Today's random learning

So my friend Lisa at work brought me a starter for Amish Friendship bread today.

That inspired a thought; was it actually invented by the Amish? According to Wikipedia, the answer is no. Although the Amish make a sourdough bread which is similar to the common friendship bread recipe, there is nothing definitively tying the two together. Commonly, Amish Friendship Bread is passed around in ziploc bags, which are a technology I would bet the Amish eschew.

So a related question was who invented the ziploc. This is apparently disputed. First of all, Ziploc is actually a brand name which was originally owned by the Dow Chemical Company and was first test-marketed in 1968. It is now owned by SC Johnson which bought the Dow Brands business in 1998. The actual design of a plastic bag which seals by pressing together two raised channels, similar to a zipper, was apparently originally licensed by a company called Minigrip in 1954 and first manufactured by them in 1959.



sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amish_Friendship_Bread

http://www.ehow.com/about_5365229_invented-ziplock-bags.html

http://www.ehow.com/facts_4928021_history-ziplock-bag.html