I’ve just read Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan). The description of the Christmas cake making was so evocative, especially wrapping the square tin in brown paper and string to slow the baking. My husband always does this because I don’t have the patience! I still bake a fruit cake although the grown children aren’t fans, cut it in 4, give 2 away, freeze one, eat one. Perfect. BTW our Australian version doesn’t have candied fruit (except peel) but lots of raisins, sultanas, currants, even dates, and a grated Granny Smith apple.
Ruth, I've been somewhat anti-fruitcake too as they are just too darn sweet for me but that dark Fannie Farmer fruitcake looks pretty darn perfect and @asweeats suggestions of pairing with cheese sounds seems like a very nice balance and just may turn me into a seasonal fruitcake devotee.
Thanks for your comments, Kate! You may just like this version of fruitcake. I think it's my new favorite. Leaving out the usual quota of candied fruits makes it less overwhelmingly sugary, and the deep soak in brandy-infused wrappings does temper the flavor as well. It's interesting that the ingredients you write about in mince pie are quite similar to fruitcake--including citron and orange peel--but with the addition of meat!
Ruth, this inspires me to bake fruitcake, which I love! Thank you. It’s the aroma of fruitcake baking that gets me, and it’s the smell of the bourbon brushed over it repeatedly that says HOLIDAYS!
Oh yay, Anne! I'd love to see what you bake and maybe try your recipe! I haven't used bourbon, but now I want to try brushing that on my loaves. Off to the liquor store! Happy baking and Happy Thanksgiving too to you and your beautiful family!
Appreciate the thought but since nuts are such a large part of the volume of the batter, I don’t think this is way too time consuming just for me but thanks
You have outdone yourself with this post, Ruth! I’ve bookmarked to savor everything slowly: the Capote story, the shared posts, your other story on fruitcake, and to give the Fannie Farmer recipe some headspace. I might actually try it this way!
Thanks so much, Amie! The Capote story really is a gem. I had never read it until I started researching fruitcake and came across it. My friend Susie is a treasure also. I just picture her and her sisters in an assembly with their mother as drill sergeant putting them to work in the fruitcake factory!
Do let me know if you do make the Fanny Farmer recipe!
Growing up, I always had one fruitcake to look forward to - the ones my uncle made for all the family. Small, extremely dense, brick-shaped. Doused with liquor and tightly wrapped in aluminum foil. And aged for a long period of time (less than a year, clearly, but I recall it being stated as months). So sticky that getting it out from beneath the foil was a chore, with bits of foil adhering no matter the care one took.
All the fruit was internal and our approach was to cut monstrously thin slices, which produced a slice that looked like stained glass.
I've never encountered a fruitcake that was similar to his in all the years hence.
I really love that memory, Crowden! The cakes I make do get sticky and are rather dense and brick-shaped. I brush them with liquor or juice but make sure to wrap first in plastic and THEN foil. Biting into bits of foil wouldn't be very tasty! The fruit is really internal in mine too and they would be a bit like stained glass as you say--except that they're SO dark. I think you must have grown up with the light fruitcakes. I might have to make one of those--just for the picture! Thanks again for your comments!
I love fruit cake and am somewhat sad that it’s fallen out of fashion. For years I’ve made a Sri Lankan fruit cake for Christmas - an interesting mix of traditional English fruit cake combined with ingredients and flavours common in Sri Lanka. It has lots of ginger, rose water and lemon and chowchow, a candied choko (I’m not sure what they are called outside of Australia) that I buy from the Indian grocer. While the cake is still a rich fruit cake, it is somehow lighter and seems better suited to Christmas in the middle of summer.
I can only imagine what changes you might want to make to recipes in Australia with Christmas arriving in summer! All the heavy foods wouldn't be welcome, including perhaps fruitcake. I'd love the recipe for a Sri Lanka fruitcake. The rose water, lemon and ginger sound delicious, but I'm not sure what chowchow and choko are. Does sound very interesting. Thanks so much for your comments, Julia!
