe the forbidden fruit picked by Eve was a fig
rather than an apple). And, in ancient Roman times,
when Cato advocated in the Senate for the conquest
of Carthage, his winning argument was the advantage
of acquiring fruits as glorious as the North African
Figs which he pulled out of his toga and offered as
examples.
Figs have been thought to be the sweetest fruit for
thousands of years. They were used as sweeteners
instead of sugar in historical times, and this method
still continues in North Africa and the Middle East.
Figs are high in potassium, iron, fiber, magnesium,
zinc, and plant calcium. They have been used to
increase memory, and to retard the formation of
wrinkles. Athletes have used them since the Greek
Olympians as part of their training program. The first
Olympic medals were figs. Marathon runners of
today use them because of their nutritional boost, and
because they help prevent cramps. Most people eat
bananas for this, but the fig provides 80 per cent
more potassium than bananas. Figs can also be used
as a diuretic and a laxative.
November 3rd is also an important day in food
history. It recognizes the inventor of the sandwich,
John Montague, Fourth Earl of Sandwich. He was
born on this day in 1718. Montague was England’s
first lord of admiralty, secretary of state for the
northern department, post master general, and the
man after whom Captain Cook named the Sandwich
Islands in 1778.
Despite all of these accomplishments, he is not
honored for any of them. He is celebrated for his
unwillingness to leave the poker table long enough to
eat during a 24-hour-long gambling session in 1762
where he ordered layers of meat placed between two
slices of bread that he could eat one-handed, without
a knife and fork. He forever shaped the quick food
world with the “sandwich.” John Montague died at
London, England, April 30, 1772. Think about this in
April, and have another sandwich to celebrate his
invention.
John Montague was not the first to eat such a
creation. There are many observations of such a
creation dating back over 2,000 years. Arabs have
used pita bread with pockets stuffed with meats for
centuries. At Passover, Jews have also eaten chopped
herbs, nuts, and apples between two slices of matzo
symbolizing Egyptian mortar and the suffering of the
Hebrews before the deliverance from Egypt for over
two millennia.
Cranberry Fig Chutney
Ingredients:
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1 bag (12 ounces) cranberries
1 package (8 ounces) dried Calimyrna figs,
sliced
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 small lemon, chopped, seeds discarded
2 Tablespoons minced, peeled fresh ginger
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup water
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
Preparation:
In non-reactive 3-quart saucepan, combine
cranberries, figs, onion, lemon, ginger, brown
sugar, water, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Heat to
boiling over high heat. Reduce heat and simmer,
stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.
Cover and refrigerate until well chilled, about 4 hours
or up to 2 days.
Yield: about 4 cups
Recipe Source: The All New Good Housekeeping
Cookbook (Hearst Books)