The Origins of the English Christmas Pudding

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Some love it, some hate it but most people agree that Christmas Day would not be the same without ending the feast with a large and flaming Christmas Pudding, crowned with holly and brought to the with a flourish. Nevertheless, the origins of Christmas pudding were very different to the sweet sticky desert we have today. Christmas pudding first went by the name of ‘hakin’ due to the huge number of ingredients it had and then was later known as ‘Mince Pie’. The earliest known recipes date from the Middle Ages and included game as part of its contents. For instance it wasn’t uncommon to find the likes of partridge, pheasant, rabbit and poultry in the mix. At around the same time, another version of the dish emerged by the name of ‘Frumenty’ which was a porridge-like soup consumed during the fasting period of Advent. It was made by boiling wheat or corn along with mutton and beef in milk and strange as it may be, formed the origins of what we eat today. With the opening of more exotic trading routes and access, therefore to luxurious things like citrus fruits and spices from abroad, by the 14th century, these were added to the heady cocktail. The meat was also sweetened with sugar, raisins, prunes, applies and wine. Then, by 1595, eggs were also added, together with dried fruit, breadcrumbs and flavoursome spirits for flavour So emerged ‘plum pudding’ in a form more akin to that which we eat today. The enjoyment of plum pudding, ‘though, didn’t last terribly long The Puritans, outraged by such a show of ‘immoral gluttony’ during the fasting period of Advent, banned such fayre in 1664. Its richness was deemed to be “unfit for God-fearing people” and the custom was described as ‘lewd’. Nevertheless, plum pudding made a truly glorious come-back, when in 1714, George I revived the dish and re-introduced it as part of the Christmas festivities, despite bitter

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