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“Tapioca for Sale”
A young sailor on shore leave during a
period of convalescence was living in a
small unpretentious boarding house in
Boston, Ms. This was in 1894.
One day he was served a dish of tapioca pudding
for dessert. He found it most unappetizing.
It contained lumps of uncooked tapioca. He
complained to the boarding-house keeper, a
Mrs. Stavers; He was met with a belligerent
reply that no doubt he could make a better
pudding. He accepted the challenge and
suggested that she grind the tapioca up in
her coffee grinder.
The lady followed his suggestion. She was instantly
rewarded with so much praise from her
boarders because of the resulting smooth,
creamy pudding, that she ground more tapioca
than she needed for her own use, and packed
it in paper bags.
The young enterprising sailor went from house to
house selling it to the neighbors and later
to other people living in the adjoining
towns.
At first it was known as Mrs. Stavers’ Improved Dessert
or Tapioca Superlative. It soon became very
widely known and extremely popular. It was
only a short time before the rights to her
process were bought out by a John Whitman,
who organized the John Whitman Grocery Co.
and sold the product to retail stores under
the name of “Minute Tapioca”. After nearly
eighty years, Minute Tapioca is still used
and still popular.
Item ADT156 Price $195.00 |
