WORLD FLOUR DAY

On March 20th, World Flour Day recognizes the importance of flour in our daily diets and our health. In every part of the world, products made from flour provide daily sustenance for billions of people.

Flour is the main ingredient in delicious foods like pasta, cakes, pastries, bread, and biscuits. For thousands of years, humans have consumed grains ground into flour. Ancient humans gathered the oat kernels growing wild around them. Using a stone tool much like a pestle, they crushed the kernels into a coarse flour.

Today, we continue to enjoy many varieties of domesticated grains. In the Northern Hemisphere, many farms prepare to plant these grain crops around March 20th. The earth is warming and ready to grow. In the Southern Hemisphere, autumn has arrived. The grains have ripened, and harvest is beginning.

The day honors the farmers and millers, shippers and truckers, processors and bakers who bring the white gold to our tables. It’s a day for gratitude, and one of hope as the seeds are sown, and harvests are reaped.

WORLD FLOUR DAY HISTORY

The Flour World Museum founded World Flour Day on March 20th in 2019 to celebrate the global significance of flour in our daily lives.

About the Flour World Museum

The Flour World Museum in Wittenburg near Hamburg, Germany, has set itself the goal of creating a monument to flour in all its globe-spanning significance. After all, some 750 million tonnes of wheat flour are harvested each year and turned into a wide variety of foods.

Explore More…

HOW TO OBSERVE #WorldFlourDay

  • Invite a friend for a meal made with flour. A whole-grain sandwich or a sweet pastry sounds delicious.
  • Don an apron and bake up some cookies; deliver them to your favorite farmer or co-worker.
  • Try a new recipe while you’re at it.
  • Learn about varieties of flour and try baking with one you’ve never used.
  • Practice making a rue. One of the key ingredients is flour, and it makes some of the most amazing sauces and soups.
  • What’s your favorite flour product? Tell us using #WorldFlourDay and share on social media.

NATIONAL LEMON CHIFFON CAKE DAY

National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day on March 29th offers a bright and zesty celebration among the cake holidays. 

For a nice refreshing spring dessert, chiffon cake is a very light cake made with vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder, and flavorings.  The fluffy texture is made by beating egg whites until stiff and folding them into the cake batter before baking. Chiffon cakes tend to be lower in saturated fat than butter cakes, potentially making them healthier than their butter-heavy counterparts.

The Secret of Chiffon

The recipe for the chiffon cake was a closely guarded secret for years. In the 1920s, angel food cake was quite popular, but Henry Baker thought he could make a lighter, richer cake. The insurance salesman-turned-caterer tinkered with ingredients until in 1927 when he came upon the perfect combination of ingredients and methods to produce the airy richness he was looking for.  

Keeping the recipe to himself, he offered his services to the Brown Derby Restaurant in Los Angeles which catered to Hollywood’s elite.  Until 1947, Baker was the only person to bake chiffon cakes. Baker’s secret combination and methods relied on what bakers and chefs already knew about cakes and leavening. The lightness of angel food cakes relies on egg whites to create the loft and airiness. Traditional cakes used baking soda or powder for leavening. Baker combined both egg whites and baking powder to achieve a lightness like no other. And yet there was one other trick up Baker’s sleeve. Where angel food cake contained no butter, fat or shortening of any kind, Baker added vegetable oil.

While today adding vegetable oil to cake recipes is commonplace, back in 1927 these oils were a newer ingredient to home kitchens. His cakes continued to grow in popularity and as they did so did the variety of chiffon cakes he made. Then, in 1947, Baker sold his recipe to General Mills for an undisclosed amount. The rest is baking history. 

HOW TO OBSERVE #LemonChiffonCakeDay

Challenge yourself to the lightness of chiffon. So many recipes offer us the zesty flavor we can’t resist! We’ve even found a few to try.

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/lemon-chiffon-cake
http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/lemon-chiffon-cake/ef1ca334-5665-4da2-a03b-3a92a5f8767e
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/lemon-chiffon-cake/

Use #LemonChiffonCakeDay to post on social media.