Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Pancakes are ancient food. The word pancakes appears in print as early as 1430. Pancakes may
have been around since Neolithic humans domesticated einkorn wheat, ground it into flour mixed
with bird’s egg and goat’s milk and poured the batter on a heated rock.
It happened before there were pans and long before ovens. The ancient cooks dropped a little
gruel on a hot rock of campfire, resulting in thin cakes that were tastier than plain gruel or cakes
cooked directly in the embers of the fire.
Perhaps because of this ancient lineage, pancakes are associated with rituals in many countries –
Shrove Tuesday, Candlemas, and Chanukah to name a few.
From these rudimentary beginnings sprang a vast array of bread and pancakes, but the two were
originally the same. The ancient Greeks used griddles to cook a flat loaf drizzled with honey called
‘kreion’ and cakes of soft cheese. The Romans as revealed in the cookbook by Apicius made
dishes similar to modern pancakes. Medieval pancakes, frequently made form barley or rye and
lacking leavening, were relatively heavy affairs. They were quite different from contemporary fluffy
or tender versions. Pancake Day is another name for Shrive Tuesday, from the custom of eating
pancakes on this day, still generally observed. Shrive is an old Saxon word, of which shrove is a
corruption and signifies confession.
The custom of dining on pancakes on Shrove Tuesday is Roman Catholic origin that on the day
when all rejoiced alike in the forgiveness of their sins, all should feast alike on the same simple
dish. The pancakes were prepared, denoted by the ringing of the ‘pancake bell’ from the church
tower.Pancakes are an essential part of a classic American breakfast. One of George
Washington’s breakfast foods were pancakes that literally in maple syrup. He would plunge each
piece of his pancake under the syrup, sopping it good before he ate it.
Related studies
“THE UTILIZATION OF TIYESA (Pouteria lucuma) AS MAIN INGREDIENT IN PANCAKES” by
Precious Balgona and Christopher Tambogon of Mariano Marcos State University on November
16, 2012. This study was designed to determine the feasibility of tiyesa (Pouteria lucuma) fruit as
pancake ingredient. The data on the organoleptic tests like appearance, texture and taste were
used. The acceptability test used 5 Points Hedonic scale with corresponding numerical score
(Highly acceptable, very acceptable, acceptable, not so acceptable, not acceptable). Thirty (30)
respondents were randomly selected at Brgy.10, San Jose and Brgy. 9, Sta. Angela, Laoag City.
Results were statistically treated using mean average scores. The formulation made of 25% tiyesa
(Pouteria lucuma) + 75% flour was recommended for making pancakes. The product was rated
the most preferred in terms of taste, appearance and acceptability.
It was recommended that further improvement of appearance, texture and taste should be done to
make the product better. The researchers also recommend the search for other ingredients that
can be added to the product to improve its taste.