大象传媒

Pudding Ingredients

3lb currants, raisins and sultanas - mixed together
3/4 lb mixed peel
1lb shredded suet
6 eggs
A wine glass of rum or brandy
1oz mixed spice
1lb flour
1lb wholemeal breadcrumbs
1/2 lb demerara sugar
3oz ground almonds
The juice of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt

Method

Sift the dry ingredients
Soak the fruit in the brandy
Beat the eggs and add to the fruit
Fold in the dry ingredients
Steam for an hour
Re-steam and heat through on Christmas Day

Brandy Sauce

Melt 1oz butter in a saucepan
Add cornflour
Stir over a gentle heat
Gradually stir in a pint of milk
Add a dessertspoon of sugar
Remove from the heat
Add a wine glass of brandy

By the 17th Century frumenty was beginning to evolve into plum pudding - it was thickened with egg and breadcrumbs and alcoholic spirits were added to give the pudding richness.

Over the years it became the customary Christmas dessert. However, with the arrival of the Puritans in the later part of the 17th Century, it was banned as a lewd custom and its rich ingredients described as being 'unfit for God fearing people'.

It saw a revival in the 18th Century when plum pudding was restored to the Christmas table by George I, despite some objections by the Quakers.

One of the many customs surrounding the Christmas pudding is that they should be made by the 25th Sunday after Trinity, prepared with 13 ingredients (to represent Jesus and his Disciples) and that every member of the family should take turns to stir the pudding from east to west with a wooden spoon, in honour of the three Kings.

Another custom is for a silver coin to be put into the pudding mixture before baking.听 Whoever finds the coin will have health, wealth and happiness for the coming year, (provided they don't choke while eating their pud!)