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December 30 is National Bicarbonate of Soda Day

December 30, 2016/0 Comments/in December

It’s National Bicarbonate of Soda Day! Yes, that’s right: baking soda has its own day. As we shall see, this hardworking substance earns at least one holiday’s worth of celebration.

Sodium bicarbonate is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. A component of the mineral natron, it is a white, odorless, water-soluble crystalline solid that is found dissolved in many mineral springs.

Ancient Egyptians used natron as a cleanser. In 1791, French chemist Nicolas Leblanc introduced sodium bicarbonate in its modern form. Fifty-five years later, two New York bakers, John Dwight and Austin Church, began to manufacture and sell the compound we know as baking soda today under the name John Dwight and Co.

In 1867, the company became Church and Co. and debuted its Arm & Hammer packaging, depicting the hammer-wielding arm of Vulcan, Roman god of fire. It was marketed mainly as a leavening agent for use in baking until 1925, when the company published a booklet called A Friend in Need, touting baking soda as a “proven medical agent.”

Modern quack science makes extraordinary claims regarding baking soda. A Google search for “sodium bicarbonate cures cancer” returns 82,600 results; 7 of 10 on its first page advocate the treatment. As a thought experiment, ask this: if one (or many) doses of baking soda can “alkalinize” our blood and that in turn can cure cancer, what would the acid in a glass of orange juice do to our blood? Surely, adding a shot of vodka would be a death sentence, wouldn’t it?

While baking soda cannot differentiate between normal and cancer cells in our bodies, it can treat indigestion and make our laundry smell fresh, relieve insect bites, polish silverware, clean crayon stains from walls, remove grease from pans and oil from garage floors. It also kills ants and roaches, whitens teeth, freshens breath and exfoliates skin.

Here are five more uses:

Keep cut flowers fresh longer by adding a teaspoon of baking soda to the vase.
Make a paste with water or add to bath to relieve the pain of sunburn.
Add a teaspoon to the water when you soak beans to neutralize their gassy effects.
Throw onto small grease or electrical fires to extinguish them. Do not use on fires in deep fryers; the sudden release of carbon dioxide may cause the grease to splatter.
Unclog a drain by pouring in 1/2 to 1 cup of baking soda, and then 1/2 to 1 cup of white vinegar. Let sit for five minutes—covered, if possible. Follow with a gallon of boiling water.

There are hundreds of uses for this amazing product. Discover a few more and have a happy National Bicarbonate of Soda Day!

December 29 is National Pepper Pot Day

December 29, 2016/2 Comments/in December

Today is National Pepper Pot Day. Pepper pot soup has been called the soup that won the Revolutionary War. By the time American troops reached Valley Forge on December 19, 1777, in the midst of a harsh winter, soldiers and the many wives, mothers and children who accompanied them were running desperately low on provisions. Local farmers refused the weak continental currency carried by General George Washington’s troops, instead selling their crops to the British.

On December 23, Washington wrote to the Continental Congress, “…I am now convinced, beyond a doubt that unless some great and capital change suddenly takes place in that line, this Army must inevitably be reduced to one or other of these three things. Starve, dissolve, or disperse, in order to obtain subsistence in the best manner they can; rest assured Sir this is not an exaggerated picture, but that I have abundant reason to support what I say.”

According to legend, on December 29, Washington instructed chief cook Christopher Ludwick to make a soup “that will warm and strengthen the body of a soldier and inspire his flagging spirit.” Only scraps remained in the kitchen except for beef tripe donated by a nearby butcher, and peppercorns, a gift from a Germantown patriot. Ludwick combined them and named the soup Philadelphia Pepper Pot, a reminder of America’s claim to the British-held city.

Because Ludwick hailed from Philadelphia, which was then a center of the slave trade, it’s thought that his pepper pot soup was an Americanized version of Jamaican callaloo. If you’d like to make it yourself, try this version from Northeast Times which states, “Although this recipe may not be identical to the Valley Forge original, you know it’s bound to be offal good. Still, some people just don’t have the stomach for it.” (There’s nothing like a good tripe-based pun!)

Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup

2 medium onions, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
1 lb. tripe, cut into small, bite-sized pieces
4 Tbsp. butter
3 qts. water
1 beef marrow bone or 1 veal knuckle bone
1 tsp. ground pepper
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. salt
2 bay leaves
2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. dried marjoram
2 medium carrots, diced
2 medium potatoes, diced
1 can tomatoes, (16 oz.)
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1 tsp. dried marjoram

Tripe Preparation:

– Blanch tripe before adding to soup.
– Wash tripe well.
– Put tripe in a pot, cover with water and add 1 tsp. salt.
– Bring to a boil and allow to cook for three minutes.
– Pour off water and cover tripe with cold water.
– Drain again.
– Cut tripe into small, bite-sized pieces with kitchen shears.

