[Sca-cooks] One of the original fruitcakes has been admittedto ; -)

[Sue Clemenger]

Perhaps they had plums in them at one point, but have just retained the
name, the way most modern mincemeat pies contain no meat? Or maybe it
was related to "sugarplums," which at one point were certainly preserved
plums, but by the 18th c. seem to have become more inclusive ("visions
of sugarplums", etc.).
This particular American doesn't like the candied fruit in your ordinary
fruitcake--color, texture don't bother me, and the booze is just fine!
<g> When I've had fruitcakes made with other, dried fruits, or with
home-candied fruits, I've liked it just fine, although I'm not a huge
cake person.  I suspect it's more the glace cherries and pineapple in my
case--I've had candied citron peel in things like (oh, hell, what *is*
the name of that stuff) that festive, sweet Italian bread that's made
with a fairly soft dough.....
gack.  I need coffee!
--maire

"Phil Troy/ G. Tacitus Adamantius" wrote:
> 

> Apples often make it into a Christmas or "plum" pudding (which
> usually contains no form of plums, and may be a corruption of the
> word "plump"), but they're generally included in fresh form, chopped
> or grated to variegate texture. Plum pudding is basically only a
> steamed fruitcake anyway (and yet hasn't got quite the awful
> reputation of fruitcake).
> 
> After reading through several people's impressions and ideas, I'm
> beginning to get the idea (sort of like being hit with a window sash
> weight wrapped in a towel gives one ideas ;-)  ) that many Americans
> don't like fruitcake because of 1) its heterogeneous texture, 2) the
> nature of the fruit itself, sometimes preserved beyond recognition,
> 3) its dark color (which we normally reserve for chocolate products
> and steaks), and 4) the booze.