6/25/26 - Grandma's Pantry, Ranch, and Color TV

Thursday 6/25/26

Celebrate:

Bourdain Day

Day of the Seafarer

Global Beatles Day

National Bomb Pop Day

National Catfish Day

National Handshake Day

National Police Community Cooperative Day

National Strawberry Parfait Day

World Vitiligo Day

Leon!!! - It's Noel backwards since today is the half way point from/to Christmas!

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Genealogy Explained has a list of 25 pantry items your Grandma used daily!

Lard! Anti-fat movement killed lard in the 80s. It is making a comeback.

Suet - not just for the birds. pure beef fat.

Cream of Tartar - still around but no one uses it. 

Head Cheese - not cheese. Gross - Take a pig’s head. Boil it forever. Pick off all the meat. Mix with gelatin from the bones. Press into a loaf. Slice and serve.

Molasses - The thick, dark syrup leftover from sugar processing. great flavor for cooking.

Powdered Eggs - The government shipped real eggs overseas. Civilians got powder.

Just add water! They promised. Nobody was fooled. The texture was wrong. The color was off. 

Unflavored Gelatin - This was pure collagen from bones and hooves.

Came in sheets or powder. Clear. Tasteless. But magical. Used in Aspics with "why would you put that in "Jello""

Real Buttermilk - The liquid left after churning butter.

Tangy. Slightly sour. Full of tiny butter flecks. Grandma drank it cold from a glass on hot afternoons. Salted a little. Maybe with cornbread crumbled in.

Real Mincemeat - Beef tongue or venison, chopped fine. Suet. Currants. Apples. Brandy. Spices. Packed into a crock and aged for weeks. (thankfull we think of the modern one mainly raisins and apples.) 

Junket Tablets - turned milk into custard. No oven needed. No eggs. Just milk, sugar, and a junket tablet.

The active ingredient was rennet. The same enzyme that makes cheese. It curdled milk into a soft, sweet, jiggly dessert.

Hardtack - Flour, water, salt. Bake until it’s a brick. Bake longer. Now bake it again.

You couldn’t just bite it—you’d lose teeth. Soak in coffee. Crumble into stew. Fry in bacon grease. 

Cod Liver Oil - The flavor was unforgettable. Fish. Old fish. Slightly rancid fish. With a chaser of orange juice that didn’t help.

But it worked. Vitamin D before anyone called it that. Rickets prevention. Strong bones. Clear skin.

For more, check it out here.

https://www.genealogyexplained.com/fb/blog/10-pantry-items-your-grandma-used-daily-that-time-forgot/

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What kind of plastic is in our oceans? Here are the top five items, according to a study.

1. Plastic bags – 14.1%

2. Plastic bottles – 11.9%

3. Food containers/cutlery – 9.4%

4. Wrappers – 9.1%

5. Synthetic rope – 7.9%

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International tourists traveling home from the United States after the World Cup could face disappointment if they try to take a one popular souvenir through airport security: a big bottle of ranch dressing. But Kraft might have a solution.

On June 18, Kraft teased "TSA-Compliant Ranch" on Instagram and confirmed it to USA TODAY in an email.

"Some visitors leave with souvenirs. Others leave with America’s favorite dressing," the post stated.

"If you’re traveling within the U.S., make sure to keep your carry-on sauces to 3.4oz or less and place any larger containers in your checked bags."

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For the first time in nearly 70 years, children and teenagers in South Carolina can legally play pinball.

A law the governor signed last month removed the arcade game from the list of so-called status offenses outlawed for anyone under the age of 18, following a decade-long effort. The original ban was never enforced, but it remained a source of anxiety for law-abiding business owners, supporters of the bill said.

In the late 1940s, pinball manufacturers started adding the iconic flippers to the sides of the machines, adding an element of skill.

The new version of pinball with flippers grew in popularity throughout the 1960s and ’70s, even with bans in place. A 1974 California Supreme Court decision classified the game as one of skill and not chance, which led to states removing pinball prohibitions.

South Carolina was the holdout.

Playing pinball remained illegal for anyone under the age of 18, in the same category of offenses as running away, “loitering in a billiard room” or “gaining admission to a theater by false identification.”

I guess I'll put my stuff back from my bandana hanging from a stick!!!

Read more here.

https://scdailygazette.com/2026/06/17/sc-law-legalizes-pinball-for-youth-ending-decades-old-prohibition/?user_id=66c4bbb35d78644b3a94bd5c&utm_placement=newsletter

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Today’s Useless Fact of the Day - Today is Color TV Day - 1951, at 4:35 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS made what is regarded as the first color television broadcast. It was an hour-long variety show called Premiere, which featured Arthur Godfrey, Ed Sullivan, Garry Moore, Robert Alda, and Faye Emerson. Most people only had black and white sets and only got a blank screen. 

Most of those who were able to view the program saw it at a hotel, in department stores, or in an auditorium.

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