Fruitcakes are a vacation deal with many individuals love — and lots of extra, it appears, like to hate. Stale jokes apart, although, the fruitcake has a protracted historical past that even predates Christmas itself.
It’s a meals merchandise that has withstood the take a look at of time, performed an necessary function in a number of cultures and comes with an astonishing sell-by date. and Georgia performs an enormous half in making the long-lasting vacation treats.
Listed here are 4 belongings you most likely don’t find out about fruitcake:
Fairly a shelf life
In line with Psychological Floss, fruitcake has fairly the shelf life. The tasty vacation deal with can age 25 years and nonetheless be loved, so long as it’s saved in an hermetic container.
In a 1983 New York Occasions column, Russell Baker claimed to personal an unlimited fruitcake as soon as gifted to President George Washington by a relative. After Washington allegedly refused the reward, because it was “unseemly for Presidents to just accept presents weighing greater than 80 kilos,” Baker’s kinfolk allegedly collect every vacation to eat a small portion of the huge cake — even to this present day.
Blame it on the Romans
The origin of the fashionable fruitcake could be traced again to historical Rome, Culinary Brokers reported. Historic Romans baked muffins known as satura — fruitcake’s great-, great-grandfather — with pomegranate seeds, pine nuts, raisins, barley mash and honeyed wine. The nutritious and long-lasting deal with was generally used as a subject ration for Roman troops.
After the autumn of Rome, completely different interpretations of the fruitcake started showing throughout Italy, Germany and Britain.
Fruitcake State? Georgia
Based in 1910, Georgia’s Claxton Bakery has a wealthy historical past of creating tasty seasonal treats. Within the bakery’s first 12 months of mass manufacturing, someday across the mid-Forties, the corporate produced 45,000 kilos of fruitcake. The merchandise stays a staple favourite on the iconic eatery.
The Trappist monks on the Monastery of the Holy Spirit in Conyers, Georgia, have their very own lengthy fruitcake custom. Like most Trappists, the brothers earn their revenue by gross sales of their reward retailer, together with their extremely well-liked fruitcake.
“Monk’s Fruitcakes are made by hand in our monastery kitchen utilizing solely the best substances,” the monastery’s web site stated. “The result’s a moist, Southern-style cake full of beneficiant parts of pecans, pineapple, raisins, dates and cherries. And, as a last crowning contact, Father Augustine ages his muffins with peach brandy and sherry to offer them their wealthy, unforgettable taste.”
The fruitcakes at Roswell’s Marilyn’s Gluten Free Connoisseur include a scrumptious historical past of their very own. Identified with a gluten intolerance in 2007, as reported by The Atlanta Journal-Structure, founder Marilyn Santulli made it her mission to craft tasty gluten-free treats. It began with an particularly artful gluten-free fruitcake recipe. Now her merchandise are bought all through regional Complete Meals and Kroger places, in addition to Georgia’s Piece of Cake, Alon’s Bakery and Mercier Orchards.
Nineteen Sixties’ area rations
Whereas the unique fruitcake was used to gas Rome’s troopers on their lengthy campaigns, the fashionable fruitcake was as soon as used to feed individuals even farther from residence. Throughout the Nineteen Sixties area race, fruitcake was a staple ration provided to astronauts — together with on the Apollo 11 mission — attributable to its shelf life, vitamins and the truth that it didn’t require refrigeration or cooking.
In line with Collin Road Bakery, the vacation deal with even made it onto the Apollo 17 moon mission.
