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Short Stories for Teachers

The History of Cheesecake - A Greek Athlete's Award
By:Rachael Rizzo

Cheesecake, I'll never forget the first time I ever had it. I was about nine years old and the minute I bit into it cheesecake became my favorite dessert. Creamy, rich and cheesy it was a combination of flavors that I had never tasted before. It was so unlike cake and yet that was exactly what it was called. No flour, no vegetable oil....it was a mystery to me and in so being such I decided to research it. What I found was amazing and highly intriguing.

It is an evolution of the culinary art and not necessarily an invention. The combination of local resources and technological advancement. The cheese-less cheesecake started to appear in 17th century cookbooks. Chess pie from South America is actually descended from the cheesecake. Now, before their was cheesecake there was cheese. Cheese dates back to 9000 BC with the domestication of animals. The old testament holds a lot of references to cheese. The Greeks loved cheese so much that they gave it to their children as we give candy to our children. The Olympian athletes were rewarded with cheese. Samos was famous for their cheesecakes and any wedding cake back in Athens was ultimately going to be a cheesecake with honey.

As we all know, cream cheese is what makes cheesecake what it is today. Well, actually soft country cheeses such as cream cheese were the first cheeses known to the human race. While the Greeks and Romans did enjoy soft cheese, it was actually the Europeans such as the French who perfected the art of cream cheese. Cheese making immigrants came to America and brought with them their skills. It is known that in New York the starting selling packaged cream cheese in the 19th century.

What brought America recipes for cheesecakes were from what we discussed prior to this. The European cheese makers came from all over Europe and brought these things with them. What we do know about cheesecake is that the Romans had their own version called Libum. It was very versatile being used as an offering to household spirits, served hot, or served with some delicious honey. It was very much like the texture of a cheesecake. Philadelphia cheesecake was created by the German immigrants that were very heavily interlaced in Philadelphia. Philadelphia cheesecake was treasured and eaten at the Cheesecake house, an establishment selling cheesecake to eat on tables under cherry trees. The New York style cheesecake was created when we fashioned a new type of American cream cheese. It was the 1920s when it was featured by some important Jewish delis. According to a lot of people, cheesecake wasn't cheesecake until it came to New York.

The rest (they say) is history. Cheesecake has flourished and has become a good dessert in many good societies. The best part about cheesecake is that it is filling, rich, and is best either alone or with friends. Nothing beats that delicious dessert anywhere and with anyone. Now we all know that we are enjoying a dessert that many a Greek athlete enjoyed. So, alls we need do is pretend we were the ones running the marathon and bite into that delicious piece of cheesecake in front of us.

"Chocolate Swirl Cheesecake"*

Ingredients: 1/3 cup of graham cracker crumbs, 2 oz of semisweet chocolate melted and cooled, 32 oz of cream cheese softened, 2 tsp of grated orange peel, 1 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of Splenda, 2 tbs of orange juice, and 4 eggs lightly beaten.

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Sprinkle the cracker crumbs over the bottom of a lightly greased 9 inch springform pan; set aside. In a bowl beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the sugar and Splenda beating for one minute. Add the eggs and combine on low speed. Add the orange juice and peel. Beat for 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside 3/4 cup and pour the remaining filling into the pan. Combine the chocolate and reserved filling. Drop by spoonfuls over the filling in the pan and swirl with a knife. Place pan on a double thickness of foil. Securely wrap foil around pan.

Place pan in a large baking pan. Fill the larger pan with hot water to a depth of 1 inch. Bake at 350 degrees for about 75 minutes. Remove springform pan from the water bath. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Carefully run a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen; cool for one hour longer. Remove the foil. Refrigerate at a minimum of three hours.

Remove the sides of the pan. Serve with some whipped cream if desired

Love the creaminess.

Base of recipe from Taste of Home and then I molded it from there.

Rachael Rizzo has been acting since she was nine years old. She uses her experience to write about what the things she loves mean to her (mostly movies and baking). She is twenty-three years old and resides in beautiful Oregon.

http://1actressinoregon.wordpress.com






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