Jubilee Puddings.

One more jubilee post for the time being, folks, for the royalists, the pudding fans, the word lovers, and the eternally historically curious amongst you. 

The word ‘jubilee’ was originally from the concept of a ‘jubilee year’, which, as I understand it, is a Jewish concept. The Oxford English indicates that the phrase has been in use in the English language since the fourteenth century, and explains it thus:

“Jubilee Year”: A year of emancipation and restoration, which according to the institution in Lev. xxv was to be kept every fifty years, and to be proclaimed by the blast of trumpets throughout the land; during it the fields were to be left uncultivated, Hebrew slaves were to be set free, and lands and houses in the open country or unwalled towns that had been sold were to revert to their former owners or their heirs.”

And later:

A year instituted by Boniface VIII in 1300 as a year of remission from the penal consequences of sin, during which plenary indulgence might be obtained by a pilgrimage to Rome, the visiting of certain churches there, the giving of alms, fasting three days, and the performance of other pious works.

It was at first appointed to take place every hundred years, but the period was afterwards shortened to fifty, thirty-three, and twenty-five years, and now ‘an extraordinary jubilee is granted at any time either to the whole Church or to particular countries or cities, and not necessarily or even usually for a whole year’ ( Cath. Dict. 1885).

In time, the concept became expanded to encompass any ‘time of restitution, remission, or release’, or a ‘season or occasion of joyful celebration or general rejoicing.’ More specifically, it came to refer to:

The fiftieth anniversary of an event; the celebration of the completion of fifty years of reign, of activity, or continuance in any business, occupation, rank or condition. silver jubilee (after silver wedding), a name for the celebration for the twenty-fifth anniversary; so diamond jubilee, applied to the celebration of the sixtieth year of the reign of Queen Victoria.

I don’t know if there is a particular qualifier for a seventieth anniversary, but given the apparent good health of Queen Elizabeth, and the longevity of her mother, I hope English wordsmiths are already onto it.

Given that any family or organisation can celebrate their own jubilees, there is no shortage of ‘jubilee puddings’ in the caveat that there is no knowledge or promise of any royal connections whatsoever in any of them.

Firstly, a variation on the universally popular theme of baked apples.

Jubilee Pudding.

Take six well-shaped apples, remove the cores, and put a piece of cinnamon in each. Placethe apples in a flat-bottomed basin, and pour a teaspoonful of brandy over each. Cover the top with a sheet of paper, and set in a pan ofboiling water to steam. When soft remove the cinnamon, and put a teaspoonful of strawberry jam in its place. Then dish them up in a pyramid, and pour over them all half a pint of whipped cream, flavoured with vanilla and sweetened with sugar.

Warwick Examiner and Times (St. Lucia, Qld.) May 16, 1896

And a jelly studded with jewelled fruits.         

Jubilee Pudding.

Make a pint of claret jelly: pour it into a small border mould; whip half a pint of cream in which is a quarter of an ounce of dissolved gelatine. When it is whipped solid, stir in one ounce of candied angelica, one ounce of preserved ginger, and one ounce of preserved apricot – the ginger and angelica cut small. Set on ice; then turn out. Pile the whipped cream and fruit in the centre, and decorate according to fancy.

Choice Cookery, (Bedford, MA, 1889) by Catherine Owen

And a choice of two steamed puddings, in case you live in one of the cooler parts of the world.

Jubilee Pudding

“641” (Melbourne) asks for a recipe for jubilee pudding which appeared some considerable time ago in these columns.

The recipe required may be one of the following: - (1) Put 2oz. of butter m a basin with quarter pound of sugar, the juice of half a lemon a little grated rind, a grate of nutmeg, and a pinch of powdered cinnamon. Work the butter to a cream, add two eggs, and beat for five minutes Then put in quarter pound of breadcrumbs, 3oz. sultanas, 2oz currants, 1 oz, crystallised ginger (chopped small), 1 ½ oz. chopped apple, l oz. of either raspberry or plum jam. Mix all together, put in a buttered mould, and steam for two hours. Serve with sweet sauce or cream. (2) One egg, two tablespoonfuls sugar, one and a half cupfuls milk, one tablespoonful butter, one cupful flour, one teaspoonful baking powder. Flavour with grated lemon rind or essence of lemon. Steam in a buttered mould for 35 minutes. Serve with sauce or jam.

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.) 14 July 1920

Quotation for the Day

Ponder well on this point: the pleasant hours of our life are all connected by a more or less tangible link, with some memory of the table.

Charles Pierre Monselet (1825-1888)