STIR IT UP – IT’S PUDDING TIME!
If you’ve made plans for this coming Sunday you might want to take a rain cheque because it’s clear that you’ve forgotten that this year “Stir-up Sunday” falls on the 21st of November! If there’s going to be any Figgy Pudding this Christmas, it’s time to get organised…
Plum Pudding or Figgy Pudding are the precursors to what we now know as “Christmas Pudding”. In its simplest form Christmas Pudding is a cake, but it’s not just any cake. Traditionally it would have 13 ingredients including dried fruits, spices, suet, citrus peel and of course, brandy. The brandy is the special ingredient that makes “Stir-up Sunday” so important. Between now and Christmas the cake must be “fed” brandy to both preserve it and allow the flavours to mature. Much like the fine cheeses that will find their way to our holiday tables, Figgy Pudding is best when its aged.
If you’re looking for the perfect British Brandy try Shipwreck Somerset Cider Brandy.They have been pressing cider for 200 years, but for the past 30 years they have been reviving the ancient art of producing Somerset Brandy.
Christmas Pudding is traditionally served with custard and we recommend the Buxton Pudding Company for their award winning vanilla custard made with real vanilla beans. Their company began with an old cookbook found abandoned in an attic. When they started to try making the recipes they fell in love with the results and began scouring the country for old cookbooks and old pudding recipes to revive and share.
If instead of custard you are a ‘cream with pudding’ person, then fresh cream from Aldhust Farm is definitely worth a try. Aldhurst Farm in Surrey has been farmed by the Dale family since 1826. They bring milk back to the table the way it used to be with a layer of cream on top of the bottle.
Finally, if you don’t really fancy giving up a weekend for stirring-up, try an award winning traditional Christmas Pudding from Georgie Porgie’s Puddings – less stirring, more eating is always a winner!
Christmas Pudding is a tradition that spans at least 300 years. If you do indeed take time this weekend to join in with this historic event and stir up your pudding, try this Christmas Pudding recipe and don’t forget these important steps:
– Definitely stir your pudding from East to West (anti-clockwise)
– Allow everyone in your household to have a turn at stirring – for good luck
– Hide a sliver coin inside
– When you serve it douse it with a ladle full of brandy and light it – turn the lights out to enjoy it perfectly (make sure you haven’t drunk too much of the brandy first!).
