Good morning, welcome to our series sharing Food Holidays: December: National Fruit Cake Month which makes sense with Christmas being this month. I truly only know one person who would eat Fruit Cake my mom. My Uncle Chuck would make her a Fruit Cake almost every year. If Chuck was working and didn’t make my mom her Fruitcake, then I would buy my mom one for Christmas. Charlie, David and I we don’t not eat Fruit Cake. Do you?
National Fruit Cake Month
National Fruitcake Day is December 27th, a day to celebrate every eccentric person you know. Wait! That’s not right. It’s a day for lovers of Fruitcake to rejoice in the delights of the world’s most misunderstood Fruit. Fruitcake is a Boozy, mixture of dried Fruit, Nuts, and Sugar, with your favorite Alcohol.
The Alcohol most commonly used in a Fruitcake is Brandy or Bourbon. Which produces a dense, sweet, textured treat generally served around the Holidays. I have a question for you. Did you know Fruitcakes have been found in ancient Egyptian Tombs? Now that you know this then you know the tradition is steeped in History as well as Booze.
NATIONAL FRUITCAKE DAY ACTIVITIES
- Since the ingredients of Fruitcake vary, have a party where each guest makes their own version of Fruitcake! You could host a contest for the best tasting Fruitcake. The winner earns the title of Fruitcake King or Queen.
- Fruitcakes are a traditional gift. Did you know mail order Fruitcakes have been around since the early 1900s? Take a note from your ancestors and order a Fruitcake through the mail to give to your friends.
- You can keep the tradition alive by creating your own Fruitcake. If you don’t have a family recipe, adapt a recipe from a cookbook. All the ingredients can be purchased, but why not make the Fruitcake a family tradition drying your own Fruit? Not only will the Fruitcake taste better, but the Fruitcake will also be healthier for you. Toast fresh Nuts, and use Honey instead of Sugar, and top-shelf Booze to make a real Fruitcake lover’s Fruitcake.
WHY WE LOVE NATIONAL FRUITCAKE DAY
- Fruitcakes are associated with the arrival of Winter, when heavier desserts in general are served. Fruitcake’s popularity grew before refrigeration allowed an easy way to keep food fresh. Other means of preservation had to be devised. Pouring Alcohol over Fruitcakes until no more could be absorbed was one way to preserve Fruitcakes for months, because it was believed Fruitcakes got better with age.
- An early recipe from Rome lists Pomegranate Seeds, Pine Nuts, and Raisins as Fruitcake’s main ingredients, but any extra Fruit you have lying around will work in a Fruit Cake.
- Fruitcake is consumed in different forms around the world, and we mean all over the world because Fruit Cake is served in America, the Bahamas, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany and Ireland, among other Countries.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
