Fannie farmer fun facts

What is fannie farmer famous for
Fannie farmer cookbook
Fannie farmer family

•

Farmer, Fannie Merritt, 1857-1915

Fannie Farmer was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the daughter of Mary Watson Merritt and John Franklin Farmer, a printer. The eldest of four daughters, Farmer was raised in a Unitarian family that believed strongly in education for their daughters, and she was expected to attend college. However, at age sixteen, while still a student at Medford High School, Farmer suffered paralysis in her left leg, probably the result of polio. For several years she was an invalid, cared for at home. When she finally regained her ability to walk, she did so with a permanent limp. Her illness prevented her from finishing high school, or attending college; she spent years helping in her home.

The family moved back to Boston and Farmer, now thirty years old, was hired as a mother's helper by a family friend, the prominent Mrs. Charles Shaw, who encouraged her to enroll in the Boston Cooking School to train as a cooking teacher. The school, established in 1879 by the Woman's Education Association of Boston, fostered a more intellectual, scientific approach to f

•

Fannie Merritt Farmer (1857-1915)

Chef & Cookbook Author

Born in Boston in 1857, Fannie Farmer was a cooking instructor and cookbook author who came to be known as the “Mother of Level Measurements.”

Farmer’s father owned a successful printing business and encouraged his daughter to read. Though she originally planned to go to college, Farmer suffered a paralysis of her left leg at 16 and spent the next several years of her life confined to her home. Around the age of 28, Farmer’s father’s business began to decline, so she began to seek work to support herself. Restaurant work proved too taxing on her physical demeanor, so she began assisting Mrs. Charles Shaw with the household cooking. It was Mrs. Shaw who encouraged Farmer to attend the Boston Cooking School.

After graduating from the Boston Cooking School in 1889, Farmer returned as an instructor the following year, and became its director in 1891. She published the Boston Cooking-School Cook Book in 1896, a thorough recipe compendium that relied on scientific data, proper nutrition,

•

Her Ruby Shoe Moment

Fannie Farmer felt immense satisfaction as she looked down at the book she held in her hands. Its title: The Boston Cooking School Cookbook. Its author: Fannie Farmer. Its contents: 1850 recipes, all in a revolutionary new format. Each recipe had a list of carefully measured ingredients first, followed by step by step instructions explaining how to combine them to get a delicious final result.

Before Fannie’s cookbook was published in 1896, most recipes called for people to measure ingredients by sight or with whatever they had around the kitchen. Even though standard measuring cups and spoons were available, most recipes didn’t reference them. Instead, they often called for a “handful” or “goodly amount” of something. The more precise recipes instructed people to use a mug, tea cup, or saucer for measuring dry ingredients and measure butter by using the size of an egg or a walnut.

Food quality varied wildly depending on how the cook measured the ingredients. Using a big mug would add too much flour for a cake, leaving it dry and crumbly. Th