Cherry flummery! from Gourmet Mama
I love the History Chef blog! It has entries on Dolley Madison’s love of flummery and other exciting histo-culinary nuggets. (Did you know Zachary Taylor died of gastroenteritis? She doesn’t give that recipe!) She even explains how steamboats work. SCIENCE and HISTORY.
FAST FACT: If you’ve ever watched steam rise from a cup of hot chocolate or coffee, you might think that a steamboat is propelled by steam. That makes sense, but that isn’t exactly how a steamboat works. In a steamboat’s engine, wood or other fuel is burned to heat water in a boiler, and the steam that rises from the water is forced through small spaces (piston cylinders) to increase the speed at which it escapes, similar to the release of a valve on a pressure-cooker. The concentrated steam then hits and moves a paddlewheel which, in turn, propels the steamboat through water!
If there was ever any blogger who should get a book deal it is History Chef’s creator, Suzy Evans, J.D., Ph.D. Or a museum deal!
i’m totally down with the conspiracy theorists that zachary adams was actually poisoned with arsenic. because even though it’s almost romantic to die from eating too many cucumbers, cherries and drinking a pitcher of milk on a hot day, i just don’t see that happening.
Santos I did not see this comment until now, because I don’t know why. Don’t take this the wrong way, but our back end is confusing! Anyway, welcome and awesome comment. Also has anyone else noticed that Zachary Taylor has 2 out of 3 first names from the band Hanson? WHUT
This is my favorite entry, ever. Science!
Flummery!