Christmas Pudding Making

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Grandma's Christmas Pudding at a Sunday dinner and neither Derek nor Jared knew much about it. They'd never tasted it and hadn't heard how it's made. I'm pretty sure other grandchildren and in-laws haven't either, so I'm going to show a bit about the process. Mom and Dad came up Tuesday to help and Jeff was off work. Unfortunately, the kids were either at school or at the dentist. I'm sure they would have much rather been home making puddings.

In Grandma's day, the Christmas pudding was an involved labor. They'd start buying the required ingredients and begin the grinding and grating weeks in advance. Our task was accomplished in an afternoon with the help of modern machines. Unfortunately, I didn't think of taking pictures until all the grating and grinding was done. But here are all the ingredients in a bowl, partially mixed. The wooden spoon is standing straight up, that's how thick the mixture is. 

Grandma's family tradition was that everyone took turns stirring the pudding and then her dad would drop a sixpence into the mix for some lucky person to find.

Once you begin stirring, you realize why everyone had to take a turn. It's pretty stiff stuff and, since we'd quadrupled the batch, makes for some aching arms.

Once the mixture is thoroughly combined, it goes into jars. We use canning jars and lids, something I doubt Grandma's family had. They would put it in a bowl and tie a piece of waxed paper over the top.

 

 



Here are the puddings, all ready to go into the canning kettle to be steamed, which takes three and a half hours. After that, they can either be eaten, or put in the fridge or freezer for later. In some cases, much later. A pudding will keep for several years in the freezer.

I didn't get a picture when they came out, but they looked delicious. Wish you could all be here to taste some. Derek and Jared, we'll save some for you.