Sticky end? The British pudding faces extinction, English Heritage warns

The Guardian

2 days ago

At the end of the 17th century a French travel writer who crossed the Channel was clearly impressed by the sweet, comforting treats offered to him, declaring with relish: 'Ah! What an excellent thing is an English pudding!'
More than three centuries on, English Heritage has sounded the alarm that the good old British pudding is facing extinction.
Research from the charity suggests two-thirds of households in England, Wales and Scotland make puddings only once a month or less, while a third never bake or boil or steam one.
English Heritage warned that if nothing was done to stem the tide, the great British pudding will not exist in 50 years.
Dr Andrew Hann, a senior curator of history at English Heritage, said: 'Sweet puddings are closely intertwined with British history and it would be a huge shame for them to die out.'
For the purposes of this research, the charity defines puddings as cooked sweet courses that follow a main meal – so not just traditional 'puddings' typically made in mould or basins but also dishes such as apple pies or crumbles.
Hann waxed lyrical about the sort of puddings his mother would make. 'She regularly produced a delicious pudding after the main course – things like steamed sponge pudding with coming out of a pudding basin with the syrup dribbling down the side. There was a whole repertoire of delicious puddings. People are not generally making these sort of hot desserts but turning to things like ice-cream, yoghurts or fruit.'
English Heritage said recipes for sweetened meat pies from the medieval period had been found and that by the Tudor and Stuart times, puddings sweetened with honey or fruit were common, although many would also have contained meat.
Hann said puddings were once a luxury for the well-off but as sugar became more widely available, more people could enjoy them. The 20th century was probably the heyday of the British pudding.
'However, the research shows a clear shift away from the traditional dessert over the past 50 years,' Hann said. 'As more women entered the workforce from the 1970s onwards, households no longer had as much time to cook and started to prioritise convenience. If this decline continues, we can expect the classic great British pud to all but vanish within the next 50 years.'
The research, which was carried out by YouGov, found 2% of British households eat a daily homemade pudding.
While half of people born before 1970 said their parents made puddings several times a week, that was the case for only 26% of those born in the 1970s. The downward trend has continued since then.
In an attempt to reignite Britain's love affair with puddings, English Heritage has introduced two new pudding-inspired ice-cream flavours to its sites: sticky toffee and apple crumble and custard.
The charity is also launching The English Heritage Baking Book in early September. It contains recipes for all the nation's favourite puddings but also some of the forgotten ones, accompanied by notes on their history.
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Twelfth Night cakeBy the reign of Elizabeth I, Twelfth Night involved a celebratory cake, typically a rich, yeasty fruit bread flavoured with spices, and a token or bean hidden inside. The person who found the bean became the Lord of Misrule or King of the Bean, and would have to organise the evening's revelry. The cake survived the Reformation. People began to use eggs to raise the cake, and as sugar and fruit came down in price, the cake became less of a fruited bread and more like a rich fruit cake. Over time, it was replaced by the Christmas cake.
Soul cakeAlso know as a soulmass-cake, they were traditionally given to children or poorer people, known as 'soulers', who would go from door to door singing songs or reciting prayers over Allhallowtide (Halloween, Saints' Day, and All Souls' Day). There are written references to the custom from as far back as 1511. Records from the 19th century show soul cakes as roundels containing flour, butter, sugar, currants, spices and eggs.
Cabinet puddingSometimes known as chancellor's pudding, it was very popular in the Georgian era. A traditional bread-and-butter style pudding, it is made with dried fruits and moulded and steamed. Served with custard.
Anglo-Saxon cakeA lot of food eaten by Anglo-Saxons is still familiar. This cake was made with honey, butter, oats and dried fruit, and cooked in a heavy iron saucepan with a lid over a fire.
Source: English Heritage