| Muffin n. a small, cup-shaped bread, often sweetened | | | | dioxide gas in the batter. When baking powder was |
| and usually served hot. | | | | developed around 1857 it put an end to the use of |
| The derivation of the word muffin comes from the | | | | potash as well as to the profitable potash exports to |
| French word moufflet which is often times applied to | | | | the old country. |
| bread and means soft. | | | | Muffin recipes first began to appear in print in the mid |
| The two main types of muffins are English muffins | | | | 18th century and quickly caught on. By the 19th |
| and American style muffins. They vary in style as | | | | century muffin men walked the streets of England at |
| well as flavor and history. | | | | tea time to sell there muffins. They wore trays of |
| English muffins are a flat yeast raised muffin with | | | | English muffins on there heads and rang there bells to |
| nooks and crannies that are cooked on a hot griddle. | | | | call customers to there wares. |
| English muffin history dates all the way back to the | | | | Three states in the United States of America have |
| 10th and 11th centuries in Wales. Early English muffins | | | | adopted official muffins. Minnesota has adopted the |
| were cooked in muffin rings which were hooplike and | | | | blueberry muffin as the official state muffin. |
| placed directly on a stove or the bottom of a skillet. | | | | Massachusetts in 1986 adopted the Corn Muffin as |
| American style muffins on the other hand are more | | | | the official state muffin. Then in 1987 New York took |
| of a quick bread that is made in individual molds. The | | | | on the Apple Muffin as its official muffin of choice. |
| molds are necessary due to the mixture being a | | | | So next time you bite into a warm muffin think |
| batter rather than dough. These muffins were | | | | about its sweet history. |
| originally leavened with potash which produces carbon | | | | |