Food on a Stick!

     

     Here's an easy multiple choice question for you to answer:

Which of the following will Vinny sample this weekend at the Minnesota State Fair?

A.  Walleye Stuffed Mushrooms

B.  Sriracha Balls

C.  Maple Bacon Funnel Cake

D.  Deep Fried Ribs

E.  All of the above

Stay tuned for a full report when I return!

Pretzelvania

     Pennsylvania has many firsts to its credit.  But one of the tastiest is that of being the place where the first commercial pretzel bakery was founded.  Pretzels have a long history, dating back to Europe where monks twisted dough in the form of arms crossed in prayer.  After baking they were given to children as a reward for memorizing Bible verses.



     It was in Lititz that Julius Sturgis, quite by chance, began baking pretzels and selling them from his home on Main Street.  Legend has it that a hobo alighted from a train behind the Sturgis family's bread baking operation and followed his nose up to the bakery seeking employment and a meal.  And while Julius wasn't able to provide the man with a job, he did invite him to sit down with the family at the dinner table.  In exchange for his hospitality the hobo gave Sturgis a pretzel recipe.  And after 11 years baking bread Sturgis began to turn out soft pretzels in 1861.

     The family business prospered and when one relative moved from Lititz to Reading the pretzel baking continued there as Tom Sturgis sold the hard pretzels he baked.  

     The original house built in 1784 still stands on Main Street in Lititz and is on the National Register of Historic Places.  You can't miss it!  There's a huge pretzel out front.





A Sip Down Memory Lane

     Growing up there was no room in the 'fridge for soda.  Nada, zip, zilch.  When it came to sugary beverages in our house my Mother made New York's Mayor Bloomberg look like Santa Claus.  That's one reason I always looked forward to visiting my cousins in Lansdale. Their mother allowed them to mix up Kool-Aid on a hot summer day.  And I could join in adding the sugar and flavored mix and then sipping (or more accurately, gulping) the icy, cool sweetness in the shade.

     It wasn't until I was well into my teen years that I won some sort of door prize that was a $2 gift certificate to the local market in town.  That may not sound like much but fifty years ago two dollars could go a long way, especially when the purchase was for sodas that cost less than ten cent a can.  And that's exactly what I did!  I took home as many cans of A-Treat soda as those two dollars would cover.

     I purchased A-Treat for 2 reasons.  1. It was always the local favorite for things like family picnics and parties, and 2. It was the cheapest soda on the store shelves, about half the price of the national brands.  



     Bottled in Allentown the A-Treat Company was established in 1918 when two brothers, Joe & Jack Egizio, expanded the operation founded by their parents.  They bottled their carbonated soft drinks in the old fashioned, traditional method using essential oils and cane sugar rather than the more popular process using extracts and high fructose corn syrup.  The list of flavors was amazing!  In addition to the ones you might expect like root beer, cream soda, black cherry and grape, they had unique flavors that included big blue (blue raspberry), champagne cola, fruit punch, grapefruit, pineapple, strawberry, sarsaparilla and something called Treat-Up.  They also manufactured 2 kinds of ginger ale (pale dry and golden) and 2 different orange flavors (regular and dry).  I also recall a bright green lime soda as well as one that was a tonic water Tom Collins mixer.



     The sodas were distributed primarily in the 3 state region that included Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland for nearly a century.  But sadly at the beginning of this year operations ceased at their Union Boulevard plant.  That caused a run on stores selling the soda as customers stocked up on their favorite flavors.  All seemed lost until turkey producer Jaindl Companies purchased the A-Treat brand and worked out a packaging agreement with Coca-Cola of the Lehigh Valley.  Along with the brand name, Jaindl also acquired the flavor formulas and other intellectual property.  That meant things, including the taste, would remain the same.

     Former A-Treat President Tom Garvey was involved in taste testing the first flavors to come into production just to make sure they live up to the A-Treat legacy.  "Everything tastes perfect..." he proclaimed.  So once again local market chains like Giant and Redner's will soon be restocking their shelves with the local favorite.

     I wonder how many  A-Treat sodas I can get for $2 today?



Back in the Day

     Long before the cola wars fought for domination over the taste buds of American youth, local brands dominated the refrigerators of families in the Delaware Valley.  Coke and Pepsi took a back seat to a hometown favorite, Frank's.  But you have to be of a certain age to recall the advertising  slogan, "Is it Franks? Thanks!"  And you would only know that if you lived within a 50 mile radius of Billy Penn's hat on top of Philadelphia City Hall.

