Most Midwesterners fondly remember enjoying some cinnamon and sugar on their morning toast. But where did this trend originate? The tradition goes back centuries, with its own landmark in the woods of the Upper Peninsula.
Smack dab in the middle of the U.P. lies a little town called Trenary, named after its first settler, Levi Trenary, who in 1886 thought that this bit of forest was not a bad spot to build a house.
Hard-working settlers like Levi, mostly of European descent, fueled their labors with hard bread. The familiar staple was a hardened, twice-baked bread. It was as prominent as the region was populous, and by the 1920s, this Finnish bread was being dipped in coffee on kitchen tables throughout the Midwest.
Rusk, in all its forms, has been a culinary cornerstone across the globe since the Middle Ages. It has a long shelf life without the need for preservatives. From the long seafaring journeys of our ancestors to the Midwest babies who grew up on farms teething on the toast, its usefulness hasn’t gone out of style.
To keep up with local demand for the staple, the Syrannen family opened the Trenary Home Bakery in 1928. It was a seamless fit for the town, and in 1938, their new bread mixer made news in local papers, cementing their ability to provide the town with the beloved toast.
The Syrannen family ran the bakery until 1950, eventually selling to another family that ran the bakery for another three generations, over 50 years between them all.
These families took an old recipe and crafted it into a legendary Michigan treat, sold to this very day. Even online, there are countless recipes to recreate Michigan’s own “Trenary Toast.”
The original Trenary Home Bakery still stands in the town of Trenary. The bakery changed hands once again in 2019 and is now owned by Northern Michigan University grads and Marquette locals, Brianna Wynsma and her husband Marco Dossena. They still follow the traditions left for them when baking their daily bread, shipping the original recipe (and some new seasonal flavors) nationwide and to stores throughout the Midwest. While the staple used to dot the tables of working families, it now dots the aisles of the most well-curated markets.
Besides opening a second location in Marquette to expand, Wynsma said that not much else has changed. The original cast-iron bread mixer was replaced in 2020, but remains in the cafe.
I remember the first time I had Trenary Toast, on a camping trip with my best friend back in middle school. Her family was from the U.P. and knew the regional delicacy well. It was served covered with peanut butter and alongside a mug of milk, and I was blown away. Toast was already one of my favorite foods, but this was something else altogether.
It’s been years since I’ve had this working man’s delicacy. Absolutely criminal.
Through what looked like an endless blanket of snow, I drove with purpose back from Kingma’s Market, a brown bag of the classic cinnamon toast secured in my passenger seat. The bakery now sells a new cardamon option as well, but I went with the one that started it all.
With a spread of locally made peanut butter, I prepped a slice for dunking. A long hold in milk, tea, or coffee is required to give the bread a proper bite.
I waited and waited, and waited some more. Finally, I pulled the toast out of my mug of cardamom tea (complete with a hearty splash of milk) and took a bite. There it was. Just as I left it. Efficient, delicious, and timelessly perfect.
If you’re a bridge troll like me and don’t have the tires or extra time to make it to the OG café, don’t fret. This treasured toast is still around. You just have to know where to look.
Devinn Dakohta is a contributing writer for Michigan Enjoyer. Follow her on Instagram @Devinn.Dakohta and X @DevinnDakohta.
