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 is said to date back to late medieval times, though it looked a little different in its initial form. Ben Mervis, a food historian, writer and author of The British Cookbook, says figgy pudding can trace its roots to a savory dish called plum pottage, which contained meat.
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.
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, ...
As time went on other dried fruits were used in the cake but the word “figgy” stuck around. By the Victorian era raisins and currants were typically the fruits to use, although confusingly raisins (and dried fruit in general) were known as “plums” at the time — hence why the dish is sometimes called “plum pudding.”
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).
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 ...
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.
Is figgy pudding the same as fruit cake? No. Traditional figgy pudding is a British dish that is more like a bread pudding that may or may not include dried fruit like raisins. So although there are similarities for sure, they are not the same thing.
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.
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.
Mistletoe fig is a small, bushy plant that has rounded leaves and readily bears small fruits, unfortunately inedible. Creeping fig is a charmer, a tropical vine with tiny, heart-shaped leaves.
It's actually more bread or cake-like. The taste may be a little strange to some, but to me it smells and tastes like Christmas. The figgy pudding should always be served warm. If you can't serve it fresh out of the oven, it will taste just fine to warm it in the microwave for a few seconds."
The Middle English name had several spellings, including ffygey, fygeye, fygee, figge, and figee. The latter is a 15th-century conflation with a French dish of fish and curds called figé, meaning "curdled" in Old French. But it too came to mean a "figgy" dish, involving cooked figs, boiled in wine or otherwise.
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.
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's said that Christmas pudding needs to be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Jesus and his twelve disciples. Every family member stirs it in turn from east to west to honour their journey. Historically, Christmas pudding wasn't even considered to be a dessert.
Figgy Duff. Newfoundland folk group. Named for a raisin pudding popular on the island, it was formed in 1975 in St John's by Noel Dinn (piano, drums) and Pamela Morgan (vocals), with Philip Dinn (vocals, percussion), Kelly Russell (violin), Art Stoyles (accordion), and Dave Panting (mandolin, bass guitar).
According to one tradition, it is claimed that when the ark came to rest on Mount Ararat, the family of Noah celebrated with a special dish. Since their supplies were nearly exhausted, what was left (primarily grains, dried fruits and the like) was cooked together to form a pudding, what is now called anoushabour.
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