Christmas pudding! What could be more traditional than the cannonball shaped pud topped with cream and holly. But the origins of one of our favourite seasonal desserts aren‚Äôt as old as we all think. There is a popular myth that plum pudding’s association with Christmas goes back to a custom in medieval England that the “pudding should be made on the 25th Sunday after Trinity, that it be prepared with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and the 12 apostles, and that every family member stir it in turn from east to west to honour the Magi and their supposed journey in that direction”. However, recipes for plum puddings appear mainly, if not entirely, in the 17th century and later. There is a popular and wholly unsubstantiated myth that in 1714, King George I (sometimes known as the Pudding King, which today would probably be used as the name for a rotund YouTuber) requested that plum pudding be served as part of his royal feast in his first Christmas. It was not until the 1830s that the cannonball of flour, fruits, suet, sugar and spices, all topped with holly, made a definite appearance, becoming more and more associated with Christmas. In 1747, London food writer Hannah Glasse had given a recipe for Christmas plum porridge, but it appears that East Sussex cook Eliza Acton (Delia Smith‚Äôs first regeneration) was the first to refer to it as “Christmas Pudding” in her cookbook. The custom of eating Christmas pudding was carried to many parts of the world by British colonists, however, it is not generally as popular and common a dish outside the UK, like malt loaf and bowler hats! It was common practice to include small silver coins in the pudding mixture, which could be kept by the person whose serving included them, or whose teeth they broke! The usual choice was a silver three-pence or a six-pence. The coin was believed to bring wealth in the coming year, although with today‚Äôs dentistry bills, that belief probably wouldn‚Äôt bare true. Once turned out of its basin, decorated with holly, doused in what‚Äôs left of the Christmas brandy (or alternatively rum if you‚Äôre feeling piratical) and flamed, the pudding is traditionally brought to the table ceremoniously (unless the brandy has been completely ransacked, in which case it‚Äôs brought to the table staggeringly) and greeted with a round of (probably drunken) applause. So when you‚Äôre lighting up your puds this Christmas, give a thought to its origins, and marvel at how your mother or father is still able to get the recipe wrong after so many years of dessert evolution.