Hello everyone! Christmas is just around the corner so that means it’s almost time for a little vacation to indulge in tasty treats before the New Year! We all know how that goes though: I’ll be lucky if my New Year’s health kick lasts a week. So, what’s a better time to talk about Christmas delicacies than now?
For example, I didn’t know figgy pudding was not a sweet treat until recently, and frankly I’m not sure I would like it, but let’s get into it! Figgy pudding, also known as Christmas pudding and plum pudding, dates to the early 15th century and originally did not contain figs or plums. In fact, it was made of fat, spices, meats, and root vegetables stuffed into a stomach casing that resembled more of a sausage than what we would think of as pudding today. By the 16th century, dried and candied fruits became more available and were added, a shift from savory to sweet occurred and was solidified as a Christmas treat by the mid-17th century when English journalists, political leaders, and novelists worked to lay out family friendly Christmas practices.
As for a yule log (a personal favorite), the origin of this cake is placed in 19th Century France, and it was modeled after traditional yule logs that would have been burnt during the winter solstice by Scandinavian or Germanic pagans. It was later adopted by Christianity to symbolize the birth of Jesus or Jesus’s triumph over sin. Yule logs, also known as Bûche de Noël, resembles a Swiss roll made of yellow genoise sponge cake covered in chocolate which is then textured to resemble tree bark. The cake was used to replace the actual wood yule log, and through its popularity, quickly spread to other nations when burning lost public interest.
Finally, the star of the show, you either love it or hate it, none other than fruitcake! I personally do not like it and anything that can be preserved for that long seems a little suspicious to me. Fruit cake goes as far back as the Roman Empire and was used as a sort of energy bar for Roman soldiers, and it was made of barley, honey, wine, and often pomegranate seeds. The fruitcake that we recognize likely began in the Middle Ages, and was made with the addition of cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. The cake made its way to America through English colonists, and with the eventual influx of affordable sugar, candied fruit was added to the mix. Thanks to its long shelf life, and early 20th century postal workers, it was possible to mail fruitcakes across the country. We can thank the Claxton and Collin Street companies for this! These two companies were the most famous fruitcake makers in the United States and the mail rooms were filled with their iconic fruitcake tins for easy travel. By the 1950’s, fruitcake in America became synonymous with the holidays but by the 80’s took a sharp decline.
Although these foods are associated with Christmas, any dessert can be made festive, and I hope ya’ll get plenty delicious things for the rest of the year!
