Tuesday 16 December 2014

"The First Tarticle"

When you google butter tart , Wikipedia tells you that it is “considered one of Canada’s quintessential desserts.” That makes me oh so proud as I love all that stands for our country. Having spent a great deal of time outside Canada made me love our country more dearly than I can express. It feels good to know that the precious butter tart, born in Canada, was common in pioneer Canadian cooking, and is apparently one of the “few recipes of genuine Canadian origin”.

What I have observed since we conceived the idea of a “butter tart store”, is that butter tarts are sensual. You tell people that you sell butter tarts, and they do a little moan or in some cases a bigger moan. I’ve been thinking about the reason for this. Well, for one thing, many of us were introduced to butter tarts by our mothers or grandmothers. This takes us back to childhood and often to one of the most delicious things we had ever tasted to that point in our young lives. The rich butteryness (is that a word?) of the pastry and filling virtually goes to a person’s soul and defies description. Further still, most of us being cautious about our figures, have some sense of the calories contained therein, but, we also know that a good butter tart is well worth the caloric sacrifice. Whatever the cause for the tart’s sensuality, it’s certainly here to stay, and we are proud of our tarts.

Recipes between families do tend to vary considerably and generally people like whatever they grew up with. But what is quite humourous is the discussion between the contractor who blew a gasket because his runny tart dripped on his steering wheel versus the woman, also driving while tart eating, who revelled in having the tart drip up her wrist as she was eating it, thereby forcing her to lick every drop of it off her arm. Maybe this somehow relates to the sensual nature of the butter tart.

With Warm Tart Regards,