My Plum Duff has No Plums in it! What a duffer!

I am sure it comes as no surprise to you that my Plum Duff has no plums in it. Plum Duff is a steamed pudding.  King George called it Plum Duff , demanded it at Christmas in 17 something and was called the Pudding King from then on.  On the old sailing ships it was called Plum Duff. It was made with raisins and dough and boiled.   My father spent some time at sea as a young man, I think that is why our Christmas Pudding was always greeted with shouts of  The Plum Duff!  For Christmas they fancied it up of course and called it Christmas Pudding.

This was one of the traditional Christmas puddings in our home in New Zealand.  Which is really pretty wild, considering that Christmas is in the middle of summer and we lived at the beach. Mum would serve it steaming with hot custard to pour over the top, and hokey pokey icecream beside it. The cold of the ice cream and the hot of the pudding is a wonderful memory.

Plum Duff is also called Plum Pudding, Christmas Pudding, Christmas Bag Pudding and a few more. 

I was looking at Pease Puddings Christmas cake when I began making the Plum Duff and she has introduced dried tropical fuits to her cake. She did this because she is living in New Zealand in a warm christmas climate. So I thought I would try that with a Christmas pudding because I am not living in New Zealand and I miss the warm Christmas climate.

I should have started this on Advent Sunday (the fourth Sunday before Chrtistmas Day.) But ah well.

I minced two and a half cups of packed dried fruit. Dried mango, apricot, dates, raisins, sultanas and a few peels of fresh  lime and orange. A few prunes too.  You can put in whatever you fancy. I pulsed this in a reluctant food processor, then covered it with brandy and it sat for a week.

First using your fingers dust the fruit with the flour.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients then the wet ingredients.

Flour a big piece of cheese cloth.

Spoon the stiff mixture onto the cloth. Wrap it, tie it, leaving enough space for the cake to rise within, then make a loop, pass your wooden spoon through the loop and lower into the boiling water.

Simmer on a hot woodstove for 2 1/2 hours. 

Mum made hers in a stainless steel bowl with a lid she made from tin foil. She set this into a pot of boiling water and it floated and bobbed about in there, cooking madly, while Mum thought of a way to get it out without burning herself to death when it was cooked. A double boiler might have been a more sensible idea.

Recipe for Plum Duff

• 2 1/2 cups minced dried fruit.
• 2 cups flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup wheatgerm
• 1 teaspoon each nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger.

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon rum essence, or almond essence or vanilla essence.

• You can also add almonds. Or more sugar if you like it sweeter. Or use a box of pre made fruit mince. In the old days they added a silver coin for good luck (or bad luck if your tooth hit it). The recipe, per se, has been round since the 1700’s so feel free to play with it! 

I cut a wee piece out so that I could do a taste test.  It is lighter in colour due to the lighter fruits and is good!  Now the  pudding can be wrapped and stored until Christmas Day.  Then reheated and served with  hot custard and cold hokey pokey ice cream!

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