We’re travelling at Christmas this year so for the first time in about 15 years I’m having a break from Christmas cake making! I’ll dig out the recipe for you.
I don't particularly like fruitcake or Christmas pudding (though I eat it once a year because that is the only way I'm allowed to eat copious amounts of my mother's brandy butter!) but I grew up helping make them as British festive staples (my mother married out, but still came with plenty of Christmas traditions for several reasons: a) my grandparents ran a pharmacy and a gift shop so Christmas was big business and overtook their calendars, my mother is so good at wrapping presents because she used to sit in the gift shop wrapping gifts for the gentleman who came in shopping for their wives, they also walked down the colonnade from the pharmacy to get perfumes and things wrapped too!, b) my grandfather was very much 'when in Rome you do as the Romans do' so was as keen our family took on as many British traditions as possible, and c) he was also the type of man who saw the thrifty convenience of condensing the many days of Hanukah into December 25th!)
Anyway, I digress. Typically you set fire to the Christmas pudding, not the fruit cake. Fruit cakes are typically fed with alcohol by poking holes in it and pouring it over with a foil wrapper for literally months before it is cut into. Done properly it's strong, the first time my other half tried my mother's fruitcake his eyes widened with the alcoholic kick. If you set fire to that it would burn for ages!
The pudding has booze baked into it, but then is left until steamed, then alcohol is poured over it, then set fire to as it is brought to the table. Very majestic and very English: I was given a small pre-made Christmas pudding at a 'Christmas in July' press preview event whilst I still had a day job in politics. My intern that year was a visiting student from Florida State and I sent it home with him to try with his family at Christmas with instructions for setting fire to it (it only had the steaming instructions on the packet). He reported back that it was a very bizarre experience!
Wow, Rachel! Thanks for sharing your personal experiences and expertise. I actually thought if anyone would know a thing or two about this tradition, you would be the one--so I see I really should have asked you about the Christmas pudding vs. fruitcake comparison before writing this.
I knew that a lot of recipes call for dousing the cake with alcohol as it "ages" en route to Christmas. Several suggested wrapping it in brandy- or rum-soaked cheesecloth. As many folks I give fruitcake to aren't enormous fans of alcoholic beverages or cake, I go light on the spirits, sometimes just brushing it on the surface or poking a few holes in the cake to let the liquid in. Now that I'm learning more about this tradition, I'm going to make one or two that are generously infused with booze and see how they turn out.
I did find directions for "fruitcake flaming" that suggested putting a flame-proof cup or bowl in the center (I assume it would be a fruitcake ring), filling it with warmed brandy, setting it alight and spooning the flaming liquid over each serving. Sounds pretty festive if you don't set your table on fire too! Since I live in such a fire-prone area, I think I'll stick with a slightly tamer tradition!
Your mother's brandy butter sounds delicious. I'd like to try making that, along with a Christmas pudding. My parents were strictly Hanukkah people, which was a little hard when you were the only family celebrating it on the neighborhood. Maybe that's why I get some vicarious joy in a few Christmas traditions like fruitcake!
I unashamedly love the rituals and traditions of a good English Christmas - I honestly think these days it you strip out the commercialism past choosing a few thoughtful and heartfelt gifts to show the people you love that you appreciate them Christmas has become a time for everyone to come together and spend time together. Which with my family I love, and is why for a Jewish woman I have VERY strong views on real vs. fake trees, Christmas dinner accompaniments and a pathological and very opinionated hatred of tinsel.
I keep on meaning to share the brandy butter, but I miss her making it every year! Though from my pre-food writing days I remember it simply being room temperature butter (always unsalted) blitzed in the food processor with sugar and A LOT of cooking brandy! Then there is a specific crock it is stored in, and up to room temp it is spoonable in quenelles but still slightly grainy on the tongue as it melts over the warm Christmas pudding. It also freezes well, as she freezes balls of it alongside frozen slices of Christmas pudding my father enjoys throughout January and February.
