 | |
| Alternative names | Plum pudding, pud |
|---|---|
| Type | Pudding |
| Place of origin | England |
| Region or state | United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Canada, Caribbean |
| Serving temperature | Warm or cold |
| Main ingredients | Breadcrumbs, dried fruit, sugar, treacle, suet, spices |
Christmas pudding is sweet, dried-fruit pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in 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[1][2] (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,[3] and the pudding does not contain plums in the modern sense of the word.
- ^ Broomfield, Andrea (2007) Food and cooking in Victorian England: a history Archived 27 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine pp.149-150. Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007
- ^ "Plum duff updated". The Southland Times. 25 May 2009. Retrieved 21 December 2010.
- ^ 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.