SC - Sweets to the sweet, have some fruitcake...

[David & Sue Carter]

Magdalena replied to:
> > Here, the tradition is to save it for the first wedding aniversery. From
> > personal experience, and other reports, I can say it is usually not very
> > good by then. Maybe the British have their first born much sooner or
> > they have stronger stomachs. :-)
>

With:
> Or maybe they save it in the freezer...   ;>
>
> -Magdalena
>
Now both my Nannas and I suspect my Great-Nanna Hibbert will be getting
ready to roll in theirs graves at the thought of freezing a good fruit cake
:).
A well constructed, traditional fruit cake, finished off with real marzipan
(something which is period) and a good stiff icing (some types are
Elizabethan, most are Victorian era) which has been wrapped in greaseproof
paper and stored in an earthen ware crock in a stone pantry will last years.
Watch the reruns of Upstairs Downstairs and catch the cook, Mrs Bridges for
a practical example of Mrs Beeton in action. (and bytheway, what my Great
Nanna did for a living late last century)

I double checked with my mother who saved her top tier from her wedding cake
(1955) stored it until it was served at my christening (1965), it had not
been frozen, merely wrapped and stored albeit with help from aluminium foil.
It was perfectly edible, although the icing had discoloured to a fawn
colour.

We still make Christmas puddings two to three years ahead of use and my
father swears a pickled onion hasn't matured yet until it is a year old but
he can't stay away from them to let them get much older than two:).

To get all scientific, I suspect its about controlling the microbes and
their access to free water.

Anyway, enough from this lurker, who is anticipating prawns on a warm
Christmas day way down south.

Sue Carter
Adelaide, South Australia


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