Ruth Graves Wakefield: Difference between revisions

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			{{Short description\|American chef and inventor (1903–1977)}}
	{{wikify}}
			{{redirect\|Ruth Wakefield\|Ruth Wakefield Cravath, the American sculptor\|Ruth Cravath}}
			{{Infobox chef <!-- for more information see ] -->
			\| name = Ruth Graves Wakefield
			\| image = Ruth Graves Wakefield.jpeg
			\| birth_date = {{birth date\|1903\|6\|17\|mf=y}}
			\| birth_place = ], US
			\| birth_name = Ruth Jones Graves
			\| death_date = {{death date and age\|1977\|1\|10\|1903\|6\|17\|mf=y}}
			\| death_place = ], US
			\| known_for = Inventing the ]
			\| style = American
			\| education = ]
			\| prevrests = ]<br>]<br>burned down 1984
			\|spouse={{Marriage\|Kenneth Donald Wakefield\|1928}}
			\|children=2
			}}

			'''Ruth Jones Wakefield''' ({{Nee}} '''Graves'''; June 17, 1903 – January 10, 1977) was an American ], known for her innovations in the baking field. She pioneered the first chocolate chip cookie recipe, an invention many people incorrectly assume was a mistake.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news \|last=Roberts \|first=Sam \|date=March 22, 2018 \|title=Overlooked No More: Ruth Wakefield, Who Invented the Chocolate Chip Cookie \|newspaper=The New York Times \|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/21/obituaries/overlooked-ruth-wakefield.html \|access-date=December 6, 2023 \|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> Her new dessert, supposedly conceived of as she returned from a vacation in ], is the inspiration behind the massively popular Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie.<ref>{{Cite web \|last=Geib \|first=Claudia \|date=April 21, 2022 \|title=Contrary to What You've Heard, Toll House Didn't Invent the Chocolate Chip Cookie \|url=https://www.eater.com/23033968/toll-house-chocolate-chip-cookie-myth \|access-date=December 6, 2023 \|website=Eater}}</ref> Throughout her life, Wakefield found occupation as a ], educator, business owner, and published author. She wrote a cookbook titled ''Ruth Wakefield’s, Toll House: Tried and True Recipes.''<ref name=":1">{{Cite web \|last=CooksInfo \|title=Ruth Wakefield \|url=https://www.cooksinfo.com/ruth-wakefield \|access-date=December 6, 2023 \|website=CooksInfo}}</ref>
	'''Ruth Graves Wakefield''' was the inventor of the chocolate-chip, or ]. Having graduated from Framingham State Normal School Department of Household Arts in 1924, she worked as a dietitian and lectured about food until 1930, when she and her husband Kenneth bought a tourist lodge near Whitman, Massachusetts. It had been built in 1709 and had a rich history of providing a night's solace to weary travelers. The two named the establishment the Toll House Inn and took it upon themselves to uphold the lodge's tradition. Ruth cooked all the food served and soon gained local fame for her desserts.

			==Personal life==
	One day while cooking a dessert that had been a favorite, the Butter Drop Do Cookie, she realized she was out of baking chocolate, and instead substituted a bar of semi-sweet chocolate that had been a present from ]. The broken bits did not melt as expected, however, and merely softened. The cookie was a hit right away, and Ruth soon contacted Nestle and the two struck a deal: He would print her recipe on the cover of all his chocolate bars, and she would get a lifetime supply of chocolate. Nestle sold so many candy bars he soon began marketing chocolate chips especially used for cookies. Ruth wrote a cookbook, ''Toll House Tried and True Recipes'', in 1940. Ruth died in 1977, and the Toll House Inn burned down New Year's Eve of 1984, but her cookie lives on. For further information, visit ] or ].
			Ruth Jones Graves was born on June 17th, 1903, in East ], to Fred Graves and Helen Vest Jones.<ref name=":0" /> She was raised in ], and attended the Framingham State School of Household Arts, currently ]. Upon graduation in 1924, Ruth taught home economics at ], in addition to working as a hospital dietitian and a customer service representative at a utility company.<ref name="Kelly">{{Cite web \|last=Kelly \|first=Kate \|date=November 20, 2013 \|title=Chocolate Chip Cookie Inventor: Ruth Wakefield (1903-1977) \|url=https://americacomesalive.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-inventor-ruth-wakefield/ \|access-date=December 6, 2023 \|website=America Comes Alive}}</ref> Ruth married Kenneth Donald Wakefield, a meat packing executive, in 1928.<ref name="Harkin">{{Cite web \|first=Sofia \|last=Harkin \|title=Ruth Graves Wakefield Biography for Kids \|url=https://www.lottie.com/blogs/strong-women/ruth-graves-wakefield-biography-for-kids \|date=December 11, 2020 \|access-date=December 6, 2023 \|website=Lottie}}</ref> Together, the couple had two children, Kenneth Donald Jr. and a daughter, Mary Jane.<ref name=":1" /> In 1930, the couple decided to purchase a historic building in ], ], which had allegedly been used as a toll house as early as 1709.<ref name=":0" /> Building on the tradition of the house, Kenneth and Ruth elected to turn the building into a lodge, fittingly naming the new business the Toll House Inn.<ref>{{Cite web \|title=Ruth Wakefield \|publisher=Lemelson \|url=https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/ruth-wakefield \|access-date=December 6, 2023}}</ref> The news of her cooking prowess quickly spread, as the inn grew from seven to over sixty tables.<ref name="Kelly">{{Cite web \|last=Kelly \|first=Kate \|date=November 20, 2013 \|title=Chocolate Chip Cookie Inventor: Ruth Wakefield (1903-1977) \|url=https://americacomesalive.com/chocolate-chip-cookie-inventor-ruth-wakefield/ \|access-date=December 6, 2023 \|website=America Comes Alive}}</ref>

