The Tradition of the Christmas Pudding

Day 13 – The Tradition of the Christmas Pudding

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices,…” Exodus 30:34

Christmas (or plum) pudding is the traditional end to the British Christmas dinner. But Christmas pudding today is different from what it was originally.

Christmas pudding originated as a 14th century porridge called ‘frumenty’ that was made of beef and mutton with raisins, currants, prunes, wines and spices. This would often be more like soup and was eaten as a fasting meal in preparation for the Christmas festivities.

By 1595, frumenty was slowly changing into a ‘plum pudding’, having been thickened with eggs, breadcrumbs, dried fruit and given more flavor with the addition of beer and spirits.

At this time, the word ‘plum’ could also mean dried plums like prunes and any other kind of dried fruit like raisins and currants.

It became the customary Christmas dessert around the early to mid-1600s. For a time the Puritans banned this Christmas dessert but in 1714, King George I re-established it as part of the Christmas meal, having tasted and enjoyed plum pudding. By Victorian times, Christmas puddings had changed into something similar to the ones that are eaten today.

Here is a recipe for today’s version (for those of you who enjoy baking).

Ingredients

• 150 g raisins
• 150 g sultanas
• 50 g figs
• 50 g dates
• 50 g prunes
• 50 g dried apricots
• 50 g glazed cherries
• 30 g candied orange peel
• 30 g candied lemon peel
• 150 ml brandy or rum
• 125 g breadcrumbs
• 60 g all-purpose flour
• 0.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 0.5 tsp cinnamon
• 0.5 tsp ground ginger
• 0.25 tsp cloves
• 0.5 tsp nutmeg
• 150 g brown sugar
• 125 g suet
• 3 eggs
• 1 apple
• 2 tbsp treacle or molasses
• 1 orange (zest)
• 1 lemon (zest)

Directions

1. Start four days before you want to steam the pudding:
2. Place the raisins, sultanas, figs, dates, prunes, apricots, cherries and the candied orange and lemon peel in a bowl.
3. Pour the brandy or rum over the dried fruit and stir to combine the mixture.
4. Once everything is mixed, cover the mixing bowl with cling film or a plastic wrap and let it soak for four days. Once a day, take the plastic wrap off and mix up the ingredients. If the mixture gets a little dry, add more brandy or rum.
5. After four days, place the breadcrumbs, flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar and spices in a bowl and stir to combine.
6. Finely grate the suet.
7. Grate the apple.
8. Add the grated apple, treacle (or molasses), suet, lemon and orange zest and the eggs to the soaked dried fruit and stir to combine it.
9. Add the dry mixture to the fruit mixture and stir thoroughly to combine it. It’ll become very thick and sticky.
10. Grease your pudding mould or bowl with butter and scoop the batter into the mould. Gently press the batter down and smooth the top.
11. Either close the lid on the form or cover it with aluminium foil that you secure with a string around the mould. Fold a pleat in the foil to allow room for expansion as the pudding cooks.
12. Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a low simmer.
13. Put the pudding mould into the water. The water level should come up halfway to the edge of the pudding mould.
14. Now, cook the pudding over low heat for about 8 hours. The water should not be boiling but just simmering. Check every 1 – 2 hours to make sure that there’s enough water left in the pot. Add more (hot) water if necessary.
15. When the pudding is done steaming, carefully lift out the pudding mould and let it sit for about 5 – 10 minutes. Then, put the mould upside down and let the pudding slide out of it.
16. Put the pudding on a plate and let it cool completely.
17. When the pudding is cool, sprinkle it with brandy or rum and cover it with foil. Store the pudding in the fridge or a cool place, e.g. the basement.
18. Once a week take off the foil and sprinkle the pudding with brandy or rum. Then wrap it back up again and put it back in the fridge or basement.
19. On Christmas Day – or whenever you want to serve the pudding – unwrap the pudding and put it back into the mould it was steamed in. Recook it again on a low setting for one hour.
20. Flip the pudding onto a plate and light it on fire if you like (see blog post section on how to light a pudding).
21. Serve the Christmas pudding with vanilla sauce, whipped cream or ice cream.

“Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” Genesis 9:3