Happy Birthday America and all its citizens!  July 4th 1776 is the date the Second Continental Congress adopted the United States Declaration of Independence. This date is seen as the birthday of the present day nation. Today the world and its mother is aware of the significance of July 4th on the American psyche. The War of Independence ran from 1775 to 1783. From their inception, American colonies were supposed to conduct all trade through Britain. This wasn’t always the case. The British Empire was very powerful but also very far away! Some of the largest trades conducted by the colonies were in salted cod from the Grand Banks, exported to French colonies in the Caribbean. Molasses was imported from the same French colonies on return trips. Molasses was used in the making of rum, a surprisingly large part of the Massachusetts economy.  The Boston Tea Party of 1773, (where tea was thrown into Boston Harbor in protest at taxation without representation in parliament),  is seen by many as the starting point of the War of Independence.  The Boston Tea Party was a symbolic attack on the East India Company tea.. That the Tea Party and the start of the war are a good while apart can be attributed to the limits of 18th Century communications and transport. No phones, telegrams, planes or internet existed then. News from and for the colonies arrived by ship through letters or messengers. Agreements and communications allow us to trade in an entirely different manner today. Modern Americans are very aware of the country of their ancestory.  A taste of the ancestoral land is just the click of a mouse away, thanks to the miracle of modern technology! Internet shopping has opened the doors to easy export. In the Good Food Ireland online shop, our USA Irish Pantry Box of artisan products and USA Irish Country Kitchen Box of chilled specialities bring the Emerald Isle to America on Independence Day and every day, all year round. We’ll leave it up to Americans to decide if tea has been forgiven as a drink to celebrate with today!  Happy Fourth of July!