General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company originally gained fame for being a large flour miller. Today, the company markets many well-known North American brands, including Gold Medal flour, Annie's Homegrown, Lärabar, Cascadian Farm, Betty Crocker, Yoplait, Nature Valley, Totino's, Pillsbury, Old El Paso, Häagen-Dazs, as well as breakfast cereals under the General Mills name, including Cheerios, Chex, Lucky Charms, Trix, Cocoa Puffs and Count Chocula and the other monster cereals.
Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increase the volume and lighten the texture of baked goods. It works by releasing carbon dioxide gas into a batter or dough through an acid–base reaction, causing bubbles in the wet mixture to expand and thus leavening the mixture. The first single-acting baking powder, which releases carbon dioxide at room temperature as soon as it is dampened, was developed by food manufacturer Alfred Bird in England in 1843. The first double-acting baking powder, which releases some carbon dioxide when dampened, and later releases more of the gas when heated by baking, was first developed by Eben Norton Horsford in the U.S. in the 1860s.
A s'more is a confection consisting of toasted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker. S'mores are popular in the United States and Canada, and traditionally cooked over a campfire.
Betty Crocker is a brand and fictional character used in advertising campaigns for food and recipes. The character was originally created by the Washburn-Crosby Company in 1921 following a contest in the Saturday Evening Post. In 1954, General Mills introduced the red spoon logo with her signature, placing it on Gold Medal flour, Bisquick, and cake-mix packages. A portrait of Betty Crocker, first commissioned in 1936 and revised several times since, appears on printed advertisements and product packaging.
Red velvet cake is traditionally a red, crimson, or scarlet-colored layer cake, layered with ermine icing. Traditional recipes do not use food coloring, with the red color due to non-Dutched, anthocyanin-rich cocoa.
A fat rascal, closely related to the historical turf cake, is a type of cake, similar to a scone or rock cake in both taste and ingredients. It originated in Yorkshire at least as early as the 19th century.
Depression cake is a type of cake that was commonly made during the Great Depression. The ingredients include little or no milk, sugar, butter, or eggs, because the ingredients were then either expensive or hard to obtain. Similar cakes are known as "War Cake", as they avoided ingredients that were scarce or were being conserved for the use of soldiers. A common depression cake is also known as "Boiled Raisin Cake", "Milkless, Eggless, Butterless Cake", or "Poor Man's Cake". "Boiled" refers to the boiling of raisins with the sugar and spices to make a syrup base early in the recipe. However, some bakers do include butter. Boiled raisin-type cakes date back at least to the American Civil War.
Bisquick is a pre-mixed baking mix sold by General Mills under its Betty Crocker brand, consisting of flour, shortening, salt, sugar and baking powder.
John Crosby III was an American businessman. Crosby was a founding partner of the Washburn-Crosby Company, the forerunner to General Mills.
Corn chowder is a chowder soup prepared using corn as a primary ingredient. Basic corn chowder is commonly made of corn, onion, celery, milk or cream, and butter. Additional ingredients sometimes used include potatoes or squash, salt pork, fish, seafood and chicken. In the United States, recipes for corn chowder date to at least as early as 1884. Corn chowder is mass-produced as a canned food in the U.S.
Marjorie Husted was an American home economist and businesswoman who worked for General Mills and was responsible for the success and fame of the brand character Betty Crocker. Husted wrote Betty Crocker's radio scripts and was her radio voice for a time.
A sandwich loaf is a stacked savory party entrée made from a loaf of horizontally sliced bread. Typical fillings include egg salad, chicken salad, ham salad, tuna salad, and Cheez Whiz. While rare today, the food was quite popular during the mid 20th century in the United States.
The Betty Crocker Cookbook is a cookbook written by staff at General Mills, the holders of the Betty Crocker trademark. The persona of Betty Crocker was invented by the Washburn-Crosby Company as a feminine "face" for the company's public relations. Early editions of the cookbook were ostensibly written by the character herself.
Anna & Kristina's Grocery Bag was a Canadian television series that aired on the W Network and OWN Network in Canada, as well as 13 other countries around the world. Similar to the series The Shopping Bags, produced and hosted by Anna Wallner and Kristina Matisic, this series focuses on the kitchen, putting cookbooks, kitchen products, and cooking ingredients to the test.
Mill City Museum is a Minnesota Historical Society museum in Minneapolis. It opened in 2003 built in the ruins of the Washburn "A" Mill next to Mill Ruins Park on the banks of the Mississippi River. The museum focuses on the founding and growth of Minneapolis, especially flour milling and the other industries that used hydropower from Saint Anthony Falls.
Margo Oliver was a Canadian cookery expert. She was the food editor of Weekend Magazine and wrote a number of cookbooks as well as articles on the subject of cooking.
Candle salad is a vintage fruit salad that was popular in America from the 1920s through to the 1960s. The salad is typically composed of lettuce, pineapple, banana, cherry, and either mayonnaise or, according to some recipes, cottage cheese. Whipped cream may also be used. The ingredients are assembled to resemble a lighted candle.
Bacon cake is a cake made with bacon, either savory or sweet, and generally baked in an oven, although it's sometimes cooked in a skillet on a range top.
A baking mix is a mixed formulation of ingredients used for the cooking of baked goods. Baking mixes may be commercially manufactured or homemade. Baking mixes that cater to particular dietary needs, such as vegan, gluten-free, or kosher baking mixes, can be bought in many places.
In the 1950s, commercial cookbooks gained popularity in the United States. These cookbooks frequently suggested the use of packaged food and electric appliances, which had become more available due to the post-war economic boom. Cookbooks reflected these changes. Betty Crocker and Julia Child became popular icons in American culture through their cookbooks and the media during this era. Cookbooks also reflected many cultural trends of the 1950s, especially typical gender roles and racial identities. Many cookbooks were addressed to the white, middle-class housewife who cooked for her family in their suburban home. These cookbooks often excluded African-American, immigrant, and rural women. For them, handwritten cookbooks served as both personal histories and a means to express their views on politics and society. Meanwhile, advertisements promoted the racial stereotype of the “black mammy” that de-feminized African-American cooks in white households. Ethnic immigrants were also debased as European Americans baked their distinct cuisines into generic casseroles.