As much as I love Christmas traditions though, I on the other hand barely have any Hanukkah ones as we only observed holidays growing up if my grandparents were visiting. I remember lighting the menorah, but the food traditions are things I'm starting for myself!
I bet I would agree with you on loving the rituals and traditions of a good English Christmas if only I'd grown up with one! In my head, it all comes right out of Dickens, so perhaps the image is completely untrue to what Christmas is really like there. I don't really like the commercialization of Christmas here in the U.S. Perhaps it's not as bad in Britain.
Our family did have a happy tradition around Hanukkah, and every year I try to recreate a little of it in my own living room, though it does borrow a bit from Christmas in terms of decorating. No tree, of course (my mother insisted on calling any that showed up in a Jewish home "Hanukkah bushes."), but some blue and white decorations and lots of fried food (namely potato latkes)!
That brandy butter as you describe it does sound delectable, especially with slices of pudding! Both are going on my must-try list. Thanks, Rachel!
Happily we manage to keep things quite Dickensian at home, but my parents living in a period house, and my tinsel prohibition helps! My mother and I collect pairs of tree ornaments, a pair every year and whilst some of them don't fit the theme like the two brightly painted terracotta baubles I brought home from Mexico most do, and when I was small we used to shop for them in a shop called 'Past Times' that used to specialise in Victorian reproductions! The the commercialisation can be bad, but I do think it is easier to choose a traditional Christmas here!
Also: I LOVE the idea of calling them Hanukkah Bushes, and I'll try to remember to snap a photo of the brandy butter recipe for you tomorrow when I'm over there!
I remember my parents receiving fruitcake as a gift, usually in a round tin. Since I’m allergic to nuts and can’t process alcohol, I don’t remember ever having it when I was young. I never thought I was missing something big but after reading your post…..
Wow, what a delightfully detailed post on fruitcake. I also have used a few recipes from King Arthur baking website and I’m a big fan, but I have not tried their fruitcake recipe. Thanks for linking it—I will have to try it now!
Thanks, Hoang! The King Arthur recipe is usually my go-to one that I've made for years. My fruitcake fans love it. Not sure if that includes "everyone" as the recipe headline indicates! My favorite part is eating some of the marinated fruit before I put it in the cake!
The best compliment this essay illicits is I read it to the end despite being mostly anti-fruitcake. I think many of my associations are with the Dr. Frankenstein candied fruit (including FD&C Red) that the US government has FINALLY PHASED out of food in the US as a known carcinogen in Europe for decades.
Now why was it worthwhile? (1) Your writing has a wonderful flow and ties these traditions with family! (2) We had renters from Northern Italy in one of our homes for seven years. One year they offered the Italian version of fruitcake. As you described it was the very best of the best. I am, of course, biased as I currently have bags of figs, dates and apricots in the pantry. (3) Finally this post reminded me of one of our FAVORITE newish tradition. We start with a big batch of fresh ginger and candy it. One of the treats of the holidays! A bit with tea is OOTW. The ease of making it makes it criminal to buy the store version in that weird shiny cellophane. Who knows where and how that is made!
I'm touched that you enjoyed my "essay" even though you're anti-fruitcake. I do try to avoid those highly colored Frankenstein fruits, for, even if they aren't harmful, they look like they are. Very glad to hear that our government phased those actually known as carcinogens out of our food supply!
I imagine the Italian version of fruitcake your renters gave you was Panettone. I would really like to try making that too. It does cause me to wonder why, since it also usually contains some of that same despised fruit, Panettone is everywhere to be found in the groceries as Christmas approaches but fruitcake is scarce or nonexistent. It must be a conspiracy!🤪
I've candied citrus peel, but never have I tried ginger. You've got me interested. Any tips?
Thanks again for your comments, Mark, especially on my writing. For insecure writers, that is always nice to hear.
My current mistrust on Substack is the sprawl of all the whisperers who claim to know the secrets for $19.99 plus shipping and handling. Your writing is sincere and authentic. That is the special quality I look for. That is not something the whisperers might focus on in their pitch. It is the quality that keeps me coming back.
