Everyone knows and has eaten baked goods and cakes. But one treat that's especially popular and easy to make is the pancake. Today's article shares some interesting facts about pancakes.
A pancake is a flat cake made from batter, a mixture of flour and liquid such as water or milk, which usually also contains eggs. Pancakes are lightly sweet and cooked by pouring the batter onto a hot flat pan, which is where the name comes from. They are eaten in many countries in many forms, and most are made from ready-made mix. Let's look at some pancake facts.
1. Pancakes Date Back to the Stone Age
Many people might guess that pancakes have been around a long time, but few would expect them to date back to the Stone Age. Scientists believe they found an "ancestor of the pancake" from that era: the oldest evidence of pancakes was found in the stomach of Ötzi, a prehistoric Ice Age man preserved as a natural mummy in near-perfect condition in the Alps, about 5,300 years old.
Pancakes continued through history to the Greek and Roman eras, when they were made from wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk. Ancient Greek poets Cratinus and Magnes wrote about pancakes in their poetry, and Shakespeare mentioned them in his famous plays. But the name "pancake" only appeared in the 15th century, and from the 19th century Americans used the word for foods previously called Indian cakes, johnnycakes, buckwheat cakes, buckwheats, griddle cakes or flapjacks. Early American pancakes were made from dried corn or other grains.
2. Pancake Ingredients and How They're Made
Pancakes are flat cakes made from batter, flour mixed with milk, butter or sugar. Once mixed into a batter, it is fried in oil or butter in a flat pan until cooked. You can eat them plain, or if you like it sweet, drizzle with honey, cream, condensed milk or syrup. For an attractive, colourful look, stack the pancakes in layers and decorate with berries such as strawberries and raspberries.
3. Eating Pancakes to Celebrate Pancake Day
Pancake Day is an important day in the Christian calendar, officially called Shrove Tuesday and also known as Pancake Tuesday. On that day Christians celebrate by eating pancakes, a high-fat food, before the fast that requires abstaining from rich foods, beginning with Lent (the following day) until Easter, to commemorate the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus.
As for Pancake Day itself, the date isn't fixed each year, but it always falls on a Tuesday in late February or early March.
