National Fresh Celery Month in April provides an opportunity to experiment with recipes and challenge the way we use the vegetable in our cooking
Take celery beyond peanut butter sticks and cocktails. When combined with the right ingredients, celery can be a stunning addition to a dish. The beauty of celery is it adds a punch of crunch, a hint of vibrant color and subtle flavor without being overpowering.
While we may like filling the celery’s convenient groove with peanut butter, there are other excellent fillers. Try seasoned cream cheese, chicken salad or hummus.
Sliced celery dressed with light vinaigrette and grapes and walnuts make an excellent small salad. Don’t forget the celery leaves. Toss them into your salads, too! For another salad spin, try goat cheese and chives with red onion.
There’s a reason peanut butter and celery go together. It’s not just an afternoon snack. Celery compliments many soups and does only have to go into a vegetable medley. Yes, peanut butter is another way to soup it up.
When it comes to the main dish, celery compliments nearly any protein and that includes non-animal proteins. Whether you’re cooking with chicken, beef or beans, celery will boost texture and flavor. Try a new recipe every week during National Fresh Celery Month, and discover how celery can benefit your cooking.
National Potato Chip Day on March 14th celebrates America’s #1 snack food. Millions will enjoy their favorite chip this holiday. It’s a good thing there are so many to choose from, too!
Saratoga Chips
On August 24, 1853, an unhappy restaurant customer kept sending his potatoes back to the kitchen, complaining they were thick and soggy. Chef George Crum decided to slice the potatoes as thin as possible, frying them until crisp and added extra salt. To the chef’s surprise, the customer loved them. The crispy potatoes soon became a regular item on the restaurant’s menu under the name of “Saratoga Chips.”
Other explanations point for the existence of the potato chip point to recipes in Shilling Cookery for the People by Alexis Soyer (1845) or Mary Randolph’s The Virginia House-Wife (1824). While many references between these dates sliced potatoes and fried them in grease, uncertainty remains whether the potatoes were fried to a crisp.
However, by the late 1870s, menus across the country used the term “Saratoga Chips” on train cars, hotel restaurants, and street carts. The name carried into grocers when bakeries made the chips in larger batches. They shipped them by wagon to the restaurants and grocers by the barrel. The grocers sold them to private families by the pound. Folks were instructed to bake the chips in a hot oven for a few minutes, and the chips would be as crisp as if fried that same day.
Classic Potato Chips
The Dayton, Ohio-based Mike-sell’s Potato Chip Company, founded in 1910, calls itself the “oldest potato chip company in the United States.” New England-based Tri-Sum Potato Chips, originally established in 1908 as the Leominster Potato Chip Company, in Leominster, Massachusetts, claims to be America’s first potato chip manufacturer.
In the 20th century, potato chips spread beyond chef-cooked restaurant fare and began to be mass-produced for home consumption. Flavored chips were introduced in the 1950s. Potato Chip revenues are over $15 billion a year worldwide!
HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalPotatoChipDay
While we enjoy potato chips as a simple snack, they also provide a great ingredient in recipes, too. Favorite recipes include chocolate-dipped chips and crushed chips dusted over fish. Share with us how you enjoy your favorite chip recipes! Or just grab a bag of potato chips to enjoy and use #NationalPotatoChipDay to post on social media.
National Sauce Month is an annual designation observed in March. This month, sauce it up! Throw a little extra sauce on some of your favorite meals and don’t guilt yourself for it. Whether you like it hot, mild, or somewhere in between, this is the perfect time to celebrate all things saucy and have some fun with it. Since sauce is so diverse, one kind of it or another can go on literally anything. And I mean anything.
Having eggs and sausage for breakfast but want something extra? Sauce. Hot sauce, syrup, salsa, you name it. It works. Enjoying a big salad for lunch? Of course, you can’t eat a salad without the best part – dressing! Aka… sauce. Ranch, thousand island, vinaigrette. The list goes on. Indulging in a big juicy steak with some potatoes and pasta on the side? You don’t need us to tell you to sauce it up. Last but not least, sweet sauce drizzled over ANY kind of dessert is one of the closest things to heaven we will ever experience on this earth.
Get sauced! Use #NationalSauceMonth to post on social media because let’s not beat around the bush here. There’s no such thing as too much sauce. Share your favorites!
February 4th heats up with National Homemade Soup Day. In every cuisine, soup provides a rich basis of flavor and history.
Before the era of modern transportation, soup was a product of regionally available foods. For this reason, there are thousands of soup recipes available today.
