History of muffin in America

Muffins are described as a quick bread because ‘quick-acting’ chemical leavening agents are used instead of yeast, a ‘longer acting’ biological leavening agent.

One of the earliest recipes for familiar ‘English muffins’ is in De Witt’s Connecticut Cook Book (1871).

Muffins were part of English culinary traditions brought to America by English immigrants one of whom was Samuel Bath Thomas (1855-1919), who in 1880 opened a bakery called the Muffin House in New York.

Thomas came to New York from Plymouth, England and his bakery located at 163 Ninth Avenue.

English muffins were sold at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, and this created some interest in the product. To capitalize on this interest, Thomas formed the S.B Thomas Company which began manufacturing English muffins. Thomas’s English Muffins and similar products are commonly sold in grocery stores and delicatessens.

In 1970s, Thomas’s trademark that its English muffins have ‘nooks and crannies’ to hold melted butter.

Three states in the United States of America have adopted official muffins. Minnesota has adopted the blueberry muffin as the official state muffin.

Massachusetts in 1986 adopted the Corn Muffin as the official state muffin. Then in 1987 New York took on the Apple Muffin as its official muffin of choice.

In 1973, McDonald launched the Egg McMuffin. Other fast food chains were soon to add their own muffin products.  Subway offered its Western Egg White & Cheese Muffin Melt to the Menu.
History of muffin in America 

Tea business in America

Tea came to America in 1650, even before it reached England.  Peter Stuyvesant brought the first tea to America to the colonists in the Dutch settlement of New Amsterdam, which later became New York.

Soon American colonists were consuming more tea than England and the Dutch stayed active in tea trade throughout the Western world.

Once tea did become popular in England, the British could hardly be expected to travel abroad without their precious drink and as a result, tea made second entree to the United States with the British colonists.

By the beginning of the 18th century tea was available in major American cities, but through trade with England. In 1880’s, America came to the forefront as the biggest importer of tea due to faster clipper ships and the ability to pay its debts in gold.

In 1890, Sir Thomas Lipton, who had already helped to popularize tea in England, brought his business acumen to the United States. During the war years, Lipton had enlarged its U.S. sales and in August 1919 it moved its packing plant and main office to a large eleven-story building in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Another British form, Tetley Tea, had sizeable American market share. Salada Tea Company founded in Toronto in 1892 also marketed in the United States.

At the turn of the 20th century the tea bag came along a surprise and Thomas J. Lipton was responsible for designing a four sided tea he dubbed the ‘flo-thru’ tea bag.
Tea business in America