Editing Christmas pudding

{{Short description|Steamed sweet dried-fruit pudding}}
{{for multi|the atomic model|Plum pudding model|the novel by Nancy Mitford|Christmas Pudding (novel)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2021}}
{{Infobox food
| name             = Christmas pudding
| image            = [[File:Christmas pudding.JPG|frameless|upright=1.25]]
| image_size        =
| caption          = A Christmas pudding decorated with [[skimmia]] rather than [[holly]]
| alternate_name   = Plum pudding, pud
| country          = [[England]]
| creator          =
| type             = [[Pudding]] [[cake]]
| served           = Warm or cold
| main_ingredient  = [[Breadcrumbs]], [[dried fruit]], [[sugar]], [[treacle]], [[suet]], spices
| variations       =
| calories         =
| other            =
}}

'''Christmas pudding''' is sweet, boiled or steamed [[pudding]] traditionally served as part of [[Christmas dinner]] in [[Great Britain|Britain]] and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in [[England in the Middle Ages|medieval England]], with early recipes making use of dried fruit, suet, breadcrumbs, flour, eggs and spice, along with liquid such as milk or fortified wine. Later, recipes became more elaborate. In 1845, cookery writer [[Eliza Acton]] wrote the first recipe for a dish called "Christmas pudding".

The dish is sometimes known as '''plum pudding'''<ref name="plyb">Broomfield, Andrea (2007) [https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ_JDp9OgJEC&pg=PA149 Food and cooking in Victorian England: a history] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227142458/https://books.google.com/books?id=fJ_JDp9OgJEC&pg=PA149 |date=27 December 2022 }} pp.149-150. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007</ref><ref>{{Cite web
 | url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/food-wine/recipes/765827
 | title=Plum duff updated
 | access-date=21 December 2010
 | work=[[The Southland Times]] | date=25 May 2009
 }}</ref> (though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving dried fruit). The word "plum" was used then for what has been called a "[[raisin]]" since the 18th century,<ref>The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' cites this use as early as 1653 by [[John Lilburne]] and also, inter alia, in [[Samuel Johnson]]'s ''Dictionary'' of 1755.</ref> and the pudding does not contain [[plums]] in the modern sense of the word.

==Basics==
[[File:Christmas Pudding.JPG|thumb|A traditional bag-boiled Christmas pudding still showing the "skin"]]
[[File:Christmas pudding from Bracknell, Berkshire.jpg|thumb|Christmas pudding]]
Some households have their own recipes for Christmas pudding, which may be handed  through families for generations. Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients&nbsp;— notably the sweet spices that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma, and usually made with [[suet]]. The pudding is very dark, almost black in appearance due to the dark sugars and black [[treacle]] in most recipes, and its long cooking time. The mixture can be moistened with the juice of citrus fruits, [[brandy]] and other alcohol (some recipes call for dark [[beer]]s such as [[Mild ale|mild]], [[stout]] or [[Porter (beer)|porter]]).

[[File:Christmaspuddingonahook.JPG|thumb|Christmas puddings are often dried out on hooks for weeks prior to serving in order to enhance the flavour. This pudding has been prepared with a traditional cloth rather than a basin.]]

Prior to the 19th century, the English Christmas pudding was boiled in a [[pudding cloth]], and often represented as round.<ref name=plyb/> The [[Victorian era]] fashion involved putting the mixture into a basin and then [[steaming]] it, followed by unwrapping the pudding, placing it on a platter, and decorating the top with a sprig of [[holly]].<ref name=plyb/>

Initial cooking usually involves steaming for many hours. Most pre-twentieth century recipes assume that the pudding will then be served immediately, but in the second half of the twentieth century, it became more usual to reheat puddings on the day of serving, and recipes changed slightly to allow for maturing.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b086kdzs|title=Christmas, Victorian Bakers - BBC Two|website=BBC|language=en-GB|access-date=21 August 2018}}</ref> To serve, the pudding is reheated by steaming once more, and may be dressed with warm brandy which is set alight.<ref>Darran McGrady [https://books.google.com/books?id=tk7UrDRRGUIC&pg=PA180 Eating Royally: Recipes and Remembrances from a Palace Kitchen] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221227142458/https://books.google.com/books?id=tk7UrDRRGUIC&pg=PA180 |date=27 December 2022 }} p.180. Thomas Nelson Inc, 2007</ref> It can be eaten with [[hard sauce]] (usually brandy butter or rum [[butter]]), [[cream]], lemon cream, [[ice cream]], [[custard]], or sweetened [[Béchamel sauce|béchamel]], and is sometimes sprinkled with [[Sucrose#Caster|caster sugar]].

==History==
===Legends===
There is a popular myth that plum pudding's association with Christmas goes back to a custom in [[England in the Middle Ages|medieval England]] that the "pudding should be made on the 25th Sunday after [[Trinity Sunday|Trinity]], that it be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles, and that every family member stir it in turn from east to west to honour the [[Biblical Magi|Magi]] and their journey in that direction".<ref name=plyb/><ref name="IDay">{{Cite web|last=Day|first=Ivan|date=2012-02-07|title=Food History Jottings: $1000 Reward for Lost Pudding Decree|url=http://foodhistorjottings.blogspot.com/2012/02/1000-reward-for-lost-pudding-decree.html|access-date=2020-10-21|website=Food History Jottings}}</ref> However, recipes for plum puddings appear mainly, if not entirely, in the 17th century and later. One of the earliest plum pudding recipes is given by [[Mary Kettilby]] in her 1714 book ''[[A Collection of above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick and Surgery]]''.<ref name="BBC">{{cite web |last1=Lepard |first1=Dan |title=How to perfect your Christmas pudding |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/food/2011/11/christmas-puddings.shtml |publisher=British Broadcasting Corporation |access-date=15 February 2016 |date=21 November 2011}}</ref> There is a popular and wholly unsubstantiated myth{{Citation needed|reason=The reference mentions the alleged incident, not the debunking of it as a myth|date=October 2022}} that in 1714, [[George I of Great Britain]] (sometimes known as the Pudding King)<ref name=plyb/> requested that plum pudding be served as part of his royal feast in his first Christmas in England.<ref name=plyb/>

===Ancestors===
Christmas pudding's possible ancestors include savoury puddings such as those in [[Harleian Collection|Harley]] MS 279, croustades,<!--          1          --><ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.godecookery.com/mtrans/mtrans25.htm | title=Medieval Recipe Translations: Crustade | access-date=23 December 2008 | publisher=James L. Matterer}}</ref><!--          2          --> {{lang|enm|malaches whyte}},<!--          3          --><ref>{{Cite book | last = Hieatt | first = Constance |author2=Sharon Butler | title = Curye on Inglysch | publisher = [[Early English Text Society]] | year = 1985 | page = 133 | isbn = 0-19-722409-1 }}</ref><!--          4          --> creme boiled (a kind of stirred custard), and [[sop|sippet]]s. Various ingredients and methods of these older recipes appear in early plum puddings. An early example of a [[bag pudding]] (without fruit) is "fraunche mele" in the Liber Cure Cocorum<!--          5          --><ref>{{Cite book | last = Morris | first = Richard | title = Liber cure Cocorum | publisher = [[A. Asher & Co.]] | year = 1862 | page = 36 }}</ref><!--          6          --> Pudding "had the great merit" of not needing to be cooked in an oven, something "most lower class households did not have".<!--          7          --><ref>{{Cite book |title=What Jane Austen Ate and Charles Dickens Knew: From Fox-Hunting to Whist - the Facts of daily Life in 19th Century England |last=Pool |first=Daniel |publisher=Simon & Schuster ( Touchstone) |year=1993 |isbn=0671882368 |location=New York |pages=[https://archive.org/details/whatjaneaustenat00dani/page/208 208] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/whatjaneaustenat00dani/page/208 }}</ref><!--          8          --> Pudding predecessors often contained meat, as well as sweet ingredients, and prior to being steamed in a cloth the ingredients may have been stuffed into the gut or stomach of an animal, like [[haggis]] or sausages.<!--          9          --><ref name=king>{{Cite book|title=The king of puddings|first=Angela|last=Dixon|year=2016|publisher=Spider Books |isbn=9780956108432|oclc=973718613}}</ref><!--          10          -->

As techniques for meat preserving improved in the 18th century, the savoury element of both the mince pie and the plum pottage diminished as the sweet content increased. People began adding dried fruit and sugar. The mince pie kept its name, though the pottage was increasingly referred to as ''plum pudding''. As plum pudding, it became widespread as a feast dish, not necessarily associated with Christmas, and usually served with beef. It makes numerous appearances in 18th century satire as a symbol of Britishness, including the [[James Gillray|Gilray]] cartoon, ''[[The Plumb-pudding in danger]]''.

===Victorian era===
It was not until the 1830s that a boiled cake of flour, fruits, suet, sugar and spices, all topped with holly, made a definite appearance, becoming more and more associated with Christmas.  In her bestselling 1845 book ''[[Modern Cookery for Private Families]]'',<ref>Harlan Walker ''Oxford Symposium on Food & Cookery, 1990: feasting and fasting : proceedings'' pp.36, 45. Prospect Books, 1991</ref> the [[East Sussex]] cook [[Eliza Acton]] was the first to refer to it as "Christmas Pudding".

===British Empire===
{{Main|Empire Christmas pudding}}
The custom of eating Christmas pudding was carried to many parts of the world by British colonists.{{cn|date=December 2020}} It is a common dish in [[Australia]],<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://theconversation.com/how-christmas-pudding-evolved-with-australia-35027|title=How Christmas pudding evolved with Australia|last=McIntyre|first=Julie|newspaper=The Conversation|access-date=25 December 2016}}</ref> [[New Zealand]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taonga |first=New Zealand Ministry for Culture and Heritage Te Manatu |title=Easter, Christmas and New Year |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/public-holidays/page-2 |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Clarke |first=Alison |title=Holiday Seasons: Christmas, New Year and Easter in Nineteenth-Century New Zealand |publisher=Auckland University Press |year=2007 |isbn=9781869403829 |location=Auckland}}</ref> [[Canada]], and [[South Africa]].{{citation needed|date=December 2016}} Throughout the colonial period, the pudding was a symbol of unity throughout the [[British Empire]], which the message was widely promoted through the media.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Christmas Pudding: A Symbol of the British Empire (by Kelly Harper) – History @ Bham |url=https://blog.bham.ac.uk/historybham/the-christmas-pudding-a-symbol-of-the-british-empire-by-kelly-harper/#_ftn4 |access-date=2024-09-11 |website=blog.bham.ac.uk}}</ref>

In 1927, the [[Empire Marketing Board]] (EMB) wrote a letter to the [[Master of the Royal Household]], requesting a copy of the recipe used to make the Christmas pudding for the [[British royal family|royal family]]. The King and Queen granted [[Leo Amery]], the head of the EMB, permission to use the recipe in a publication in the following November. The royal chef, Henry Cédard, provided it. In order to distribute the recipe, the EMB had to overcome two challenges: size and ingredients. First, the original recipe was measured to serve 40 people, including the entire royal family and their guests. The EMB was challenged to rework the recipe to serve only 8 people. Second, the ingredients used to make the pudding had to be changed to reflect the ideals of the Empire. The origins of each ingredient were carefully manipulated to represent some of the Empire's many colonies. Brandy from Cyprus and nutmeg from the West Indies, which had been inadvertently forgotten in previous recipes, made special appearances. However, there were a number of colonies that produced the same foodstuffs. The final recipe included Australian currants, South African stoned raisins, Canadian apples, Jamaican rum and English Beer, among other ingredients all sourced from somewhere in the Empire. After finalising the ingredients, the royal recipe was sent out to national newspapers and to popular women's magazines. Copies were also printed and handed out to the public for free. The recipe was a phenomenal success, as thousands of requests for the recipe flooded the EMB office.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=O'Connor|first=Kaori|year=2009|title=The King's Christmas Pudding: globalization, recipes, and the commodities of the empire|journal=Journal of Global History|volume=4|pages=127–155|doi=10.1017/S1740022809002988|s2cid=154347413}}</ref>

In 1931, an annual Christmas market for the [[People's Dispensary for Sick Animals]] was held at the [[Royal Albert Hall]] on 24 and 25 November. A 10-ton Christmas pudding, the largest ever created up until that time, was featured. The recipe became known as the "Prince of Wales' Empire Christmas Pudding". ''[[The Times]]'' newspaper noted "The Lord Mayor of London has promised to give the pudding its first 'stir'. He will be followed by the High Commissioners of the Dominions, and afterwards the general public will have the chance of stirring it". The Prince of Wales (later [[Edward VIII]]) was then a patron of the PDSA charity.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Griffin |first1=Matt |title=From the archives: Making a record-breaking Christmas pudding at the Royal Albert Hall, 1931 |url=https://www.royalalberthall.com/about-the-hall/news/2013/december/an-empire-christmas-pudding/ |website=www.royalalberthall.com |access-date=11 May 2022 |date=10 December 2013}}</ref> It was then divided up into 11,208 smaller puddings, which were distributed amongst the poor throughout the country. Manchester and Salford, for example, received 512 each.<ref>{{cite web |title=Giant pudding was royal Christmas treat |url=https://phys.org/news/2013-12-giant-pudding-royal-christmas.html |website=phys.org |publisher=University of Manchester |access-date=11 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

===United States===
In America, the tradition of the Christmas pudding had already arrived in pre-independence days.<ref name=king/> A book entitled ''The Williamsburg Art of Cookery''<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Williamsburg art of cookery, or, Accomplish'd gentlewoman's companion : being a collection of upwards of five hundred of the most ancient & approv'd recipes in Virginia cookery... and also a table of favorite Williamsburg garden herbs...|last=Bullock|first=Helen Duprey|date=1983|orig-year= 1966|publisher=Colonial Williamsburg|others=Parks, William, -1750., Blackeby, Harold W.,, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.|isbn=0910412308|location=Williamsburg [Va.]|oclc=28154426}}</ref> by [[Helen Bullock (historian)|Helen Bullock]] was published in the U.S. as early as 1742. Among the ingredients she includes a pound of each of a variety of dried fruits and sugar, plus half a pound each of candied peel (citron, orange and lemon). She also adds one pint of brandy and 12 eggs. 

[[Jane Cunningham Croly]] published a 19th-century recipe for plum pudding contributed to ''Jennie June's American Cookery Book'' by the American poet sisters [[Alice Cary]] and [[Phoebe Cary]]. It was made as [[bread pudding]], by soaking stale bread in milk then adding [[suet]], candied [[citron]], nutmeg, eggs, raisins and brandy. It was a moulded dessert, cooked in boiling water for several hours, and served with a sweet wine sauce.<ref>{{cite book |last=Scharnhorst |first=Gary |title=Literary Eats |publisher=McFarland |page=30}}</ref>

==Wishing and other traditions==
[[File:Stirring christmas pudding.JPG|thumb|Traditionally, every member of the household stirs the pudding, while making a wish.]]
[[File:Christmas pudding (Heston from Waitrose) flaming.jpg|thumb|A Christmas pudding being flamed after brandy has been poured over it]]

It was in the late Victorian era that 'Stir up Sunday' (the fifth Sunday before Christmas) began to be associated with the making of Christmas pudding. The [[collect]] this Sunday in the [[Church of England]]'s ''[[Book of Common Prayer]]'' begins with the words "Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works...". This led to the custom of preparing Christmas puddings on that day which became known as [[Stir-up Sunday]], associated with the stirring of the [[Christmas]] pudding.<ref>''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]''. Second edition, 1989 (first published in ''New English Dictionary'', 1917). "Stir-up Sunday (colloq.): the Sunday next before Advent: so called from the opening words of the Collect for the day. The name is jocularly associated with the stirring of the [[Christmas]] mincemeat, which it was customary to begin making in that week."</ref>

Initially probably a schoolchild joke, latterly the day became known as "Stir-up Sunday".<ref>{{cite news |title= Home-made Christmas puddings die out |author= Gary Cleland |url= https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1570379/Home-made-Christmas-puddings-die-out.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1570379/Home-made-Christmas-puddings-die-out.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |newspaper= The Telegraph |date= 24 November 2007 |access-date=30 December 2010}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

It was common practice to include small [[silver coin]]s in the pudding mixture, which could be kept by the person whose serving included them.<ref name=plyb/> The usual choice was a silver [[Threepence (British coin)|threepence]] or a [[Sixpence (British coin)|sixpence]]. The coin was believed to bring wealth in the coming year, and came from an earlier tradition of putting tokens in a cake, which had died out by the twentieth century (see [[King cake|Twelfth Cake]]).

Other tokens are also known to have been included, such as a tiny wishbone (to bring good luck), a silver thimble (for thrift) or an anchor (to symbolise safe harbour).<ref name=plyb/>

Once turned out of its basin, decorated with holly, doused in brandy (or occasionally rum), and [[flambé|flamed]] (or "fired"), the pudding is traditionally brought to the table ceremoniously, and greeted with a round of applause. In 1843, [[Charles Dickens]] describes the scene in ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'':

<blockquote>Mrs. Cratchit left the room alone – too nervous to bear witnesses – to take the pudding up and bring it in... Hallo! A great deal of steam! The pudding was out of the copper. A smell like a washing-day! That was the cloth. A smell like an eating-house and a pastrycook's next door to each other, with a laundress's next door to that! That was the pudding! In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered – flushed, but smiling proudly – with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.<ref>Charles Dickens [https://books.google.com/books?id=6t6C8Uvzt9EC&pg=PA31 A Christmas Carol, the Chimes, and the Cricket on the Hearth] Digireads.com Publishing, 2008</ref></blockquote>

==See also==
{{Cookbook|Christmas Pudding}}
{{Portal|Christianity}} 
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
* [[Figgy pudding]]
* [[Christmas cake]]
* [[Fruitcake]]
* [[Frumenty]], an early English dish made with wheat, fruits, and nuts, sometimes served on holidays
* [[Mincemeat]], another common Christmas food incorporating suet
* [[Panettone]]
* [[Stollen]]
* [[List of Christmas dishes]]
* [[List of steamed foods]]
* ''[[The Adventure of the Christmas Pudding]]'', an Agatha Christie story
{{div col end}}
{{Portal bar|Food|Holidays|Liquor}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.thespruceeats.com/traditional-christmas-pudding-recipe-435070 The Spruce Eats: Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe]

{{Christmas}}
{{Puddings}}
{{English cuisine}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christmas Pudding}}
[[Category:British desserts]]
[[Category:British puddings]]
[[Category:Christmas food]]
[[Category:Christmas traditions]]
[[Category:English cuisine]]
[[Category:Australian cuisine]]
[[Category:Flambéed foods]]
[[Category:Christmas in England]]
[[Category:Steamed foods]]
[[Category:Foods with alcoholic drinks]]
[[Category:Irish cuisine]]
[[Category:New Zealand cuisine]]
[[Category:New Zealand desserts]]
[[Category:National dishes]]

[[Category:Canadian desserts]]
[[Category:South African cuisine]]
[[Category:Victorian cuisine]]