			==Toll House Inn==
			{{seealso\|Toll House Inn}}
			Wakefield and her husband bought a tourist lodge that they called the Tollhouse Inn.<ref>{{cite web\|last=Babwa\|first=A.\|date=January 29, 2007\|access-date=July 29, 2024\|title=Who is Ruth Wakefield?\|url=https://onesearch.library.northeastern.edu/permalink/01NEU_INST/87npqb/cdi_proquest_newspapers_194853614\|publisher=Northeastern University}}</ref> They called it this because it was located on what used Bedford]]. Ruth cooked for the guests using her own recipes and some of her grandmother's old recipes that became very successful and grew the Inn's dining room from seven tables to sixty. Her recipes were so popular that she released multiple cookbooks, the most popular being a cookbook titled ''Ruth Wakefield's Tried and True Recipes'' in 1931.<ref name="Kelly"/>

			== Inventing the "Toll House" Chocolate Chip Cookie ==
			In 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie, a lasting symbol of culinary creativity. While working in the kitchen at the Toll House Inn, she tried to improve her butter drop cookie recipe. She added chopped pieces of a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar, expecting the chocolate to melt evenly into the dough. Instead, the chocolate held its shape, creating soft chocolate pockets in the cookie. She called this new creation the "Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie," and it quickly became a favorite among guests at the inn. (1)

			The cookie’s unique flavor and texture became widely popular, bringing significant attention to the Toll House Inn. The recipe’s fame grew so much that Ruth included it in a revised edition of her 1931 cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes. As demand for the recipe increased, Nestlé noticed and approached Ruth to form a partnership. In 1939, they made a deal where Nestlé could print her recipe on their packaging. In return, Ruth received a lifetime supply of Nestlé chocolate and $1 for the rights (1).

			This partnership was a major moment in the baking world. Nestlé began producing pre-scored chocolate bars to make chopping easier and later introduced the first chocolate chips made for baking(5). What began as a simple experiment in the Toll House Inn kitchen became one of the most iconic desserts in history.

			== Toll House Cookies and World War II ==

			The Toll House Cookies rose to popularity in 1940, during ]. Ruth's daughter (who worked as a cooking assistant) recalls days in the kitchen filled with packing care packages to send to the Massachusetts troops overseas. They soon began receiving letters from all over the country requesting that the packages including Toll House Cookies be sent to troops from other states.

			==Death==
			Ruth retired in 1966 and sold the Toll House, which later burned down in 1984. Ruth died on January 10, 1977, in ], at the age of 73.

			==References==
			{{Reflist}}

			<!-- Unusede ref, could be useful in the future? <ref>Global Chocolate Chip Cookies Market. Dataintelo. (n.d.). https://dataintelo.com/report/chocolate-chip-cookies-market/</ref> -->

			==External links==
			*{{Find a Grave\|3065}}

			{{Authority control}}

			{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakefield, Ruth Graves}}
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Latest revision as of 21:00, 6 December 2024

American chef and inventor (1903–1977) "Ruth Wakefield" redirects here. For Ruth Wakefield Cravath, the American sculptor, see Ruth Cravath.

