Christmas Baking is a strange thing. I spent a few hours this weekend making mincemeat. Everyone I have told about this thought it odd that I should choose to grind my own beef when there is perfectly good packets of the stuff in the supermarkets. What has happened to our generation? Am I the only person I know who used to bake with my mother?
I have one vague memory of making mincemeat with my Mum. I mostly remember the extreme angst that surrounded the baking required for the festive season. There were two very distinct phases of my childhood; the one in which Mum cooked everything, even making her own pizza dough and cheese soufflés (my favourite mother-dish), and the second, in which all unnecessary cooking was abandoned. This included dough and mincemeat, Christmas cake and soufflé. Sadly. I think these periods must have coincided with the year that my father gave my mother a food processor for Christmas. It was the final straw and the poor object was never used except by me to whisk eggs.
For the record mincemeat is a mixture of chopped dried fruit, distilled spirits and spices and suet and although originally it did contain meat, it doesn’t any longer. ‘Mincemeat, and similar variants are found in the UK, Ireland, Brittany, northern Europe, as well as the United States and Canada. It is not to be confused with minced or ground meat.
This whole vein of thought reminds me of the book that Simon gave you “Baking with Jesus” written by that priest who loved the lord through the medium of bread. Maybe he had a point. I am not a believer in any kind of God but I do still hold some fondness for the idea that Christmas is Jesus’ birthday. If you were going to commune with God at this time of year wouldn’t baking be one of the best ways? Besides all we really do at Christmas now is eat. It amazes me that no one I know is baking anything for Christmas. Even if they only believe in better television over the holidays.
This apparently unpopular weekend activity also led me to the resolve of one of the great conundrums that has troubled me often; what is the difference between a currant, a raisin and a sultana?
Here is what I found out:
There are two distinct fruits which are called currants: (1) the dried zante grape; like a raisin which is used in baked goods and (2) a fresh tiny berry related to the gooseberry. Currents are black, red, or white. The black ones are used for preserves, syrups and liqueurs; while the red and white berries are for eating out of hand. They come from Greece.
The sultana is a type of white, seedless grape of Turkish or Iranian origin. It is also the name given to the raisin made from the same grape (!). They are typically larger than the currants made from Zante grapes, but smaller than "normal" raisins. Sultana raisins have a delicate and unique flavor and are especially noted for their sweetness and golden colour.
And finally, raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world, such as the United States, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Mexico, Greece, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, China, Afghanistan, Togo, and Jamaica, as well as South Africa and Southern and Eastern Europe.
Does it not strike you as amazing that we have developed three separate ingredients all made from the same thing (in varying degrees) and that all three of them are vital in the making of mincemeat?
I consider it my Christmas miracle.
