Tag Archives: Invention

Spoon

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Spoon

Would you like a spoon of facts?

  • Spoons are tools or utensils that are cutlery items used primarily to eat or prepare food.
  • Spoons feature a shallow, curved receptacle, that is attached to a longer handle.
  • Stainless steel is one of the most common materials used to make spoons, while wood, plastic, ceramic, or other metals are not uncommon, though some cutlery is made of a combination of two or more substances.
  • Spoons are most often used to eat, mix, distribute and measure food.
  • Ancient civilisations made spoons from a variety of materials like wood, bone, rock, gold, silver and ivory, depending on the utensil’s purpose and availability of materials.

Spoon, Metal, Plastic, Assortment, Invention, Cutlery, Ten Random Facts

  • Spoons have been adapted as souvenirs making them collected items, while both antiques and limited editions are popular among collectors.
  • The modern manufacturing process of metal spoons starts with a flat metal sheet, that is cut and shaped using dies.
  • Spoons have been used in past societies, including Egyptian and British, to symbolise status and power.
  • The modern appearance of spoons was only adopted in the 1700s, and soon after they became a prominent household item.
  • A spoon is most commonly used for eating when the food is liquid-based or small, such as rice, cereal, ice-cream and soup.
Bibliography:
Jones T, The History of Spoons, Forks and Knives, 2013, Today I Found Out, http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/10/history-spoons-forks-knives/
Spoon, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spoon

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Hot Cross Bun

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Hot Cross Bun

Do you like a nice hot cross bun on Good Friday?

  • Hot cross buns are food items, that are sweet dough based bread, that are generally spiced with mixed spice, a mixture that typically includes cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, among others.
  • Flour, milk, sugar, butter, yeast, sultanas or raisins, currants and mixed spice are the traditional primary ingredients in making hot cross buns.
  • Hot cross buns are typically eaten on Good Friday of the Easter period, although they are often sold all year round, peaking from January to April.
  • It is thought that hot cross buns originated at a pagan Saxon festival, as a praise towards Eostre, a goddess, and the cross is said to have originally represented the seasons and the moon.
  • A cross shape is found on the top of hot cross buns, and it is made of icing, pastry, or a water and flour paste, although it is said that originally the cross was most likely cut into the dough with a knife.

Hot Cross Buns, Easter, Good Friday, Half a Dozen, Brown, White, Traditional, Ten Random Facts, Food

  • Hot cross buns now come in an increasing variety of flavours, like chocolate, apple, orange, toffee or coffee, and they can also be fruitless.
  • The commonly accepted symbolic meaning of hot cross buns today, originates from the Christian worldview, representing the cross and crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday.
  • Hot cross buns are often glazed with a heated sugar and water mixture, that is brushed on the top of the cooked buns while they are still hot.
  • Typically, hot cross buns are served heated as a snack, and are commonly accompanied by a spread, such as butter.
  • Hot cross buns are surrounded by many myths, such as the bun’s supposed protection against fire and its year-long resistance to mould if baked on the correct day.
Bibliography:
Hot Cross Bun, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_cross_bun
Ysewijn R, Hot Cross Buns through Paganism, Christianity and Superstition, 2013, Miss Foodwise, http://www.missfoodwise.com/2013/03/hot-cross-buns-through-paganism.html

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Chair

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Chair

I do hope you do not fall off your chair!

  • Chairs are furniture items that are elevated platforms, used primarily for people to sit on.
  • Most commonly, chairs feature a backrest and four legs for maximum stability, although three and five-legged versions are available.
  • Chairs come in a wide variety of shapes and designs, some featuring no backrest, others featuring armrests, while others have the ability to fold compactly, and yet others are permanently placed.
  • Chairs are usually only used by one person at a time; and versions for multiple people are generally known as ‘couches’ or ‘benches’.
  • There is evidence of chair usage in Ancient Egypt, although until the 1500s, they were rarely used in general households; instead benches, stools and chests were utilised.

Chair, Black, Wood, Swivel, Ten Random Facts, Invention, Brown

  • Wood, plastic, fabric, leather, cane, metal, and other materials are used to make chairs, and these pieces of furniture are found in many places including offices, houses, and other indoor settings, as well as outdoors and in vehicles.
  • Chairs that are used commercially must abide by specific design criteria in some countries, such as the ability to hold a weight of 68 kilograms (150 pounds) on the backrest without breakage.
  • For both decorative and protective purposes, chairs may be accessorised with cushions, covers and floor mats.
  • Chairs are popularly depicted by artists, and a notable wooden sculpture by Daniel Berset of Switzerland is the Broken Chair, that reaches 12 metres (39 feet) in height.
  • The opportunity for a person to sit in a chair, up until the 1500s, indicated that such a person had a position of power and authority, and it is still used as a symbol today – councils generally have a ‘chair of the board’.

 

Bibliography:
Chair, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chair
Have a seat: The history of chairs, 2013, HeraldNet, http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20130509/LIVING03/705099995

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Cracker

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Cracker

Don’t cracker up after this pun!

  • Crackers are dough-based food products and are typically thin or wafer like biscuits that generally range in size up to 8 centimetres (3 inches).
  •  The main ingredient of crackers is generally a grain, like wheat or rice ground into flour, and water, and they are often flavoured with seeds, herbs, spices, salt, stocks or other flavours.
  • Crackers are typically shaped circular or square, although they can also be found in a range of other shapes, such as rectangles, stars and triangles.
  • Crackers are generally plain or savoury flavoured and are commonly eaten as snacks, with dips, spreads, sliced meat, cheese, and sliced vegetables.
  • Most commonly, crackers feature holes named ‘docking holes’, that serve the purpose of preventing air bubbles in the pastry and allowing moisture to escape during the cooking process.

