Fruitcake

Let me start by apologizing for picking such a divisive and polarizing topic. Especially as we are in the middle of the holiday season when we should put our differences aside and be thankful for all the things that we have. For our friends and family, our jobs, a roof over our head. A time when we should show love to our neighbors. Again, my sincerest apologies, but this is a very important topic that needs to be discussed. . . Obviously, I am talking about fruitcake. Either you love it, or you wonder why anyone in the world would ever touch it. Johnny Carson, who obviously was not a fan of the holiday baked good used to joke that there is only one fruitcake in the world, and people just keep regifting it to one another.  

What is it about fruitcakes that make people have such a strong opinion? There are fruitcake baking contests, fruitcake eating contests, and there is even a fruitcake throwing contest that takes place the last weekend in January each year in Manitou Springs, Colorado.  And, of course, there is a National Fruitcake Day which is celebrated each year on December 27. On the other hand, fruitcake is the butt of most Christmas jokes. Writer Deborah Papier once quipped: “For months they have lain in wait, dim shapes lurking in the forgotten corners of houses and factories all over the country and now they are upon us, sodden with alcohol, their massive bodies bulging with strange green protuberances, attacking us in our homes, at our friends’ homes, at our offices — there is no escape, it is the hour of the fruitcake.”

There are over a million recipes online for making fruitcake, and lots of them have titles like “World’s Best Fruitcake” or “The Most Delicious Fruitcake Ever”, but if I am being honest with you. . . I am not a fan.  I have tried fruitcake on more than one occasion, and I find it to be too sweet and too citrusy, and overall just not very palatable.  That being said, the fact that there are millions of fruitcake recipes online leads me to believe that there must be millions of people who love the holiday treat. Maybe I have just never tried a good one? I am willing to try again, and in my quest to find the recipe for the perfect fruitcake, I found one that had 131 positive reviews and a perfect 5 stars rating. This particular recipe came from a blogger who had a site called Cakes by MK. You can see her recipe by clicking here. 

I am going to leave you with some very interesting trivia about the fruitcake.

1. The earliest record of fruitcake was in ancient Rome. It was made with pomegranate seeds, raisins, and pine nuts and bound with mashed barley, honey, and wine.
2. The first mail-order fruitcake in the USA was in 1913.
3. Over 2 million fruitcakes are sold each year.
4. Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas sells roughly 1.5 million fruitcakes each year. Click here if you would like to browse their website or order one for a friend.
5. The plum pudding that is often discussed in British literature is the same (or quite similar) to fruitcake.
6. Fruitcake was banned in Europe at the beginning of the 17th century for being “sinfully rich”. This ban lasted a few decades.
7. The Diamond Fruitcake, created in 2005 was worth 1.65 million dollars. All of it was edible with the exception of the 223 small diamonds that were pressed into it.

Whether you are one who finds comfort in the taste of fruitcake or, like myself you despise it, let’s all try to put our differences aside and enjoy the wonders of the holiday season.