8 things you didn’t know about Christmas pudding
Sticky, sweet, boozy and studded with fruit – and the odd sterilised coin – there are few festive desserts that beat Christmas pudding for the traditionalists among us.
Here’s a bit of trivia on the subject to mention around the festive table.
IT STARTED OUT SAVOURY
Christmas pudding, plum pudding… call it what you like, the steamed, cakey dessert we know today started out as something quite different.
Some sources say it evolved out of something called plum pottage – a medieval meat-and-vegetable stew, containing dried fruit and sometimes thickened with breadcrumbs – while others maintain its true forebear is a porridge called frumenty, also made with meat, raisins, wine and spices.
THERE ARE NO PLUMS IN PLUM PUDDING
You’d think that the alternative name for Christmas pudding would indicate an abundance of plums in the dessert but, apparently, the pre-Victorians used the word “plum” as a generic term for raisins, sultanas and dried fruit.
IT WAS ONCE BANNED
The original Grinch who stole Christmas, Oliver Cromwell – the first Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland – banned Christmas, and in the process plum pudding, when he came to power in the mid 1600s, saying that all the jollification and traditions associated with the holiday smacked of paganism and idolatry.
THERE WAS ONCE A PUDDING KING
The jury is still out on whether this is in fact true, but it’s said that when German-born George I was crowned king of England in 1714, he requested plum pudding during his first Christmas feast as the new monarch. He is said to have liked it so much that he was subsequently nicknamed The Pudding King.
CHRISTMAS PUDDING WASN’T ALWAYS SERVED AT CHRISTMAS
The now traditional Yuletide dessert started out being referred to as plum pudding and was initially served during times of celebration such as harvest festivals, but not necessarily at Christmas. The first person said to officially call it Christmas pudding was British cook Elizabeth Acton in her 1845 cookbook, Modern Cookery.
IT’LL KEEP FOREVER (WELL, KIND OF)
It’s customary for Christmas pudding to be aged for months to develop its flavours, but it can last up until a year due to its high alcohol content. But, in all honesty, who can wait that long?
STIRRING IT IS A BIG DEAL
According to Christian tradition, every member of the family should take turns to stir their pudding from east to west in honour of the three wise men, who are said to have travelled in this direction. This would customarily take place on “stir-up Sunday”, the last Sunday in the church’s calendar. It’s said that this tradition sprouted from the opening words for the main prayer in the Book of Common Prayer, which says: “Stir-up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded.”
IT CAN TELL THE FUTURE
Since Victorian times it’s been common practice to stud the cake with trinkets that are believed to hold a clue to the future of the lucky person to find it in his or her pud. A silver coin symbolises future health and wealth, a ring means the person who gets it will soon get married, a thimble – if drawn by a singleton – indicates another year of being footloose and fancy free, while a button predicts the same outcome for a man.
Find a range of Christmas eats and treats here.
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