Comment by bee_rider
2 days ago
I’m very upset to hear that
> While brown bread may have contained some molasses in the early 1900s, post-WWII it was usually made without. So Canadian brown bread is, unlike Boston-style bread, not sweet (see the 1909 quotation) and also distinct from Irish brown bread, though the latter may have inspired it.
Brown bread is sweet, and you are supposed to cut it up into little hockey pucks and toast it. It is the perfect shape when it comes out of the can.
That's a weird (or perhaps regional) definition. Brown bread I've had is always molasses sweetened. Source: ontario and provinces east.
The boston canned brown bread i always assumed was a touristy thing, not something regularly consumed.
Lived in BC, SK, and ON. I'm far enough east that I regularly hit up both Ottawa and Montreal.
In my experience "brown bread" is a synonym for whole wheat bread. If you go order a sandwich and they ask what bread you want it on and you say "brown", you're getting whole wheat (or maybe 60% whole wheat... just not white).
I'd be very confused if I ever got this molasses-sweetened bread everyone is talking about.
BC, AB, ON. Same as you, brown bread = whole wheat. Not sure I've even heard of molasses-sweetened bread, let alone eaten it.
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I found a sort of fun blog post that points out that technically, it could be considered a pudding rather than a bread, because it is steamed rather than baked.
https://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-Historical-...
Although the consistency is more like a dense, very moist bread. It wouldn’t be great for a conventional sandwich. Could reasonably steal the English muffin’s job, though. Or a regular muffin. Maybe a bit messier.
Yeah when I think further on it, I've never heard of it here in Ontario. In Atlantic Canada though, it's definitely made with molasses. Google search results [1] suggests this is a regionalism (Atlantic Canada and new england states)
If I was offered brown bread and got a boring whole wheat, I'd be sorely disappointed.
[1] https://my-mothers-cook-books.ca/2021/05/29/brown-bread-vs-p...
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Massachusetts native, we regularly are brown bread from a can as a kid. Not a touristy thing.
My family were definitely not tourists, but come to think of it I don’t recall seeing the canned stuff in my friends’ houses. So maybe we were just locals who fell for a prank that was being played on the tourists, or something.
Can? Where in Canada is this canned brown bread at?
It isn’t, apparently, that’s what I’m upset about. Canada and New England are supposed go way back, longer than the countries. But apparently we didn’t share our bread technology advances.
Check the foreign foods section of your local supermarket. Probably right beside those chocolate sprinkles intended for making sandwiches.
I've had it. You're really not missing out. I always assumed it was a depression era thing (canned bread!).
> I always assumed it was a depression era thing (canned bread!).
1860’s apparently.
https://www.britishfoodinamerica.com/A-Number-of-Historical-...
> You're really not missing out.
It it rare in matters of taste to be able to say it, but you sir or madam are objectively incorrect!
Ok well, maybe that is a bit over the top. But anyway, since it comes in a can, hopefully anyone curious can just try it. Pop it in the toaster oven, put some cream cheese on it, and have it for breakfast. It is a treat, IMO.
We call it spoon bread in the east. True spoon bread is baked in an old tin can. Not sweet.