Plum Pudding Adventures

In our house, plum pudding was a Christmas Eve staple. We doused it with rum and sugar and set it on fire before serving with hard sauce. I’m not sure how this tradition started, except as a reenactment of the Cratchit’s dinner in A Christmas Carol. I brought it with me to my adult life, mostly to the horror of my in laws.

Plum pudding use to be readily available in the northeast thanks to the Crosse & Blackwell brand which was distributed through S.S. Pierce. The pudding was boxed. The hard sauce was jarred.

Nestle acquired Crosse & Blackwell in the 1960s and continued to carry plum pudding. The shift came in 2002 when the brand was sold to Smuckers and it disappeared.

Others brands, Walkers, Wilkins & Sons have stepped in to fill the void with the nomenclature Christmas Pudding, but procuring their products can be hit or miss and pricey. Oh, well, beggars can’t be choosers.

I started bringing plum pudding back from Montreal when my daughter’s ice hockey circuit made us regular visitors. In Canada, of course, plum pudding is in every grocer and market. So that was a reprieve, until 2020 when the borders closed.

According to my sister, I once made plum pudding, although I have no memory of it. A house guest brought a Cuisinart that include a wire bound James Beard Cookbook and I used that recipe. Apparently, it was delicious.

James Beard Recipe

A few years ago I was inspired to try and make my own again. I went so far as to purchase Pudding basins, which we now use for ice cream

I haven’t ventured out in search of pudding this season. Instead I ordered from The Vermont Country Store.

I always make my own hard sauce – using half a stick of softened, unsalted butter- ½ box of confectionery sugar- 2 oz Jim Beam-

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