Some Lessons from Season 1

Host Ken Magos with Chef Anthony Murgola

Season 1 of Drive By History: Eats was certainly an adventure —launching a new show during a pandemic, with quarantines and shutdowns abounding, had its challenges. But we did it!

Here are a couple of the surprising ingredients I learned about last season.

1) Pearl Ash

Unless you’re a pastry chef or serious baking historian, I’m guessing (like me) you had never heard of it.

Historically, pearl ash had many uses: as a leavening agent in baked goods, in the production of soap, glass and dishware, and even for softening hard water.

On a side note, Samuel Hopkins received the first ever US Patent on July 31, 1790 (via the April 1790 US Patent Statute signed by President Washington) for his “new Apparatus and Process” in pearl ash manufacture.

In the mid-19th Century, pearl ash was replaced by the much more familiar baking powder — first in its single-acting form by English chemist Alfred Bird in 1843, followed in the 1860s by its double-acting successor (widely available today) by US scientist Eben Norton Horsford.

2) Rose Water

Now, you may be thinking about your favorite French perfume when I bring up roses. But this ancient floral additive, made by steeping rose petals in water, remained popular as an ingredient in Western cuisine (in America and Europe) well into the 19th century. In fact, it still remains popular today in many South Asian and Middle Eastern dishes.

Even Amelia Simmons in her 1796 cookbook—America’s first—includes recipes with rose water for, among other things, gingerbread and apple pie. And she included it with a liberal hand, reflecting late 18th and early 19th Century love for this floral concoction.

I have to admit, I’m not a huge fan of rose water—maybe it’s an acquired taste? Regardless, it’s certainly a taste of the past.