A Native American maple sugar camp, 1853. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress. Hi everyone, Andrew here with another food history post. I’m originally from Upstate New York, where maple syrup is kind of a big deal. My family has always had a special fondness for the stuff. The “pancake syrup” made of corn syrup was…
Food Science and History
Stevia Extract, The Healthy Sweetener
Article by Andrew Brozyna. Cooking with Stevia Extract I say stevia is “the healthy sweetener” not because the herb is especially nutritious itself, but because its high sweetness allows us to reduce the amount of sugar in our baking. Consuming high amounts of natural sugars is unhealthy (glucose, fructose, and sucrose), while artificial sweeteners (aspartame,…
Maple Sugar, by Tim Herd. A historical, botanical, DIY, cookbook
Hi everyone. It’s Kelly’s husband here with a sweet book review. My parents are from upstate New York, so I was raised with a taste for maple syrup. We never used that “maple flavored”corn syrup stuff on our pancakes, and we always preferred maple candy to anything Hershey’s makes. So, I was very interested to…
DIY Restaurant Menu Printing in 1914
Hiya, foodie friends. It’s me, Andrew, here with another one of my food archaeology posts. Last fall we visited the Adirondack Museum in Blue Mountain Lake, NY. We were very interested to see their temporary exhibit, “Let’s Eat! Adirondack Food Traditions”. There were lots of cool objects in the collection, especially for a graphic designer…
The Brozynas’ Central Market
By Andrew Brozyna I was talking to a friend recently when she mentioned that her grandmother was a butcher. My grandfather was a butcher, and his father was too. Since this is food-related I thought it might be an interesting story to post on The Spunky Coconut. My family is not exactly sure when my…
Farm Anatomy by Julia Rothman
Andrew and I both are both so impressed with Julia Rothman’s new book Farm Anatomy that we thought we’d each write our own review. We’re hosting a giveaway too, so check the bottom of the post for details. Kelly’s Review This book is so deliciously beautiful, you don’t need to have any interest in farming…
Ivan Day’s Ice Cream
You might think that a review of Ice Cream by Ivan Day is an inappropriate choice for this blog, considering we don’t eat cow’s milk. However, much of the book is devoted to the history of dairy-free flavored ices. And although we might not eat it now, nearly all of us grew up with ice…
The Medieval History of Bean Bread
Image at left: A stitched depiction of two cooks on the 11th century Bayeux Tapestry. One of my favorite gluten free baked goods made by my wife is her Vanilla Bean Cake. Or maybe you’ve tried her garbanzo bean flatbread. Making a cake and bread with beans is an innovative way to to replicate the spongy…
Tea and Tea Drinking by Claire Masset book review
When I was in elementary school I checked out every one of my library’s books about the Loch Ness monster. The most fascinating anecdote came from the 1930s and was about a English couple on holiday in Scotland. While the couple were enjoying tea time the monster was spotted by another hotel guest. Rather than…
Lets talk about Coconut Sugar / Coconut Sap
Recently a reader emailed me to ask if I had heard of coconut sap. “Coconut sap” is a brilliant name for what I’ve been calling “coconut sugar.” Why do I prefer that term? Because the term, “sugar”, is associated with white refined sugar, which is very bad for you. White refined sugar contributes to all sorts…