Down below we have included a recipe for Sugar Plums. If you’d like to get right to it, just click the button.
If you compare notes with your friends, you’ll probably discover that the holiday traditions your family practiced while you were growing up, and that you continue as an adult, differ in some ways that defy explanation.
Maybe your family opened gifts on Christmas Eve and then slept in on December 25. Perhaps you had to wait at the top of the stairs on Christmas morning while your parents arranged things around the tree.
But regardless of those details, if you grew up in the Western Hemisphere, your holidays were surely influenced by a meme: sugar plums.
You’re familiar with memes – those silly s or videos that get passed around the internet. But I’m thinking of them in a different context.
A meme is an idea, behavior, or style that spreads by means of imitation from person to person within a culture and often carries symbolic meaning representing a particular phenomenon or theme.
And while we assume that sugar plums are real things, how many of us have actually seen, let alone tasted, one? Are they really real?
For this week’s post, I’m going to provide some proof. Not about Santa Claus, Virginia. Just about sugar plums.
Stalking the Wild Sugar Plum
Earlier this year, after we arrived in Portugal, we looked through the Guidebook to see what Mimi had to say about Portuguese food. It was a short section – only three Portuguese dishes were mentioned – and they were combined with some others under the heading “Spanish and Portuguese”. That’s a combination that some of our new neighbors might take issue with. Wars have been fought, etc.
One of the dishes that Mimi highlighted was sugar plums. I made a note – “write about this in December” – and here we are. When you start asking “what are sugar plums?”, you find some interesting, and contradictory answers. Here’s what I learned.
A Quick Trip Down Memory Lane – Remembering Our Origin Story
We launched The Cook and The Writer in August, 2018. It was the result of a brief discussion that Mary and I had one day. Something like this:
Mike: I’m looking for a good writing project.
Mary: How about we start a food and travel blog?
Mike: Great idea. How hard can that be?
(For now, we’ll set aside the obvious naivete of my question or my complete inability to grasp the scope of a complex topic. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve asked that question, and I’m sorry to say that the lessons I’ve learned have never stuck with me.)
Almost as quickly as we made the decision to start the blog, we selected Mimi Sheraton’s book “1,000 Foods to Eat Before You Die” as our Guidebook. This was a far better decision, because it gave us a source of ideas that led us to try some things we might never had tried, like Hakka salt-baked chicken and rose petal jelly. It also gave us extra inspiration to seek out new foods and experiences while traveling. During a trip to Italy and Sicily in 2019, we tore a section out of the book and took it with us to help us focus on the unique foods in the area.
Victorian Christmas How To Make Sugar Plums
FAQ
Why are sugar plums associated with Christmas?
What does the sugar plum symbolize?
What’s the meaning of sugar plum?
What does it mean when someone calls you sugar plum?
What are Christmas sugar plums?
This quick and easy recipe for Christmas sugar plums comes together in no time! Made with dried fruits, nuts, and fragrant spices, they are a sweet treat to add to your holiday cookie platter. They also make the perfect homemade gift for family and friends.
What are the benefits of eating plums?
Plums are fruits that have a lot of fiber and water, being very beneficial for intestinal transit and cases of constipation. They also have vitamins, minerals, and antioxidant properties.
Can You Make your own sugar plums?
Think of them as the original energy balls with a little holiday flair. If someone offers you a sugar plum today it will be one of these. If you’d like to make your own sugar plums this holiday season, rest assured the process is easy. If you’ve ever made date balls or energy balls you can make sugar plums.
Can you eat sugar plums during the holidays?
You can arrange them in a candy dish or pop them into individual mini cupcake wrappers. The Sugar Plums make an excellent addition to your dessert table during the Holidays. They are a fun surprise from the decadent treats that are normally served during this time. Eat these at room temperature and store in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks.