Scrumptious Figgy Pudding Recipes and Ideas | Homesteading (2024)

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What is traditional figgy pudding made of? ›

What Is Figgy Pudding Made Of? Traditional figgy pudding is a holiday dish made with flour, suet (a type of hard animal fat), figs, and other dried fruits. Some more modern versions, like this one, are made without suet.

Rather than creamy puddings and custards, which Southern cooks are familiar with, this Christmas pudding dates back to medieval England and is a steamed cake full of spices, raisins, and currants soaked in brandy.

Figgy pudding is fruity and very dense, and typically strongly flavored with brandy or rum. Its closest relative would probably be fruitcake, although figgy pudding is typically spicier and crumblier.

Figgy Pudding

“Now bring us some figgy pudding” is the well-known refrain of “We Wish You a Merry Christmas." So, here it is. This seasonal favorite is essentially the same as a Christmas pudding but with the sweet addition of – wait for it – figs.

Figgy pudding is a cake that is either baked or steamed. It is actually a form of a plum pudding, neither of which has figs nor plums but is primarily made from raisins.

Finding a Christmas coin in your slice of pudding is believed to bring good luck and especially wealth in the coming year. This lovely tradition may date back as early as the 1300s when a dried pea or sometimes a small silver ring or crown was baked into a Twelfth Night Cake.

It's a steamed cake full of raisins, currants and brandy. The traditions around the figgy pudding carry a lot of Christian symbolism, Waugh says. The classic dish had 13 ingredients — "representing Christ and the 12 apostles," she says — and was served with a sprig of holly on top, standing in for the crown of thorns.

SPAM^® Figgy Pudding brings a blend of warm spices and seasonal ingredients that will be the star in many wintertime recipe favorites. With notes of cinnamon and nutmeg combined with fig and orange flavors, you'll taste true holiday comfort that will have you caroling all season long.

Spam Figgy Pudding is a thing that exists now.

Figgy pudding today

That's likely why the dish also goes by a number of other names including plum porridge, Christmas pudding, and steamed pudding. And whatever the name, people still eat it today. In Britain, in particular, figgy pudding is still a Christmas staple.

Is plum pudding and figgy pudding the same thing? ›

Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood. In America, Christmas Pudding (also known as plum pudding or figgy pudding) is a dish as famous as it is misunderstood.

There are few foods as synonymous with the festive season as the humble Christmas pudding. Carolers demand it in We Wish You A Merry Christmas, Charles Dickens made it a centrepiece of the Cratchits' feast in A Christmas Carol and every year in the UK we eat a massive 25 million of the sweet treats.

Figgy pudding is a pudding in the British sense of the word, which means it is a steamed cakelike dessert. This particular Christmas version is traditionally made with suet (which is raw beef or mutton fat), eggs, brown sugar, breadcrumbs, spices, dried fruits and, last -- but certainly not least --- brandy.

The taste may be a little strange to some, but to me it smells and tastes like Christmas. The figgy pudding should always be served warm. If you can't serve it fresh out of the oven, it will taste just fine to warm it in the microwave for a few seconds."

The pudding we know today began life as a pottage. This was a kind of broth, including raisins and other dried fruit, spices and wine. It was thickened with breadcrumbs or ground almonds. Not dissimilar to the mince pies of yesteryear, it often included meat or at least meat stock.

Traditionally a silver coin (six pence) was hidden inside the Christmas Pudding. The silver coin brought good fortune to whomever was lucky enough to find it when the pudding was cut. The lights are turned off so people can see the flames. Christmas Pudding is served with custard or brandy sauce.

It was more of a wet, sticky, thick porridge consisting of boiled figs, water, wine, ground almonds, raisins and honey. It later evolved into incorporating ground meat and grains and then later still evolved into a steamed pudding that was made with raisins.

Adding silver coins into plum pudding is a fun Christmas tradition. The notion being that whoever finds the coin will have good luck. The tradition may date as far back as early as the 1300s when several small items like dried peas and chicken wishbones were added to the pudding mixture.