It was not pannettone. It was much darker a bit as you described and had figs, dates, assorted nuts including pine nuts. It may have had dried cherries also. Maybe I will send her a note and see if she might share her recipe.
The regulatory environment emerged in Europe Post-WW2. They started fresh. For the US when chemical regulation became a thing, we created a class of grandfathered chemicals that did not require oversight and testing. This is why there is such heavy use of bleach in the US in so many products to this day! Chlorine kills living tissue -- we can buy it in 5 gallon tubs at Home Depot and people use Clorox without an afterthought. At least for me, I avoid products that contain bleach in most all cases. Lots of time it will be listed as sodium hypochlorite.
I will share my recipe for candied ginger separately. The most important thing is to line your sheet pan with parchment carefully and bake the ginger on a lightly oiled cookie tray that rides above the surface so all sides get baked by convection. Use the convection setting in the oven if you have one.
You are safe in California. Like many things the Golden State seems to be lead the charge. Red dye #3 is the culprit and appears in a surprising number of food labels. I am sure it is in many irresistable childrens candies. Hopefully the rest of the country will follow suit. It is a simple exercise to read the label of anything red you buy and eat. It will likely contain #3.
Mark, many thanks so much for the extra information on red dye #3 and for the lovely compliments on my writing.
I looked at the link you included from NPR and was horrified at some of the information on connection between the dye and hyperactivity in children. Apparently even in this state, the ban doesn't go into effect until 2027, and there are other dyes named that are also suspect. It's horrifying that our government doesn't care enough about our health to protect us from such things! I am going to try to stay away from artificial coloring as much as possible and read the label on the sprinkles and other candy toppings that are currently in my cupboard! I imagine that home cooks like me should try using vegetables like beets, carrots and spinach to color our candies and cookies. Nothing like going back to basics! The info on Clorox is also extremely troubling. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I guess we must operate on the principle of caveat emptor--let the buyer beware!
I don't have a convection oven setting, though I probably should. however, I will definitely try making ginger sometime. No rush on the recipe. I've still got my hands full with fruitcake and very soon, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah! 😅
The United States has great regulatory standards in most things. Chemicals and their use as food additives are just a loophole. I worked for a company that manufactured many chemicals for a time. There was a large subset of them that were disallowed for use in the EU. It was not related to food but similar regulatory approach.
I happen to be a big of turmeric for flavor and health. It really stains the counters and dishes with a deep yellow/orange. Based on what happens to the cutting boards I suppose beets and carrots would do the job! In my opinion for household use bleach seems overkill with the risk of chemical burns. We miss our old convection oven -- I am convinced everything cooked more uniformly. Enjoy the holidays.🦃🦃
I totally agree that candied fruit with the artificial coloring is what turns people off to fruitcake. I used to bake stollen at Christmas for my dad, but he was the only who would eat it because no one else liked the candied fruit. I eventually used just raisins and almonds. Thanks so much for the mention and link to my Substack. The ingredients in your fruitcake sound scrumptious!!
Thanks, Vicki! I always love your newsletter! I once tried making stollen and it was a fairly spectacular fail, with a lot of wasted ingredients. I remember tasting it at the house of my German grandmother and being put off by the chopped candied fruit too. I think it’s also in Panettone. I do think the quality of the fruit matters, but really, there’s nothing wrong with just subbing raisins and dried cranberries!
I’ve just read Small Things Like These (Claire Keegan). The description of the Christmas cake making was so evocative, especially wrapping the square tin in brown paper and string to slow the baking. My husband always does this because I don’t have the patience! I still bake a fruit cake although the grown children aren’t fans, cut it in 4, give 2 away, freeze one, eat one. Perfect. BTW our Australian version doesn’t have candied fruit (except peel) but lots of raisins, sultanas, currants, even dates, and a grated Granny Smith apple.
Ruth, I've been somewhat anti-fruitcake too as they are just too darn sweet for me but that dark Fannie Farmer fruitcake looks pretty darn perfect and @asweeats suggestions of pairing with cheese sounds seems like a very nice balance and just may turn me into a seasonal fruitcake devotee.
