History, Natural History & the Arts
Italian Rainbow Cookies
Chocolate covered
Layers of red white and green
With raspberry jam in between
The colors pop
Inside the pastry shop
Inviting you to take them home
Along with the cannoli
Delicious and hard to resist are
Italian Rainbow Cookies
This month’s episode of A New York Minute in History podcast uncovers the origins of the legendary Grape Pie of Naples, NY, in Ontario County.
A regional dessert that has spread to international fame, the Grape Pie, and the Naples Grape Festival, are Finger Lakes fall staples derived from a region known for its wines. [Read more…] about The Legendary Grape Pie of Naples, NY
Friends and strangers eating together offers an appealing image of togetherness. “Let us build a table where everyone is invited,” is an inspiring mantra. At the same time, food is a religious symbol that creates exclusion.
Food taboos appear in almost all societies, either self-imposed or enforced by authorities on minority groups. In medieval Europe, Christian authorities forbade Jews from baking “sacred” bread. [Read more…] about Manhattan Breakfast: Cream Cheese, Bagels & Lox
On a wintry walk in the woods, the glossy evergreen leaves and bright red berries of American Wintergreen make a pretty sight against fallen snow. Plentiful in the northern U.S. and Canada, the low-growing Gaultheria procumbens is known for the pungent aroma and mint-like taste of leaf and berry — pleasing but hard to define.
Native Americans used the leaves to treat pain and fever, and introduced colonists to the custom of drinking wintergreen tea. This “teaberry” carried them through the Revolutionary War, when British tea was scarce. [Read more…] about Wintergreen Oil: Local Employer to Bootlegger’s Subterfuge
Like all great mysteries, it started with an unexpected clue. In this case, a photograph that caught the eye of Joe D’Agostino, Historic Interpreter at Staatsburgh State Historic Site in Hyde Park, Dutchess County, NY.
It was a March 3, 1935 Acme News Service photograph showing workers picketing outside the 5th Avenue, Manhattan mansion formerly owned by Ruth Livingston Mills (1855-1920) and her husband Ogden Mills (1856-1929), who had also owned the Staatsburgh Mansion. [Read more…] about ‘Thuggery, Intimidation and General Foul Play’: Ogden Mills & The 1935 Nabisco Strike
Take the Cannoli
Whether its crispy shells
Are filled with
Ricotta or mascarpone
This tasty pastry is a
Winner at the bakery
The choice is easy
Leave the shop
Take the cannoli
The term sandwich bread (loaf) started circulating in the United States during the 1930s. It followed a revolution in the manner the product was presented to customers, no longer homemade but mass produced. After a decade of trial and error, the bread slicing machine was introduced and soon widely used. The sandwich was about to conquer the American and European markets. Grabbing a sandwich came to symbolize the rush of an urban society. [Read more…] about An English Gambler, A Jewish Butcher & The History of Pastrami on Rye
Undoubtedly, you have heard or read Clement Moore’s famous poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (1822), but have you ever wondered where the traditions of stockings, presents, and cookies come from? And what about jolly old Saint Nick? Who was he and why do we call him Santa Claus?
In this episode of the “Ben Franklin’s World” podcast, Peter G. Rose, culinary historian of Dutch foodways in North America and author of Delicious December: How the Dutch Brought Us Santa, Presents, and Treats (SUNY Press, 2014), joins me to discuss the origins of Santa Claus, cookies, and more in the United States. [Read more…] about Dutch History of Christmas Treats With Peter Rose
The Oreo is over one hundred years old. The delectable cookie with the creme center – a worldwide favorite – traces its origins to New York City.
According to Katherine Martinelli, writing for Smithsonian Magazine, NABISCO was formed in the city of New York in 1890, when some local bakeries merged to form the New York Biscuit Company and located in what is today Chelsea Market. Later, the company merged with rivals in Chicago and became the National Biscuit Company, NABISCO.
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