Ruth Graves Wakefield

Born	Ruth Jones Graves (1903-06-17)June 17, 1903 Walpole, Massachusetts, US
Died	January 10, 1977(1977-01-10) (aged 73) Plymouth, Massachusetts, US
Education	Framingham State Normal School
Known for	Inventing the Chocolate chip cookie
Spouse	Kenneth Donald Wakefield (m. 1928)
Children	2
Culinary career
Cooking style	American
Previous restaurant(s) Toll House Inn Whitman, Massachusetts burned down 1984

Ruth Jones Wakefield (née Graves; June 17, 1903 – January 10, 1977) was an American chef, known for her innovations in the baking field. She pioneered the first chocolate chip cookie recipe, an invention many people incorrectly assume was a mistake. Her new dessert, supposedly conceived of as she returned from a vacation in Egypt, is the inspiration behind the massively popular Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie. Throughout her life, Wakefield found occupation as a dietitian, educator, business owner, and published author. She wrote a cookbook titled Ruth Wakefield’s, Toll House: Tried and True Recipes.

Personal life

Ruth Jones Graves was born on June 17th, 1903, in East Walpole, Massachusetts, to Fred Graves and Helen Vest Jones. She was raised in Easton, Massachusetts, and attended the Framingham State School of Household Arts, currently Framingham State University. Upon graduation in 1924, Ruth taught home economics at Brockton High School, in addition to working as a hospital dietitian and a customer service representative at a utility company. Ruth married Kenneth Donald Wakefield, a meat packing executive, in 1928. Together, the couple had two children, Kenneth Donald Jr. and a daughter, Mary Jane. In 1930, the couple decided to purchase a historic building in Whitman, Plymouth County, which had allegedly been used as a toll house as early as 1709. Building on the tradition of the house, Kenneth and Ruth elected to turn the building into a lodge, fittingly naming the new business the Toll House Inn. The news of her cooking prowess quickly spread, as the inn grew from seven to over sixty tables.

Toll House Inn

Inventing the "Toll House" Chocolate Chip Cookie

In 1938, Ruth Graves Wakefield invented the chocolate chip cookie, a lasting symbol of culinary creativity. While working in the kitchen at the Toll House Inn, she tried to improve her butter drop cookie recipe. She added chopped pieces of a Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate bar, expecting the chocolate to melt evenly into the dough. Instead, the chocolate held its shape, creating soft chocolate pockets in the cookie. She called this new creation the "Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie," and it quickly became a favorite among guests at the inn. (1)

The cookie’s unique flavor and texture became widely popular, bringing significant attention to the Toll House Inn. The recipe’s fame grew so much that Ruth included it in a revised edition of her 1931 cookbook, Toll House Tried and True Recipes. As demand for the recipe increased, Nestlé noticed and approached Ruth to form a partnership. In 1939, they made a deal where Nestlé could print her recipe on their packaging. In return, Ruth received a lifetime supply of Nestlé chocolate and $1 for the rights (1).

This partnership was a major moment in the baking world. Nestlé began producing pre-scored chocolate bars to make chopping easier and later introduced the first chocolate chips made for baking(5). What began as a simple experiment in the Toll House Inn kitchen became one of the most iconic desserts in history.

Toll House Cookies and World War II

The Toll House Cookies rose to popularity in 1940, during World War II. Ruth's daughter (who worked as a cooking assistant) recalls days in the kitchen filled with packing care packages to send to the Massachusetts troops overseas. They soon began receiving letters from all over the country requesting that the packages including Toll House Cookies be sent to troops from other states.

Death

Ruth retired in 1966 and sold the Toll House, which later burned down in 1984. Ruth died on January 10, 1977, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, at the age of 73.

References

^ Roberts, Sam (March 22, 2018). "Overlooked No More: Ruth Wakefield, Who Invented the Chocolate Chip Cookie". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
Geib, Claudia (April 21, 2022). "Contrary to What You've Heard, Toll House Didn't Invent the Chocolate Chip Cookie". Eater. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
^ CooksInfo. "Ruth Wakefield". CooksInfo. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
^ Kelly, Kate (November 20, 2013). "Chocolate Chip Cookie Inventor: Ruth Wakefield (1903-1977)". America Comes Alive. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
Harkin, Sofia (December 11, 2020). "Ruth Graves Wakefield Biography for Kids". Lottie. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
"Ruth Wakefield". Lemelson. Retrieved December 6, 2023.
Babwa, A. (January 29, 2007). "Who is Ruth Wakefield?". Northeastern University. Retrieved July 29, 2024.

External links

Ruth Graves Wakefield at Find a Grave

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