What to serve for the Christmas meal that is suited to the local climate is something which has exercised the imagination of Australians for many years. Plum pudding in particular has long been deemed entirely inappropriate for the local conditions. While some may have dreamed that one day the stodgy plum pudding would be superseded by ‘some delicate, delicious, fairy-like masterpiece, some wonderous cunning blending of choicest fruits and merigued trifle and exquisite jelly’,[1] the idea of a jellied pudding did not really arouse much interest until the 1930s when ice boxes and refrigerators were becoming increasingly common in kitchens, and powdered gelatine and packets of jelly crystals were readily available. Not that the idea of combining the ingredients you might expect to find in a Christmas pudding with jelly was an entirely original idea.
For example, way back in 1660, in The Accompisht Cook, Robert May had included instructions ‘To make another excellent Jelly of Harts horn and Ising-glass for a Consumption’. This involved making a gel with both hartshorn and isinglass, and adding sugar, sliced figs, sliced prunes, ginger, mace, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. (The recipe also calls for red sanders and liquorice, the former probably largely for colouring, but both were thought to have medicinal properties.) Whether the result was any help to the consumptive, it does bear some resemblance to a jellied Christmas pudding. Similarly in The Experienced English House-keeper (first published in 1769 and enlarged in 1771) Elizabeth Raffald, provided directions ‘To make a TRANSPARENT PUDDING’ which involved alternating layers of clear calf’s foot jelly with blanched almonds, raisins, citron, candied lemon and currants, another recipe which includes some familiar plum pudding ingredients. Of course, neither Raffald nor May lay any claim to either of these concoctions being Christmas puddings. The impetus for a jellied Christmas or plum pudding finally came from commercial interests promoting the use of dried fruits and locally manufactured gelatine.
Trying to establish where and when the first recipe for a jellied plum pudding was published is a futile exercise, however there is ample evidence to suggest that the idea dates from the early 1920s.[2] The Davis Gelatine Company had been manufacturing gelatine in Sydney since 1919. In 1921 the company announced their intention to publish a book of recipes and solicited contributions from the public.[3] The first edition of Davis Dainty Dishes was printed in 1922 and included a recipe for Christmas Plum Pudding.[4]
In July 1923 the Australian Dried Fruits Association (hereafter ADFA) awarded Mrs Bessie Potts of Armadale, Melbourne, a consolation prize for her recipe for Gelatine Christmas Pudding. It was duly printed in the pages of the Argus newspaper. [5]
The following table compares these two recipes.
Table 1.
Ingredients | Davis Dainty Dishes | Argus, 4 July 1923, p. 20 |
gelatine | 3 dessertspoons | 3 dessertspoons |
Milk | 1½ pints | 1½ pints |
Sugar | 1 cup | 1 cup |
chocolate | 1½ squares | 1 square |
cocoa | 3 tablespoons | |
raisins | 1 cup | 1 cup |
currants | ½ cup | ½ cup |
Lemon peel and nuts | ¼ pound | ¼ pound |
Dates or figs | ½ cup | |
prunes | ½ cup | |
Dried peaches or pears | 1 cup | |
Vanilla essence | ½ teaspoon | |
salt | pinch | pinch |
From the similarity of these two formulations, it seems likely that Mrs Potts derived her recipe from that originally published by Davis Gelatine and was the first of many who contributed their own reworking of the recipe to newspapers over the following decades. Variations on this theme, that is using gelatine, chocolate, milk and a mixture of dried fruits, became by far the most common incarnation of a cold Christmas pudding, no doubt as a direct result of promotion by Davis Gelatine and regular newspaper advertising by the ADFA and inclusion of the recipe in ADFA publications.[6]
Clearly, although served cold, the jellied pudding was intended to resemble the traditional boiled pudding as closely as possible, even down to recommendations to decorate the pudding with sprigs of holly. The fruit combination and spices, where used, follow standard plum pudding formulas and every attempt was made to give the solid appearance and brown colour of a cooked pudding.
