"I prefer to regard a dessert as I would imagine the perfect woman: subtle, a little bittersweet, not blowsy and extrovert. Delicately made up, not highly rouged. Holding back, not exposing everything and, of course, with a flavor that lasts."
Graham Kerr (the Galloping Gourmet) 1960s
TODAY IN FOOD HISTORY
~ National Coconut Torte Day
~ St. Ansovinus' Day, patron of harvests
1764 Charles Grey, 2nd Earl, was born. Earl Grey was given the recipe for Earl Grey Tea by a Chinese mandarin with whom he was friends (and/or whose life either he or another British diplomat saved).
1813 Lorenzo Delmonico, famed restaurateur was born at Marengo, Switzerland. In 1851 he joined his uncles in their catering and pastry shop in New York City. He transformed the business into one of the most famous restaurants in the country.
1915 Wilbert Robinson (Uncle Robby), manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, attempted to catch a baseball dropped from an airplane. Someone had substituted a grapefruit instead, which virtually exploded in his glove on impact, covering him with grapefruit pulp and juice, much to the amusement of his team
2006 Robert C. Baker died at age 84. While a Poultry and Food Science professor at Cornell University from 1949-1989 he developed chicken nuggets, turkey ham, poultry hot dogs and many other products. He founded Cornell's Institute of Food Science and Marketing in 1970, and in 2004 was inducted into the American Poultry Hall of Fame.
DID YOU KNOW?
COCONUT, COCONUTS
The coconut most likely originated somewhere around New Guinea in the Pacific Ocean, but long ago became distributed throughout the Pacific from Southeast Asia to Africa. It may have reached the Pacific coast of Central or South America before Columbus reached America, but was introduced to the Caribbean from Africa by Europeans.
Note: There are some botanists who believe that the coconut originated in the American tropics. There is no definitive proof for either origin.
Near Port Royal, Jamaica a stone monument on the Palisadoes commemorates the planting of the first coconut tree on the island on March 4, 1869 by John Norton, the Superintendent of the General Penitentiary. Over the next 20 years, 20,000 coconut trees had been planted. Disease eventually destroyed all of the Palisadoes coconut trees.
Jamaica Tourist Board (visitjamaica.com)
Falling coconuts kill 150 people every year - 10 times the number of people killed by sharks.
Coconut oil was the world's leading vegetable oil until soybean oil took over in the 1960s.
There are more than 20 billion coconuts produced each year.
Coconut juice or coconut water is the liquid inside a coconut. Coconut milk is produced by steeping grated coconut in hot water then straining; coconut cream is coconut milk cooked down until it thickens, or grated coconut steeped in hot milk instead of water.
One cup of unsweetened shredded coconut has about 25 grams fat and 280 calories.
PHOTOS (coconut trees)
http://fida.da.gov.ph/Coco%20tree.jpg
