Whether we like it or not the forthcoming festive season revolves around traditions that have been honoured for centuries. Even though we may choose to disregard many that were once held dear, they still determine the way we celebrate the festive season.

Let’s begin with Stir Up Sunday, which this year takes place this weekend — Sunday, November 24. This is traditionally the day to mix up the ingredients for the plum pudding, the Christmas cake and festive mincemeat, all of which need several weeks for the rich flavours to harmonise and intensify and mellow the sharp alcoholic bite of the brandy before Christmas Day. During the weeks that lead up to Christmas, the fruit will plump up as it absorbs some of the moisture. Stir Up Sunday is the last Sunday before Advent and is taken from a line from the Book of Common Prayer: “Stir up, we beseech thee O Lord.”

The Christmas pudding traditionally calls for 13 different ingredients, to represent Christ and his 12 disciples. This is a mix that the whole family used to become involved with at one time, each taking the wooden spoon and stirring the ingredients from East to West in honour of the three kings.

The solid pudding that we know today began in the 14th century as a liquid porridge named frumenty which was created from a mix of boiled beef and mutton, raisins, currants, prunes, spices and wine. By the 16th century this liquid mix evolved into a pudding thickened with eggs and breadcrumbs and flavoured with ale and spirits.

Come 1664 the Puritans banned it (as they did the mince pies) seeing it as a lewd custom, its rich ingredients being unfit for God-fearing people.

Thanks to George I’s sweet tooth, it was re-established in 1714 and became particularly popular in Victorian times.

Festive mincemeat (see recipe opposite) contains almost the same ingredients as the pudding and although it is the main ingredient for the classic mince pies, modern chefs and cooks are using it to make all sorts of fascinating and tasty festive nibbles too. Take Christmas pinwheels for example, created by spreading mincemeat on to a sheet of puff pastry, scattering a few drops of brandy, then rolling it up like a Swiss roll, slicing into rounds which are then baked in a hot oven until puffed and golden.

The Christmas cake that is also traditionally prepared and cooked on Stir Up Sunday, evolved from the Yule cakes which were symbolic bread-like loaves baked until the turn of the 19th century, when the rich cake we know today became popular. One of the delights these Christmas treats provide on Stir Up Sunday is a shared family experience which calls on every member to stir the pudding mixture.

Whilst Christmas puddings don’t provide a very appetising aroma while cooking, a mince pie can fill the home with the most appetising aroma as it cooks. Mince pies, that were once offered to the carol singers when they called, are indeed the ideal treat to put into the oven just before guests are due to arrive. Sadly, carol singers seldom call these days and if they do they are usually rattling a collection box.

RECIPE
Like the Christmas pudding and Christmas cake, mincemeat needs time to settle and absorb the various flavours that make it up, it can, therefore, be made on Stir Up Sunday too.

Whilst some recipes suggest you tip all the ingredients into a large bowl, stir and then spoon into jars, some recommend that it is cooked in the oven for a few hours over a low heat to melt the suet which will encase all other ingredients once it is warmed. This recipe calls for the warm oven method.

You will need
*8oz (225g) shredded suet (vegetarian varieties are available)
*8oz (225g) raisins
*8oz (225g) sultanas
*8oz (225g)currants
*8oz (225g) chopped candied peel
*Juice & zest from 2 oranges/2 lemons
*12oz (350g) soft brown sugar
*2oz (50g) sliced almonds
*2 heaped tspns ground spice
*Sprinkling of ground cinnamon
*¼ of a nutmeg ground fine n ¼ wine glass brandy Method
*Mix all the ingredients, except the brandy, into a large bowl, mixing together well, then cover and store in a cool, dark place for 12 hours.
*Turn the oven to 110C/225F or gas mark 1 and place the bowl into the oven, having covered it loosely with tin foil. Stir from time to time.

*Leave the mix in the oven for at least three hours — the fat around the fruit congeals once it has cooled.
*Add the brandy once the mix has cooled and then pack into sterilized jars, covering with waxed discs before fixing the lid. This mix should keep for at least three years if stored in a cool dark place, though you will find it tastes so good you will want to use it all up at once.