Tonight, we’ll read from “Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes” by Miss Parloa.

The Maya believed that cacao was discovered by the gods in a mountain along with other delectable foods, for their divine use. According to Maya mythology, the Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created by the divine grandmother goddess.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “For Luncheon and Supper Guests” written by Alice Bradley published in 1923. “Luncheon” is the formal word for lunch, a light mid-day meal.

In the Middle Ages, before electric lighting and industrialization, the mid-day meal was large and considered dinner. There was no lunch, so later in the evening a lighter meal was had called “supper”.

But by the 1800s, the large meal of dinner was pushed into the evening and thus, not only was supper squeezed out, but there was a need for something to eat in between breakfast and dinner.

Up until the early 1800s, luncheon was generally reserved for ladies, who would often have lunch with one another when their husbands were out. The meal was often made up of left-overs from the previous night's plentiful dinner. Beginning in the Victorian era, afternoon tea supplemented this luncheon at four o'clock.

This episode first aired in November of 2021.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “The New Royal Cook Book by Royal Baking Powder Co.” published in 1920.

When the first truly American cookbook was published in 1792, the recipes included used three possible types of leavening: baker's yeast, emptins (from the leavings of brewing beer), and pearlash.

The effectiveness of such leavenings varied widely. At that time, reliable commercial products were not available.

The creation of shelf-stable chemical combinations of sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar is seen as marking the true introduction of baking powder later in the 1800s. Although cooks had used both sodium bicarbonate and cream of tartar previously in recipes, they had to purchase the ingredients individually from chemists and store them separately to prevent them from reacting prematurely.

Regardless of the expiration date, the effectiveness can be tested by placing a teaspoon of the powder into a small container of hot water. If it bubbles vigorously, it is still active and usable.

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Tonight, we’ll read about baking cakes from the “Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Volume 4”

This episode originally aired in March of 2021.

The Woman’s Institute was founded by Mary Brooks Picken in Scranton, PA. Born in Kansas in 1886, Picken wrote the first dictionary to be published by a woman in the English language, beyond the over one hundred other books she wrote.

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Tonight, we’ll read “A treatise on the art of making good wholesome bread of wheat, oats, rye, barley” by Friedrick Accum, published in 1821.

Accum was a German chemist, whose most important achievements included advances in the field of gas lighting, efforts to keep processed foods free from dangerous additives, and the promotion of popular chemistry.

Following an apprenticeship as an apothecary, he opened his own commercial laboratory enterprise in London.

— read by V —

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Tonight, we’ll read “Pop Corn Recipes” by Mary Hamilton Talbott, published in 1916.

Corn was domesticated about 10,000 years ago, in what is now Mexico. Archaeologists discovered that people have known about popcorn for thousands of years. Fossil evidence from Peru suggests that corn was popped as early as 4,700 BC.

Through the 19th century, popping of the kernels was achieved by hand, on stove tops.

During the Great Depression, popcorn was fairly inexpensive at 5–10 cents a bag and became popular. Thus, while other businesses failed, the popcorn business thrived and became a source of income for many struggling farmers, including the Redenbacher family. The snack was popular at theaters, much to the initial displeasure of many of the theater owners, who thought it distracted from the films. Their minds eventually changed, however, and Popcorn became more profitable than theater tickets. 

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Tonight, we’ll read recipes from “A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes,” written by Charles Elme Francatelli and published in 1852.

Born in London of British descent, Francatelli was French-trained cook who worked for Queen Victoria.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “Chocolate and Cocoa Recipes” by Miss Parloa, and sponsored by the Walter Baker & Co based in Massachusetts.

The Maya believed that cacao was discovered by the gods in a mountain along with other delectable foods, for their divine use. According to Maya mythology, the Plumed Serpent gave cacao to the Maya after humans were created by the divine grandmother goddess.

— read by 'V' —

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Tonight, we’ll read from a little cookbook titled “Pennsylvania Dutch Cookery.” The publisher and author are unknown. 

The Pennsylvania Dutch live primarily in Southeastern and South Central Pennsylvania. Some Pennsylvania Dutch live in the historically Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking areas of Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

The continued use of the term ""Pennsylvania Dutch"" was strengthened by the Pennsylvania Dutch themselves in the 1800s as a way of distinguishing themselves from later waves of German immigrants to the United States.

There are possibly more than 300,000 native speakers of Pennsylvania German language in the United States and Canada.

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Tonight, we’ll read from “Canoe and Camp Cookery : A Practical Cook Book For Canoeists, Corinthian Sailors and Outers” by H.H. Soulé under the pen name Seneca, published in 1893.

Canoes were developed by cultures all over the world. Until the mid-1800s the canoe was an important means of transport for exploration and trade, and in some places is still used as such.

A canoe, in American English, is a lightweight narrow vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top.

In British English, the term "canoe" can also refer to a kayak, while canoes are then called Canadian or “open” canoes to distinguish them from kayaks.

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