When: July 11
National Blueberry Muffin Day on July 11th celebrates the most popular muffin in America. The blueberry muffin has a surprisingly contested history — the "muffin" as a quick bread category emerged in 19th-century America, but the specific blueberry version's rise to dominance is tied to the post-WWII suburban baking culture and the availability of cultivated blueberries.
The blueberry muffin is the official state muffin of Minnesota — one of only a handful of states to have legislated a muffin into their official symbols.
In 1988, a third-grade class at Carlton Elementary School in Carlton, Minnesota was studying state symbols. Minnesota had a state bird (the common loon), a state flower (the pink-and-white lady's slipper), and a state tree (the Norway pine), but no state muffin. The students identified the blueberry muffin as their candidate, wrote letters to their legislators, and lobbied the Minnesota Legislature. The bill passed. The blueberry muffin has been Minnesota's official state muffin for over three decades, and the students who made it happen are now in their late 40s. The American muffin — quick-leavened with baking powder rather than yeast — emerged in the early 19th century alongside the widespread adoption of chemical leaveners. It was a different object from the English muffin, which is a yeast-leavened griddle cake with a completely different texture and use. American muffins were initially simple: cornmeal, wheat flour, sweetened plainly. The blueberry version became the standard...