Food makes an appearance in plenty of Christmas carols, from corn for popping to chestnuts roasting over an open fire. But as NPR reports, one of the most cited yet mysterious Christmas carol dishes is “figgy pudding”—a treatthat neither contains figs, nor is a pudding in the American sense.
NPR points out that "figgy pudding"is in fact just a seemingly misinformedsynonymfor “plum pudding,” a British Christmas favorite. In fact, figgy pudding or Christmas pudding has a long, delicious history—one dating back to at least the 17th century. Here are a few great moments in the history of that holiday staple:
Meaty Beginnings
Oddly, today's sweet plum pudding hails from a meatier dish. As Maggie Black writes inHistory Today, the dish that eventually evolved into plum pudding originally contained preserved, sweetened meat “pyes” and boiled “pottage” (that is, vegetables) and wasenjoyed in Britain as early as Roman times. By Elizabeth I’s day, writes Black, prunes had come into vogue, “and their name became a portmanteau label for all dried fruits.” As plums became synonymous with fruit, plum dishes with and without meat became party food.
Steamed plum puddings soon became much-anticipated Christmas treats that required plenty of patience. By the 19th century, cooks traditionally gave their plum puddings at least a month to develop their signature spicy flavors. On “Stir-Up Sunday,” the Sunday before Advent which falls five Sundays before Christmas, entire families would make their Christmas pudding. The name of the day wasn’t derived from an actualneed to stir up a pudding at all, but rather from a line traditionally read that Sunday at church. Back at home, pudding-making families would each stir the mixture and hope for good luck. NPR notes that the favored recipe had 13 ingredients, which represented Jesus and each of the Twelve Apostles.
Dickensian Delights
Charles Dickens managed to almost single handedly revive old Christmas traditions with his 1843 book A Christmas Carol, which celebrated a nostalgic holiday of redemption and love. One of the traditions he upheld was that of the now-iconic Christmas pudding. In a long passage, he shows Mrs. Cratchit steaming and preparing the pudding for her excited family:
Suppose it should not be done enough! Suppose it should break in turning out! …All sorts of horrors were supposed….
In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered—flushed, but smiling proudly—with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top.
Maybe Mrs. Cratchit used this 1837 recipe, which features bread crumbs, flour, suet, sugar, currants, raisins, candied citron, orange peel, lemon peel, nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, brandy, white wine and eggs.
“We Wish You a Merry Christmas”
It’s not entirely certain where the carol that contains the famous reference to a figgy pudding comes from. In 1939, a composer named Arthur Warrell received a copyright for the carol “A Merry Christmas,” but acknowledged that it was an arrangement of a traditional English song. The carol is thought to date from the 16th or 17th century, when carolers demanded refreshments like figgy pudding to keep them going throughout the chilly English nights. These days, carolers aren’t as insistent on their figgy pudding, and neither, it seems, are families—at least not for the homemade variety.The Telegraph’s Gary Cleland writes thattwo-thirds of British children have never stirred up a pudding of their own.
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Erin Blakemore is a Boulder, Colorado-based journalist. Her work has appeared in publications like The Washington Post, TIME, mental_floss, Popular Science and JSTOR Daily. Learn more at erinblakemore.com.
“Figgy pudding,” immortalized in the “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” carol, appeared in the written record by the 14th century. A mixture of sweet and savory ingredients, and not necessarily containing figs, it was bagged with flour and suet and cooked by steaming. The result was a firmer, rounded hot mass.
Figgy pudding is a cake that is either baked or steamed. It is actually a form of a plum pudding, neither of which has figs nor plums but is primarily made from raisins.
In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered—flushed, but smiling proudly—with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top” (Dickens, A Christmas Carol).
As for the figgy pudding song, near the end of the 16th century, carolers began to sing the English folk song, “We Wish You a Merry Christmas.” When poor folks stood on the doorsteps of the wealthy and sang, “Oh bring us some figgy pudding,” and “we won't go until we get some,” they probably were having a bit of fun, ...
Rather than creamy puddings and custards, which Southern cooks are familiar with, this Christmas pudding dates back to medieval England and is a steamed cake full of spices, raisins, and currants soaked in brandy. If it contains figs, it is called a figgy pudding.
Much like a “full breakfast,” Mervis says the ingredients used in figgy pudding can often be a source of contention, but the dish is typically made with dried fruit (traditionally raisins, sultanas, currants and figs), brown sugar or treacle, mixed spices, breadcrumbs, suet, eggs, and alcohol (often brandy, sherry or ...
Figgy pudding is fruity and very dense, and typically strongly flavored with brandy or rum. Its closest relative would probably be fruitcake, although figgy pudding is typically spicier and crumblier.
Why can't vegans eat figs? Some vegans see the mutual relationship between wasps and figs as animal exploitation and ultimately animal consumption. They, therefore, avoid figs entirely. Most vegans, however, consider figs to be vegan and consume them.
Many traditional puddings come closer to what most of us would call cake. The term is also used to describe any dessert, whether or not it could be officially considered a “pudding.” Following that logic, figgy pudding could be any type of dessert containing figs.
Like the Christmas pudding and figgy puddings before it, the sticky toffee pudding is usually steamed for maximum moisture. Instead of figs, however, very finely chopped dates are added to the cake, which gets covered in a toffee sauce.
Superstitions say that Christmas pudding must be prepared with 13 ingredients, which are said to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples. It is also said that the mixture should be stirred in turn from east to west, by each family member, to honour the disciples' journey.
The pudding was meant to have 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his 12 disciples. Often small trinkets were hidden in the mixture (a silver coin for wealth, a ring for future marriage and a thimble for spinsterhood!). The brandy poured over it and set alight represented the passion of Christ.
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 threepence or a sixpence.
The Christmas pudding originated in the 14th-century as a sort of porridge, originally known as “frumenty”, which bears little resemblance to the dessert we know today. It was originally made with hulled wheat, boiled in milk, seasoned with cinnamon and coloured with saffron.
The pudding we know today began life as a pottage. This was a kind of broth, including raisins and other dried fruit, spices and wine. It was thickened with breadcrumbs or ground almonds. Not dissimilar to the mince pies of yesteryear, it often included meat or at least meat stock.
Figgy pudding is fruity and very dense, and typically strongly flavored with brandy or rum. Its closest relative would probably be fruitcake, although figgy pudding is typically spicier and crumblier.
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