Home Today Is “Upside Down Cakes” Date Back To The Middle Ages

“Upside Down Cakes” Date Back To The Middle Ages

National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day is observed annually on April 20th. Americans have been enjoying this springtime cake since the early 1900s when many cakes were made in cast iron skillets.

  • The term ‘upside down cake’ wasn’t used very much before the middle of the 19th century, but the style of baking probably dates back much further, probably to the Middle Ages.
  • The early recipes for fruit upside down cakes were made in cast iron skillets on top of the stove.
  • The classic American ‘Pineapple Upside Down Cake’ dates to sometime after 1903, when Jim Dole invented canned pineapple.
  • Caribbean Indians placed pineapples or pineapple crowns outside the entrances of their homes to symbolize friendship and hospitality.
  • The Spanish explorers thought pineapples looked like pinecones, so they called them “Pina.” The English added “apple” to associate it with juicy delectable fruits.
  • Pineapple, “halakahiki” in Hawaiian, meaning foreign fruit, has been grown in Hawaii since the early 1800’s.
  • The Hawaiian Pineapple Co. (now Dole Pineapple) held a pineapple recipe contest in 1925, with judges from Fannie Farmer’s School, Good Housekeeping and McCall’s magazine on the judging panel. The 100 winning recipes would be published in a cookbook the following year.
  • The Hawaiin Pineapple Company ran an ad campaign in 1926 based on the fact that so many recipes for the cake had been submitted, naturally making the Pineapple Upside Down Cake even more popular.
  • The pineapple is a tropical plant with edible multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries, and the most economically significant plant in the Bromeliaceae family.
  • Pineapples can be consumed fresh, cooked, juiced, and preserved, and are found in a wide array of cuisines.
  • It takes almost 3 years for a single pineapple to reach maturation.
  • The word “pineapple” in English was first recorded in 1398, when it was originally used to describe the reproductive organs of conifer trees (now termed pine cones).
  • Raw pineapple is an excellent source of manganese (76% daily value) in a one US cup serving) and vitamin C (131% DV per cup serving).
  • The first pineapple to be successfully cultivated in Europe, is said to have been grown by Pieter de la Court at Meerburg in 1658.
  • Once harvested, pineapples don’t continue to ripen.
  • Each pineapple plant only produces just one pineapple per year.
  • Unripe pineapples don’t just taste vile, but can actually be quite poisonous. Eating it causes serious throat irritation and it has a strong laxative effect.
  • Pineapples grow slowly, and can take up to two years to reach full size, so we pick and eat them when they are much smaller, but if they are left to their own devices they can reach up to 20lbs.
  • Traditionally pineapple juice was used as a diuretic and to induce labor.
  • The Bromelain enzyme in pineapples breaks down proteins. This means that you can use pineapple or pineapple juice as a meat tenderizer.
  • The first mention in print of such a cake was in 1930, and was so listed in the 1936 Sears Roebuck catalog, but the cake is somewhat older.” In Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads(1995), Sylvia Lovegren traces pineapple upside-down cake to a 1924 Seattle fund-raising cookbook…While rooting around in old women’s magazines I found a Gold Medal Flour ad with a full-page, four-color picture of Pineapple Upside-Down Cake–a round cake with six slices of pineapple, candied red cherries, and a brown sugar glaze. The date: November 1925.”  — American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century , Jean Anderson

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

Joy of Kosher

Kitchen Project