Charles Dickens said, "a fruitcake is a geological
homemade cake."
What's the deal with fruitcake? I mean, everyone seems
to hate it, but it always ALWAYS seems to be around, doesn't it?
Where does it come from? Who actually makes it? Do people actually
EAT it? Why is fruitcake such a well-known holidaytime joke? It's
the holiday season, and I wanted to know all about the magic of
fruitcake, so I did some investigating! Here's what I came up with:
First of all, the first record of fruitcake dates all the
way back to Roman times. They made it with all sorts of seeds and
stuff. Then, in the middle ages, people made their fruitcake a little
sweeter with the help of honey and a little spicier with the help of
different spices.
Still, the history of fruitcake is also really closely
related to the long-ago (Europe in the 1700's) nut harvests. After
the harvest was complete, they mixed a whole bunch of nuts from the
harvest together and made a fruitcake that they SAVED until the
harvest the NEXT year. That next year, they chowed down on the old
fruitcake, hoping it would bring them another successful harvest. Lots
of people in history used fruitcake for different things, but the
funny thing is that very few people ever seemed to actually EAT the
fruitcake. It's more like they go through the trouble of baking it
for some sort of ceremony or something and they never usually quite
got around to actually EATING it. Freaky, huh?
Now, way back in 1913, a company started a mail-order fruitcake
business. This mail-order thing is largely responsible for the fact
that fruitcake still has lots of popularity today. I mean, it's pretty
much proven that people would never actually buy fruitcake for themselves,
instead they buy it to send to others. :-)
Now, if you are a lover of fruitcake, I am totally sorry if
I'm offending you. But, facts are facts. Loads of people around the
country really only consider fruitcake as a doorstop or bird food (or a
handy brick for the fireplace) instead of something you actually eat!
So, the mystery of fruitcake continues...is it magic, or just plain gross?
You be the Judge.
Just a little light hearted Fun for this holiday time!
