Do You Eat The Fruitcake?

[Mrelia]

Ok, it's that time of years again. Are you one of those people who can't wait to see those shiny packages of fruitcake for the goodness within or would you rather eat the shiny package?

[AyuRocks]

I've never actually been anywhere near a fruitcake..

save for maybe one time.. and I definately didn't eat it.

Ashley

[AgentSun]

actually, i've found that fruitcake, chopped up, are very good projectile weapons.

[Famira Damaris]

Huh, I've never had fruitcake, now that I think about it. But I love candy canes (rainbow, nifty!) and EGG NOG! I love egg-nog to death. XDDDD

[grinner]

NO

[Jaxa Logan]

Fruitcake is good!! At least if your grandmother makes it fresh. I've never had store-bought fruitcake, though...
Jax

[BlackThorn]

Saving them up to use as bricks when you need to add a retaining wall to your garden is an economical way of disposing fruitcake -- plus it's kinder on the environment than sending them off to the landfills.

[vikingscaper]

I stay away from the stuff.

[Frunium Slip]

Fruitcake is just plain nasty, and I don't mean the 'good' kind of nasty either...

Come to think of it, haven't even seen a fruitcake in years, must be the 'even older' generation is losing their influence in my family...

[Third EYe]

One day, I tried the fruitcake, and I chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed, and chewed then gagged, and gagged and gagged and gagged and gagged and gagged, not wait, that's not right, I think I choked then, and I gagged and gagged and I gagged, then my grandmother brought me some milk and asked if I like it.

I've never tried it again, true story.

[Antrobus]

It wasn't that long ago that I found out that many people think of fruitcake as a big joke. When I was living in Boston, I was going to buy a nice fruitcake for my landlords one year. I mentioned it to some people I worked with and they were appalled that I would do such a thing.

I really still don't understand what's wrong with fruitcake, but I will never give one as a gift. I was informed that it was the next thing to an insult!!

[who45]

That stuff is disgusting.:hork:

[AgentSun]

third eye...thats just WRONG. no one needs to chew that much.

[Madre Farbot]

I've got a rather interesting recipe for Banana Cake, but it's a bit on the saucy side so I'm going to put it in the "Heard a good one lately?" topic. :D

[Third EYe]

There are some people, that I have met as well as heard about from some reputable sources that have what is known as secret santa, or gift swapping exercices (sounds exquisite), anywho, it is legend that during some of these long standing arrangements where the participants are known and involved with great anticipation and delight, that one may recieve a fruitcake that had been passed around year after year after year, as the "gag" gift.

I, however, never having been in company (not for fun) with such high brow taste in activities, am not privy first hand of such an exploit. It is however rumored heavily.

[Mrelia]

I like the ones that come in tins from the Collin Street Bakery. MMMMMMMM!!!!

[harveywhispers]

Fruitcake has never been one of the "must have" items on the holiday menu in our house. The fairly remarkable thing, is that neither set of grandparents even liked the stuff. Resulting, is the fact that vikingscaper & I have always seen fruitcake as a nasty joke. Don't worry, though, I think that the older members of our family eat something that is nastier than fruitcake.....................
Jule Kage...................!

Jule Kage:

A really HEAVY white bread, which is filled with some really nasty candied cherries of various hues of red & green. Of great importance, is the fact that the bread must be baked to just the good side of burning. The inedible chunk of blackened concrete, and teeth rotting fruit, is then slathered in the white frosting that goes on cinnamon roles.

My aunt makes a loaf of this crud, for each sibling, every year. The loaf, received by my mother, rarely has more than a slice taken out of it before it is promptly frozen & forgotten for two years.

I would be willing to swear that Jule Kage has the Twinkie, and roachlike, ability to withstand a nuclear explosion. Really, a loaf was once left in my car (during college) for a period in excess of six months & looked like it had just been frosted. Funny thing is, it was just as edible as day 1.

[grinner]

:yuck:

[Judith]

I had never seen a fruitcake until Mrelia posted that pic!

[Sunderflame]

NO WAY! tasted like anything resembling a cake....or a fruit...what the hezmana is all that junk!
http://www.emotipad.com/newemoticons/PcPunch.gif

[Antrobus]

The homemade fruitcakes that I'm used to my family members making are nothing like the store ones. They're more like a cross between a molasses based coffee cake and a pound cake with much less fruit in them.

I agree that some of the store ones look like they're made of pure sugared unnatural colered fruit - and they don't look all that appetizing. But I'm used to a different kind of fruitcake.

As for passing around gag gifts, my family has for years (more than 20) been passing around an old pair of ladies polyester pink bloomers as a gag gift. Sometimes they go underground for a few years and then suddenly they pop up as someone's birthday gift. The recipient keeps them and then bestows them upon the next deserving victim at the right time and place. No one is safe from getting them!!

