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There is a tradition involving fruitcakes which most folks currently alive are unaware of. Yes, people make fruitcakes for eating, often with whiskey of some sort, perhaps even with a small amount inside the container so that the fumes enrich the cake. However, these are not the fruitcakes traditionally given as gifts. Even if the tradition is no longer remembered by most of the people who follow it.
All true gift fruitcakes were made before or just after the outbreak of war in Europe, in 1914. As ingredients became scarce, people who received fruitcakes simply regifted them. This practice quickly spread, even to nations not involved directly in the conflict, as a symbol of solidarity. After the war finally ended the tradition continued. Giving and getting one of these fruitcakes became an act of shared travails and remembrance of those lost.
Today, original regifted fruitcakes have become rare. Down through the decades some of these fruitcakes have been lost. Some have been damaged beyond reuse, though that is becoming more rare as they age. Some have been hoarded as family heirlooms. A few have even been (*GASP!*) eaten. (This usually happens only once per family.) A few remain in circulation.
So learn to value the gift of a traditional fruitcake. Then pass it along. It will long outlast you.
If you believe this, please send $5.00 to my PayPal account... ;-)
Stickmaker
Comments
Urban legend
Urban legend has it that there was only one fruitcake made in the United States. It was made in a small town in Texas in 1850 and has been sent through the mail every Christmas each year since then.
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Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
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Ich bin eine Mann
well
I know of people that made fruitcakes. The ingredients seem rather random. However I do know it was a dare, as children, to eat one.
Shelf life of fruitcakes
I can attest that they have an incredible span.
I will this year finally finish the last piece of one I bought from Costco 7 years ago which I have kept in a fridge.
At first glance, yes it is dry as anything and it will take a saw to cut a piece off but the dryness is necessary to prevent degradation.
However, a very good reconstitution can be done by wrapping the piece to be eaten in a very water saturated mass of paper towels and placing the combination into a microwave safe dish and microwaving it until the fruitcake piece rehydrates. Obviously a little experimentation is needed depending on the mass and type of fruitcake is involved.
It is obviously not as good as fresh but it is still surprisingly good.
So, it may not be as much of an urban legend as one might think.
Next year I will finally get a new one and I am set for another 7 years.
Fruitcake!
I've read that the making of it dates back to the Middle ages, although there are no records of anyone actually eating one :)
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.