History of Christmas Pudding

Christmas is one of the finest festivals celebrated all over the world. Christmas music, Christmas lights, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding are the things that one can associate with Christmas. People meet each other to enjoy family get together, parties and feasts. The homes are cleaned and decorated with wreaths, garlands and evergreen twigs. Buying a Christmas tree and decorating it with ornaments, tinsel and paper flowers is an activity one enjoys. Christmas is time to relish great food that is traditionally made for the festival. Food traditions during Christmas differ from one country to other. Christmas pudding is one thing which is common dish found in all the cuisines.

History of Christmas pudding can be traced in medieval period. The pudding has its origins in England. One cannot think of Christmas without a Christmas pudding. Christmas pudding is not only present in the Christmas dinner but throughout the Christmas season. The pudding was initially made out of meat. Later on, the ingredients changed and know it is famous world over as plum pudding. With the passing time, the Christmas pudding has undergone a lot of changes. Today, we find a vegetarian pudding that has a lot of fruits and dry fruits in it. The tradition of Christmas pudding is really old. It has been consumed for hundreds of years during Christmas holiday season.

The Christmas pudding is a desert served during Christmas. There are various recipes of Christmas pudding. These recipes are passed from one generation to the nest. Every family has a specific recipe to make Christmas pudding. The documented recipes of the pudding can be seen in seventeenth century. The plum pudding was formed from earlier recipes of custard, savory pudding and so on. The pudding became quite popular during the reign of Queen Victoria. Pudding was prepared to preserve meat and use it in winter when there is shortage. The meat was kept in pastry case with dry fruits. Those dry fruits act as preservatives. This produced mince pies, which were served to guests during festive season.

The Romans prepared a pottage that had meat with vegetables. The meat was cooked slowly with spices, dry fruits and sugar. This pottage led the way to Plum pudding, which had a lot of plums. In 1830s, the meat was replaced by a sweet mixture of flour, sugar, fruits and spices. The Christmas pudding was made five to six weeks before Christmas in old, traditional English homes. Every member of the family stirred the pudding mixture on a Sunday and made a wish. The pudding has lucky charms like silver coins, gold, tiny wishbone and so on. The person who gets the lucky charm when he or she has the pudding during dinner, will be able to fulfill all wishes is a general belief.

The Christmas pudding is decorated with holly flowers. The pudding is covered with brandy once it is ready for serving. It is flamed when it is brought to the dinner table during the Christmas dinner.