According to the tales, the Christmas pudding is associated to the Roman Catholic Church's decree in the medieval age in England. The decree stated that "pudding should be made on 25th Sunday after the Trinity and should use 13 ingredients to represent Christ himself and the 12 Apostles". At that time every household prepared the plum pudding and stir it in from east to west to honour the Magi and their journey in that direction.
As time passed, the Christmas puddings vitality on the occasion faded away. But it was not long forgotten and it become popular again in 1714 after King George re-established Christmas pudding as a main part of the dinner on Christmas day. Nowadays it is rigidly observed in many household and process has become lot easier with the pudding being available in shops and supermarkets ready-made with the variety of puddings including: steamed puddings, gluten-free puddings, dairy free puddings, gourmet puddings etc. Many people still see the tradition and stir small token coin and many other objects (chocolate objects) into the mixture. The silver coin symbolized wealth, wishbone for good luck, an anchor for safe harbour, thimble for thrift and the lucky members who get it. They keep the charm as their lucky tokens.
For those who make the pudding all by themselves, they first mix the ingredients, stream it and then keep in a cool dry place for several days. They steam the pudding for more than hours on the day it is served. Christmas pudding has changed a lot from the way it had been made earlier. Now people mix suet, vegetarian suet instead of beef suet to make it lighter. It also has a variety of dried fruit including currants, nuts, raisins, bread crumbs, eggs, brandy, spice etc. Many people like the pudding to be served with double cream or homemade custard, rum butter, brandy butter etc. depending on family members' tastes and preferences.
Source: EzineArticles
