Hi all, a question occurred to me as I was reading the St. Macaroon thread.
I grew up calling a sweet mixture of coconut, sugar, vanilla and egg white
mounded into a cookie shape and baked/dried in a very slow oven a Macaroon.
I was only introduced to the almond macaroon about 10 years ago.

My question is: Is the coconut macaroon a Canadian or Western Canadianism
or did others grow up with the same definition of macaroon?

Thanks in advance for slaking my curiosity! ;-)

Janet

"JE Anderson" > wrote in
news:%5HMb.72774$JQ1.12281@pd7tw1no:

> Hi all, a question occurred to me as I was reading the St. Macaroon
> thread. I grew up calling a sweet mixture of coconut, sugar, vanilla
> and egg white mounded into a cookie shape and baked/dried in a very
> slow oven a Macaroon. I was only introduced to the almond macaroon
> about 10 years ago.
>
> My question is: Is the coconut macaroon a Canadian or Western
> Canadianism or did others grow up with the same definition of
> macaroon?
>
> Thanks in advance for slaking my curiosity! ;-)
>
> Janet

I also grew up with the same coconut macaroon type that you described, and
was introduced to the crisp almond macaroon years later. Without doing
some research, I don't know the origin of either, however that coconut
macaroon was a kitchen staple in many US homes from early in the last
century through, probably, the 1960s. I still like them.

Wayne

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 05:25:33 GMT, Wayne Boatwright
> wrote:

>"JE Anderson" > wrote in
>news:%5HMb.72774$JQ1.12281@pd7tw1no:
>
>> Hi all, a question occurred to me as I was reading the St. Macaroon
>> thread. I grew up calling a sweet mixture of coconut, sugar, vanilla
>> and egg white mounded into a cookie shape and baked/dried in a very
>> slow oven a Macaroon. I was only introduced to the almond macaroon
>> about 10 years ago.
>>
>> My question is: Is the coconut macaroon a Canadian or Western
>> Canadianism or did others grow up with the same definition of
>> macaroon?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for slaking my curiosity! ;-)
>>
>> Janet
>
>I also grew up with the same coconut macaroon type that you described, and
>was introduced to the crisp almond macaroon years later. Without doing
>some research, I don't know the origin of either, however that coconut
>macaroon was a kitchen staple in many US homes from early in the last
>century through, probably, the 1960s. I still like them.
>
>Wayne

The coconut macaroon is very common in Australia as well, with recipes
in many cookbooks dating back to the 60s and probably further, for all
I know. They're a favourite of mine, too.
CJ

Wayne Boatwright muttered....


>
> I also grew up with the same coconut macaroon type that you described,
> and was introduced to the crisp almond macaroon years later. Without
> doing some research, I don't know the origin of either, however that
> coconut macaroon was a kitchen staple in many US homes from early in
> the last century through, probably, the 1960s. I still like them.
>
Al though some might disagree, I'd put the US (and Australian) coconut
macaroon as an late 19th/early 20th century "invention" to utilize the
newly available processed coconut from the South Seas trade, sort of a
small change adjunct to the coconut oil business (and long predated by the
almond macaroon).

TMO

Recipes for coconut as well as almond macaroons were published in Eliza
Leslie's "Directions for Cookery" (1837). Several other recipes include
"cocoa-nut" as an ingredient so coconuts were available in Philadelphia by this
time. It would surprise me if they were not widely available at a much earlier
date, as they were readily available in the Caribbean.

Andy Smith

>Al though some might disagree, I'd put the US (and Australian) coconut
>macaroon as an late 19th/early 20th century "invention" to utilize the
>newly available processed coconut from the South Seas trade, sort of a
>small change adjunct to the coconut oil business (and long predated by the
>almond macaroon).
>
>TMO
>
>
>
>
>
>

"ASmith1946" > wrote in message
...
> Recipes for coconut as well as almond macaroons were published in Eliza
> Leslie's "Directions for Cookery" (1837). Several other recipes include
> "cocoa-nut" as an ingredient so coconuts were available in Philadelphia by
this
> time. It would surprise me if they were not widely available at a much
earlier
> date, as they were readily available in the Caribbean.
>
> Andy Smith
>
> >Al though some might disagree, I'd put the US (and Australian) coconut
> >macaroon as an late 19th/early 20th century "invention" to utilize the
> >newly available processed coconut from the South Seas trade, sort of a
> >small change adjunct to the coconut oil business (and long predated by
the
> >almond macaroon).
> >
> >TMO

Thanks everyone for the input - it was of those curiosity and cats moments
<grin>.

Janet

On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 00:38:19 GMT, "JE Anderson" >
wrote:

>My question is: Is the coconut macaroon a Canadian or Western Canadianism
>or did others grow up with the same definition of macaroon?

Kokosmakroner is a very old cake in Norway at least. But there are
several varieties of "makroner" too. But, from Italy we also have
"makaroni", but that is something very different, a kind of pasta, and
not sweet at all.

Alf Christophersen wrote:

> On Tue, 13 Jan 2004 00:38:19 GMT, "JE Anderson" >
> wrote:
>
>>My question is: Is the coconut macaroon a Canadian or Western Canadianism
>>or did others grow up with the same definition of macaroon?
>
> Kokosmakroner is a very old cake in Norway at least. But there are
> several varieties of "makroner" too. But, from Italy we also have
> "makaroni", but that is something very different, a kind of pasta, and
> not sweet at all.

As the Italian alphabet only uses "K" when importing foreign words, I
wonder where this notion came from. Italian pasta has been called,
through several variant spellings over the centuries (but none with a
"K"), maccheroni, maccaroni, macaroni, macheroni and still other
regional ones. Pasta is such an integral part of the Italian culture
that there are, indeed, sweet pasta dishes.

Macaroons with coconut aren't favored in Italy. Coconut isn't even
mentioned in the 12 books I checked recently for an article mad none
of the macaroon recipes included it. The closest Italian cookie is the
amaretto made with almonds or the pits of peaches, nectarines and
other fruit with that sort of stone. "Amaretti" is the generic name
for them whether dry and crisp or softer and more moist.

Pastorio.

I've seen a 1732 Boston ms. recipe for cocoa-nut pudding. I would guess that
some were in the Atlantic cities in the mid-late 17th Century, since they
were supplying the Caribbean with cod, maize, pitch, and slaves by then.


--
-Mark H. Zanger
author, The American History Cookbook, The American Ethnic Cookbook for
Students
www.ethnicook.com
www.historycook.com



"ASmith1946" > wrote in message
...
> Recipes for coconut as well as almond macaroons were published in Eliza
> Leslie's "Directions for Cookery" (1837). Several other recipes include
> "cocoa-nut" as an ingredient so coconuts were available in Philadelphia by
this
> time. It would surprise me if they were not widely available at a much
earlier
> date, as they were readily available in the Caribbean.
>
> Andy Smith
>
> >Al though some might disagree, I'd put the US (and Australian) coconut
> >macaroon as an late 19th/early 20th century "invention" to utilize the
> >newly available processed coconut from the South Seas trade, sort of a
> >small change adjunct to the coconut oil business (and long predated by
the
> >almond macaroon).
> >
> >TMO
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
>