At this time of
the year the thoughts of professional countrywomen the world over turn to
Christmas and if you haven’t already make your plans now is the time to do so. Make them now and make
sure everyone knows what they are! As you will see below, the Sunday before
Advent is a traditional Pudding-making day so why not make it our own day where
we check where we are with our Christmas planning. The fifth Sunday before Christmas is a great
day to make lists, tick them off, check that bookings have been made, menu decided,
turkey ordered, hair dresser booked, everyone given a job etc etc. Get your journal out and make your own list and have a more tranquil enjoyable festive season.
Stir Up Sunday
This coming
Sunday is the Sunday before the traditional season of Advent and that means
it’s Stir Up Sunday. Traditions are those rituals that bring meaning and depth
to our lives and for us modern busy human doings it is wise to bring some of
that back into our family life. Stir up Sunday is a very old Christian
tradition that takes its name from the Anglican Book of Common Prayer where the
prayer for the Sunday before Advent starts with the above words. The cooks or mothers in the
congregation would immediately say to themselves “Goodness Gracious – that
reminds me – time to stir up the Christmas Pudding!” So off home they would go
to get the pudding on.
It was always the day that the family got
together to make the pudding; and was an opportunity to show the children how
to prepare it and to take turns at stirring the mix and making a wish. That’s when coins were added too –which is
another tradition you may have heard of. I don’t know how many teeth have been
broken over the years by crunching on a thruppence but I think I will give this
one a miss. Unless you put a $2 coin in, no modern child is going to be that
interested and really if you put those in there would be no room for the actual
pudding
I have been the
pudding queen of the family since taking over that role from my Grandmother and
also made them for the markets for years. They don’t take long to actually put
together but it does take a long time to steam – a 2 kg one takes at least 5
hours so you need to be around for that.
You can make smaller size ones for gifts especially for older folk who
may be on their own. Pop the pudding into an oven bag (one without holes) and
wrap in calico. Add a red bow and it turns into something very special.
Elderflower Champagne
This week is also the last week that you are going to get a decent brew of bubbles from the beautiful elderflowers blooming in our hedgerows right now if you want some of this special drink for Christmas. Mine is brewing in buckets in the kitchen and it is quick and easy to make. I have
republished the recipe below. I am
making extra this year as it is a really refreshing drink and we fought over
the 6 month old bottles of it we found recently. Delicious and so the taste of summer.
For this recipe
you will need 7 large Elderflower heads –about the size of a lunch plate or
saucer, a clean plastic bucket and some bottles. Start with recycled small
sized fizzy drink bottles and lids.
(750ml or less). I have also been
valiantly working my way through those small bottles of Lindaur and saving them because they are a good size and useful for
those drinks that ferment in the bottle.
Dissolve 500g
sugar in 2 litres of hot water in your clean plastic bucket.
Add another 2 and
a half litres of cold water.
Add 2 tablespoons
of white or cider vinegar plus the juice of 2 lemons.
Add flowers
Leave in a
covered container for 24 hours. The timing is important – try to be exact.
After the 24
hours is up, strain and bottle. We
strain through a muslin cloth.
Bottle.
Leave in a cool
dark place for 6 weeks.
Chill before
serving. Enjoy.