[AgentSun]

fruit should never be neon colored.

[Frellster]

I LOVE FRUITCAKE

If I don't get a fruitcake this year I may cry.

[trubador]

Well, yah know.... there IS only ONE actual fruitcake.... it just gets passed around from house to house each year.

[trubador]

There's one well-known brand (the name escapes me) that is supposed to be very good. Made by a bunch of monks in europe somewhere, I think (heck... if they can turn a simple coffee bean into a great cup of cappucino, they must make one heck of a great fruitcake.... no.... wait... that didn't come out right..... oh, nevermind). :g2f:

[AgentSun]

if i get a fruitcake this year i'm going to use it as a doorstop.

[trubador]

And I'll eat a piece of fruitcake before I'd EVER put my mouth near a glass of eggnog. :hork:

[MJS]

I like fruitcake but we do it differently. Is there raw egg in eggnog? Disgusting. Rum is great christmas drink. Mix it with hot chocolate.

[MrVesham]

Originally posted by AgentSun
fruit should never be neon colored. Sooooooo, does that mean I should stop... my genetic experiments?

[VBKatLou]

Fresh homemade fruitcake is really good, especially if the fruit is soaked in brandy first. It tastes nothing like what is sold.

I hate eggnog but I like rum. :)

My friends and I have a party every year. We draw names for a (nice) gift exchange and everyone also brings a white elephant gift. There's this breast feeding instruction video that has been passed around for about 10 years now. It's still shrink wrapped. It's become our Christmas tradition.

[zelbinion]

Originally posted by Frellster
I LOVE FRUITCAKE

If I don't get a fruitcake this year I may cry.

I'll send you mine

[Selena]

Aussie fruitcake - rich, dark and filled with all kinds of fruit, nuts and of course rum is just the most delicious thing there is to eat during the holidays! :love: And if it turns out a little dry you can serve it up with hot custard poured over it ... sigh :pace: I do miss home so much!

[witchdoctor]

Well, if you slice it, toast it golden brown, then put a lot of real butter on it,,,, it's edible then, especially if you have some good coffee to go with it. There are just a whole lot of better things to eat during the holidays though. Cranberry nut bread, pumpkin bread, bannana bread, Christmas cookies. There is no shortage of alternatives.

[witchdoctor]

Originally posted by MJS
I like fruitcake but we do it differently. Is there raw egg in eggnog? Disgusting. Rum is great christmas drink. Mix it with hot chocolate.

Eggnog is great, though I much prefer whiskey to rum if I am going to spike it. A little Bushmills in eggnog, yum. Better yet would be an Irish coffee with Bushmills.

BTW MJS, where in Suomi are you? I was an exchange student there for a year 1979 - 1980, in Muhos, about 30 KM from Oulu. I also spent a month in Tampere, near Helsinki.

[Selena]

Now that picture is not what I think of when I say fruitcake Mrelia.

When I say fruitcake I am talking about a deep rich delicious concoction of fruit and other ingredients like the following ...

Christmas Cake and pudding

BASIC FRUIT MIXTURE:
4½ cups sultanas (like raisins only juicier)
1 cup chopped walnuts / almonds / pecans
1½ cups raisins, chopped
1 cup pitted dried dates, chopped
1 cup pitted prunes, chopped (I've used figs which are delicious)
3/4 cup glace cherries - I prefer regular firm pitted cherries
½ cup chopped glace apricots - I use dried apricots
½ cup chopped glace pineapple - I use dried pineapple
2 oz packet fine diced glace ginger
1 medium apple, peeled, grated - I've used dried apples
½ cup marmalade, warmed
1 tablespoon finely grated orange rind
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon mixed spice
1 cup Grand Marnier

Cake Ingredients

1/2 pound butter
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
5 eggs
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2/3 of the fruit mixture (as above)
1/4 cup Grand Marnier

Method
Preheat oven to slow (225°F/275°F fan forced). Grease and line a deep 9" round cake pan with two layers of brown paper and two layers of baking paper, bringing paper 2" above the edge of the pan.

Beat eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions.

Transfer butter mixture to a large bowl; stir in flour and fruit mixture. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan; bake in a slow oven for about 3 3/4 hours or until cooked when tested.

Brush hot cake with Grand Marnier, cover cake tightly with foil; cool in pan.

Can be stored in the freezer.
_______________________________________________

Use the other 1/3 of the fruit mixture to make a Christmas pudding and serve it with hot custard, rum or brandy butter and whipped cream.
_______________________________________________

Rich Boiled Christmas Pudding

Ingredients
1/2 pouund butter, softened
1½ cups firmly packed brown sugar
4 eggs
4 cups stale breadcrumbs (not dry)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 quantity Basic Fruit Mixture (as described above)
1/3 cup plain flour, extra

method
Beat butter and sugar in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until just combined between additions. Transfer butter mixture to a large bowl; stir in breadcrumbs, flour and fruit mixture.


