Anadama bread is a traditional
yeast
Yeasts are eukaryotic, single-celled microorganisms classified as members of the fungus kingdom (biology), kingdom. The first yeast originated hundreds of millions of years ago, and at least 1,500 species are currently recognized. They are est ...
bread of
New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
in the United States
made with
wheat
Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...
flour
Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...
,
cornmeal
Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...
,
molasses
Molasses () is a viscous byproduct, principally obtained from the refining of sugarcane or sugar beet juice into sugar. Molasses varies in the amount of sugar, the method of extraction, and the age of the plant. Sugarcane molasses is usuall ...
and sometimes
rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...
flour.
Origin
Much folklore exists about the origin of the recipe for Anadama bread and it is not readily agreed upon exactly when or where the bread originated. It is commonly believed to have existed before 1850 in areas of Maine and Massachusetts in coastal New England. The recipe may have been adapted from that of early American brown bread, as described in the 1832 cookbook by
Lydia Maria Child
Lydia Maria Child ( Francis; February 11, 1802October 20, 1880) was an American Abolitionism in the United States, abolitionist, women's rights activist, Native Americans in the United States, Native American rights activist, novelist, journalis ...
, ''The American Frugal Housewife''.
It is thought to have come from the local fishing community,
but it may have come through the
Finnish community of local stonecutters.
A popular folkloric account regarding the origin of the word "Anadama" tells the story of a fisherman becoming tired of meals of corn meal and molasses mush. Upset with his wife, Anna, for serving him nothing else, he one day adds flour and yeast to his porridge, baking the resultant bread, while cursing, "Anna, damn her!"
Commercial production
Near the turn of the 20th century, it was commercially baked by a man called Baker Knowlton of King Street in
Rockport, Massachusetts
Rockport is a seaside New England town, town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 6,992 in 2020 United States census, 2020. Rockport is located approximately northeast of Boston, at the tip of the Cape Ann peninsula. ...
, and delivered in a horse-drawn cart to households by men in blue smocks. In the 1940s, a Rockport restaurant owned by Bill and Melissa Smith called The Blacksmith Shop on Mount Pleasant Street started baking the bread for their restaurant in a small bakery on Main St. They baked about 80 loaves a day until 1956, when they built a modern $250,000 bakery on Pooles Lane. They had 70 employees and 40 trucks which delivered Anadama bread all over New England.
The Anadama bread center of consumption was in
Rockport and next-door
Gloucester, Massachusetts
Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...
. It was commercially available from local bakeries widely on
Cape Ann
Cape Ann is a rocky peninsula in northeastern Massachusetts on the Atlantic Ocean. It is about northeast of Boston and marks the northern limit of Massachusetts Bay. Cape Ann includes the city of Gloucester and the towns of Essex, Man ...
from the early 1900s until 1970, when the Anadama Bread Bakery on Pooles Lane in Rockport closed due to Bill Smith's death. For a number of years, it was baked by small local bakeries at breakfast places on Cape Ann.
See also
*
List of American breads
This is a list of American breads. Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of humanity's oldest foods, having been of importa ...
*
List of regional dishes of the United States
The cuisine of the United States includes many regional or local dishes, side dishes and foods. This list includes dishes and foods that are associated with specific regions of the United States.
Regional dishes of the United States
Barbecu ...
*
New England brown bread, a steamed bread made with wheat, rye, cornmeal, and molasses or maple syrup
References
External links
Beard Foundation
{{American bread
Yeast breads
American breads
Massachusetts cuisine