[Sca-cooks] Fruitcakes

[Elaine Koogler]

Micaylah wrote:

>>Sad, but true:
>>
>>I am one of the 4 people on Earth that like fruitcake.
>>Another is my mother, whom I blame.
>>
>>Yes, I realize that this statement is a blatant admission of
>>apallingly bad taste, but making this announcement on this
>>list, before the world, as it were, is strangely liberating.
>>
>>So there it is. I'm out of the closet. I like fruitcake!
>>
>>Berelinde
>>    
>>
>
>I love fruitcake. We don't buy ours, we make it. In my family, in one
>variation or another, we have been making it for 100+ years. In the
>depression my Mothers family was fortunate enough not to feel the pinch too
>much. What they did for Christmas was make wonking amounts of cake at the
>end of October (when all fruitcake should be made to allow the flavours to
>marry), and then distributed it to the poorer folks of Winnipeg. This was
>an annual tradition for them.
>
>When I was little, I remember taking my turn with the "stirring of the
>cake". Which was no mean feat considering my Mother made 25lbs of both dark
>and light Christmas cake. She then mailed it to friends and relatives who
>counted on her to do so. We still bake the cakes in 60 yr old 2 piece tins,
>lined with shortening lard and thick brown paper.
>
>Things are a little different now. Quantities have diminished and my Mother
>and I now share the baking. I make the dark cake as its a much heavier
>cake, and I cant see my 80+ yr old Mother stirring this. Too funny. Anyway,
>I can also be more boozy than with the light cake. lol
>
>I think there are lots of people out there that like fruitcake. Every year
>I watch my fruitcake disappear at any holiday entertaining I do. I also
>bring it to camping events and have no problems sharing it then either. I
>believe its more of a traditional North American cultural thingy to joke
>about and dislike fruitcake. I also imagine that dried out commercial cakes
>which use inferior ingredients is what gives Fruitcake a bad rap. Make your
>own and try it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised what "real"
>fruitcake tastes like.
>
>Micaylah
>  
>
What a wonderful tradition and memory!  I know you must treasure it.  I 
treasure the recipes that I have from my mother and grandmother...and 
they all sort of mean "Christmas" to me.  It's a marvelous time of the 
year, and I guess I'm so sentimental about it because I grew up with 
family traditions that made it extra-special.  One of the major regrets 
that I have about not having any children is that I have no one to pass 
these traditions on to.

Kiri