Michigan State Dinner
Pasties Baked Apples Vernor's ginger ale (bottled in MI since the Civil War) Cherry Chocolate Shortbread Cookies This was a very beige dinner but tasty! A pasty (past-ee) are a savory filled pastry. Copper and iron deposits were discovered in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan during the 1840s. Many of the first settlers to the area were immigrants from Cornwall of England, with years of mining experience. Pasties were a convenient lunch to carry into the mines. It could be held by the crust on the edges with dirty hands with the crust was tossed after the meal was completed. The traditional filling is meat, potatoes, and onion. There are also two-course pasties. The meat filling is on one side, a stale bread or roll of dough in the middle, and jam or fruit on the other side. The apple blossom is the state flower. Vernor's ginger ale is the oldest brand of ginger ale in America. It was developed in Detroit and has been sold since 1866. Michigan is also a leading produc...