New England Classics - Big Y® World Class Market®

New England is an area rich with history. It’s where the Pilgrims first landed in 1620, where the seeds of the American Revolution were sown, and where the very first Thanksgiving meal took place. As the home to some of America’s oldest cities, it’s also home to one of America’s oldest cuisines. Many of the mainstays of colonial cooking, from cranberries to baked beans, are still enjoyed today. Here are a few New England favorites and the stories behind them.

Boston Baked Beans
Ever wonder how Boston got the nickname “Beantown”? It came from classic baked beans. This simple dish has been a New England favorite since colonial times; in fact, it was one of the first things Native Americans taught the original English settlers how to make. Made from beans (usually navy beans, but the type can vary) simmered for hours with salt pork and molasses, baked beans quickly became a staple. It was a particular favorite of the Puritans, whose strict religious convictions meant they refrained from working on the Sabbath Day — beans could be made on Saturday, simmer all day in time to be ready for Saturday dinner, and then remain warm on the hearth for Sunday’s after-church meal. Bostonians, of course, insist that their traditional way of making baked beans is the only true way (and that additions such as tomatoes or ketchup are unconscionable deviations). But today, there are almost as many variations of the recipe as there are states in the Union.

Try this recipe for Boston Baked Beans

Boston Brown Bread
This bread also dates back to colonial days. Made from rye and wheat flours, cornmeal, and molasses, and often containing raisins, Boston brown bread is always steamed (rather than baked) in a large can or mold. It is traditionally served along with a steaming plate of Boston baked beans.

Try this recipe for Boston Brown Bread

Cranberries
We’re all familiar with the snap of the cranberry, which has been a Thanksgiving staple since the days of the Pilgrims — it’s likely they were served at the first Thanksgiving meal. These bright red berries have always grown naturally in bogs around the Massachusetts coast-line. In fact, Cape Cod and Nantucket are known as the home of the cranberry; the berries have been cultivated there since the early 1800s. Colonists would eat cranberries whole, sweetened with molasses or maple sugar. It wasn’t until white sugar became readily available that cranberry sauce as we know it today became the preferred method of enjoying these tart treats. Cranberries are also delicious when added to pies, breads, muffins or salads, and they can be a tasty accent to pork or poultry dishes.

Toll House® Cookies
This all-American cookie was created in 1930 by Ruth Wakefield, who along with her husband ran the Toll House Inn in Wakefield, Massachusetts. Experimenting in the kitchen one day, she chopped up some semi-sweet chocolate and mixed it into a brown-sugar cookie dough — and the famous Toll House cookie was born. By 1939 this chocolate chip cookie was so popular that Nestlé® was selling bags of semi-sweet morsels expressly designed for use in the Toll House cookie recipe. Today, the Toll House cookie is the official state cookie of Massachusetts, and quite probably the most popular cookie in America.

Try this recipe for Toll House® Cookies

from Big Y American Life Magazine, May 2004