Plum Pudding Disaster!

Peig Sayers

My mother has just rung me in a panic! She has 4 puddings steaming and she's forgotten to put in the sugar!

Any work-arounds for this? I have a bottle of cinnamon syrup. If she puts some holes in the puddings when they're done and dribbles in the syrup will this work? Any ideas gratefully received!

phormium

I actually wouldn't bother doing anything with them, the dried fruit is very sweet anyway. I have a brack recipe with no sugar at all and it nearly tastes sweeter than the other kind.

When they are cooked tell her just take a little spoonful out of the base of one and taste it, I'd be surprised if it makes a major difference unless they are very light on the fruit.

Less calories for everyone on the day

Peig Sayers

phormium wrote: »

I actually wouldn't bother doing anything with them, the dried fruit is very sweet anyway. I have a brack recipe with no sugar at all and it nearly tastes sweeter than the other kind.

When they are cooked tell her just take a little spoonful out of the base of one and taste it, I'd be surprised if it makes a major difference unless they are very light on the fruit.

Less calories for everyone on the day

Thanks! She's in a panic. She has loads of luxury fruit mix and plenty of whiskey in them. We'll do a taste test when they're done!

Teyla Emmagan

Hmmm. The sugar is what preserves them, along with the booze. There mightn't be enough in the fruit to keep them from going off until Christmas day. Brack is different, it's not meant to sit around for months. I would be doing more googling OP.

Your poor Mum though, the price of fruit.

Peig Sayers

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

Hmmm. The sugar is what preserves them, along with the booze. There mightn't be enough in the fruit to keep them from going off until Christmas day. Brack is different, it's not meant to sit around for months. I would be doing more googling OP.

Your poor Mum though, the price of fruit.

Thanks. I did find a recipe without sugar but it didn't say how long you could keep it for. She's been making puddings for over 60 years and this is her first disaster! She was thinking of dissolving some sugar and pouring it over when they're done and still hot but I don't know whether that would work?

wildwillow

Sugar is no problem for taste but may be for preserving. Why not freeze them till needed, or have Christmas at Halloween!

Peig Sayers

wildwillow wrote: »

Sugar is no problem for taste but may be for preserving. Why not freeze them till needed, or have Christmas at Halloween!

Ta, no room for 4 large puddings in the freezer and they're all for presents!

Wrap them in cling film and boil for about half an hour. Take out of water and the cling film should seal itself and help with preserving. Store in fridge. Remove clingfilm and replace with grease proof paper before giving as presents.

wildwillow

On a more serious note they should be ok till Christmas. Once they are steamed don't open the pudding so it will be sterile. There is probably enough natural sugar from the fruit and this with the booze should be enough of a preservative. Consider that a "normal" pudding will last for at least a year, so two months is very little time.

During the war years in England and the Emergency here many people cooked very successfully without sugar,

Maybe keep one and have a little taste before distributing the others for presents.

phormium

They will be fine until Christmas, stick in the fridge if you want to be careful but there is usually so much fruit in a pudding that it will be sufficient sugar to preserve for that length of time. I always cut the sugar drastically to about a quarter of the recipe I use and they last just fine.

Peig Sayers

Thanks everyone! They'll be finished cooking at 7 so she's going to pour some extra whiskey over them then. She doesn't feel so bad now!

Taste tested one and it was lovely and sweet!

Faith

Sugar also contributes to structure, so leaving it out could have an impact on that?

phormium

Not as important in a heavy fruit pudding, pretty dense sort of things, be different if it was sponge cake.