| Thank you Trudy Hickerson Satterfield in Gallatin, TN for this week's cover image! |
Have you ever had the pleasure of tasting tomato cake? If your answer is “no,” this is understandable. In fact, there’s a good chance that you’ve never even heard of it. Unlike its more popular carrot-based cousin, tomato cake isn’t a go-to treat. This is a shame, really, as tomato cake is an example of the best kind of (delicious) ingenuity.
Recipes for tomato cake began to pop up in the early 1930s, during The Great Depression, and then gained in popularity again during World War II. During both of these historical periods, ingredients were in short supply, so home bakers made do! Original recipes used ever-present canned tomato soup, which eliminated the need for fresh tomatoes, eggs, or a lot of butter or spices, which sometimes were scarce. The result was a decadent, lightly spiced cake that tasted nothing like canned soup!
It’s sort of amazing what can happen, whether out of necessity or creativity, when we let go of how things should be and allow ourselves to think outside the box. That’s our challenge to you this week: To repurpose. Use what you have on hand. Give new life to an old thing. And, of course, don’t always follow the recipe. You might be pleased with the results.
Now we’re going to give you an actual recipe to follow, but we promise that it’s worth it: Fresh Tomato Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting.
You’ll note that our tomato cake recipe uses fresh tomatoes (instead of the traditional canned soup), which should be easy to find right now at farmers’ markets or in your own garden! Have an abundance of tomatoes? Can tomatoes whole or as tomato sauce for a taste of summer later in the year.
No matter what bounty you’re enjoying—tomatoes, melons, zucchini, or corn, oh, my!—we have the summer recipes to make the most of seasonal flavors.
The Dog Days of Summer ended on August 11. Tomorrow, Cat Nights begin. As with tomato cake, you’re forgiven for never having heard of Cat Nights, which harken back to an Irish legend that is the source behind the folklore about a kitty having nine lives.
Finally, it might feel a little strange talking about winter in the middle of August, but we're two days away from launching The 2021 Old Farmer’s Almanac (August 18 is Debut Day)!! If you've been reading the daily Companions this week, you've probably noticed we've given an early "sneak peak" at our winter weather maps. Today’s reveal is: The western Intermountain region and the Desert Southwest. See the winter weather map!
As sure as the Sun will rise and set each day, The Old Farmer’s Almanac is here for you, now and always.
Your Friends from The Old Farmer’s Almanac |
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