The history of muffins

Lemon-Raspberry muffin

Every muffin lover knows the muffin was originated in England to be served at tea time. English muffin history dates all the way back to the 10th and 11th centuries in Wales. Early English muffins were cooked in muffin rings which were hooplike and placed directly on a stove or the bottom of a skillet. Muffin recipes first began to appear in print in the mid 18th century and quickly caught on. By the 19th century muffin men walked the streets of England at tea time to sell there muffins. They wore trays of English muffins on there heads and rang there bells to call customers to there wares.

Although the muffin is originated in England, the muffin as we know it today has been developed in the USA, after pearlash was discovered. Pearlash is a refined form of potash, and it produces carbon dioxide gas in dough. Baking powder was not developed commercially until 1857. In 'American Cookery' (1796 - the first American cook book) Amelia Simmons published recipes using pearlash and it was than that some 8,000 tons was exported to Europe.

There is a variety of muffin recipes available: Sweet, Savory, Whole wheat, Flour. 

I personally like the fruit muffins and have been experimenting with different crumble toppings. 

Blueberry muffin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My experience is that a crumble with unsalted butter and light brown cane sugar works best. The butter needs to be cold and crumbled real fine to prevent the crumble from sinking to the bottom.