Owner | Goodman Fielder |
---|---|
Country | New Zealand |
Introduced | 1879 |
Website | edmondscooking |
Edmonds is a New Zealand brand of baking products and creator of the Edmonds Cookery Book . It was founded in 1879 as a baking powder manufacturer by grocer Thomas Edmonds after hearing his customers complain about the available baking powder not always rising properly. He created his own formula and told his customers that his baking powder was "sure to rise", which later became a slogan of the brand. Edmonds later became part of Goodman Fielder. The Edmonds Cookery Book was first published in 1908 with the name Sure To Rise Cookery Book. Since then, it has become New Zealand's best-selling book, and has been described as a New Zealand icon. The book uses staples as ingredients.
Edmonds was started in 1879 by grocer Thomas Edmonds after hearing his customers complain about the available baking powder being unreliable. [1] [2] Edmonds spent three years creating his own formula, [3] [4] : 3 while his wife managed the shop. [4] : 3 He sold 200 tins in his first batch, and told his customers that their baked goods were "sure to rise", [1] which turned into the brand's slogan. [2] He travelled around Canterbury marketing his baking powder to households. [3] [4] : 3 If the occupants refused to buy the baking powder, he would give them a tin for free and would take it back if they were unsatisfied. Edmonds recalled in 1922 that no tins were ever returned. [5]
The Edmonds family moved to a house in the early 1890s on the corner of Aldwins and Ferry road in Christchurch. There, Edmonds increased the scale of production by building sheds. This site later turned into the three-storey factory with the "Sure to Rise" sign [4] : 4 in 1892, featuring gardens and later making its way onto the cover of the Edmonds Cookery Book. [1] [2]
In 1912, the millionth tin was sold, [6] and by 1929, when the country's population was 1.5 million, Edmonds was selling three million tins a year. [7] [8] The leftover tins were recycled to build a few roads in Christchurch. During World War II, the Home Guard encouraged housewives to hoard the tins, so they could be used in jam tin grenade bombs in case the Empire of Japan invaded. [8]
After the head office and manufacturing moved to Auckland in the 1980s and the Ferry Road factory was abandoned, [8] it was controversially demolished in 1990, and the Christchurch City Council bought part of the gardens next year. An oval garden and a rose garden was later added. [1] [2] Brierley Investments bought Edmonds in 1984, [8] and as of 2023 Edmonds is owned by Goodman Fielder. [1] [8]
Edmonds Street, next to the location of the old factory, had incorrectly been spelt "Edmond St" from 1893 until the community board renamed it to "Edmonds St" in 2018. It was originally named "Edmonds St" and it is not known why the 's' disappeared. [9]
Edmonds products include baking powder, cake mixes, flours, [10] yeast, baking soda and custard powder. [11] They previously sold jelly crystals, which had the slogan "sure to set", [8] and a pastry range that was discontinued in 2023. [12]
The Edmonds Cookery Book is a recipe book made by Edmonds, that features simple recipes using staples and affordable ingredients. [13] The 2012 edition has over 500 recipes. [1]
With over three million copies sold by 2015, it is the best-selling New Zealand published book as of 2019, [1] [13] [14] [15] and has been described by Ron Palenski as "much a part of New Zealand kitchens as a stove and knife". [1] It has also been called a New Zealand icon, Kiwiana, [15] and has appeared on a 2008 stamp series featuring national icons for each letter of the alphabet. [1]
Before the cookery book was created, Edmonds put recipes in the lids of the baking powder tins. [8] The book was first published in 1908, originally named the Sure To Rise Cookery Book with 50 pages. [1] In 1930 the first edition with photos was released, [6] and since 1955, the 'sure to rise' factory has been on the cover. [13] The 1971 book was dedicated to gas cooking, [16] and a microwave baking section was added in 1988. [6]
Originally, housewives could write a request to Edmonds to get a free copy. [16] Couples in the 1940s who announced that they had become engaged in the newspaper would receive a free cookbook. [6] Since 1955 it has been a paid product. [6] [13]
The gardens were originally designed in 1923 with an Edwardian style by a factory worker, [17] as part of the garden city movement. [4] : 7 A garden was designed in front of the factory in 1935 by Edgar Taylor, with a neoclassical style. A bowling green and kindergarten was later added. [17] Since about 1940 there has been a lily pond and a bed of French marigolds in the form of sunrays in the Edmonds logo. A pond and creek was added from 1977 to 1982. The gardens in front of the factory were removed in the demolition, but the western gardens were preserved after being bought by the city council. [4] : 7 There is a memorial rose garden to the daughter of Edmonds, Irene Ballantyne. It is often used as a wedding venue. [17] The gardens are maintained by the local group Friends of the Gardens. [2]
Yorkshire pudding is a baked pudding made from a batter of eggs, flour, and milk or water. A common English side dish, it is a versatile food that can be served in numerous ways depending on its ingredients, size, and the accompanying components of the meal. As a first course, it can be served with onion gravy. For a main course, it may be served with meat and gravy — traditionally roast beef — as part of the traditional Sunday roast, but can also be filled with foods such as bangers and mash to make a meal. Sausages can be added to make toad in the hole. In some parts of England, the Yorkshire pudding can be eaten as a dessert, with a sweet sauce. The 18th-century cookery writer Hannah Glasse was the first to use the term "Yorkshire pudding" in print.
