Christmas Pudding Fudge Recipe - thinlyspread.co.uk (2024)

FAQs

What is Christmas pudding called in the UK? ›

Christmas Pudding originated in medieval England. As the recipe evolved through time, the name evolved along with it. Known initially as Pottage, it has also been called Plum Pudding, Figgy Pudding, and Frumenty.

Adding silver coins into plum pudding is a fun Christmas tradition. The notion being that whoever finds the coin will have good luck. The tradition may date as far back as early as the 1300s when several small items like dried peas and chicken wishbones were added to the pudding mixture.

The pudding we know today began life as a pottage. This was a kind of broth, including raisins and other dried fruit, spices and wine. It was thickened with breadcrumbs or ground almonds. Not dissimilar to the mince pies of yesteryear, it often included meat or at least meat stock.

Christmas pudding is traditionally soaked with alcohol, preferably brandy, for flavour maturation. However, many people prefer rum and whisky spirit with high alcohol content.

Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.

American puddings are closer to what the Brits would call "custard." A British pudding is a dish, savory or sweet, that's cooked by being boiled or steamed in something: a dish, a piece of cloth, or even animal intestine.

That said, the traditional French Christmas dessert, la bûche de Noël or Yule log, is a glorious concoction of chocolate, cream and sponge, one I would personally choose over a Christmas pudding, which – dense as it is – can be akin to being hit in the stomach by a canonball.

Rather than creamy puddings and custards, which Southern cooks are familiar with, this Christmas pudding dates back to medieval England and is a steamed cake full of spices, raisins, and currants soaked in brandy. If it contains figs, it is called a figgy pudding.

Finding a Christmas coin in your slice of pudding is believed to bring good luck and especially wealth in the coming year. This lovely tradition may date back as early as the 1300s when a dried pea or sometimes a small silver ring or crown was baked into a Twelfth Night Cake.

Superstitions say that Christmas pudding must be prepared with 13 ingredients, which are said to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples. It is also said that the mixture should be stirred in turn from east to west, by each family member, to honour the disciples' journey.

Is Christmas pudding unhealthy? ›

The traditional Christmas pudding is therefore by no means a low fat product. Further, the 14% fat from the suet is pure saturated fat, which has been recognized as a contributor to the suffering of high blood pressure and coronary heart disease. The traditional recipe provided also contains a high sugar content.

Often referred to as 'plum pudding', the recipe for Christmas pud has in fact never called for plums at all. The word "plum" in fact refers to dried fruit of any variety; whether dates, prunes, sultanas or currants. Why is mincemeat called mincemeat?

Some Christmas puddings, made with dried fruit in the traditional way, are fine to be eaten as much as two years after they were made. "Bear in mind if the pudding is alcohol-free, of course, it will last a good while with the sugar content, but it will not last as long without alcohol to preserve it," stresses Juliet.

The important thing is to get the spirit really hot. Pour 2-3 tablespoons of brandy, rum or whisky into a long-handled metal ladle and heat it over a gas flame until hot.

Dessert puddings

In Commonwealth countries (other than some Canadian regions), these foods are known as custards (or curds) if they are egg-thickened, blancmange if starch-thickened, and jelly if gelatin-based.

You're forgiven if you think Christmas Pudding is the round English version of an American fruitcake. While it has similarities, they are altogether different. Both improve with age and include dried fruits, chopped nuts, hearty spices, and steep in a cold dark spot for weeks, but that is where the similarities end.

Christmas pudding is sweet, dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported.

Plum duff, one of the fortifying puddings of Old England, is essentially the same in its beginnings as plum pudding, before it went up-market to become Christmas pudding—in other words a plain boiled suet pudding enlivened with a more or less generous addition of raisins or currants (duff represents a former northern ...