BIDDEFORD — No matter how they stacked ’em up, students at St. James School flipped out during their observance of National Pancake Day on Tuesday.

More than 100 students, staff and faculty at the school consumed more than 250 whole-grain hotcakes hot off the griddle and topped with an assortment of fresh fruits or their choice of maple, strawberry or blueberry homemade syrup.

Under the watchful eye of Yvette Tremblay, St. James School cafeteria manager, a group of students churned out batter and wielded spatulas while pouring and flipping the flapjacks until they were fluffy and golden brown.

Eighth-grader Kyle Dion said that he had never made pancakes before, but was full of praise for the final product of his time spent manning the griddle.

“They’re so good,” Dion said about the school’s first-ever celebration of all things pancake. “I always want them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.”

Tremblay said the recipe for her whole-grain pancake batter on National Pancake Day is not much of a secret.

“It takes whole wheat flour, regular flour, eggs, milk and a little bit of baking powder,” she said. “We usually prepare pancakes for the students here about once a month, but for National Pancake Day we wanted to do something special today.”

The griddle for the students was set at 325 degrees and Tremblay advised the student-volunteers to turn the pancakes once they bubbled fully on the top side.

“I guess it takes about a minute to a minute and a half to achieve the perfect pancake,” she said.

Eighth-grader Grace Poirier said she adores banana pancakes, but in fact enjoys them just about any way that they’re served.

“Pancakes are absolutely one of my favorite foods,” Poirier said. “We make pancakes at home every Sunday.”

She said there is only one drawback she sees about cooking pancakes.

“They burn too easily,” Poirier said.

The history of how the pancake became a tradition around the world is long and storied and what was once a cultural phenomenon has now become a food staple in many countries.

Pancakes were first prepared during the Stone Age and were mixed of a concoction of wheat flour, olive oil, curdled milk and honey in Ancient Rome. During William Shakespeare’s time, English chefs flavored their pancakes with apples, spices, rosewater, and cooking sherry.

Formerly known as indian cakes, flat cakes, johnnycakes, journey cakes, buckwheat cakes, buckwheats, hoe cakes, griddle cakes, cracker cakes, slapjacks and flapjacks, the term “pancake” first gained favor in America in the early 1800s when President Thomas Jefferson sent a special recipe from Monticello called “Thee Pan Cake” to be used by White House cooks.

National Pancake Day is usually celebrated on Feb. 27, but got pushed back to March 6 at St. James because of the school’s annual winter break.

Students didn’t seem to mind at all though as scores of students waited patiently in line to be served during the duation of the lunch hour.

Tremblay also had a few volunters standing to wipe up any syrup that might be spilled.

“This is just a real fun day for everyone,” Tremblay said. “Who doesn’t like pancakes?”

— Executive Editor Ed Pierce can be reached at 282-1535 ext. 326 or by email at [email protected].