Awakenings: Foodie for St. Paddy's Day

With today being St. Patrick's Day, what foodie do you think is up for celebration? Think green...could it be a scrumptious cake decorated with green sugar shamrocks? What about the key lime pie? Definitely tantalizing with its key limes as the center of attention. Then, of course, there are those veggies of which a plethora of green choices exist. Today would have been a terrific day to celebrate the heart of the artichoke but that day has already been on the calendar. All 'bout the 'choke provided you numerous recipes for your pleasure or experimentation. That is past but this is present...

March 17 is...

Corned Beef and Cabbage Day

Corned beef and cabbage is a most fitting menu item for St. Patrick's Day! It is interesting to note, however, that this is yet another American-based tradition. Today in Ireland, this foodie combination is geared toward tourist consumption. Most Irish do not identify corned beef and cabbage as native cuisine to Ireland!

Where is the "corn" in corned beef?

To “corn” something is simply to preserve it in a salty brine (the term corn refers to the coarse grains of salt used for curing).

Corned beef is a salt-cured beef product. In the traditional Irish Corned Beef and Cabbage recipes, salt pork or bacon joint were used instead of corned beef. Sometime in the mid 1800s when the Irish immigrated to America, they found that Jewish corned beef was very similar in texture to bacon joint (pork). It was then that corned beef was used as a replacement for the bacon when preparing corned beef and cabbage meals. Soon after, Irish-Americans began having Corned Beef and Cabbage on St. Patrick’s Day. [Source: National Day Calendar]