Midwest Sweet Baking History

Recipes and stories of the bakers of the heartland—from family kitchens to county fairs to iconic businesses. Discover how the Midwest refined the nation’s sweet tooth through a delicious mix of immigrant traditions and American ingenuity. Chef Jenny Lewis dips a spoon into generations of homemade desserts, and examines the cogs and wheels of some of the biggest brands of the baking industry—taking us on a journey that evokes nineteenth-century flour mills, state-fair baking competitions, and roadside pie stands as well as the twenty-first century treats being made in the Great Lakes region. In this history Midwest beet sugar, vanilla cream, and evaporated milk are mixed into a narrative of wars, social shifts and politics, including many first-person interviews. Along the way you’ll learn how to make Pumpkin Whoopie Pies, witness the rise of Red Star Yeast, plumb the secrets of the Kraft Oil Method, and encounter a rich medley of other true stories and irresistible recipes from Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana and Michigan.

A sweet tooth is a powerful thing. Babies everywhere seem to smile when tasting sweetness for the first time, a trait inherited, perhaps, from our ancestors who foraged for sweet foods that were generally safer to eat than their bitter counterparts. But the "science of sweet" is only the beginning of a fascinating story, because it is not basic human need or simple biological impulse that prompts us to decorate elaborate wedding cakes, scoop ice cream into a cone, or drop sugar cubes into coffee. These are matters of culture and aesthetics, of history and society, and we might ask many other questions. Why do sweets feature so prominently in children's literature? When was sugar called a spice? And how did chocolate evolve from an ancient drink to a modern candy bar? The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets explores these questions and more through the collective knowledge of 265 expert contributors, from food historians to chemists, restaurateurs to cookbook writers, neuroscientists to pastry chefs. The Companion takes readers around the globe and throughout time, affording glimpses deep into the brain as well as stratospheric flights into the world of sugar-crafted fantasies. More than just a compendium of pastries, candies, ices, preserves, and confections, this reference work reveals how the human proclivity for sweet has brought richness to our language, our art, and, of course, our gastronomy. In nearly 600 entries, beginning with "à la mode" and ending with the Italian trifle known as "zuppa inglese," the Companion traces sugar's journey from a rare luxury to a ubiquitous commodity. In between, readers will learn about numerous sweeteners (as well-known as agave nectar and as obscure as castoreum, or beaver extract), the evolution of the dessert course, the production of chocolate, and the neurological, psychological, and cultural responses to sweetness. The Companion also delves into the darker side of sugar, from its ties to colonialism and slavery to its addictive qualities. Celebrating sugar while acknowledging its complex history, The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets is the definitive guide to one of humankind's greatest sources of pleasure. Like kids in a candy shop, fans of sugar (and aren't we all?) will enjoy perusing the wondrous variety to be found in this volume.

"Acclaimed Chicago chef Paul Fehribach surveys the tremendous diversity of localist food practices across the Midwest. Fehribach focuses not only on present trends but on a cultural migration from the Ohio River Valley north- and westward. The book will feature many remarkable recipes-e.g., bacon fat-fried Turkey Red Wheat pancakes; delicata squash stuffed with hominy, dried blueberries, and chilies; roast duck with whiskey sauce, sour red cabbage, and turnips; strawberry pretzel gelatin salad; and many more-as well as profiles and descriptions of some of the chefs, purveyors, and farmers who make up the food networks of the greater Chicago region"--

A delicious tour of America’s favorite treats, cookies, and candies from the beloved author of the bestselling Cake Mix Doctor series and American Cake IACP AWARD FINALIST • “Every recipe comes with a story as delicious as the small bite it describes. And best of all, every small bite begs to be baked.”—Dorie Greenspan, James Beard Award–winning author of Dorie’s Cookies Each of America’s little bites—cookies, candies, wafers, brittles—tells a big story, and each speaks volumes about what was going on in America when the recipes were created. In American Cookie, the New York Times bestselling author and Cake Mix Doctor Anne Byrn takes us on a journey through America’s baking history. And just like she did in American Cake, she provides an incredibly detailed historical background alongside each recipe. Because the little bites we love are more than just baked goods—they’re representations of different times in our history. Early colonists brought sugar cookies, Italian fig cookies, African benne wafers, and German gingerbread cookies. Each of the 100 recipes, from Katharine Hepburn Brownies and Democratic Tea Cakes to saltwater taffy and peanut brittle, comes with a lesson that’s both informative and enchanting.

The Chicago Food Encyclopedia is a far-ranging portrait of an American culinary paradise. Hundreds of entries deliver all of the visionary restauranteurs, Michelin superstars, beloved haunts, and food companies of today and yesterday. More than 100 sumptuous images include thirty full-color photographs that transport readers to dining rooms and food stands across the city. Throughout, a roster of writers, scholars, and industry experts pays tribute to an expansive--and still expanding--food history that not only helped build Chicago but fed a growing nation. Pizza. Alinea. Wrigley Spearmint. Soul food. Rick Bayless. Hot Dogs. Koreatown. Everest. All served up A-Z, and all part of the ultimate reference on Chicago and its food.

Visit farms that bring you back to simpler times, sample home-cooked foods, tour museums and mansions that reveal how people lived more than a hundred years ago with this guide to 45 tours in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. Discover the beauty of the Dairy State, explore the roots of Minnesota's Scandinavian heritage, savor fantastic flavors of the Hawkeye State's specialty markets, visit a bison or Ilama ranch in the Prairie State, experience Hoosier hospitality, and satisfy your sweet tooth at Michigan's cherry orchards and sugar farms.

A Love Letter to America's Heartland, the Great Midwest When it comes to defining what we know as all-American baking, everything from Bundt cakes to brownies have roots that can be traced to the great Midwest. German, Scandinavian, Polish, French, and Italian immigrant families baked their way to the American Midwest, instilling in it pies, breads, cookies, and pastries that manage to feel distinctly home-grown. After more than a decade of living in California, author Shauna Sever rediscovered the storied, simple pleasures of home baking in her Midwestern kitchen. This unique collection of more than 125 recipes includes refreshed favorites and new treats: Rhubarb and Raspberry Swedish Flop Danish Kringle Secret-Ingredient Cherry Slab Pie German Lebkuchen Scotch-a-Roos Smoky Cheddar-Crusted Cornish Pasties . . . and more, which will make any kitchen feel like a Midwestern home.