Thanks for your comments, Kate! You may just like this version of fruitcake. I think it's my new favorite. Leaving out the usual quota of candied fruits makes it less overwhelmingly sugary, and the deep soak in brandy-infused wrappings does temper the flavor as well. It's interesting that the ingredients you write about in mince pie are quite similar to fruitcake--including citron and orange peel--but with the addition of meat!
And I’ll try this version!
Yup they are. I share the tiny pies with others.
The pies are really beautiful! The pan is cool too!
Ruth, this inspires me to bake fruitcake, which I love! Thank you. It’s the aroma of fruitcake baking that gets me, and it’s the smell of the bourbon brushed over it repeatedly that says HOLIDAYS!
Oh yay, Anne! I'd love to see what you bake and maybe try your recipe! I haven't used bourbon, but now I want to try brushing that on my loaves. Off to the liquor store! Happy baking and Happy Thanksgiving too to you and your beautiful family!
Thanks Ruth! Bourbon is a must on fruitcake!
Appreciate the thought but since nuts are such a large part of the volume of the batter, I don’t think this is way too time consuming just for me but thanks
No worries, Ellen. One day I'll make you something you can eat!🥰
You have outdone yourself with this post, Ruth! I’ve bookmarked to savor everything slowly: the Capote story, the shared posts, your other story on fruitcake, and to give the Fannie Farmer recipe some headspace. I might actually try it this way!
Loved Susie’s cake making memory BTW.
Thanks so much, Amie! The Capote story really is a gem. I had never read it until I started researching fruitcake and came across it. My friend Susie is a treasure also. I just picture her and her sisters in an assembly with their mother as drill sergeant putting them to work in the fruitcake factory!
Do let me know if you do make the Fanny Farmer recipe!
Growing up, I always had one fruitcake to look forward to - the ones my uncle made for all the family. Small, extremely dense, brick-shaped. Doused with liquor and tightly wrapped in aluminum foil. And aged for a long period of time (less than a year, clearly, but I recall it being stated as months). So sticky that getting it out from beneath the foil was a chore, with bits of foil adhering no matter the care one took.
All the fruit was internal and our approach was to cut monstrously thin slices, which produced a slice that looked like stained glass.
I've never encountered a fruitcake that was similar to his in all the years hence.
I really love that memory, Crowden! The cakes I make do get sticky and are rather dense and brick-shaped. I brush them with liquor or juice but make sure to wrap first in plastic and THEN foil. Biting into bits of foil wouldn't be very tasty! The fruit is really internal in mine too and they would be a bit like stained glass as you say--except that they're SO dark. I think you must have grown up with the light fruitcakes. I might have to make one of those--just for the picture! Thanks again for your comments!
I love fruit cake and am somewhat sad that it’s fallen out of fashion. For years I’ve made a Sri Lankan fruit cake for Christmas - an interesting mix of traditional English fruit cake combined with ingredients and flavours common in Sri Lanka. It has lots of ginger, rose water and lemon and chowchow, a candied choko (I’m not sure what they are called outside of Australia) that I buy from the Indian grocer. While the cake is still a rich fruit cake, it is somehow lighter and seems better suited to Christmas in the middle of summer.
I can only imagine what changes you might want to make to recipes in Australia with Christmas arriving in summer! All the heavy foods wouldn't be welcome, including perhaps fruitcake. I'd love the recipe for a Sri Lanka fruitcake. The rose water, lemon and ginger sound delicious, but I'm not sure what chowchow and choko are. Does sound very interesting. Thanks so much for your comments, Julia!
We’re travelling at Christmas this year so for the first time in about 15 years I’m having a break from Christmas cake making! I’ll dig out the recipe for you.
Thanks, Julia! No hurry. How nice to have a break from Christmas cake making! I hope someone makes something nice for you!