Many soups also offer medicinal properties. What was once considered a wive’s tale, chicken soup now has the backing of the scientific community. Yes, chicken soup helps relieve the symptoms of the common cold. How? Well, scientists believe that a bowl of the soup may reduce inflammation of the lungs. It is thought that chicken soup slows down the activity of white blood cells that can cause inflammation.
But that’s not all homemade soup does. Every cook knows the most important ingredient that goes into every pot of simmering soup. They keep the ingredient stored where it will do its best work, too. As they work, they season the soup from their heart giving it just the right amount of love each and every time. Whether they add it with the noodles or the vegetable, the broth or the cream, each cook knows there’s enough to go around. That’s why homemade soup heals the best.
Tell us about your favorite homemade soup. Share a recipe or a memory. Gather the family to learn how to make your best recipe and share the love. Need a new recipe to add to your collection? From chowders and broths to creamy bisques, chances are you’ll find a recipe to love too.
Use #NationalHomemadeSoupDay to post on social media.
Popcorn lovers rejoice! National Popcorn Poppin’ Month is an annual designation observed in October. This is the best because we can’t think of any party, event, or celebration that it wouldn’t be appropriate to chow down on tub after tub of popcorn’s buttery goodness. Whether you’re watching a movie, celebrating a birthday, or hanging out and watching the big game, popcorn is always there. It’s easy, inexpensive, and addicting beyond belief. Seriously, have you ever had just one piece of popcorn and then stopped? We didn’t think so.
History
National Popcorn Poppin’ Month is an annual celebration held every October in the United States. Its history is deeply intertwined with the popcorn industry itself and is a clever piece of marketing that solidified popcorn’s place in American culture.
The story isn’t about a single presidential proclamation but rather a coordinated effort by the popcorn industry to capitalize on the harvest season and a major shift in how Americans consumed popcorn.
The Key Historical Points:
The Harvest Connection: The primary reason October was chosen is simple:it’s the time of the annual popcorn harvest. In the Midwest, where much of the U.S. popcorn is grown (states like Indiana, Nebraska, Ohio, Illinois, and Iowa), October is when the kernels are dried and harvested. Celebrating Popcorn Poppin’ Month during the harvest was a natural way to promote a fresh, new crop and kick off the season.
The Microwave Revolution (The True Catalyst): While the harvest timing is crucial,the official creation of the “month” was directly fueled by a technological revolution: the invention and mass adoption of the microwave oven.
· 1980s Boom: Throughout the 1980s, microwave ovens became a standard appliance in American kitchens. · Microwave Popcorn: The concurrent rise of convenient, pre-packaged microwave popcorn bags completely transformed the industry. Popcorn went from a snack made on the stovetop or with specialized poppers to an incredibly easy, quick, and accessible treat. · Surge in Consumption: This convenience led to a massive surge in popcorn consumption year-round.
The Official Designation: To capitalize on this boom and formally recognize the harvest,the Popcorn Board (a non-profit checkoff organization funded by U.S. popcorn processors) sought an official designation.
· Year: While sometimes misattributed to earlier times, the official congressional recognition came in 1999. · The Proclamation: The U.S. Congress officially declared October as National Popcorn Poppin’ Month to celebrate the harvest and the snack’s popularity. · Presidential Action: Then-President Bill Clinton signed the proclamation, giving it the official federal stamp of approval.
The proclamation read, in part:
“Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 1999, as National Popcorn Poppin’ Month.”
This action made permanent a celebration that the industry had already been promoting for years.
· Harvest Season: Celebrates the annual drying and harvesting of the popcorn crop. · Perfect Weather: The cooler weather in October makes people crave warm, cozy snacks. · Lead-in to Holidays: It serves as a kick-off to the holiday snacking season, which continues through Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the winter holidays. · Marketing Success: It was a brilliantly timed marketing effort by the popcorn industry to align a natural agricultural cycle with a new technological trend (the microwave), ensuring maximum impact and sales.
Popcorn Fun Fact:
The second biggest popcorn holiday, after Halloween, is Super Bowl Sunday. The third is New Year’s Eve.
In essence, National Popcorn Poppin’ Month is a perfect example of how agriculture, technology, and clever marketing merged to create a lasting national tradition.
Pop some popcorn, snap some fun photos and use #NationalPopcornPoppinMonth to post on social media. As if you needed more of an excuse to snack on popcorn all month, we’ve compiled a little list on why it’s the best snack ever.
Three words: Movie theatre butter.
There are so many different variations of it, it’s nearly impossible to get sick of.
It’s actually not that bad for you. Popcorn is super low in calories!
All the best places offer it. Sporting events, movie theatres, and the comfort of your own home.
We could go on forever, but we’re starting to get some cravings over here. Bottom line, popcorn is a delicious, inexpensive, easy, and buttery. You can’t go wrong.
