Why is Fruitcake So Maligned?

RadishRose

RadishRose

SF VIP
Location
Connecticut, USA
I like fruitcake alot. I hear friends don't give friends fruitcake. Well, they can give it all to me.

What's so bad about it?
 

Cuz it`s icky??

LOL-J/K. I don`t think I`ve ever even tried it. Kind of like the earlier post about mincemeat.

You do realize that there is only a single fruitcake in this world,right? It just gets passed from person,to person,to person....

I`m so bad....
 
I was thinking about this very thing just the other day and wondering that, too. Gosh, until my kids grew up and left home (maybe 25-30 years ago?), I always made fruitcake at the end of October (because that's when my mother and grandmothers made it!) wrapped it in cheesecloth soaked in brandy and stored until Christmas so it could "ripen". I liked fruitcake. My kids liked fruitcake. Nobody I knew gave fruitcake as gifts because it was too darned expensive to make. We kept fruitcake for ourselves!

And Mrs. R, I wouldn't give you a nickel for mincemeat pie, but mincemeat cookies? To die for!
 
I was joking the other day and said that there has only been one fruitcake and it has been passed down for thousands and thousands of years and that there is an Egyptian hieroglyphic showing priests trying to put a fruitcake in a sarcophagus and the mummy fighting them off with a staff. And then yesterday, I read that fruitcakes were actually made in ancient Egypt and were a popular item to put into tombs for the hereafter. Hey, I'm smarter than I thought I was......
 
Only time I'll touch cake which features fruit is when there whipped cream involved such as strawberry shortcake, well also Ice cream and strawberry and bananas.

I'll never forget the time I was visiting my dad and I was left in the room a few minutes too long and though I probably was told not to snack there was cake sitting there tempting and daring me to eat it. Of course I took a piece of that cake and I spit it almost as fast as I put it in my mouth; it was fruitcake. I'll never forget that first taste and I've tried to consume it as an adult, just can't acquire a taste for it, I find it dreadful and like some can't figure out why some find it dreadful, I always marvel when I hear someone say they actually like it. Those people are a curious few to me. Really, I'm not kidding, but then I feel that the same when I see someone likes to eat beef tartare or beef brains. But who am I to blink at anyone, I like eating pork rinds on occasion. :D

Anyway, my dad and his sisters, my aunts, seemed to like it, his sisters seemed to have it around their homes as well and offered it up, they sure knew how to make sure the kids didn't sneak off with the snacks.
 
jujube said:
I was joking the other day and said that there has only been one fruitcake and it has been passed down for thousands and thousands of years and that there is an Egyptian hieroglyphic showing priests trying to put a fruitcake in a sarcophagus and the mummy fighting them off with a staff. And then yesterday, I read that fruitcakes were actually made in ancient Egypt and were a popular item to put into tombs for the hereafter. Hey, I'm smarter than I thought I was......
Click to expand...

See? I told ya....
 
I don't really like fruitcakes, but some are better than others. They seem to be super sweet to me lately, and I like sweets. Lots of jokes about people re-gifting their holiday fruitcakes. :D
 
Nope, none for me, but thanks anyway. I have often heard people called "fruit cakes." Anybody know how that got started?
 
It's the worst possible way to serve fruit. As long as there are pies, cobblers, regular cakes, ice cream, fruit salad, or just a bowl of fruit, why would anyone waste good fruit by making a fruit cake?
 
I have had good fruitcake and bad, my SIL makes a 'Lemon Nut' cake every Christmas that is wonderful, it has pecans and white raisins and a whole bottle of lemon extract in it.
 
I love fruitcakes as well, and have tried different brands. There is a monastery near me where the monks make and sell fruitcakes, fudge and cheese and I plan to order a fruitcake from them and try it.

However, I did see a bumper sticker recently that said "Friends Don't Give Friends Fruitcakes for Christmas". I laughed out loud but still may send some fruitcakes and fudge from the monastery to my friends.
 
Fun facts about fruitcake...http://mentalfloss.com/article/60595/15-fun-facts-about-fruitcake


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My mother and sister made a fruit cake with mostly cake and a few gum drops, raisins and nuts. That was my idea of fruit cake before getting married. We went to visit my wife's ancient aunt one Christmas and she offered me a piece of fruit cake. Nothing but candied horrible tasting fruit pressed into a loaf. I took one bite, the aunt was focusing on me and I couldn't swallow it. So for the next 45 minutes I held what was left in a napkin and that one inedible bite in my mouth and nodded when asked a question until we said our goodbye's. I got out of sight and spit it out in the snow. It's probably still in the same condition as it was 45 years ago.
 
Soak the fruit overnite in rum Then mix ingredient & bake in oven.
Pour more rum on when cooled then seal for a couple of weeks.
One slice & your over the limit for driving.....YEH!!!!!!!
 
I love good fruitcake too, especially one that's very dark and moist with lots of brandy in it and good with cheddar cheese. Haven't had a great one for years though. Too bad they are expensive to buy and expensive to make, and all that dried fruit and maraschino cherries are loaded with preservatives which I don't think are too healthy.
 
Maybe it was because of our strict liquor laws in my home state, no nefarious liquid allowed without a state stamp, and it could only be sold from a state licensed liquor store. The only fruitcakes that were legal were the dried up, nasty tasting, crunchy fruit kind.
 

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