History of Desserts (2024)

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History of Desserts? ›

History. Sweets were fed to the gods in ancient Mesopotamia and ancient India and other ancient civilizations. Herodotus mentions that Persian meals featured many desserts, and were more varied in their sweet offerings than the main dishes.

Apart from bearing the lofty distinction as the world's oldest dessert, ashure retains important spiritual significance today across Anatolia, the lands comprising the majority of modern-day Turkey.

Indeed, the custard is known to be one of the first desserts ever eaten in the middle ages. The next few reported desserts include apple pies in 1381 and gingerbread in the 1400s. Up until the 17th century, desserts were meshed together with savory dishes and were used as nothing more than palate cleansers.

Ashure (Noah's Pudding) is thought to be the oldest dessert in the world, first made by Noah after his fabled landfall at Mt Ararat. It is a delightful mix of dried fruit, nuts, grains and beans (yes, beans!) made in Turkey and all over the Middle East.

According to Krohn, the first cookbook for desserts didn't surface until the seventeenth century, when the idea of having a separate course for sweets first came into existence. "Up until the seventeenth century, sweet and savory dishes were put out on tables indistinguishable from each other," she said.

During the week, if there was a dessert, it would be a piece of corn bread with some molasses poured on top or some fruit. In addition, slave cabins rarely had the cooking equipment or appliances necessary to adequately bake a pie.

Brownies. The history tells that this recipe was created in about 1800, by a rich lady from Chicago who wanted to offer a unique dessert to the costumers of her hotel. And so it was that Berthe Palmer, for her Palmer Hotel, created the first brownie, clearly named after its brown color due to the dark chocolate.

Thousands of years before that, Greeks and Romans enjoyed sweeteners like honey and sesame-seed desserts. But sweets hadn't started to be included in nearly every meal and were consumed daily until only recently—about 150-200 years ago.

The word “dessert” emerged in the seventeenth century, derived from the French verb “desservir,” meaning “to clear the table” in English. Etiquette dictated that napkins and tablecloths be changed before the final course, which at the time was a delicate fruit course.

A large number of English cookbooks have been found and some date back to the late 1300's. English sweets included many types of cakes, custards, and fritters such as funnel cake. They used strawberries, apples, figs, raisins, currants and almonds. They also made cheese-based sweets including cheesecake.

What is the most eaten dessert in the world? ›

Shaq calls Atlanta home much of the time, and servers around town quickly grew to learn he orders dessert first. (He's a big brownie-and-ice cream guy). Why, we asked during an interview a few years ago. "Growing up as a youngster, we never had dessert," he said.

The Gateau is a dessert of four, sometimes five distinct elements: puff pastry, choux pastry, Chiboust cream (which itself is a mixture of creme patissiere and Italian meringue), whipped cream, and caramel. If you happen to have all of those things on hand and already baked, it can be constructed in barely 15 minutes.

The earliest cakes were very different from the cakes we know today. They were more like bread and were sometimes even savory. The first mention of cake dates back to the 4th century BC when a Greek writer mentioned a cake made with honey and wheat flour.

There are a wide variety of desserts in western cultures, including cakes, cookies, biscuits, gelatins, pastries, ice creams, pies, puddings, and candies. Fruit is also commonly found in dessert courses because of its natural sweetness.

This tradition goes back centuries, in Provence, where locals have long enjoyed a laundry list of fruits, nuts, and cakes on Christmas Eve; the number thirteen, it seems, was only imposed in the 1920s, an amalgam, perhaps, of a tradtiton of baking thirteen small loaves of bread (representing Jesus and the twelve ...

The first candy was used by the Ancient Egyptians for cult purposes. In ancient times, Egyptians, Arabs, and Chinese made candies with fruits and nuts that caramelized with honey. The two oldest candy types are licorice and ginger. The historical roots of licorice are found in the early years of man's appearance.

English sweets included many types of cakes, custards, and fritters such as funnel cake. They used strawberries, apples, figs, raisins, currants and almonds. They also made cheese-based sweets including cheesecake.

The earliest known pastries were made by the ancient Egyptians. They baked cakes made from wheat and honey, often flavored with fruits and nuts. These cakes were baked on hot stones and were likely the first known example of baking.