     Frank's Beverages was the official name of the company founded by Jacob Frank in 1885.  Jacob was a Russian immigrant who made lemon soda from freshly squeezed lemons on the streets of the City of Brotherly Love.  The headquarters and bottling plant of their beverage operation was in the Juniata section of the city at G and Luzerne Streets.



    
      And according to Larry Mendte who penned a 2010 article entitled The Cheesesteak of Beverages, "Franks...had a great cream soda and a pretty famous birch beer, but the Black Cherry Wishniak was the stuff of legends.  It is the only brand that has lived on to this day."





     But what exactly is Wishniak?  Jacob Frank knew that in Russia and Eastern Europe it was a cordial made with sugar, cherries and vodka.  One day when taste testing new flavors then company president Mulford Frank sipped a soda made from Bing cherries and said, "This reminds me of a Wishniak."  And the rest, as they say, is history.



     In 1990 Frank's was bought out by C & C Cola (another local brand).  The new company kept the brand and its famous bottles around for awhile.  But the new owners realized that it wasn't financially feasible to make a soda for just one city and so Frank's disappeared from store shelves.  But Frank's is back now.  Or at least the Black Cherry Wishniak is being bottled by the Honickman Group owns the brand and distributes it along with Pepsi, Canada Dry, Evian, and Snapple among others.  Frank's is now being bottled and distributed from a plant in Baltimore and is sent across our great nation to ex-patriot restaurants and sandwich shops that cater to transplanted Philadelphians with items like Tastykakes, soft pretzels, hoagies and cheesesteaks.  It's no longer available in the iconic bottle, just cans and a case of the famous Black Cherry Wishniak will set you back $70.

     That's quite a chunk of change to pay for some Philly nostalgia!





When life hands you lemons...

   In the July issue  of bon appetit magazine there was an article in the "fast, easy, fresh" section entitled Sunny Dressing.  The author, Chris Morocco said this:



     When you leave lemon peels behind on the cutting board, you're (literally) throwing away free flavor.  The peel adds a mild bitterness that we love, plus a bit of texture that instantly makes a salad interesting.  This whole-lemon vinaigrette can take on much more than Bibb lettuce.  It's substantial enough to go head to head with blistered string or flat beans, smoky grilled meats -- you name it.

     So take 1/2 lemon (yes, with the peel), thinly slice it, discard the seeds, and finely chop it.  Place it in a bowl with 3 Tbsp. olive oil, and 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice.  Grate in 1/2 garlic clove, season with salt and pepper, and whisk it all together.


     Sounds easy enough, doesn't it?  So when you try it and like it, tell people you received the recipe from Vinny Garette!



Memorable Answers

     Yesterday I listed 10 slogans used to catch your attention about some familiar name brand cereals.  Here are the answers:



1. The cereal shot from guns                                             i. Quaker Puffed Rice

2. Stays crunchy, even in milk                                          a. Captain Crunch

3. It's a honey of an O                                                        h. Honey Nut Cheerios

4. Kid tested, mother approved                                        b. Kix

5. Two scoops of raisins...                                                 g. Raisin Bran

6. Snap!  Crackle!  Pop!                                                    c. Rice Krispies

7. The Breakfast of Champions                                       f. Wheaties

8. He likes it!  Hey Mikey!                                                d. Life

9. They're great!                                                               j. Frosted Flakes

10. They're A-B-C Delicious                                           e.  Alpha Bits

Memorable

     Manufacturers spend millions annually to promote their products.  That is especially true for companies in the food industry.  They pay a premium to advertisers to come up with a perfect catchphrase or slogan to make their product a household term.

     That is especially true with the cereal we pour into our bowls each morning.  According to the website Mr. Breakfast some taglines are more memorable than others.

     See if you can match up the cereal brand with the slogans listed below:


1. "The cereal shot from guns"                                        a. Captain Crunch
2. "Stays crunchy, even in milk"                                     b.  Kix
3. "It's a honey of an O"                                                   c. Rice Krispies
4. "Kid tested, mother approved"                                    d. Life
5. "Two scoops of raisins..."                                             e. Alpha Bits
6. "Snap! Crackle! Pop!"                                                   f. Wheaties
7. "The Breakfast of Champions"                                    g. Raisin Bran
8. "He likes it!  Hey Mikey!"                                            h. Honey Nut Cheerios
9. "They're Great!"                                                            i. Quaker Puffed Rice  
10. "They're A-B-C Delicious!"                                        j. Frosted Flakes            

     

BTW:  Got Milk?

answers will appear tomorrow...