So, What is more fun than making dinner or lunch? Dessert. It can be made with all things that are sweet and juicy or tart and sour and can come out in ways that are warm and soft, flavorful and crunchy, but it’s always delicious. You can indulge dessert with a range of chocolates, candy, or pastries, cakes, and cupcakes, and what about tarts and pies? Preparing them can make the wait for them all the sweeter, or you can grab a pudding or two on the go just to make the day that much brighter. Dessert Day is your excuse to indulge in your favorite treats.
History of Dessert Day
The origin of the word dessert comes from the French “desservir,” a word which here means “to clear the table.” This, of course, referenced the dish that came after the clearing of the main dishes served as part of the meal. The earliest references to the term dessert being used are in the 1600’s and arrived at the same time as the concept of serving a meal in courses, letting each part of the meal be its own experience.
- Chocolate chips were invented after chocolate chip cookies.
- The chocolate chip cookie is the most popular kind of cookie in America. 7 billion chocolate chips are consumed annually in the United States. That equals over 19.2 million cookies a day.
- The “German” of German chocolate cake fame was actually a man named Samuel German, who was an employee of an American chocolate company.
- What we commonly call “Baked Alaska” was dubbed as such by the famous Delmonico’s Restaurant in New York City in 1876 to celebrate Alaska’s annexation.
- The world’s largest gingerbread house topped out at 2,520 square feet and contained 35.8 million calories.
- Girl Scout cookies were originally homemade.
- Boston cream pie is actually a cake.
- As of 2010, Armenia holds the title for the world’s biggest chocolate bar, which weighed over 9,000 pounds.
- People in the Middle Ages actually ate preserved fruits, jelly and wafers for dessert.
- 1381- The first printed recipe for apple pie was introduced
- The shelf life of a chocolate bar is one year
- Pie was originally filled with fillings like meat or vegetables
- 1700- Eclairs with cream center and chocolate topping emerged
- For most centuries, puddings were meat based
- In Italy, people still eat salad for dessert
- Some of the top five desserts in America include brownies, ice cream, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate cake and fudge
- Sugar was not added to chocolate until hundreds of years after it had been discovered
- Many cultures have their own variations of similar desserts around the world. For example mandel bread, usually associated with the Eastern European Jewish population and Italian biscotti are both hard cookies well suited to dipping in coffee.
- The first known use of the word “dessert” was in 1600, in a health education manual entitled Naturall and artificial Directions for Health, which was written by William Vaughan.
- According to the food historians, the precursors of modern cakes (round ones with icing) were first baked in Europe sometime in the mid-17th century. This is due to primarily to advances in technology (more reliable ovens, manufacture/availability of food molds) and ingredient availability (refined sugar).
- The cupcake evolved in the United States in the 19th century, and it was revolutionary because of the amount of time it saved in the kitchen.
- Before 1886, the origin and history of fudge is unclear, but fudge is thought to be an American invention; In the late 17th century, fudge was a verb meaning ” “to fit together in a clumsy or underhand manner.” Then around 1800, the word was used to mean a hoax or cheat. By mid-century, the use of the term “Oh, fudge!” as a kid-friendly expletive had come into favor, and was often used when something had been messed up. It’s believed that the first batch of fudge was created when someone was trying to make caramels and “fudged” up. The name stuck.
- Jell-O’s inventor hit upon the first successful gelatin dessert recipe in the course of his side work as a manufacturer of patent medicines like cough syrups and laxatives (he was a carpenter by trade). In 1897, LeRoy, New York resident Pearle B. Wait and his wife, May, added strawberry, raspberry, orange, and lemon flavoring — probably because they were already on hand from Pearle’s medicinal concoctions — and the original four flavors were born.
- Ten people in the United States have the last name Doughnut or Donut. It’s unclear whether “Doughnut” was their given last name, or whether they changed it out of passion for the pastry. Meanwhile, 13 people have the first name “Donut.”
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