"official" news and stories

For the next three years, Baby Ruth will be the official candy bar of Major League Baseball. In addition to having a logo proclaiming it as such on the packaging, the candy will also be featured in a number of in-game and TV promotions. The candy bar is nougat, coated in peanuts and dipped in chocolate. The fact that the name is almost identical to that of one of the greatest players of all time can only help endear it to fans.

Many people believe that the candy is named after the baseball player Babe Ruth, due to the similarity in the names. A Snopes article tends to support this theory, but the company that invented the bars, before they were sold to Nestle, says that they were named after President Grover Cleveland's daughter - who was named Ruth. Unfortunately this explanation has a few flaws, as Snopes points out. Not only were the bars introduced in 1921, but Ruth Cleveland died at the age of 12 in 1904, making her an odd choice to have a candy bar named after her.

 

 

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Zinfandel grapes are one of the first types of the fruit that were grown in California, with some vineyards dating back over 100 years and still producing fruit from the "old growth" vines. Generally, the zin grapes were first used only for blending with other grapes in wine making, but during the 1960s and '70s, pure zinfandels produced in California came into great popularity. The fruity, light flavor of white zinfandel introduced many people to wine, while potent red zinfandels continue to gain in popularity. Celebrating its heritage as the "original" California wine, state senators voted to make zinfandel California's official historic wine. The first draft of the bill actually called to make it the official wine of California, not qualifying the designation with the word "historic," but lawmakers did not want to single one wine (or grape) out over the others that are grown in the state.

 

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Following in the recent footsteps of Alabama making the peach their state fruit, the Minnesota Senate recently voted to make the Honeycrisp apple the state's official fruit. The Honeycrisp was developed at the University of Minnesota in the sixties in hopes of creating a durable fruit for the state's harsh cold, according to the Duluth News Tribune. Like the Walla Walla onion in Washington, the Honeycrisp's path to being the official-state-fruit-dom was forged by a school project, in this case by a class of fourth-graders. Like Florida, with it's official pie, Minnesota has an official state baked good in the blueberry muffin, according to the Pioneer Press. More info on Honeycrisp apples is available at Honeycrisp.org.