Pudding Season Begins!

The History of Puddings

The speculative origin of puddings begins in man's distant past. Crude pudding-like dishes likely originated over open fires with the simple boiling of available ingredients. Before medieval times, they were mostly meat based, but with the advent of refined sugar, cooks experimented with sweeter combinations and found them tasty. By the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, people were making sweet puddings of flour, sugar, fruits, nuts, and spices. These were either baked in pans or boiled in a sheep's stomach or in pudding bags made of cloth. Elizabeth herself enjoyed serving elaborate puddings at her royal banquets. The royal table would be loaded with an abundance of rich-tasting, fancy puddings, fruit pies, and marchpanes. In those days, desserts were considered to be the essential part of a banquet or feast. By the late 1700s, few puddings contained meat, and sweet varieties such as bread, rice, and lemon became forever popularized, along with trifles, as desserts. Many of today's favorite pudding dessert recipes evolved from the earlier varieties once made in royal kitchens and crofter's cottages.

Chocolate mousse post coming soon....