I don't particularly like fruitcake or Christmas pudding (though I eat it once a year because that is the only way I'm allowed to eat copious amounts of my mother's brandy butter!) but I grew up helping make them as British festive staples (my mother married out, but still came with plenty of Christmas traditions for several reasons: a) my grandparents ran a pharmacy and a gift shop so Christmas was big business and overtook their calendars, my mother is so good at wrapping presents because she used to sit in the gift shop wrapping gifts for the gentleman who came in shopping for their wives, they also walked down the colonnade from the pharmacy to get perfumes and things wrapped too!, b) my grandfather was very much 'when in Rome you do as the Romans do' so was as keen our family took on as many British traditions as possible, and c) he was also the type of man who saw the thrifty convenience of condensing the many days of Hanukah into December 25th!)
Anyway, I digress. Typically you set fire to the Christmas pudding, not the fruit cake. Fruit cakes are typically fed with alcohol by poking holes in it and pouring it over with a foil wrapper for literally months before it is cut into. Done properly it's strong, the first time my other half tried my mother's fruitcake his eyes widened with the alcoholic kick. If you set fire to that it would burn for ages!
The pudding has booze baked into it, but then is left until steamed, then alcohol is poured over it, then set fire to as it is brought to the table. Very majestic and very English: I was given a small pre-made Christmas pudding at a 'Christmas in July' press preview event whilst I still had a day job in politics. My intern that year was a visiting student from Florida State and I sent it home with him to try with his family at Christmas with instructions for setting fire to it (it only had the steaming instructions on the packet). He reported back that it was a very bizarre experience!
Wow, Rachel! Thanks for sharing your personal experiences and expertise. I actually thought if anyone would know a thing or two about this tradition, you would be the one--so I see I really should have asked you about the Christmas pudding vs. fruitcake comparison before writing this.
I knew that a lot of recipes call for dousing the cake with alcohol as it "ages" en route to Christmas. Several suggested wrapping it in brandy- or rum-soaked cheesecloth. As many folks I give fruitcake to aren't enormous fans of alcoholic beverages or cake, I go light on the spirits, sometimes just brushing it on the surface or poking a few holes in the cake to let the liquid in. Now that I'm learning more about this tradition, I'm going to make one or two that are generously infused with booze and see how they turn out.
I did find directions for "fruitcake flaming" that suggested putting a flame-proof cup or bowl in the center (I assume it would be a fruitcake ring), filling it with warmed brandy, setting it alight and spooning the flaming liquid over each serving. Sounds pretty festive if you don't set your table on fire too! Since I live in such a fire-prone area, I think I'll stick with a slightly tamer tradition!
Your mother's brandy butter sounds delicious. I'd like to try making that, along with a Christmas pudding. My parents were strictly Hanukkah people, which was a little hard when you were the only family celebrating it on the neighborhood. Maybe that's why I get some vicarious joy in a few Christmas traditions like fruitcake!
I unashamedly love the rituals and traditions of a good English Christmas - I honestly think these days it you strip out the commercialism past choosing a few thoughtful and heartfelt gifts to show the people you love that you appreciate them Christmas has become a time for everyone to come together and spend time together. Which with my family I love, and is why for a Jewish woman I have VERY strong views on real vs. fake trees, Christmas dinner accompaniments and a pathological and very opinionated hatred of tinsel.
I keep on meaning to share the brandy butter, but I miss her making it every year! Though from my pre-food writing days I remember it simply being room temperature butter (always unsalted) blitzed in the food processor with sugar and A LOT of cooking brandy! Then there is a specific crock it is stored in, and up to room temp it is spoonable in quenelles but still slightly grainy on the tongue as it melts over the warm Christmas pudding. It also freezes well, as she freezes balls of it alongside frozen slices of Christmas pudding my father enjoys throughout January and February.
As much as I love Christmas traditions though, I on the other hand barely have any Hanukkah ones as we only observed holidays growing up if my grandparents were visiting. I remember lighting the menorah, but the food traditions are things I'm starting for myself!
