The History of Honey

Honey is probably the best sweetener man has ever came into contact with. It is made by bees and their power of converting nectar into honey. Honey contains only 14-18% water and complex natural sugars. This sweetener has many uses and is absolutely delightful. It is hard to say how long honey has been in existence. Cave paintings in Spain from 7000BC show the earliest records of beekeeping, however, fossils of honey bees date back about 150 million years!

The earliest record of keeping bees in hives was found in the sun temple erected in 2400BC near Cairo. The bee featured frequently in Egyptian hieroglyphs and, being favored by the pharaohs, often symbolized royalty. Bees were subdued with smoke ,and trees and rocks were resulting of destruction of their colony. With so many food sweeteners now, it is hard to appreciate the sweetness of honey. Honey was very much appreciate by Ancient Egyptians because honey had a role in births, deaths and marriages; it was believed to provide the energy and inspiration to create a child. There are many different kinds of stories about how honey was used. Some of the stories were like the legend of how Cupid dipped his love arrows in honey before aiming at unsuspecting lovers. In the Old Testament of the Bible, Israel was often referred to as “the land of milk and honey.” Mead, an alcoholic drink made from honey was called “nectar of the gods,” high praise indeed. Honey was valued highly and often used as a form of currency, tribute, or offering. In the 11th century A.D., German peasants paid their feudal lords in honey and beeswax.

The Greeks, as well as the Romans made honey cakes and offered them to the gods. The Greeks viewed honey as not only an important food, but also as a healing medicine. Greek recipe books were full of sweets and cakes made from honey. Cheeses were mixed with honey to make cheesecakes, described by Euripides in the fifth century BC as being “steeped most thoroughly in the rich honey of the golden bee.”Not only was it the Greeks that used honey but also the Romans. The Romans also used honey as a gift to the gods and they used it extensively in cooking. Beekeeping flourished throughout the Roman empire. Once Christianity was established, honey and beeswax production increased greatly to meet the demand for church candles.

The word honey comes from the English word "hunig" which was a worldwide sweeter. With more than 300 varietals of honey found in the United States, ranging greatly in flavor, aroma and color, honey is a unique ingredient that helps home cooks and professional chefs create countless recipes in the kitchen. Not only is it good for recipes it is also in many different types of medicines and in moisturizers. There is a big list of the many benefits of honey like...

1. Prevent cancer and heart disease:
Honey contains flavoring, antioxidants which help reduce the risk of some cancers and heart disease.

2. Reduce ulcers and other gastrointestinal disorders.
Recent research shows that honey treatment may help disorders such as ulcers and bacterial gastroenteritis. This may be related to the 3rd benefit…

3. Anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-fungal:
“All honey is antibacterial, because the bees add an enzyme that makes hydrogen peroxide,” said Peter Molan, director of the Honey Research Unit at the University of Waikato in New Zealand.

4. Increase athletic performance.
Ancient Olympic athletes would eat honey and dried figs to enhance their performance. This has now been verified with modern studies, showing that it is superior in maintaining glycogen levels and improving recovery time than other sweeteners.

5. Reduce cough and throat irritation:
Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110 children, a single dose of buckwheat honey was just as effective as a single dose of dextromethorphan in relieving nocturnal cough and allowing proper sleep.

Honey is a miracle food; it never goes bad. It was reported that archaeologists found 2000 year old jars of honey in Egyptian tombs and they still tasted delicious! Many people find it rather surprising that bacteria cannot grow in honey because all things being equal, bacteria loves sugar. These are some of the facts why sugar is the best sweetneer man has ever came into contact with. It should be much more appreciated and so should the bees. Thank you honey bees!

The History of Pizza

Pizza was invented by George Washington. After he had become the first president of the United States he got really hungry and.... Just Kidding !

There is a much more interesting story behind the history of pizza then you really think. Pizza goes way back, we don't know exactly when it originated or where? Some people say Italy, some others say Greece. Egypt perhaps?The pizza could have been invented by the Phoenicians, the Greeks, Romans, or anyone who learned the secret of mixing flour with water and heating it on a hot stone.

What we do know is that that pizza dates back to at least the 1st Century B.C. The word pizza is believed to be from an Old Italian word meaning "a point," which in turn became the Italian word "pizzicare," which means "to pinch" or "pluck."At the height of the Persian Empire, it is said that the soldiers of Darius the Great (521-486 B.C.), accustomed to lengthy marches, baked a kind of bread flat upon their shields and then covered it with cheese and dates. The ancient Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs and cheese. The first major innovation that led to flat bread pizza was the use of tomato as a topping. It was common for the poor of the area around Naples to add tomato to their yeast-based flat bread, and so the pizza began.

It was believed that modern pizza was first made by baker Raffaele Esposito of Naples. In fact, a popular urban legend holds that the archetypal pizza, Pizza Margherita, was invented in 1889, when the Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned the Neapolitan pizzaiolo Raffaele Esposito to create a pizza in honor of the visiting Queen Margherita. Of the three different pizzas he created, the Queen strongly preferred a pie swathed in the colors of the Italian flag: red (tomato), green (basil), and white (mozzarella). Supposedly, this kind of pizza was then named after the Queen as Pizza Margherita.

