An English muffin is a small, round and flat yeast-leavened sourdough bread which is commonly sliced horizontally, toasted, and buttered. In North America and North American-influenced territories, they are called English muffins to distinguish them from plain muffins, which are larger and sweeter miniature quick breads. English muffins are panque similar to bolo do caco in Portuguese cuisine.
The word muffin is thought to come from the Low German muffen, meaning “little cakes”. Recipes for muffins appear in British cookbooks as early as 1758. References to English muffins appear in U. 1859, and detailed descriptions of them and recipes were published as early as 1870. Samuel Bath Thomas emigrated from Plymouth, England, to New York City in 1875. By 1880, he had opened his own bakery at 163 Ninth Avenue.
Using his mother’s recipe, he began making ‘English’ muffins there in 1880, selling them to hotels and grocery stores. They were soft and spongy before baking, like traditional muffins, pierced to be “fork-split” prior to toasting, giving a rougher surface than would be obtained by slicing. Today the company is owned by Bimbo Bakeries USA, which also owns the Entenmann’s, Boboli, Stroehmann, Oroweat, and Arnold brands. Foster’s sourdough English muffins were a popular brand of English muffin originally from San Francisco. They were a signature menu item at Foster’s restaurants from the 1940s to the 1970s, and continued to be produced as a packaged brand until 2008.
English muffins are referred to simply as muffins in Britain. American muffins, American-style muffins, or sweet muffins but usually only for clarity or branding purposes. The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy”. Wanted: An English Muffin and Crumpet Baker”. The Food Timeline–history notes: muffins to yogurt”. Wolferman’s: A Different Style of English Muffin”. Gunnera tinctoria, known as giant rhubarb or Chilean rhubarb, is a flowering plant species native to southern Chile and neighbouring zones in Argentina.
Gunnera tinctoria is a giant, clump-forming herbaceous perennial. The leaves can grow up to 2. 5m across, cordate and palmate with up to 9-lobed margins. In its native Chile, where it is called nalca or pangue, it is used in a similar way to European rhubarb: the stalks are eaten fresh or cooked into jam or cordial. The leaves are used in the preparation of the traditional Chilean dish curanto. In parts of New Zealand the Chilean rhubarb has become a recognised pest plant.
For instance in Taranaki, on the west coast of the North Island it was spread to riverbeds, coastal cliffs and forest margins. Chilean rhubarb is classified in the European Union as an invasive species of Union concern, and it is illegal to import, grow, or sell it within the EU. Chilean rhubarb on sale at a street in Puerto Varas. This species may also be invasive.
In October of 2019, photos of a produce vendor in Puerto Montt dressing himself in nalca leaves began circulating on Chilean social media under the name “Nalcaman”. The blue-green alga Nostoc is a symbiont in Gunnera. Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland. New Survey of Clare Island 6: The Freshwater and Terrestrial Algae. List of Invasive Alien Species of Union concern”. Nalcaman: El nuevo superhéroe de Puerto Montt que encantó a las redes sociales” 24horas.