I bet I would agree with you on loving the rituals and traditions of a good English Christmas if only I'd grown up with one! In my head, it all comes right out of Dickens, so perhaps the image is completely untrue to what Christmas is really like there. I don't really like the commercialization of Christmas here in the U.S. Perhaps it's not as bad in Britain.
Our family did have a happy tradition around Hanukkah, and every year I try to recreate a little of it in my own living room, though it does borrow a bit from Christmas in terms of decorating. No tree, of course (my mother insisted on calling any that showed up in a Jewish home "Hanukkah bushes."), but some blue and white decorations and lots of fried food (namely potato latkes)!
That brandy butter as you describe it does sound delectable, especially with slices of pudding! Both are going on my must-try list. Thanks, Rachel!
Happily we manage to keep things quite Dickensian at home, but my parents living in a period house, and my tinsel prohibition helps! My mother and I collect pairs of tree ornaments, a pair every year and whilst some of them don't fit the theme like the two brightly painted terracotta baubles I brought home from Mexico most do, and when I was small we used to shop for them in a shop called 'Past Times' that used to specialise in Victorian reproductions! The the commercialisation can be bad, but I do think it is easier to choose a traditional Christmas here!
Also: I LOVE the idea of calling them Hanukkah Bushes, and I'll try to remember to snap a photo of the brandy butter recipe for you tomorrow when I'm over there!
I remember my parents receiving fruitcake as a gift, usually in a round tin. Since I’m allergic to nuts and can’t process alcohol, I don’t remember ever having it when I was young. I never thought I was missing something big but after reading your post…..
Awww, thanks, Ellen! Now I'm thinking I'll make one without nuts just for you!
Wow, what a delightfully detailed post on fruitcake. I also have used a few recipes from King Arthur baking website and I’m a big fan, but I have not tried their fruitcake recipe. Thanks for linking it—I will have to try it now!
Thanks, Hoang! The King Arthur recipe is usually my go-to one that I've made for years. My fruitcake fans love it. Not sure if that includes "everyone" as the recipe headline indicates! My favorite part is eating some of the marinated fruit before I put it in the cake!
That first image looks, dare I say, appealing?
Yes, it does! Not sure how it tastes! Thanks for the images you contributed too, Mia!
The best compliment this essay illicits is I read it to the end despite being mostly anti-fruitcake. I think many of my associations are with the Dr. Frankenstein candied fruit (including FD&C Red) that the US government has FINALLY PHASED out of food in the US as a known carcinogen in Europe for decades.
Now why was it worthwhile? (1) Your writing has a wonderful flow and ties these traditions with family! (2) We had renters from Northern Italy in one of our homes for seven years. One year they offered the Italian version of fruitcake. As you described it was the very best of the best. I am, of course, biased as I currently have bags of figs, dates and apricots in the pantry. (3) Finally this post reminded me of one of our FAVORITE newish tradition. We start with a big batch of fresh ginger and candy it. One of the treats of the holidays! A bit with tea is OOTW. The ease of making it makes it criminal to buy the store version in that weird shiny cellophane. Who knows where and how that is made!
I'm touched that you enjoyed my "essay" even though you're anti-fruitcake. I do try to avoid those highly colored Frankenstein fruits, for, even if they aren't harmful, they look like they are. Very glad to hear that our government phased those actually known as carcinogens out of our food supply!
I imagine the Italian version of fruitcake your renters gave you was Panettone. I would really like to try making that too. It does cause me to wonder why, since it also usually contains some of that same despised fruit, Panettone is everywhere to be found in the groceries as Christmas approaches but fruitcake is scarce or nonexistent. It must be a conspiracy!🤪
I've candied citrus peel, but never have I tried ginger. You've got me interested. Any tips?
Thanks again for your comments, Mark, especially on my writing. For insecure writers, that is always nice to hear.
My current mistrust on Substack is the sprawl of all the whisperers who claim to know the secrets for $19.99 plus shipping and handling. Your writing is sincere and authentic. That is the special quality I look for. That is not something the whisperers might focus on in their pitch. It is the quality that keeps me coming back.
