food Archives - Page 8 of 17 - Worldwide Weird Holidays

May 29 is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day

May 29, 2017/0 Comments/in May

Today is Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day, a new take on an old tradition.

Although we can find no origin for the practice, legend has it that at the turn of the 20th century, people in Europe and the U.S. placed a piece of cloth in their larders, cool spaces where they stored food before the advent of modern refrigeration.

Typically the cloth was taken from a blanket, sheet or nightgown in the superstitious belief that it would bring good fortune, bountiful food and abundant fertility to the household.

Larders were phased out as refrigerators became widely available. General Electric’s popular Monitor-Top refrigerator, introduced in 1927, doomed the larder and the tradition as well.

In 2013, the practice was resurrected, with a twist. A pillow and refrigerator replaced the cloth and larder. (To be precise, the pillow would go inside the fridge, but that’s a minor quibble.)

Social media has helped raise awareness of the holiday. Today, you can tweet your support of #PutAPillowOnYourFridgeDay, buy a PAPOYFD pillow to put on your fridge (so meta) and upload photos of your pillow-topped fridges on the PAPOYFD Facebook page. Who knows? Maybe Likes will bring you luck!

Happy Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day!

May 27 is National Grape Popsicle Day

May 27, 2017/0 Comments/in May

Today is National Grape Popsicle Day. In 1905, 11-year-old Frank Epperson was sitting on his porch, stirring powdered drink mix into water, when he was called inside and forgot to bring the cup with him.

His hometown of San Francisco, CA, was hit with record low temperatures that night. When Epperson ventured outside the next morning, he discovered that the drink had frozen to the stick, creating a tasty ice pop.

In 1923, Epperson began to sell the treat he called “a frozen drink on a stick” at Neptune Beach Amusement Park in Alameda, CA. Children loved them and parents were happy that the stick helped prevent messes and gooey hands.

In 1924, Epperson applied for and was granted a patent for the frozen confectionery, which he called the “Epsicle.” His children called it “Pop’s sicle, ” which inspired him to change the name to “Popsicle.”

Not long afterward, Epperson sold the patent to pay debts and regretfully missed out on the financial success of his creation. “I was flat and had to liquidate all my assets,” he later said. “I haven’t been the same since.”

We’re not sure why this holiday occurs on May 27th, a date that doesn’t correspond to Epperson’s birthday or the day the patent was filed or granted. Nor can we explain today is devoted to the grape variety alone. (Of more than two billion Popsicles sold each year, cherry is the most popular flavor.) We did uncover an interesting fact:

Do you remember the Popsicle with two sticks? It was introduced during the Great Depression so two children could split it for 5¢, the same price as a single stick. It was discontinued in 1987 because parents complained it was hard to break and too messy for one child to eat without dripping.

All this time, we’ve been thinking it was just out of stock….

May 18 is I Love Reese’s Day

May 18, 2017/0 Comments/in May

Today is I Love Reese’s Day, a celebration of the marriage of chocolate and peanut butter and the visionary who got them together in the first place.

This mascot is creepy, no?

In 1917, Harry Burnett Reese (May 24, 1879 – May 16, 1956) took a job on a dairy farm owned by the Hershey Company and later worked in the candy factory itself.

Inspired, he began to experiment with different candy formulas in his basement, with the intention of making extra money to care for his growing family.

He created the H. B. Reese Candy Company in 1923, selling a large variety of confections. He was so successful that three years later he was able to build a factory as well as a new home.

By 1928, Reese and his wife Blanche had sixteen children. That same year, H. B. Reese invented Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, sometimes called penny cups because they cost one cent apiece. They quickly became his most popular treat.

In response to sugar rationing during World War II, Reese chose to discontinue production of everything but the peanut butter cups, which required less sugar than his other candies. It was a savvy move that guaranteed his family’s prosperity.

Reese died in 1956 at the age of 76, leaving the company to his six sons, Robert, John, Ed, Ralph, Harry, and Charles Richard Reese. In 1963, they decided to sell the business to the Hershey’s Chocolate Company, where Reese had gotten his start close to 50 years before.

Documentation shows the brothers received 666,316 Hershey shares, then valued at $23.5 million. By 2013, after 50 years of stock splits, those shares had become sixteen million shares, valued at more than $1 billion, paying $31 million in annual cash dividends.

In 2010, Hershey sponsored a Facebook petition to declare May 18 I Love Reese’s Day and reported that 40,000 people signed it. Since then, it’s been promoted by the National Peanut Board and reigns as the most popular candy in the United States.

Today, Hershey announced it will introduce a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup stuffed with Reese’s Pieces. Tasty combination or culinary abomination? You decide and, no matter what your favorite is, have a happy I Love Reese’s Day!

May 17 is National Walnut Day

May 17, 2017/0 Comments/in May

Today is National Walnut Day, created in 1949 by the Walnut Marketing Board. The holiday was affirmed in 1958 by the official proclamation of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Most walnuts come from the Persian or English tree, Juglans regia, originally grown in Asia and now cultivated around the world. The lesser-known eastern black walnut tree, Juglans nigra, and butternut or white walnut tree, Juglans cinerea, are native to eastern North America.

According to Harpers’ Latin Dictionary, the genus gets its name from the Latin word for walnut tree, jūglans, which is a contraction of Jōvis glans, which translates to “nut of [the god] Jupiter.” Perhaps that explains why many sites claim the arginine found in walnuts dilates blood vessels and increases blood flow, causing erections. (Don’t munch a handful before a business meeting.)

Black walnut has been hailed by some as a miracle cure because of its alleged ability to kill a parasite that is supposedly responsible for cancer. No word on whether it works: We can’t get anyone who used it to answer our calls.

In China, walnuts are prized for a different reason. Reuters reported in 2012 that a secondary market in “cultural playthings” had emerged as a result of weak or negative returns in the traditional stock market.

Once the toys of China’s imperial court, walnuts have become popular among the wealthy, who see them as a status symbol as well as an investment. They are collected in pairs and rotated in one’s hand to improve circulation.

Collector Kou Baojun in Beijing told Reuters that the larger, older and more symmetrical the walnuts are, the more highly they are valued and can cost tens of thousands of dollars. He owns more than 30 pairs, most of which are over a century old and have become burnished from years of being polished in the palm.

“Look how well these have aged,” Kou said. “Playing with these kinds of walnuts isn’t for ordinary people.”

Grab a pair and have a happy National Walnut Day!

Tag Archive for: food

Posts