In her well-documented book “The Book of Marmalade,” C. Anne Wilson Wilson asserts that the  making of marmalade in New England, as with Britain, began with the quince. Unable to grow orange trees, the early Americans planted quince from seeds that they brought with them and made English style quince marmalade. As transportation became more [...]

Tell a native New Englander that there is little difference between a cranberry and a blue berry and he would not only question your sense of taste, he might have some questions about your sanity. Tell a botanist, on the other hand, and he would think of you as a person with infinite wisdom and [...]

Born in Newport, she was insturmental in getting Thanksgiving recognized as a national holiday in 1863 by  Abraham Lincoln. A very versatile woman, she is the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,”  was the editor of Godey’s Ladys Book and published Ladies’ New Book of Cookery (NY:1852) which included two pumpkin pie recipes. Generally, the American version had [...]

The story goes that Johnny Appleseed in the early 1800s, with a bible tucked under his arm and a sack full of apple seeds, planted the apple trees west of the Allegheny Mountains. He was a lovable old coot, rumored to wear a burlap bag for clothing and barefooted, he quickly won the affection of [...]