With Shrove Tuesday upon us once again we thought the news page should reflect the Nation’s obsession with this quirky tradition.
Here are 10 things you may, or may not know about Pancakes & Pancake day.
1. NOUN: A thin, flat cake of batter, fried on both sides in a pan and typically rolled up with a sweet or savoury filling
2. Shrove Tuesday is exactly 47 days before Easter Sunday, a moveable feast based on the cycles of the moon. The date can be 3 February or 9 March or anything between.
3. Pancakes are associated with the day preceding Lent because they were a way to use up rich foods such as eggs, milk, and sugar, before the fasting season of the 40 days of Lent.
4. The largest pancake was created in Rochdale, Manchester, UK in 1994, by the Co-Operative Union, Ltd. Measuring 15.01 m (49 ft 3 in) in diameter and 2.5 cm (1 in) thick, the pancake weighed 3 tonnes (6,614 lb), and took more than just a frying pan to flip over
5. In Iceland the day is known as Sprengidagur (Bursting Day) and is marked by eating salted meat and peas.
6. The word shrove is a form of the English word shrive, which means to obtain absolution for one’s sins by way of confession and doing penance.
7. The pancake has a very long history and featured in cookery books as far back as 1439.
8. The ingredients for pancakes can be seen to symbolise four points of significance at this time of year.
Eggs: Creation
Flour: The staff of life
Salt: Wholesomeness
Milk: Purity
9. The most famous pancake race takes place at Olney in Buckinghamshire. According to tradition, in 1445 a woman of Olney heard the shriving bell while she was making pancakes and ran to the church in her apron, still clutching her frying pan.
10. The fastest flipper may well be Australian celebrity chef Brad Jolly, who holds the record for most tosses of a pancake in one minute, notching up a so far unbeatable 140 flips in 60 seconds during an event in Sydney in 2012.
How good is your pancake making prowess? We would love you to share your photos (both good & bad) with us on our Facebook page. Try our chefs enriched batter recipe.