The 26th of September is Johnny Appleseed’s birthday. He became a part of American mythology for planting apple trees in Ohio.
American Food
Johnnycake
Johnnycake is a New World quickbread, made on the Atlantic coast from Atlantic Canada down to the Caribbean. In North America, it is a quickbread based on cornmeal. It can be served as a savoury, with butter or cream corn on it, or as a sweet with syrup or jam on it, or used as…
Jonathan Apple
Jonathan Apples are medium-sized apples with thin, tough bright red skin with an occasional patch of yellow.Inside, the juicy flesh is yellowish-white. The taste is moderately tart balanced with some sweetness Jonathans are popular in the American mid-west. They are grown in North America, UK, New Zealand and Australia. Cooking Tips Good for eating fresh….
Joseph A. Campbell: Founder of Campbell’s Soup
Joseph A. Campbell Life and Times Joseph A. Campbell (15 May 1817 – 27 March 1900) started the company that introduced condensed tomato soup in 1897. Today, the Campbell Soup Company (2007) is 50 to 60% owned by the Dorrance family. In the UK and in North America, the same varieties of condensed soups are…
Josephine Garis Cochrane
Josephine Garis Cochrane Life and Times Josephine Garis Cochrane invented the first workable dishwasher. An attempt had been made before her, by a man, but it didn’t work and never got off the ground. She was born Josephine Garis in Ashtabula County, Ohio on 8 March 1839 and raised in Valparaiso, Indiana. Her father, John…
Julia Child
Julia Child was the person who more than anyone else brought French cooking to North American middle-class households. She was not the first person to run a cooking programme on television, but in many people’s minds, she was the first one that counted by making a lasting impression on American culture.
Ketchup
Ketchup is a savoury sauce used as both a meal condiment, and an ingredient. The best known type of ketchup is tomato ketchup; in fact, it is so well known that for most people, the word “ketchup” is synonymous with the term “tomato ketchup.” It’s not, and in fact, ketchup was originally made without tomatoes….
King Cake
Throughout the entire Carnival season in New Orleans, they make “King Cake”, which is a sort of brioche. The cake was originally made just for Twelfth Night, signalling the end of Christmas season. Now Twelfth Night is seen as the start of Carnival Season, and the cake is now made and sold throughout Carnival until…
King David Apples
King David are medium to large-sized apples, ribbed at the top. They have pale green skin, mostly covered in dark red. The skin occasionally feels greasy. Inside they have crisp, juicy, firm yellow flesh, with a sharp, slightly sweet taste. Some detect a hint of spice in the taste. The fruit ripens in October /…
Kinnow Mandarins
Kinnow mandarins are slightly flattened on top. The thin, glossy skin peels easily. The fruit has many seeds. The Sunkist company markets these as Honey Mandarins.
Kool-Aid
Kool-Aid® is a soft drink. It is made from flavoured powder that you dissolve at home in water, sweeten with sugar which you supply yourself, and then chill in the fridge or with ice cubes, or both. It is available in small packets that will make one jug; large households can buy the powder in…
Kool-Aid Day
The 12th of August is Kool-Aid Day. Did you know you can make adult Kool-Aid?
Kummelweck Rolls
Kummelweck Rolls are large, crusty rolls made in Buffalo, New York from white wheat flour. Essentially Kaiser rolls, they are before baking glazed with a wash of cornstarch and water, and sprinkled with coarse salt and caraway seed. They end up a dark, glossy brown from the glaze. Classically, they are used to make “Beef…
Lamb Chopper Cheese
Lamb Chopper Cheese is smooth, firm and yellow inside, with a mild, almost sweet taste. It is made in the Netherlands and aged in the U.S.A. Its label shows a lamb on a motorcycle complete with helmet and scarf.
Lambert Cherries
Lambert Cherries are sweet cherries. They are medium-sized cherries, usually heart-shaped (making them a cherry in the mazzard group of cherries), and dark red. The flesh is soft and quite sweet. History Notes Seth Lewelling sold an orchard in Milwaukie, Oregon to a Joseph Hamilton Lambert in 1857. What would ultimately become the Lambert tree…
Laurie Colwin
Laurie Colwin (1944 – 1992) was an American food and fiction writer. Her cookbooks have been described as “memoirs with recipes”.
Liquid Smoke
Liquid Smoke © Denzil Green Liquid Smoke is a seasoning liquid that adds a smoky flavour to food. Wood chips or sawdust, often from hickory, is burnt to produce smoke; the smoke is captured in water. Other woods used include apple, mesquite, and pecan. Some of the better brands contain just water and smoke concentrate….
Lobster Rolls
Lobster Rolls © Victoria Sawyer A lobster roll is a bread roll filled with bite-sized chunks of lobster meat. Lobster rolls are made on the Atlantic coast of North America, from the New England area of the United States on up into the Maritimes areas of Canada. In 2009, prices for a Lobster Roll on…
Loganberries
Loganberries grow on trailing canes with thorns. Though the bushes are self-pollinating, they are propagated via cuttings. A Loganberry bush has a productive life of about 15 years. Loganberries look very similar to raspberries. They are, however, very tart, so they are rarely eaten out of hand and usually used for cooking or making wine…
London Broil
London broil is a cut of beef suited for a technique of cooking beef that converts a tougher cut of beef into more tender slices of cooked steak. The actual cut of beef can be Top Round Steak, Chuck Shoulder Steak, Flank Steak, Sirloin Tip, etc. American food writer James Beard preferred using flank steak…
Louis Fauchère
Louis Fauchère was a chef at Delmonico’s restaurant in New York in the mid-1800s. He later established the venerable Hotel Fauchère in Milford, PA.
Luther Burbank
Life and Times Luther Burbank was an American botanist and scientist, most remembered in the food world for the potato named after him. He was a self-promoter, but his hype about some of his plant creations didn’t live up to reality when they were grown elsewhere in the world outside of the idyllic California environment,…
Lydia Maria Francis Child
Lydia Maria Francis Child Lydia Maria Francis Child was a popular cookbook writer as well as the author of now-famous and much-loved Thanksgiving poem. Life and Times Lydia Maria Francis Child lived from 11 February 1802 to 20 October 1880. She was the author of “The Frugal Housewife”, a book aimed at poorer housewives who…
Macoun
Macoun Apples have green skin with dark red blushes and stripes. The tender but crisp flesh is juicy and sweet, and while usually white is sometimes greenish-white. The apples bruise easily. The tree tends to produce fruit biennially. Macoun Apples are more popular on the Eastern Coast of North America than they are elsewhere on…