BOILED PUDDING:
First prepare pudding cloth. Use a 24" square of unbleached calico; if calico is new, soak in cold water overnight.
Next day, boil calico for 20 minutes, rinse.
Have a large boiler ¾ full of rapidly boiling water, 2 yards of string and the extra flour close by.
Wearing rubber gloves, dip the prepared pudding cloth into boiling water; boil 1 minute. Remove cloth from water, squeeze excess water from cloth.
Working quickly, spread hot cloth on bench, rub flour into the centre of the cloth to cover an area about 15" in diameter; leave flour a little thicker in the centre of cloth where the ‘skin’ on the pudding will need to be thickest.

Place pudding mixture in centre of cloth, gather cloth evenly around pudding, avoiding any deep pleats. Pat into round shape with hands. Tie cloth tightly with string as close to mixture as possible. Tie loop in string to make pudding easier to lift from the water, leave long ends of string free. Pull ends of cloth tightly to make sure pudding is as round and firm as possible.

Gently lower pudding into boiling water. You may wish to tie free ends of string to handles of boiler to suspend pudding. (If the pan is not large enough to suspend the pudding, place a heatproof saucer in the base of the pan.) Cover with tight-fitting lid, boil rapidly for 4 to 6 hours. Replenish boiling water as necessary to maintain boil and water level. There must be enough water in the boiler for the pudding to be immersed at all times.

Untie pudding from handles. Place handle of wooden spoon through loop in string to lift pudding from the water. Place the pudding into a bowl or colander.

Cut the string and gently begin to peel away the cloth, scraping the skin back onto the pudding with a palette knife if necessary. Invert the pudding onto a plate and continue to peel back the cloth completely. Cool. The skin will darken on standing.
(We prefer to remove a boiled pudding from its cloth before refrigerating or freezing. This prevents mould from forming on the pudding, which often occurs when a pudding is hung at room temperature in humid weather).

Soak the cloth in cold water overnight, wash and rinse well; avoid using detergents.

[AgentSun]

frellster, be careful what you wish for...after new years you're going to get about 50 fruitcakes in the mail, each from their previous FMD owner.

[MJS]

Originally posted by witchdoctor
BTW MJS, where in Suomi are you? I was an exchange student there for a year 1979 - 1980, in Muhos, about 30 KM from Oulu. I also spent a month in Tampere, near Helsinki.

I live in quite a small town called Varkaus. 100 miles north-east from Tampere. Muhos must have been so small town in late 70's :) I gues today there's some kind of skiing centre. Oulu is growing fast, there's electronic industry. Did you ever taste Tampere's own delicacy "mustamakkara" its some kind of black sausage :) I like it despite its looks.

[witchdoctor]

Originally posted by MJS
I live in quite a small town called Varkaus. 100 miles north-east from Tampere. Muhos must have been so small town in late 70's :) I gues today there's some kind of skiing centre. Oulu is growing fast, there's electronic industry. Did you ever taste Tampere's own delicacy "mustamakkara" its some kind of black sausage :) I like it despite its looks.

I don't think I ever had mustamakkara (some kind of blood sausage?), but I tried the blood bread while in Tampere* and it was pretty good. They had blood pancakes sometimes in the school in Muhos, but I never cared for those. There was another thing we used to eat all the time, though I forget the name. It was a tart made with rye flour and stuffed with a milk/rice mixture. that was good. I miss Lakka liquor. You can't get that in the USA as far as I know, but it has a very distinctive taste.

I think there was some kind of ski center relatively near Muhos. I remember our class from Muhoksen Lukio went on a day long field trip to cross country ski.

*Now that I think of it, it may not have been Tampere. It was a small mostly suberb type of town near Helsinki, but still within range of the bus system of Helsinki. I think the name began with a T, but it was known as the garden town, if that means anything to you.

[MJS]

Those blood pancakes are popular, we eat them with lingons (is it lingon? the small red sour berry) The rye flour thing with rice is called " karjalanpiirakka" very good stuff. First time I ever got drunk was with Lakka liquor :D , the berry is expensive and rare and grows only in northern Finland(in this country). Tampere isn´t actually too near Helsinki there´s about 200 km distance. Maybe it was Tuusula, small town but I´m not sure, don´t know that part of Finland too well.

[witchdoctor]

Puolukaa are lingonberries. I remember them well. My host family and I picked quite a few of them and had a small barrel full that we ate with most meals throughout the winter. They are really good with meat, maybe even better than cranberries, which are the traditional Thanksgiving condiment in the US. There was also a juice that you could make from lingonberries. It wasn't a bad mixer either and my girlfriend there and I used to mix it with vodka. I even eventually bought a Mehu Maija (steam juicer to you not familiar with Finnish cooking) so I could make berry juice concentrates.

[MJS]

You still remember words, amazing memory :)

[I-am-so-Johns-girl]

Eeeeewwwwwwww !:hork: fruitcake

Love homemade eggnog....but not the stuff they sell in milk cartons at the grocery....what the frell is that slimy stuff? :rollin:

[Mrelia]

Selena, how could you? I log on for just a few seconds before I have to go to work & am confronted with recipes that sound soooo good & no time to make it!

[Selena]

Sorry - I have at least 4 recipes for absolutely delicious fruitcake and also pudding.
And .... I also have an incredibly yummy recipe for figgy pudding ... you know .... :tunes: :innocent:
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
We wish you a Merry Christmas,
And a Happy New Year.
I want some figgy pudding,
etc, etc, etc.

[RustySlinky]

Thanksgiving Greetings AllFood scholars date fruitcake back to ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire. According to some historians, Egyptian fruitcake was considered an essential food for the afterlife and there are those today who maintain that this is the only thing they are good for.

In ancient Rome, raisins, pine nuts and pomegranate seeds were added to barley mash, making the fruitcake not only handy and lethal catapult ammunition, but also hearty compact foodstuff for the long campaigns waged by the conquering Roman legions. Centuries later, during the Middle Ages, preserved fruits, honey and spices were added, bumping the status of fruitcake up from granola bar to decadent dessert.

http://www.ingestandimbibe.com/Articles/fruitcake.htmlStill, the history of fruitcake is also really closely related to the long-ago (Europe in the 1700's) nut harvests. After the harvest was complete, they mixed a whole bunch of nuts from the harvest together and made a fruitcake that they SAVED until the harvest the NEXT year. That next year, they chowed down on the old fruitcake, hoping it would bring them another successful harvest.

http://www.hungrymonster.com/FoodFacts/Food_Facts.cfm?Phrase_vch=Fruitcake&ttl=1Traditionally, the top layer of the wedding cake called the "Bride's Cake", was a dark fruitcake that was removed and stored for the bridal couple to savor on their anniversaries.

A separate piece of fruitcake from the "Groom's cake" was wrapped in a wedding napkin, tied with a white ribbon and put at each guest's place at the table. Single women would put it under their pillow to dream of a groom of their own.

http://www.gramsfruitcake.com/history.htmlBelieve at your own risk . . . :rollin:

[BrowderChick]

Actually fruitcake is good if its homemade. The store bought stuff is so heavy and nasty. Just sits in your stomache like a rock. But eggnog? mmmmmmmmmm. A friend from Canada made some for me and I didnt know what was in it but I really want that recipe. "hic" :-)

[Dominar of Action]

Selena's description/recipe of "Aussie" fruitcake sounds like the sinfully delicious fruitcake my Grandmother used to always make right around Thanksgiving, and then let soak in liberal applications of rum/sherry until Christmas. It was so dark and moist that you almost couldn't tell the raisins and other fruit from the cake!

So, I agree 110% with BrowderChick -- homemade fruitcake (topped with fresh whipped cream) is just about the best thing on Earth, but storebought/industrial fruitcake is crap :aok:

[jayelsee]

Homemade fruitcake is GOOD! Really, it is. Especially warm from the oven. And soaked in rum or brandy.

It is NOTHING like that hard, dense, packaged dren you buy at Walmart! That is NOT fruitcake. That is (insert rude word here).

[Mrelia]

Mmmmmm...rum....

[AgentSun]

maybe it would sound better if the name of the fruitcake wasn't fruitcake...maybe if it was something like fruit truffle or fruit hors'dourves..

[grapeshot]

Well, I'm willing to believe that THEORETICALLY some fruitcake somewhere in the universe may actually be good, however I've never had any of that stuff. Every fruitcake I've ever had has been horribly horribly bad, and I'm scarred for life and prolly will never try it again.

Harveywhispers, that cake you describe sounds a lot like something my Mom bakes (except she didn't frost it).
Of great importance, is the fact that the bread must be baked to just the good side of burning.
Actually, my mother was never very good at baking, and everything she bakes is done to just this side of burning (she thinks that gives it nice "color") and dry as, well, drywall. We love her very much, so we've never told her that, and simply tell her how wonderful it was to get a little "taste of home" after she sends us her annual Christmas package.

[I-am-so-Johns-girl]

Originally posted by jayelsee
Homemade fruitcake is GOOD! Really, it is. Especially warm from the oven. And soaked in rum or brandy.

It is NOTHING like that hard, dense, packaged dren you buy at Walmart! That is NOT fruitcake. That is (insert rude word here).

Dren? :rollin: :rollin: :rollin: