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For the atomic model, see Plum pudding model. The plum pudding model of the Atom by JJ Thomson, who discovered the Electron in 1897 was proposed in 1904 before the discovery of the atomic nucleus
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.
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.

Christmas pudding is the dessert traditionally served on Christmas day, although still available and popular throughout the year in Britain. It has its origins in England, and is sometimes known as plum pudding, though this can also refer to other kinds of boiled pudding involving a lot of dried fruit. England is a Country which is part of the United Kingdom. Its inhabitants account for more than 83% of the total UK population whilst its mainland


Contents

History

Although it took its final form in Victorian England, the pudding's origins can be traced all the way back to the 1420s, to two sources. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities It emerged not as a confection or a dessert at all, but as a way of preserving meat at the end of the season. Food preservation is the process of treating and handling Food in a way that preserves its edibility and nutrition value Because of shortages of fodder, all surplus livestock was slaughtered in the autumn. Livestock is the term used to refer (singularly or plurally to a Domesticated Animal intentionally reared in an agricultural setting to produce such as Food The meat was then kept in a pastry case along with dried fruits acting as a preservative. This article describes Pastry in food For the Distributed Hash Table system see Pastry_(DHT. The resultant large "mince pies" could then be used to feed hosts of people, particularly at the festive season. A mince pie (or mincemeat pie) is a traditional festive British sweet Pastry, usually consumed during the Christmas and New Year The chief ancestor of the modern pudding, however, was the pottage, a meat and vegetable concoction originating in Roman times. Pottage is a Stew of Meat or Fish with Grains Herbs and /or Vegetables It was the staple food of people living in This was prepared in a large cauldron, the ingredients being slow cooked, with dried fruits, sugar and spices added.

The earliest reference to the "standing pottage" dates to 1420, a dish of preserved veal, mutton or chicken, thickened with bread, reddened with sandalwood and full of currants. Veal is the Meat of Lamb, hogget, and mutton are the meat of Domestic sheep. The meat of an animal in its first year is lamb; that of an older sheep is hogget The chicken ( Gallus gallus, sometimes G gallus domesticus) is a domesticated Fowl which is traditionally believed to have descended from for the film industry in India see Cinema of Karnataka Sandalwood is the name for several fragrant Woods and their Essential By the time of Elizabeth I, prunes were added to this basic concoction. A prune is any of various of various Plum species mostly Prunus domesticus or European Plum (commonly referred to as a Sugar Plum This became so popular that the dish was known from this point forward as Plum Pottage.

By the eighteenth century, as techniques for meat preserving improved, the savoury element of both the mince pie and the plum pottage diminished as the sweet content increased. The mince pie kept its name though the pottage was increasingly referred to as plum pudding. Although the latter was always a celebratory dish it was originally eaten at the Harvest Festival, not Christmas. A harvest festival is an annual celebration which occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region It is not until the 1830s that the cannon-ball of flour, fruits, suet, sugar and spices, all topped with holly, makes a definite appearance, more and more associated with Christmas. It appears that Eliza Acton was the first to refer to it as "Christmas Pudding" in her cookbook. Elizabeth 'Eliza' Acton (17 April 1799 - 13 February 1859 was an English poet and cook who produced one of the country's first cookbooks aimed at the domestic reader rather A cookbook is a Book that contains information on Cooking, and/or a list of Recipes It may also contain information on ingredient origin freshness

Basics

Many households have their own recipe for Christmas pudding; those that command the most pride have been handed down the family for generations. Essentially the recipe brings together what traditionally were expensive or luxurious ingredients - notably the sweet spices that are so important in developing its distinctive rich aroma.

Christmas pudding is a steamed pudding, heavy with dried fruit and nuts, and usually made with suet. Pudding most often refers to a Dessert, but can also be a savory dish Dried fruit is fruit that has been dried, either naturally or through use of a machine such as a Food dehydrator. Nut is a general term for the large dry oily Seeds or Fruit of some Plants. Suet (/ˈsuːɪt/ is raw Beef or mutton Fat, especially the hard fat found around the Loins and Kidneys Suet has a Melting It is very dark in appearance - effectively black - as a result of the dark sugars and black treacle in most recipes, and the long cooking. The mixture can be moistened with the juice of citrus fruits, brandy and other alcohol (some recipes call for dark beers such as mild, stout or porter). Brandy (from brandywine, derived from Dutch brandewijn — “burnt wine” is a spirit produced by distilling Wine Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed Alcoholic beverage and the third most popular drink overall after water and tea Mild ale is a low- gravity, malty beer that originated in the United Kingdom in the 1600s or earlier Stout and porter are dark Beers made using roasted Malts or roast Barley. Porter is a dark-coloured style of Beer. The history and development of Stout and porter are intertwined In Peru, some families use Pisco. Pisco (from Quechua: pisqu, little bird is a Liquor distilled from Grapes developed by the Spanish in the 16th century

Traditionally, Christmas puddings were boiled in a pudding cloth, and they are often represented as round, but at least since the beginning of the twentieth century they have usually been prepared in basins. The twentieth century of the Common Era began on

Initial cooking is usually done on Stir-up Sunday and involves steaming for many hours (the period can be shortened without loss of quality by using a pressure cooker). Stir-up Sunday is an informal term in the Anglican Church for the last Sunday before the season of Advent. To serve, the pudding is reheated by steaming once more, and dressed with warm brandy which is set alight. The pudding is traditionally topped off with a sprig of holly.

The wish and other traditions

Traditionally, every member of the household stirs the pudding, while making a wish.
Traditionally, every member of the household stirs the pudding, while making a wish.
This Christmas pudding is decorated with skimmia rather than holly.
This Christmas pudding is decorated with skimmia rather than holly. Skimmia is a genus of four species of Evergreen Shrubs and small Trees in the Rue family Rutaceae, all native to warm temperate Holly ( Ilex) is a Genus of about 600 Species of Flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only

Traditionally puddings were made on or immediately after the Sunday "next before Advent", i. Advent (from the Latin word la ''adventus'' meaning "coming" is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the e. four to five weeks before Christmas. The Collect for that Sunday in the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, as it was used from the sixteenth century (and still is in traditional churches), reads:

"Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. In Christian Liturgy, a collect kol-ekt' is both a liturgical action and a short general Prayer. The Book of Common Prayer is the common title of a number of prayer books of the Church of England and used throughout the Anglican Communion. The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England, the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Amen"

The day became known as "Stir-up Sunday". Stir-up Sunday is an informal term in the Anglican Church for the last Sunday before the season of Advent. Traditionally everyone in the household, or at least every child, gave the mixture a stir, and made a wish while doing so.

A traditional bag-boiled Christmas Pudding still showing the "skin".
A traditional bag-boiled Christmas Pudding still showing the "skin".

It was common practice to include small silver coins in the pudding mixture, which could be kept by the person whose serving included them. The usual choice was a silver 3d piece, or a sixpence. The threepence was a denomination of currency used by various jurisdictions in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, until Decimalisation See also Sixpence (disambiguation The sixpence, known colloquially as the tanner or half-shilling also sprarzi was a British The coin was believed to bring wealth in the coming year. However this practice fell away once real silver coins were not available, as it was believed that alloy coins would taint the pudding. Silver (ˈsɪlvɚ is a Chemical element with the symbol " Ag " (argentum from the Ancient Greek: ἀργήντος - argēntos gen The practice has largely stopped for reasons of safety and liability.

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).

A Christmas Pudding being flamed. Burning brandy has been poured over it.
A Christmas Pudding being flamed. Burning brandy has been poured over it.

Once turned out of its basin, the Christmas pudding is traditionally decorated with a spray of holly, and it may be doused in brandy, flamed (or 'fired'), and brought to the table ceremoniously - where it may be greeted with a round of applause. Brandy (from brandywine, derived from Dutch brandewijn — “burnt wine” is a spirit produced by distilling Wine In some houses the lights are turned out as the pudding is brought in amid a halo of purple brandy flames (this is related to the Christmas tradition of snap-dragons). Snap-dragon (also known as Flap-dragon, Snapdragon, or Flapdragon) was a Parlour game popular from about the 16th to 19th centuries It can be eaten with hard sauce, brandy butter, rum butter, cream, lemon cream, or custard and is often sprinkled with caster sugar (the fall of the sugar on triangular slices resembling the fall of snow on a pitched roof, or snowy mountain tops). Hard sauce is a cold dessert Sauce made by creaming or beating Butter and Sugar with Rum, Brandy, Whiskey Brandy butter is a sweet rich Sauce, usually consumed with traditional Desserts during the Christmas and New Year period in the UK Butter is a Dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented Cream or Milk. For the 1993 hip-hop single by the Wu-Tang Clan see CREAM CREAM is an acronym for Cognitive Reliability Error Analysis Method a Custard is a range of preparations based on Milk and eggs thickened with heat Sugar is a class of edible Crystalline substances mainly Sucrose, Lactose, and Fructose.

After Christmas

Christmas puddings have very good keeping properties and many families keep one back from Christmas to be eaten at another celebration later in the year, often at Easter. Easter ( Greek: Πάσχα Pascha or Pasxa) is the most important religious feast in the Christian Liturgical year. Some take the practice so far as to make each year's pudding the previous Christmas. Others claim that this impairs the flavour, but admit that a well-made pudding will keep at least adequately for a year.

See also

External links

Dictionary

Christmas pudding

-noun

  1. A rich dessert traditional eaten at Christmas, made from dried fruit and nuts.
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