Food Holidays: April 22, 2022

Welcome to our series featuring Food Holidays: April 22nd, 2022. Today is National Cherry Cheesecake Day. I don’t know about you, but I don’t care for Cheesecake. But David loves Strawberry Cheesecake and I need to call him at work to see if he likes Cherry Cheesecake as well. If so, then David needs to pick himself up a slice so he can celebrate today. Would you like to celebrate with David?

National Cherry Cheesecake Day

National Cherry Cheesecake Day falls on April 23rd, come celebrate the Cherry Cheesecake with antioxidant-loaded Cherries. We always knew Cherry Cheesecake was a classic. Did you know Cherry Cheesecake dates back to 2,000 B.C.? The Cheese-based dessert has long been a favorite but has changed in many ways over the years. Today, we most often imagine Cherry Cheesecake with a Graham Cracker Crust, filled with Cream Cheese, and topped with nutrient-rich Cherries. With a drizzle of Cherry sauce to top the Cheesecake.

HISTORY OF NATIONAL CHERRY CHEESECAKE DAY

Though Cherry Cheesecake has been around for thousands of years, even today there’s a huge variation for what qualifies as the iconic dessert. The Crust can be anything from Graham Cracker to a Pastry Crust or Sponge Cake. The Cheese inside isn’t always Cream Cheese! Recipes swap Cream Cheese for Cottage Cheese and are baked with no Crust at all. The hallmark of Cherry Cheesecake is, the Cherries. Which traditionally rest on top and are packed with vitamins and other nutrients. Cherries are anti-inflammatory and pack a punch of antioxidants!

The ancient Greeks didn’t add Cherries to their Cheesecake but served a primitive form of the dessert for thousands of years. Even to their athletes in the first Olympics! If you ever wonder whether or not you can have Cheesecake and still have an athletic figure, it is possible. The first written recipes for Cheesecake appeared a few thousand years after it was first reportedly made.

In 1,000 A.D., Cheesecake reached Europe. Roman Armies stormed into Western Europe and the U.K., bringing with them the recipe! Though the dessert was a huge hit and spread rapidly, the next Cookbook mention of Cheesecake in these countries was in the mid-1500s. Cheesecake was then a widespread and well-known dessert. The rest is history.

A new version of Cheesecake arrived in the late 1870s. With the development of Cheesecake and its promotion to the primary ingredient in the dessert. Less than a decade after its invention, Philadelphia Kraft was making Cream Cheese en masse, and Cheesecake was more accessible than ever. This gave way to the invention of the New York-style Cheesecake everyone loves. Which is defined by its ingredients, Cheese, Cream, Egg, and Sugar. People say this is when cheesecake really became cheesecake!

NATIONAL CHERRY CHEESECAKE DAY ACTIVITIES

1. here are so many varieties of Cherry Cheesecake. A testing panel is the only way to know what’s best! Invite family to taste test and decide on the Cherry Cheesecake to rule them all.
2. Maybe there’s an old family recipe, or you’re aiming to perfect a classic recipe you found online. Either way, take to the kitchen and create your Cheesecake because there’s nothing better than a homemade Cherry Cheesecake.
3. After you’ve created the perfect Cherry Cheesecake recipe that’s made everyone you’ve served melt, post the picture on Social Media with the hashtag #NationalCherryCheesecakeDay!

5 FACTS ABOUT CHEESECAKE

1. There was a 4,703-lb Cheesecake whipped up by Philadelphia Kraft Foods in 2009, this Cheesecake is the all-time heavyweight Cheesecake champion.
2. In a surprising twist, Cheesecake isn’t a Cake at all. It’s a baked Cheese Custard Pie with a Crust!
3. We’re not sure how they did it, but over the course of seven years of filming, the “Golden Girls” TV show went through over 100 Cheesecakes. That’s over one full Cheesecake a month for almost a decade!
4. We can’t confirm this, but legend has it that the first Olympic Games of 776 B.C. supplied their athletes with some form of Cheesecake before their events.
5. Häagen-Dazs once made Cheesecake-flavored stamps for the Austrian Postal Service.

WHY PEOPLE LOVE NATIONAL CHERRY CHEESECAKE DAY

1. Cherry Cheesecake is a true classic. The dessert has its roots in 2,000 B.C. Greece yet remain popular today. Cherry Cheesecake got a great history and great taste. What more can you ask for?
2. When is the last time you made a Cheesecake from scratch? Cherry Cheesecake Day is a great excuse to rediscover the joys of baking with family and create your own recipe!
3. Who doesn’t love Cheesecake? Cheesecake is already a fan favorite which improves with Cherries! Today is the day for indulgence. Go ahead and pick up that slice of Cherry Cheesecake in the grocery store that you saw.

National Picnic Day

Five things to know about Picnic

1. “Picnic” Ham is really not a true Ham? It is cut from the upper part of the foreleg of a Pig. A true Ham is cut from the hind leg.
2. Italy’s favorite picnic day is Easter Monday which is called “Angel’s Monday” or Pasquetta (“Little Easter”).
3. After an Ant has visited your picinc, the Ant lays down a scent as it returns to the nest for the other Ants to follow!
4. In the year 2000, a 600-mile-long picnic took place in France to celebrate the first Bastille Day of the new millennium.
5. The first table designed specifically for picnics in a style similar to what we know today appeared in the late 1800s.

Fun Fact:

In the first half of the 19th Century, a Picnic Society met in London at the Pantheon. Which is a place of public entertainment in Oxford Street.

The French started the modern fashion for picnics when they opened their Royal Parks to the public after the Revolution of 1789.

The 1955 film Picnic, with William Holden and Kim Novak, was nominated for six Oscars. The film won two for best art direction and best film editing.

We’re a month into Spring and it’s time to get outside! Luckily, National Picnic Day arrives on April 23rd.

Baskets and blankets seem to make everything taste better. Whether it’s a nighttime concert at Los Angeles’ famed Hollywood Bowl, or brunch at your local park, eating outdoors has a certain charm. Picnics work for a romantic dinner, or an all-out family reunion.

Picnics also fit any budget. You could go extravagant or stop at simple sandwiches. Sometimes the food’s secondary to your surroundings. Find the perfect combination and have fun!

Thank you,

Glenda, Charlie and David Cates