Pavlova is a meringue-based dessert. Originating in either Australia or New Zealand in the early 20th century, it was named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova. Taking the form of a cake-like circular block of baked meringue, pavlova has a crisp crust and soft, light inside. The confection is usually topped with fruit and whipped cream. The name is commonly pronounced pav-LOH-və or pahv-LOH-və, and occasionally closer to the name of the dancer, as PAHV-lə-və.
A pie is a baked dish which is usually made of a pastry dough casing that contains a filling of various sweet or savoury ingredients. Sweet pies may be filled with fruit, nuts, fruit preserves, brown sugar, sweetened vegetables, or with thicker fillings based on eggs and dairy. Savoury pies may be filled with meat, eggs and cheese or a mixture of meat and vegetables.
A pasty or Cornish pasty is a British baked pastry, a variety of which is particularly associated with Cornwall, but has spread all over the British Isles, and elsewhere through the Cornish diaspora. It consists of a filling, typically meat and vegetables, baked in a folded and crimped shortcrust pastry circle.
A scone is a traditional British baked good, popular in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is usually made of either wheat flour or oatmeal, with baking powder as a leavening agent, and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often slightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash. The scone is a basic component of the cream tea. It differs from teacakes and other types of sweets that are made with yeast. Scones were chosen as the Republic of Ireland representative for Café Europe during the Austrian presidency of the European Union in 2006, while the United Kingdom chose shortbread.
Pound cake is a type of cake traditionally made with a pound of each of four ingredients: flour, butter, eggs, and sugar. Pound cakes are generally baked in either a loaf pan or a Bundt mold. They are sometimes served either dusted with powdered sugar, lightly glazed, or with a coat of icing.
A chocolate brownie, or simply a brownie, is a chocolate baked dessert bar. Brownies come in a variety of forms and may be either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density. Brownies often, but not always, have a glossy "skin" on their upper crust. They may also include nuts, frosting, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. A variation made with brown sugar and vanilla rather than chocolate in the batter is called a blond brownie or blondie. The brownie was developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized there during the first half of the 20th century.
Cheesecake is a dessert made with a soft fresh cheese, eggs, and sugar. It may have a crust or base made from crushed cookies, graham crackers, pastry, or sometimes sponge cake. Cheesecake may be baked or unbaked, and is usually served chilled.
Shortcake generally refers to a dessert with a crumbly scone-like texture. There are multiple variations of shortcake, most of which are served with fruit and cream. One of the most popular is strawberry shortcake, which is typically served with whipped cream. Other variations common in the UK are blackberry and clotted cream shortcake and lemon berry shortcake, which is served with lemon curd in place of cream.
Apple crisp is a dessert made with a streusel topping. Ingredients usually include cooked apples, butter, sugar, flour, and cinnamon. The earliest reference to apple crisp in print occurs in 1924. Other similar desserts include apple Brown Betty, apple cobbler, apple crumble, apple pan dowdy, apple pie, and Eve's pudding.
Thomas or Tom Edmonds may refer to:
The Edmonds Cookery Book is a recipe book focusing on traditional New Zealand cuisine. It was first published as The Sure to Rise Cookery Book in 1908 as a marketing tool by baking powder manufacturer Thomas Edmonds, but it is now known as a Kiwi icon.
Bobotie is a South African dish consisting of spiced minced meat baked with an egg-based topping.
American Cookery, by Amelia Simmons, is the first known cookbook written by an American, published in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1796. Until then, the cookbooks printed and used in the Thirteen Colonies were British. Its full title is:
American Cookery, or the art of dressing viands, fish, poultry, and vegetables, and the best modes of making pastes, puffs, pies, tarts, puddings, custards, and preserves, and all kinds of cakes, from the imperial plum to plain cake: Adapted to this country, and all grades of life.
Baklava is a layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey. It was one of the most popular sweet pastries of Ottoman cuisine.
An Afghan is a traditional New Zealand biscuit made from flour, butter, cornflakes, sugar and cocoa powder, topped with chocolate icing and a half walnut. The recipe has a high proportion of butter, and relatively low sugar, and no leavening, giving it a soft, dense and rich texture, with crunchiness from the cornflakes, rather than from a high sugar content. The high butter content gives a soft melt-in-the-mouth texture, and the sweetness of the icing offsets the low sugar and the cocoa bitterness.
Nun's puffs are a dessert pastry originally from France, where they were known as pets de nonne. They are now also produced in French Canada, the United States, England, and Spain.
Sponge cake is a light cake made with eggs, flour and sugar, sometimes leavened with baking powder. Some sponge cakes do not contain egg yolks, like angel food cake, but most of them do. Sponge cakes, leavened with beaten eggs, originated during the Renaissance, possibly in Spain. The sponge cake is thought to be one of the first non-yeasted cakes, and the earliest attested sponge cake recipe in English is found in a book by the British poet Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman (1615). Still, the cake was much more like a cracker: thin and crispy. Sponge cakes became the cake recognised today when bakers started using beaten eggs as a rising agent in the mid-18th century. The Victorian creation of baking powder by British food manufacturer Alfred Bird in 1843 allowed the addition of butter to the traditional sponge recipe, resulting in the creation of the Victoria sponge. Cakes are available in many flavours and have many recipes as well. Sponge cakes have become snack cakes via the Twinkie.
Thomas John Edmonds was a British-born New Zealand businessman and philanthropist, who created and manufactured Edmonds "Sure to Rise" baking powder and the Edmonds Cookery Book. He also financed the construction of several buildings in Christchurch, including gifting the city a band rotunda and clock tower in 1929.