1
Rum was used in the original “Hard sauce”. Cumberland rum butter was spread on warm oatcakes or scones and was always served to welcome a new baby and at Christenings in the north west of England. The butter was supposed to promise the goodness in life, rum – the spirit of life, sugar - the sweetness, and nutmeg (an essential ingredient of rum) the spice of life. It was this connection with new-born babies that ensured it gradually became accepted throughout the UK.
2
Spiced biscuits are Christmas fare throughout Germany and Scandinavia and incorporate seven different spices, representing the seven days it took God to make the world. The crisp iced biscuits, or lebkuchen were originally baked in monasteries 700 years ago.
3
Christmas pudding originated as a 14th century “Porridge” called frumenty, it was made by boiling beef, mutton, fruits, spices and wine. This would be eaten as a soup, and was a fasting dish in preparation for the Christmas festivities. By 1595 frumenty was evolving into plum pudding that was thickened with eggs and breadcrumbs. It was George I who established it as part of the Christmas feast in 1664 and the Victorians who evolved the pudding into something similar to the ones we eat today
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