June 21, 2006

Food & History

Jeff Cheek

Origins of some favorite foods

In keeping with this column’s theme, “Food and History,” here are several everyday foods that might taste even better the next time you eat them, once you’ve learned the rich stories behind them.

PEANUTS: They are not nuts but seedpods and they took a long route to get from South America to the ubiquitous peanut butter and jelly sandwich in every school lunch pail. The Spanish took them back to Europe where they soon spread to Africa, becoming an important part of the African food supply. Slaves brought them to the southern United States.

For a hundred years peanuts were a regional snack food. When Yankee soldiers occupied the Confederacy, they developed a taste for “goobers,” and brought them back north after the Civil War. A St. Louis physician invented peanut butter for his toothless patients who needed protein but could not chew steak. The PBJ sandwich was born.

NAVY BEANS: There was no refrigeration on the old sailing ships. The crews lived on dried food. These unnamed small white beans were nutritious and easily stored for long voyages. The navy served them so often, even for breakfast, they earned the title Navy Beans.

PECANS: These nuts grew wild in the southern United States. Their name means “bone shell” in Algonquin and were an essential part of the Native American diet. They ate them or pressed the meat to extract the oil, which was used to flavor stews. In l772, George Washington planted pecans on his Mount Vernon plantation. Thomas Jefferson sped up the process by having a number of seedlings shipped from New Orleans for transplanting at Monticello.

BANANAS and DATES: What do these two fruits have in common? Both names mean “finger” but come from different languages. In Arabic it is “banan.” Dactylus is finger in Greek. Both fruits resemble fingers.

WALNUTS: These were highly prized by the Romans, not only as food but as medicine. Pliny the Elder, the first agronomist, wrote this about walnuts: “Chewing a walnut while fasting is a sovereign remedy against the bite of a mad dog.” Pliny was wrong. Walnuts do not cure rabies.

LOGANBERRIES and BOYSENBERRIES: Both make excellent jams and jellies. In the late l9th Century, botanist J.H. Logan developed the hybrid which bears his name. Rudolph Boysen crossed Loganberries with blackberries and raspberries in the 20th century to produce Boysenberries. What’s next?

BARTLETT PEARS: In the early l8th century an English school teacher found a wild pear tree, which he sold to a man named Williams. In Europe, these pears are still known as Williams pears, but not in the US. Someone introduced them into Massachusetts. When Enoch Bartlett bought the orchard he did not know their name, so the public began to call them “Bartlett’s Pears.”

CAYENNE PEPPER: These hot, red peppers get their name from Cayenne, the capital of French Guiana. But where did the capital city get its name? From the Tupi word “kyinha,” the name of the same red peppers. In essence, the pepper was named after itself.

PUMPKINS: Pumpkins are members of the squash family. The Native American word “askutasquash” means “eaten raw or cooked.” Spanish explorers found the natives eating a large golden squash. The seeds were baked and used to flavor other dishes. The flesh was eaten raw or roasted or dried for the winter. We mostly use them for pies, but have you ever made Pumpkin Butter for your morning toast?

Recipe for Pumpkin Butter

INGREDIENTS:

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon each allspice and cloves

1/4 teaspoon each ginger, cloves and nutmeg

1-1/2 cups cooked fresh pumpkin

PREPARATION: Combine all except pumpkin in glass bowl. Microwave on high for three minutes. Using hand mixer, blend in pumpkin. Chill and serve.