Posted
on December 25, 2015
Have
you heard of plum pudding or Christmas pudding?
Have
you ever eaten these traditional British dishes?
It
may surprise you to realize that plum pudding has no plums! Instead,
the old-time use of the word plum meant dried grapes,
otherwise known as raisins. Like raisins, plum pudding is often very
dark in color.
Plum
pudding comes to us from way back in medieval England. The dried
fruits and raisins are held together by egg and suet (beef or mutton
fat), moistened by alcohol (often brandy), sweetened by treacle
(sugary syrup) or molasses, and flavored with cinnamon, nutmeg,
cloves, ginger, and other spices. It is steamed for a long time –
we're talking hours!
What
makes this pudding sooo special, and to me a bit gross, is that it is
aged for a few months or even a year! The alcohol content of the
pudding prevents the fruits from spoiling.
When
it is served on Christmas Day, the plum pudding is reheated by
steaming and is often drenched with warm brandy that is set alight. A
traditional decoration is to put a sprig of holly on the top.
Plum
pudding is often eaten with one or more of the following instead of
with frosting and ice cream:
hard sauce
brandy butter
rum butter
cream
lemon cream
custard
sweetened bechamel sauce
sprinkles of caster sugar
There
is a Christmas carol in which we hear, “Now bring us some figgy
pudding...” As you have probably guessed, figgy pudding is similar
to “plum” pudding, but it features figs instead of raisins. Some
sources claim that the figgy pudding from the Christmas carol is
actually another name for plum pudding.
Also
on this date:
|
|
 |
Plan
ahead:
Check out my Pinterest pages on:
And
here are my Pinterest boards for:
No comments:
Post a Comment