Adaptations over the years involved more or less gelatine, more or less fruit and different combinations of fruit, the use of strong black coffee or coffee essence instead of or as well as chocolate and/or cocoa,[7] and the addition of stiffly beaten egg whites.[8] A more elaborate recipe published in the Hobart Mercury incorporated cream, ground almonds preserved ginger and maraschino cherries along with muscatels, dates and figs.[9] The cookery expert writing in the Daily Telegraph(Sydney) combined gelatine, milk, black coffee and cocoa, raisins, dates, cyrsytallised cherries, crystallised pineapple, marzipan meal and condensed milk. This mixture was beaten until thick and creamy and a stiffly beaten egg white was folded through before it was set in a mould.[10] Another version published in The Australian Women’s Weekly improved on the basic recipe with the addition of evaporated milk, glacé cherries and even the traditional trinkets and threepences.[11] As late as 1968 Golden Circle advertising was promoting a Cold Christmas Pudding set with gelatine which involved milk, cocoa, dates, raisins, sultanas and cherries mixed with a can of crushed pineapple.[12]
A far less popular way to achieve an appropriate colour was to use prune juice rather than chocolate, as in this earlier recipe from the Weekly:
Boil ½ lb prunes in 2 cups water and cinnamon to taste. Dissolve 2 tablespoons gelatine in ½ cup cold water, pour on ¾ cup hot prune juice. Add ¼ cup chopped figs, the cooked and stewed prunes, ½ cup seeded raisins, ½ cup sugar, juice 3 oranges, juice 2 lemons, 3 tablespoons sherry or brandy, 1 oz. peel, 2 oz. cherries, and nuts if liked. Mix well. When beginning set put into a wetted mould. Chill. Turn out. Decorate with whipped cream, chopped cherries and nuts.[13]
Jelly crystals were also recommended as the basis for a jellied pudding, and, although no advertisements have been found, it is likely that these recipes also originated in promotion by manufacturers of jelly mixes. Sometimes lemon flavoured jelly crystals were specified but more often it was raspberry or some other darkly coloured blend. [14] The simplest of these versions suspended a combination of fruits and nuts in the clear, flavoured jelly. Others, again in emulation of a traditional plum pudding recipe, incorporated breakfast cereal or bread, or biscuit, crumbs. The following recipe promised a Jelly Plum Pudding which was light and digestible, and had all the traditional richness and mellow flavour without the bother:
Dissolve a package of lemon jelly in a pint of boiling water, and when still hot stir in ¾ cupful of grape nuts [sic], ¾ cupful of seeded raisins, ¾ cupful of walnut meats, ¾ cupful of cooked prunes, ½ cupful of citron – all cut fine. Also add ½ teaspoonful of cinnamon, and ¼ teaspoonful of cloves. Salt to taste. Mix and let harden.[15]
An imported product, the uses of Grape Nuts were promoted with recipes published in Australian newspapers and distributed in booklets. Given the use of a specific brand name it is likely that this pudding recipe also had its origins in commercial advertising. The similarity of Later recipes, which incorporated bread or biscuits crumbs, Weetbix, and even Rice Bubbles, bear a striking similarity to the one above from 1927 suggesting that these were more readily achievable and perhaps more economical versions of some published original.[16]
Truly original recipes, that is those which do not appear to be just some reinterpretation of an already published idea, were few and far between. A few recipes attempted to produce a decorative result emulating the layered pudding suggested by Raffald.[17] Mrs Dunham of Launceston was one who saw potential in a more attractive appearance:
Make up a pint of lemon jelly and pour to depth of half inch in the bottom of a damp mould. On this arrange a pattern of seeded muscatels and fill in spaces with blanched almonds. Put on top of ice to set firmly. Into remaining jelly mix ¼ lb stoned muscatels, 3 oz roughly broken walnuts, 2 oz chopped candied cherries, 1 oz chopped candied figs, half a grated nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon spice. When this begins to jell, pour into the prepared mould and set firm. Serve with whipped cream.[18]
Marshmallow Plum Pudding involved layering marshmallows with a mixture of raspberry flavoured jelly, raisins, sultanas and lemon peel.[19]
Although the jellied pudding itself was suggested as ideal for the climate, there seems to have been little enthusiasm for giving the pudding a distinctive Australian flavour. Aside from the pineapple recipe already mentioned, the only other non-traditional ingredients were coconut (which featured in only three instances)[20] and bananas.
An early banana version also involved the use of grated raw carrot:
Mix together equal parts of seeded raisins, sultanas, grated nuts, grated raw carrot and chopped figs. Blend well with 2 ripe mashed bananas and a little honey, stir in 1 cup unset jelly (and a little wine if desired) and put away to chill in small wet moulds. Turn out onto sweet dishes and serve with spiced egg custard, clotted cream or any fancied Christmas sauce (cold).[21]
Bananas were an ingredient in a later recipe for cold plum pudding published by Davis Gelatine:
If the number of published recipes is a guide, interest in jellied puddings for Christmas declined after the 1940s. Of the 170 recipes surveyed here more than 75 percent were published between 1923 and 1949. Of the four recipes sourced from the 1970s, two were repeats of the David Gelatine recipe above,[23] and two were a more sophisticated reworking of a familiar theme from thirty years earlier, published in the Weekly:
Jellied Christmas Pudding
8 oz raisins, 1lb sultanas, 4oz currants, 2 oz mixed peel, ¾ cup sugar, 2 cups water, 2oz glace cherries, 2 oz glace apricots, 2 oz toasted slivered almonds, 11/3 cups water, extra, 3½ tablespoons gelatine, 1 cup sweet sherry, ¼ cup brandy, ¼ cup lemon juice, 1oz glace cherries, extra.
