Source: Atlas Obscura
In early 19th-century New England, molasses was relatively easy to come by. As a byproduct of the slave-powered sugar refining industry, molasses was essential to making rum, a valued trade commodity. And in most seaport towns, molasses-based booze and baked goods went hand in hand.
Marblehead, Massachusetts, has been known for its rum-and-molasses cookies, nicknamed Joe Froggers, for centuries. But the exact origin of these treats is a bit of a mystery.Popular lore connects Joe Froggers to a very real Marblehead tavern, Black Joe’s. The tavern was owned by a Revolutionary War veteran and freed slave, Joe Brown, and his wife, Lucretia. Brown opened the tavern inside the couple’s saltbox home on Gingerbread Hill. Black Joe’s was a…
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