Cracker, Wheat, Rice, White, Brown, Holes, Square, Circle, Assortment, Ten Random Facts, Food, Biscuit, Australia

  • The wheat-produced pita, lavish and matzo flatbreads, among others, were the predecessors of the cracker.
  • Crackers can be home-made, or available for purchase in packages from supermarkets, and sales of the biscuit in the United States alone reaches more than ten billion dollars annually.
  • It is believed that crackers were invented in 1792 by John Pearson, in Massachusetts’s Newburyport, in the United States, as a sailor biscuit replacement.
  • Crackers are typically made commercially in large sheets, with docker pins pressing holes into the food, before they are baked in an oven.
  • The word ‘cracker’ is said to have originated from the crackling sound created by the accidental burning of the biscuit.
Bibliography
Cracker (Food), 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cracker_(food)
Hiskey D, Why Crackers Have Holes, 2012, Today I Found Out, http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/10/why-crackers-have-holes/

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Tin Can

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Tin Can

Tin cans are the stars of food packaging.

  • Tin cans are containers most commonly used in commercial production, to package or store items like food or other products.
  • ‘Tin cans’, also known as ‘tins’; ‘steel cans’; ‘cans’; and ‘steel packaging’, are made of a metal material that is easy to cut, such as aluminium or tinplate steel.
  • The shape of a tin can is most commonly cylindrical, although round-edged prisms are also available; and they generally feature a rim on the top, and sometimes bottom edge, as well as a label, that is usually either printed or glued on.
  • Tin can walls often have one or more ridges or indents circling the can, giving a corrugated look, and these are designed to add strength to the can, and they can also sometimes be found on the top and base.
  • Tin cans are measured by a variety of formats, from net weight, volume and size, often varying by country.

Tin Cans, Nesquik, Bundle, Metal, Homebrand, Ten Random Facts, Select, Fruit,, Invention

  • Tin cans are typically made by forming a piece of sheet metal into a cylinder, and the edges if there are any, are welded, soldered, or adhered together, while the lid and top edge is often folded into place by a machine, to seal the can.
  • Around 50 to 75 percent of tin cans are recycled, causing the can to be the most recycled packaging product in the world.
  • After lengthy storage periods, tin cans can corrode and toxins spread into foods, thus causing poisoning, with symptoms like vomiting and dizziness; although corrosion is minimised by the application of a special lacquer coating to the interior of the can.
  • In 1809, Frenchman Nicholas Appert, a chef, developed a method of preserving food in sealed containers, for which he won a prize, and Philippe de Girard, an inventor also from France soon used this idea with tin cans, and after the patent was sold by Englishman Peter Durand to Bryan Donkin and John Hall, the idea was further refined and the two commenced mass production of canned food, in 1813.
  • The opening of tin cans usually requires the use of a cutting tool, such as a can opener, or a lever mechanism such as a pull tab.
Bibliography:
Geoghegon T, The story of how the tin can nearly wasn’t, 2013, BBC News Magazine, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-21689069
History of the Can – Timeline, 2015, Quality by Vision, http://www.qbyv.com/en/canhistory
Tin can, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tin_can

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Stick Blender

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Stick Blender

Blend… with the stick blender.

  • Stick blenders are inventions used in cooking, to purée or mix food ingredients.
  • A ‘stick blender’ is also known as a ‘hand blender’, ‘wand blender’, ‘immersion blender’, ‘boat motor’, ‘Bamix’ and ‘Bermixer’.
  • Stick blenders are roughly cylindrical in shape, and are usually held by one’s hand on the upper section, which is generally made from plastic, while the blades at the base are usually made from stainless steel.
  • Stick blenders are portable tools that blend food, especially soup, in the container that it was cooked or made in, and as such, they do not require large or special mixing bowls.
  • A stick blender differs from a mixer, in that due to its small fine blades, it performs a cutting action, rather than beaters that just mix the ingredients, however, some hand blenders can be purchased with extra attachments to make the appliance more versatile.

Stick Blender, White, Electric, Ten Random Facts, Hand, Appliance, Kitchen, Culinary,

  • The invention of the first stick blender, known as a ‘Bamix’, made from the French words ‘battre et mixer’ (beat and mix), is attributed to Roger Perrinjaquet, an inventor from Switzerland, who patented the idea in 1950.
  • Stick blenders are commonly used to make well-blended and puréed soups, beverages, and sauces, and they are also often used to make home-made puréed baby food.
  • Stick blenders became increasingly popular as people were made aware of them, and various companies now produce this handy kitchen tool, and the price of the blenders is determined by brand, quality, features and power.
  • The length of stick blenders can range from 25.5 to 30.5 centimetres (10 to 12 inches), up to 90 centimetres (35 inches) in length, and the long ones are usually used in commercial kitchens where large quantities of food are cooked.
  • Stick blenders are usually powered by electricity, although they may be cordless, in which case they will generally have a charging station included.
Bibliography:
Alfaro D, Immersion Blender, 2015, About Food, http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/glossary/g/Immersion-Blender.htm
Historical Past of the Best Immersion Blender, 2013, slideshare, http://www.slideshare.net/cirrusspoon2/historical-past-of-the-best-immersion-blender
Immersion Blender, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immersion_blender

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