Chop raisins finely; combine with sultanas, currants and mixed peel. Wash thoroughly, drain. It may be necessary to wash fruit several times so that it is completely clean; this will ensure a beautifully clear, jellied pudding. Combine fruit, sugar, and water in saucepan, stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved; increase heat slightly; simmer uncovered 10 minutes. Drain, reserve liquid, strain liquid through fine cloth. Place fruit and strained liquid into large basin, add finely chopped glace cherries and apricots. Add gelatine to extra water, stand 5 minutes, dissolve over hot water, add to fruit mixture. Add almonds, sherry, brandy, and lemon juice, mix well. Take 1/3 cup liquid from the fruit mixture, pour half over base of oiled 8 in. baba tin or 3-pint mould; refrigerate until partly set. Quarter extra cherries, arrange decoratively in jelly, pour over remaining liquid. Refrigerate until set. Top with fruit mixture.
Refrigerate overnight.
Unmould carefully. This pudding is best eaten within three days of making.[24]
How many families did, or do, enjoy a jellied plum pudding at Christmas is a moot point, but it is true to say that the concept has not been widely adopted. Why? There are any number of reasons but surely no amount of cocoa or breadcrumbs or brandy could make a jellied plum pudding taste or eat like a traditional plum pudding. Perhaps most importantly a shiny, wobbly brown jelly studded with fruity lumps was never likely to look as appetising as traditional plum pudding, boiled or steamed, although, as this photograph from the Australian Women’s Weekly attests, plum pudding, in any of its forms, is perhaps not as Instagramable as it might be.
Australian Women’s Weekly, 2 December 1970, p. 13.
[1] ‘A Lady’s Letter from Sydney’, The Mercury (Hobart), 29 December 1891, p. 3.
[2] The following discussion is based on 170 recipes, sourced from Australian newspapers and the Australian Women’s Weekly via the National Library of Australia database Trove, covering the period from 1920 to 1980. Recipes were variously titled Jellied Christmas Pudding, Jellied Plum Pudding, Gelatine Plum Pudding, Chocolate Plum Pudding, Cold Plum Pudding, Cold Christmas Pudding, etc.
[3] Weekly Times (Melbourne), 10 December 1921, p. 69.
[4] See also advertising Country Life Stock and Station Journal (Sydney), 31 October 1924, p. 5
[5] ‘A.D.F.A. Recipe Competition’, Argus, 4 July 1923, p. 20 https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/2015700?searchTerm=sunraysed
[6] More than 60 percent of the recipes in this survey used gelatine in combination with milk and/or cocoa and chocolate. For recipes included in ADFA publications see Sun-Raysed Dried Fruit and Raisin Recipes (Melbourne: Australian Dried Fruits Association, 192?), under the title Chocolate Plum Pudding, and in the Australian Sunshine Cookery Book (Melbourne: Australian Dried Fruits Association, 194?) as Jelly Plum Pudding.
[7] Cold Plum Pudding, Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 27 November 1949, p. 60. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248155577; Jellied Christmas Pudding, Australian Women’s Weekly, 2 December 1953, p. 40, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41080177
[8] Chocolate Plum Pudding, Mount Barker Courier and Onkaparinga and Gumeracha Advertiser (SA), 31 October 1930, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147849547; Jelly Plum Pudding, Table Talk (Melbourne) 17 December 1931, p. 31, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article147417153.
[9] Iced Plum Pudding, Mercury (Hobart) 25 November 1936, p. 14, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article30124716.
[10] Cold Plum Pudding, Daily Telegraph Sydney, 27 November 1949, p. 60, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article248155577.
[11] Jellied Christmas Pudding, Australian Women’s Weekly, 14 December 1955, p. 73, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48072238. Ingredients: One tablespoon cocoa, 2 cups milk, 1 dessertspoon coffee essence, ¼ cup minced peel, ½ cup chopped raisins, ¼ cup chopped sultanas, 6 tablespoons sugar, 1½ tablespoons gelatine dissolved in ¼ cup boiling water, ½ cup evaporated milk, 2 oz crystallised or glace cherries, 2 tablespoons brandy or sherry, trinkets or threepences, holly springs, whipped cream sweetened and flavoured with brandy. Method: Blend cocoa with milk, bring to boiling point. Add coffee essence, peel, raisins, sultanas and sugar. Simmer 5 minutes, allow to become cold. Fold in dissolved gelatine, evaporated milk, cherries, brandy, and trinkets or threepences. Stir occasionally until mixture begins to thicken, then spoon into individual moulds or recess-tins. Chill until set. Unmould and serve topped with a spoonful of brandy-flavoured whipped cream, decorate with holly.