Soup:

– In a soup pot, saute onions, green pepper, celery and tripe in butter for about 10 minutes.
– Add water, bone, peppers, salt, bay leaves, thyme and marjoram.
– Cover and allow soup to simmer for 45 minutes.
– Add carrots, potatoes, tomatoes and parsley.
– Continue to simmer for 30 minutes.
– Remove bay leaves.

Before serving, you can add the following spaetzle to the soup, if desired.

Spaetzle:

1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 Tbsp. milk

– Mix together flour and salt, and make a well in center of flour.
– Put egg and milk into well and beat them slightly with a fork.
– Mix egg mixture and flour into a sticky dough.
– Drop about 1/3 tsp. of the batter at a time into the simmering soup.
– Allow to simmer a few minutes until done.

Feeling a little less adventurous? Substitute chicken for the tripe. Feed your inner patriot on National Pepper Pot Day.

December 27 is National Fruitcake Day

December 27, 2016/0 Comments/in December

Today is National Fruitcake Day, a day that celebrates one of the most maligned cakes of all time. Love it or hate it, the fruitcake has a long, rich history.

Ancient Egyptians buried loved ones with fruitcakes in the belief they were essential for the journey to the afterlife. An early Roman recipe combined barley mash with raisins, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds. In the Middle Ages, honey, spices and preserved fruits were added to the basic formula. Fruitcakes were carried during the Crusades due to their nutritious ingredients and resistance to spoilage.

The cakes began to feature candied fruits preserved in sugar syrup as early as the 14th century. As trade routes opened up, sugar became more plentiful, making fruitcake more affordable and popular from the 1600s onward. Recipes vary from country to country depending on available ingredients and tradition.

Fruitcake has been a mail-order item since 1913. Mass-produced cakes rarely contain alcohol. Home-baked versions made with chopped candied or dried fruit, nuts, spices and often soaked in a variety of spirits have been a family gift-giving tradition for centuries.

Myth: A 2002 article in the Village Voice stated that the term “nutty as a fruitcake” was coined in 1935 and has been widely quoted as fact. But a letter to the editor of the Evening World newspaper, published on June 5, 1913, included the sentence, “At this point I first realized that Henry had become as nutty as a fruit cake.”

A character in Eugene O’Neill’s 1914 play, ”The Movie Man,” declared, ”We sure are as nutty as a fruitcake or we wouldn’t be here.” The phrase was repeated at least six more times in newspapers, plays and books, culminating in a 1934 interview of George Burns and Gracie Allen in which he said fans loved their act because “they’re convinced she’s nutty as a fruit cake.”

Fruitcake has also been fodder for late-night TV, notably The Tonight Show. In December of 1985, Johnny Carson cracked, “There’s only one fruitcake in the world, and people keep passing it on.” He also once had a prop man bring out a fruitcake on a forklift and drop it through his desk.

In 2003, during Jay Leno’s stint as host of The Tonight Show, he took a small bite of a 125-year-old fruitcake that had been saved since it was baked in 1878. “It needs more time,” he said after a slow, deliberate chew.

One thing is certain: fruitcake has been around for millennia. As a dessert or a doorstop, it isn’t going anywhere.

December 24 is National Eggnog Day

December 24, 2016/1 Comment/in December

Today is National Eggnog Day, celebrated each year on Christmas Eve. The sweetened drink is traditionally made with milk and/or cream, sugar, eggs, and spices, often mixed with spirits such as rum, brandy or some combination of liquors.

Also known as egg milk punch, it has a rich history dating back to “posset,” a hot beverage that mixed milk and eggs with wine or beer. Eggs and milk were a rare commodity among the peasants of medieval England, so it was most often drunk by the wealthy in toasts to health and prosperity.

In the 1700s, eggnog crossed the Atlantic to the Americas, where its use was more widespread due to colonists’ direct access to chickens and cows. England’s high import taxes on brandy, its preferred alcoholic ingredient, made cheap, readily available rum a popular substitute.

If you’d like to try your hand at making eggnog, you can’t go wrong with George Washington’s recipe. The father of our country used four different kinds of alcohol. Parties at Mount Vernon must have been a lot of fun.

He might have had a tipple before penning the directions: he forgot to include the number of eggs needed. Cooks of his era estimated that a dozen eggs would suffice. Here are his instructions:

One quart cream, one quart milk, one dozen tablespoons sugar, one pint brandy, 1/2 pint rye whiskey, 1/2 pint Jamaica rum, 1/4 pint sherry—mix liquor first, then separate yolks and whites of eggs, add sugar to beaten yolks, mix well. Add milk and cream, slowly beating. Beat whites of eggs until stiff and fold slowly into mixture. Let set in cool place for several days. Taste frequently.

If the thought of raw eggs doesn’t thrill you, try this cooked version. Omit the alcohol if you’re the designated driver. Have a happy National Eggnog Day!

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Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup