By Laura Rancie.
More traditionally known as plum pudding, figgy pudding is probably already in your head because of the joyous Christmas Carol, We Wish You a Merry Christmas where verse two sings repeatedly, 'Now, bring us some figgy pudding' followed in verse three’s 'For we all like figgy pudding', only to crescendo in verse four’s 'We won't go until we get some, so bring some out here!'
What the fig, is figgy pudding anyway?
We have done the digging for you and are happy to report back on what this English dessert is although are surprised to find that it is not vegetarian-friendly.
Ingredients:
The steamed cake-like dessert is made up of breadcrumbs, flour, suet (raw, hard fat from beef or lamb) plus sugar, eggs, brandy, lemon zest, candied citrus peel, spices and dried fruits.
Going back to the subject of suet though, in Australia we can use vegetable shortening as a substitute.
Origins:
In researching, I feel like maybe figgy pudding wasn’t what it wanted to be when it grew up. You see, back in the 14th Century of Medieval England, where it first originated, it was quite different from what we refer to as figgy pudding today. It was more like a wet, sticky, thick porridge of boiled figs, water, wine, ground almonds and honey. Later on, it evolved into having ground meat and grains (bizarre) and then later morphed again into a steamed pudding made with raisins.
So, where does the plum come from, if it’s ‘plum pudding'?
Good question, in the pre-Victorian era, plums were called raisins. Many dried fruits were called plums. Later in 1845, a rather popular cookbook for the time called 'Modern Cookery for Private Families' was published by Eliza Acton who officially called it ‘Christmas Pudding’.
The three names:
Whether you call it figgy pudding, plum pudding or Christmas pudding – there’s no denying that this Christmas dessert is probably one that we know by name better than by taste.