[12] Golden Circle advertisement Cold Christmas Pudding, Australian Women’s Weekly, 11 December 1968, p. 51, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article45650025.
[13] Jellied Plum Pudding, Australian Women’s Weekly, 3 December 1938, p. 3, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55464709.
[14] Jellied Christmas Pudding, Examiner (Launceston), 3 November 1937, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52167823; Jellied Plum Pudding, Age (Melbourne) 27 November 1947, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article206055697.
[15] Jelly Plum Pudding, Chronicle (Adelaide) 24 December 1927, p. 73 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article90084124. Grape Nuts was an imported breakfast cereal, its various uses were promoted with recipes in newspapers and recipe booklets, for example Daily Telegraph 29 June 1907, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article238042693.
[16] Iced Jelly Plum Pudding, Sunday Mail (Brisbane) 15 December 1929, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97660385: Dissolve 1 packet lemon jellex in 1 pint boiling water, and while it is still hot stir in 1 cup coarse dried and browned breadcrumbs, ¾ cup of stoned raisins, ¾ cup walnuts, ¾ cup cooked prunes, and ½ cup citron peel, all cut finely, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon cloves and salt to taste. Mix and let harden. Stand on the ice, and when required slice it; serve with whipped cream or pudding sauce. For White’s jelly crystals and rice bubbles, Jellied Plum Pudding, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46461995, AWW 15 February 1936, p. 16; (The Times and Northern Advertiser (Peterborough, SA), 18 December 1936, p. 4). For Weetbix, see Jellied Plum Pudding, Longreach Leader (Queensland),18 December 1953, p. 4, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article124264240.
[17] A layered result may have been the intention of this recipe from a Brisbane newspaper, although the instructions are not explicit: Two pint packets of yellow or red jelly crystals as preferred. Melt the two packets of crystals in a scant pint and a half of boiling water. Wet a pudding basin. Pour in a thin layer of jelly. Cover with a layer of prepared fruits, then a layer of jelly. Continue until all material is used up. Then put away to set. The prepared fruits are ¼ lb of seedless raisins, ¼ lb currants, same of sultanas, 2 oz crystallised cherries, 1 oz blanched almonds, 1 oz walnuts. To prepare wash the fruit and cover with boiling water. Let stand 10 minutes and then dry thoroughly. Plum Pudding in Jelly, The Telegraph, 16 December 1935, p. 20, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article179944348.
[18] Jellied Christmas Pudding, Examiner (Launceston, Tas.), 3 November 1937, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article52167823
[19] Marshmallow Plum Pudding, The Land (Sydney), 6 December 1946, p. 22, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article105700572.
[20] Jellied Plum Pudding, Truth (Brisbane, Queensland), 20 December 1931, p. 24, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203925870; Jelly Plum Pudding, Macleay Argus (Kempsey, NSW) 24 December 1952, p. 2, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article234663173; Christmas Party Plum Puddings, Australian Women’s Weekly, 25 December 1968, p. 38, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46240751.
[21] Jellied Christmas Pudding, Labor Call, (Melbourne) 8 December 1938, p. 10, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article250006231. This recipe won a prize in the Australian Women’s Weekly, 11 December 1943, submitted by Mrs D. L. Paul, Adelaide. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article46936685 and was repeated in Chronicle (Adelaide), 6 December 1945, p. 26 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93338535. Dried bananas had at one time been suggested as an alternative to raisins, see Daily Telegraph (Sydney), 14 January 1899, p. 15.
[22] See earlier advertisement in Australian Women’s Weekly, 17 November 1945, p. 32 and reader’s contribution Jellied Christmas Pudding, Noosa News (Queensland), 10 December 1970, p. 8, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article260498196.
[23]Jellied Christmas Pudding, Noosa News (Queensland), 10 December 1970, p. 8. Noosa News (Qld.) 10 December 1970, p. 8 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article260498196. Repeated 7 December 1972, p. 4 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article260579566
[24] Jellied Christmas Pudding, Australian Women’s Weekly, 2 December 1970, p. 13 supplement “the old-time Christmas cook book’, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43600527. Repeated in Australian Women’s Weekly, 15 December 1971, p. 72 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article43600527.