Immigrants to the United States from Naples were replicating their trusty, crusty pizzas in New York and other American cities, including Trenton, New Haven, Boston, Chicago and St. Louis. The first documented United States pizzeria was G. (for Gennaro) Lombardi’s on Spring Street in Manhattan, licensed to sell pizza in 1905.As Italian-Americans, and their food, migrated from city to suburb, east to west, especially after World War II, pizza’s popularity in the United States boomed. No longer seen as an “ethnic” treat, it was increasingly identified as a fast, fun food. And what a yummy fun fast food that is. Pizzas eventually including California-gourmet pizzas topped with anything from barbecued chicken to smoked salmon. Pizza was such a big hit that it even has its own special day called

"National Pizza With Everything (Except Anchovies) Day " which is on November 12. Around the world, pizza toppings vary greatly, reflecting regional tastes, local foods, and cultural preferences. Here is a rundown of the different types of topping that are put on everyday day pizzas .

1. India -- pickled ginger, minced mutton, and paneer (a form of cottage cheese)

2. Russia -- mockba (a combination of sardines, tuna, mackerel, salmon, and onions), red herring

3. Brazil -- green peas

4. Japan -- eel, squid, and Mayo Jaga (mayonnaise, potato, bacon)

5. France -- flambée (bacon, onion, fresh cream)

6. Pakistan -- curry

7. Australia -- shrimp, pineapple, barbecue sauce

8. Costa Rica -- coconut

9. Netherlands -- "Double Dutch" -- double meat, double cheese, double onion

10. United States -- pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, green pepper, onion, and extra cheese

It doesn't matter who or what invented pizza, we might never exactly know. One thing that is for sure is that whether pizza came from Italy or from america, it was a pretty darn good invention . And i think that is something t that we can all agree on. I mean the average american will devour at least 6,000 slices during the course of a lifetime. That is a lot of pizza. What is your favorite pizza topping ? Leave a comment bellow .

The History of Cheesecake

Nowadays there are many different kinds of cheesecake recipes, but the ingredients are what make it different from any other dessert. Cheesecake is made up of bread crumbs and lots of cream cheese (hence the name Cheese Cake). Cheesecake is a beloved dessert nationwide. Many think that it origins in New York but it actually goes back even farther. It starts in ancient Greece 4,000 years ago.

The first "Cheese Cake" was created on the Island of Samos. Cheese and cheese products had most likely been around for thousands of years before this, but earlier than this goes into prehistory so we don't really know. In Greece, cheesecake was considered to be a good source of energy, and there is evidence that it was served to athletes during the first Olympic games in 776 B.C. Greek brides and grooms were also known to use cheesecake as a wedding cake. It was made up of flour, wheat, honey and cheese. Theses ingredients are also used in the cheesecakes that we make today.

With the Roman conquest of Greece, the secret fell into Roman hands. It was called "libum" by the Romans, and were often used as an offering at their temples to their gods. They modified the cheesecake including crushed cheese and eggs. These ingredients were baked under a hot brick and it was served warm. Occasionally, the Romans would put the cheese filling in a pastry. Marcus Cato, a Roman politician in the first century B.C., is credited as recording the oldest known Roman cheesecake recipe. As the Romans started to expand their empire, they brought cheesecake recipes to the Europeans.

The Europeans started to experiment on different ways to make the cheesecake better. In each country of Europe, the recipes started taking on different cultural shapes, using ingredients native to each region. In 1545, the first cookbook was printed. It described the cheesecake as a flour-based sweet food. This chef started to soak cheese into into very small pieces and soaked those pieces in milk for three hours. Then, he strained the mixture and added eggs, butter and sugar. It wasn't till the 18th century when the cheesecake started to look like what we eat today. Around this time, Europeans began to use beaten eggs instead of yeast to make their breads and cakes rise. Removing the overpowering yeast flavor made cheesecake taste more like a dessert treat. When Europeans came to America, some brought their cheesecake recipes along.

Americans were the ones who started to add cream cheese to the mixture. After a new York dairy farmer wanted to replicate the French cheese Neufchatel. Instead, he accidentally discovered a process which resulted in the creation of cream cheese. So after a couple of years cream cheese finally started to be wrapped in foil and sold to consumers. The Philadelphia Cream Cheese brand was purchased in 1903 by the Phoenix Cheese Company, and then it was purchased in 1928 by the Kraft Cheese Company.

The Classic New York style cheesecake is served with just the cake. Which means there was no fruit or toppings on it yet. By the 1900s, New Yorkers were in love with this dessert. Virtually every restaurant had its own version of cheesecake on their menu. New Yorkers have vied for bragging rights for having the original recipe ever since. In Chicago, sour cream is added to the recipe to keep it creamy. Meanwhile, Philadelphia cheesecake is known for being lighter and creamier than New York style cheesecake and it can be served with fruit or chocolate toppings.Italians use ricotta cheese, while the Greeks use mizithra or feta. Germans prefer cottage cheese, while the Japanese use a combination of cornstarch and egg whites. There are specialty cheesecakes that include blue cheese, seafood, spicy chilies and even tofu!

Now here in the United States you can see one of the most known restaurants here named after cheesecake called 'The Cheesecake Factory" .The Cheesecake Factory story begins in Detroit, Michigan in the 1940’s. Evelyn Overton found a recipe in the local newspaper that would inspire her “Original” Cheesecake. Everyone loved her recipe so much that she decided to open a small Cheesecake shop, but she eventually gave up her dream of owning her own business in order to raise her two small children, David and Renee. She moved her baking equipment to a kitchen in her basement and continued to supply cakes to several of the best restaurants in town while raising her family.

The company currently operates 146 dining restaurants under The Cheesecake Factory name in 34 states and the District of Columbia. The restaurants are characterized by extensive menus, custom décor, and large portions. David M. Overton, the company's founder, opened the first Cheesecake Factory restaurant in Beverly Hills, California, in 1978. The restaurant established the future chain's pattern of offering an eclectic menu, big portions, and signature cheesecakes.