LET THEM EAT [FRUIT] CAKE . . .

         'tis the Season !  For fruitcakes, that is.  And for those who enjoy making bad jokes about the delicacy.  (On the long-shot chance that you do not know about 'fruit cake', consult Wikipedia.)

       When did the bad rap begin?  Perhaps with Johnny Carson's often repeated  'joke' that there really was but one fruitcake in the entire world and it was passed around and re-gifted from year to year.  And, in Manitou Springs, Colorado, there is an annual post-Christmas "Great Fruitcake Toss", with participants vying for the longest fling.

    Not all fruitcakes are created equal.  Some, undoubtedly, are atrocious .  I have met a few that were much too sweet, too gooey, and just 'too much' to suit my palate.  However, fruit cake per se has a long and honored place in my Christmas memories and associations.

    The late author, Truman Capote, wrote a nostalgic short story, A Christmas Memory, about how his child-like aunt, Sook, and he 
made thirty fruitcakes each year during the days of the Great Depression.  Sometime in November, Sook would raise her kitchen window and, sniffing the brisk air, exclaim "Oh, my, it's fruitcake weather."  Their adventures in gathering the ingredients are too rich  to attempt summarizing here.  It's a great read.

    A key ingredient in Buddy ( her name for young Truman) 
and Sook's fruitcakes was the liquor, obtained from a local bootlegger.  For many, that part of the tradition lives on, especially with those cooks who bake their own.

     Berta Scott's recipe does not include 'spirits' but, then, it's not the stereotypical 'fruit cake'.  At Christmas when a hairdresser, Mrs. Scott gifted her  customers with fruitcakes made from her mother's recipe.  After many rave responses, she and family members began 'mass producing' them in their garage.  In 1984, the family began what has become an internationally successful business, selling not only fruitcakes but a wide assortment of 'goodies'. (Google the website for Southern Supreme Fruitcake for an overview of the Scott family's remarkable success story.)

     (Though she and her husband and their business are nearby and we are personally acquainted, I want to stress that this is neither a solicited nor paid endorsement.  We just like their  fruitcakes.)

     However, as much I enjoy the Southern Supreme fruitcake, my all time favorite, never again to be enjoyed, was my mother's annual production.  (Does anyone in the extended family have her recipe?)  And, it was a 'production' and similar to Sook and Buddy's, it was liberally soaked with 'apple jack', or apple brandy.  Mom would wrap these precious items in a cloth, keep them in  tin containers ,  and at intervals add a touch of the brandy.  When she deemed them 'ready', it was a grand occasion.

   Like many families,   we have stories that are told and retold whenever there is a gathering. . . a favorite involved mom's fruitcake.  One Christmas season as the masterpieces were unveiled, Bob Hultman, our parents' pastor, happened by for a visit.  He accepted mom's offer for cake and coffee.  When he had finished, she asked if he would like more.  His response has become part of the family's lore: "I think I will drink another slice."

     By the way, fruitcake at its best contains lots of nuts as well.
Probably you have heard of someone's being called 'as nutty as a fruitcake'.  One person wrote that 'the fruitcakes in my family were of the human species.'

       Whether your fruitcake is on or seated around the table, 
enjoy !
                Satchel