Published By: Mumpy Chakraborty

Popular desserts and their story behind them.

We might have a sweet tooth in us but when it comes to knowing the history and origin of our favourite desserts, we hardly know any of it. So let’s dig into some facts and find out what made our favourite desserts what it is today.

Food can be a great source of knowledge about the culture and history of a place. The ingredients they use, the temperature that they need to store it in, the way it has been prepared, all of it tells about the place it has come from.  Whether it is pizza, biryani or some of the world’s most popular desserts, all of them have a story to tell.  Where hardcore meal’s story has become popular over the world, nobody really knows many things about desserts and where they are originated in. These soft, tender, buttery pieces of goodness also have their share of stories and are something we all should know about.

Red Velvet Cake

These mouth-watering tempting dessert dates originated in the US in the 19th century. It is very obvious that the name red velvet is because the cake is red in colour but do you know why? It is said that after the Cosmetic Act was passed in 1938, John Adams, owner of The Adams Extract Company wanted to sell more dyes and food colours and that is why he came up with the idea of adding colours to the cakes, and he made a red cake. So it can be said our favourite cake got invented just because a trader wanted to sell more dye.

 Chocolate Truffle

Where Red velvet was created intentionally, Chocolate truffles were the result of an accident. It is said that once a culinary expert, Auguste Escoffier, while making pastry mixed chocolate chunks with egg instead of hot cream. He then realised that he could make a rough sphere with the thickened mixture. And then after creating the rough sphere he coated it with cocoa powder, this is how chocolate truffles came into existence. The name’ truffle’ was given to this recipe because it resembled the black truffle fungus.

Dulce De Leche

Dulce De Leche has an interesting originating story behind it. It was created in 1829 in Argentina when a war was going on. It is believed that when the enemy general came to meet his opposition in a military camp, a serving lady was making Le Lechada (a confection of milk and sugar) for the camp. She then came to know about the enemy’s arrival and since she did not know about the treaty, she ran around to find soldiers. In the meantime, Le Lechada was burnt and had turned into a brown jelly-like substance. And that was the birth of Dulce De Leche.

Marshmallows

Even though mostly consumed by western countries, you will be surprised to know that Marshmallows have their origin in the Middle east. Marshmallows were first used in ancient Egypt as a medicine. The roots of the marshmallow plants were used with honey to cure the sore throat. Eventually, the stems of the plants were peeled and boiled in sugar syrup and were dried to produce the soft, chewy confection.