As you enjoy Thanksgiving with your family this year, remember your holiday table represents more than just food and football. It characterizes generosity, gratitude, unity, tradition, and above all — hard work. Every dish was prepared with care, but only because of the weeks (or months) of labor and sacrifice by farmers from around the world. During this holiday, take some time to say “Thank you” to the farmers that work so hard every day to feed the world. While there are many food traditions we enjoy at Thanksgiving, we hope you enjoy this brief history of a few of them.
Mashed Potatoes
While buttery and creamy mashed potatoes are a definite favorite on many contemporary Thanksgiving tables, they were not a part of the original Thanksgiving feast as documented by William Bradford in his journal. Potatoes were introduced in the New World several times by European immigrants throughout the 1600s but were not commonly raised until Scotch-Irish settlers planted them in Londonderry, NH in 1719. Today, potatoes are the top vegetable crop in the United States, being raised commercially in 30 states, with Idaho, Washington, Wisconsin, Colorado, and North Dakota producing the majority of the spuds. There are over 110 pounds of potatoes consumed per person yearly in the US.
Cranberry Sauce
Cranberries are indigenous to North America and most likely introduced by the Algonquian peoples to starving English settlers in Massachusetts, who then incorporated them into their Thanksgiving feasts. The berry was a perfect substitute for the gooseberry or redcurrant they were familiar with back in Britain, so it quickly gained in popularity. Today, cranberry sauce has diminished from favor on many tables, with juice and dried cranberry products becoming more popular. Cranberry production in the United States is around 850 million pounds with Wisconsin as the leading producer.
Turkey
What would a Thanksgiving dinner be without the turkey? Even though there are many culinary traditions for the yearly feast across the country, turkey remains the common entree on most tables. Even Governor Bradford documented how the colonists had hunted wild turkey during the autumn of 1621. Then when President Lincoln declared Thanksgiving a national holiday in 1863, the All-American fowl instantly became the main course of choice — for not only its flavor but also that it was big enough to feed large gatherings. Today, turkey production in the United States is estimated at greater than 5.5 billion pounds with Minnesota as the largest producing state. At Thanksgiving alone, almost 50 million turkeys are consumed by 88% of all Americans.
Pumpkin Pie
While “pompion” pie, as it was called in Europe, was likely to have been a part of the first Thanksgiving feast, we might be hard-pressed to recognize its flavor when compared to contemporary pies. An English recipe from 1670 instructed building a pie with alternating layers of pumpkin and apple, spiced with rosemary, sweet marjoram, and a handful of thyme. Pumpkin pie as we know it began increasing in popularity after the Civil War with the many write-ups and recipes published in the magazines of that time. In 1929, Libby’s introduced a line of canned pumpkins that made pumpkin pie preparation easy. Today, the top pumpkin-producing state is Illinois, and nationwide over 1.5 billion pounds of pumpkin are produced.
Green Bean Casserole
Ah, the green bean casserole – that culinary delight so many of us in the Midwest enjoy at Thanksgiving – was definitely NOT on the scene in 1621. Originally created in the Home Economics Department kitchens of the Campbell Soup Company in 1955, it was used to promote the use of cream of mushroom soup in a new vegetable side dish. While corn, peas, and even lima beans were considered as the main vegetable in the recipe, the humble snap bean rose up the victor. Snap beans are very popular and grown by gardeners and farmers throughout the United States as a mainstay vegetable. The top production states are Wisconsin, Florida, and New York.
Corn Bread
Cornbread is truly an American food that originated with indigenous Native Americans long before settlers came from Europe. Originally made from cornmeal ground from Native American grain corn or maize, early recipes were very simple — consisting of only cornmeal, water, cooking fat, and salt. Today, however, this recipe most likely does not find its way onto many Thanksgiving tables. Instead, recipes that include chemical leavening instead of yeast for convenience, sugar for sweetness, and wheat flour and eggs for lightness, are much more popular. Cornmeal today is produced from both white and yellow field corn — the white being more popular in the southern states and the yellow popular in the northern states.
We hope you have enjoyed this brief history and insight into some of the foods we enjoy during this season. So when you sit down at the table of this truly American holiday, remember the women and men that work hard to produce the food we enjoy every day of the year.
Recently at Kinze, employees shared recipes with one another by contributing to a company-wide cookbook. Enjoy a few selections below as a gift from all of us to you this holiday season.
From all of us at Kinze, we wish you a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving with family and friends!
Mashed Party Potatoes
1 hour to prepare l serves 6 – 8
Ingredients
- 10 medium baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
- 16oz package of cream cheese, softened
- 16oz carton of sour cream
- ¾ teaspoon garlic salt
- Onion salt to taste
- 2 tablespoons chives
- 1 tablespoon parsley
Ingredients
- Cook potatoes, covered in boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender
- Drain well and mash the potatoes in a medium mixing bowl
- Add the cream cheese, sour cream, garlic salt, onion salt, chives, and parsley
- Beat at a medium speed of an electric mixer until smooth
- Spoon the potato mixture into a 9″ x 13″ casserole
- Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or put in a crockpot on low
Sweet & Moist Cornbread
45 minutes to prepare l serves 12 – 15
Ingredients
- 2 cups cornmeal
- 2 cups flour
- 1-1/3 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups sour cream
- 1 cup melted butter
- 4 eggs
Instructions
- Spray a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Blend Dry ingredients in a large bowl
- Mix sour cream, melted butter, and eggs into dry ingredients and stir until blended
- Spread in a baking pan
- Bake for 30 minutes or until the toothpick comes clean from center
Creamed Corn Casserole
1 hour to prepare l serves 8 – 12
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- 2 eggs (beaten)
- 1 cup sour cream
- 1 box corn muffin mix
- 1 can whole kernel corn (drained)
- 1 can creamed corn
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix all ingredients and put in a casserole dish
- Bake for 1 hour, or until top is no longer soft
Pumpkin Bars
serves 12 – 16
Bar Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup salad oil
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- One 16oz can pumpkin
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 cup nuts, chopped (optional)
Bar Instructions
- Combine all ingredients a in large bowl
- Mix until well blended
- Pour into 17″ x 11″ greased baking sheet
- Bake at 350 degrees for 20 – 25 minutes
Frosting Ingredients
- 3 oz package cream cheese
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 teaspoon milk
Frosting Instructions
- Beat all ingredients until smooth
- Spread over cooled bars