Pssst. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. I love fruitcake!
Fruitcake, made with generous helpings of candied fruit, nuts, spices and sugar, has been the butt of jokes in radio, movies, television, books and memes for, well, forever.
Even comedian Johnny Carson, host of The Tonight Show from 1962-1992 once famously quipped: “There is only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people keep passing it around.”
Poor fruitcake – the original regift.
You might be surprised to know, however, that fruitcake was essentially the world’s first protein energy bar!
“Fruitcake’s great, great grandfather is the Roman Satura,” according to the online article titled “The History of The Fruitcake” posted 12/24/19 on www.culinaryagents.com . “The ancient Romans were looking for a way to sustain their troops in battle and developed a bread consisting of pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, raisins, barley mash and honeyed wine. This cake was packed with calories and lasted long enough to fortify a solder through an epic and exhausting campaign.”
The article went on to say that fruitcake make its way off the battlefields and into Roman homes as a dessert for special occasions once dried fruits became readily available. Eventually, many countries adapted the fruitcake recipe such as Italy’s panettone, Germany’s sugar-coated stollen and Great Britain’s plum pudding. Later, fruitcake made its way to America where today there are numerous wonderful bakers.
My personal favorite fruitcake baker is Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. They’ve been baking and shipping fruitcake around the world since 1896. For a special Christmas treat, I buy their DeLuxe® non-alcoholic fruitcake in a red, holly gift tin. What I love about it is that it’s chockful of pecans, pineapple, cherries, golden raisins, papaya and all-natural honey. It’s delicious served with coffee!
If you’d like to make your own fruitcake for the holidays, there are many recipes online with endless variations like chocolate, coconut or ginger and with liquid additions ranging from cranberry juice to rum.
What do you say about fruitcake? Yay or nay?