It was not pannettone. It was much darker a bit as you described and had figs, dates, assorted nuts including pine nuts. It may have had dried cherries also. Maybe I will send her a note and see if she might share her recipe.
The regulatory environment emerged in Europe Post-WW2. They started fresh. For the US when chemical regulation became a thing, we created a class of grandfathered chemicals that did not require oversight and testing. This is why there is such heavy use of bleach in the US in so many products to this day! Chlorine kills living tissue -- we can buy it in 5 gallon tubs at Home Depot and people use Clorox without an afterthought. At least for me, I avoid products that contain bleach in most all cases. Lots of time it will be listed as sodium hypochlorite.
I will share my recipe for candied ginger separately. The most important thing is to line your sheet pan with parchment carefully and bake the ginger on a lightly oiled cookie tray that rides above the surface so all sides get baked by convection. Use the convection setting in the oven if you have one.
You are safe in California. Like many things the Golden State seems to be lead the charge. Red dye #3 is the culprit and appears in a surprising number of food labels. I am sure it is in many irresistable childrens candies. Hopefully the rest of the country will follow suit. It is a simple exercise to read the label of anything red you buy and eat. It will likely contain #3.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/10/17/1206283813/red-dye-food-products-fda-ban
Mark, many thanks so much for the extra information on red dye #3 and for the lovely compliments on my writing.
I looked at the link you included from NPR and was horrified at some of the information on connection between the dye and hyperactivity in children. Apparently even in this state, the ban doesn't go into effect until 2027, and there are other dyes named that are also suspect. It's horrifying that our government doesn't care enough about our health to protect us from such things! I am going to try to stay away from artificial coloring as much as possible and read the label on the sprinkles and other candy toppings that are currently in my cupboard! I imagine that home cooks like me should try using vegetables like beets, carrots and spinach to color our candies and cookies. Nothing like going back to basics! The info on Clorox is also extremely troubling. Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I guess we must operate on the principle of caveat emptor--let the buyer beware!
I don't have a convection oven setting, though I probably should. however, I will definitely try making ginger sometime. No rush on the recipe. I've still got my hands full with fruitcake and very soon, Thanksgiving and Hanukkah! 😅
The United States has great regulatory standards in most things. Chemicals and their use as food additives are just a loophole. I worked for a company that manufactured many chemicals for a time. There was a large subset of them that were disallowed for use in the EU. It was not related to food but similar regulatory approach.
I happen to be a big of turmeric for flavor and health. It really stains the counters and dishes with a deep yellow/orange. Based on what happens to the cutting boards I suppose beets and carrots would do the job! In my opinion for household use bleach seems overkill with the risk of chemical burns. We miss our old convection oven -- I am convinced everything cooked more uniformly. Enjoy the holidays.🦃🦃
I totally agree that candied fruit with the artificial coloring is what turns people off to fruitcake. I used to bake stollen at Christmas for my dad, but he was the only who would eat it because no one else liked the candied fruit. I eventually used just raisins and almonds. Thanks so much for the mention and link to my Substack. The ingredients in your fruitcake sound scrumptious!!
Thanks, Vicki! I always love your newsletter! I once tried making stollen and it was a fairly spectacular fail, with a lot of wasted ingredients. I remember tasting it at the house of my German grandmother and being put off by the chopped candied fruit too. I think it’s also in Panettone. I do think the quality of the fruit matters, but really, there’s nothing wrong with just subbing raisins and dried cranberries!
What an amazing post, Ruth! Drooling 😋!! You covered everything and how delicious! Thanks for the shout-out, my friend!
Thanks, Jolene! After all that fruitcake I’m ready for Pear Eve’s Dessert!🤗
My word, that's a fruitcake encyclopedia! When I make mine, I'm always very pleased with it! If nobody else eats it, more for me!
Yes, I feel that way too! Do you prefer dark or light?
Dark, lots of cherries!
When do I get my fruitcake? Or at least a few slices.
Stop by any time!💕