Author: joepastry

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So then, to continue the Seinfeld-esque theme we’ve established: what’s the deal with stollen? Well it’s German, that much you probably know already. It hails from Dresden, the capital city of the German state of Saxony, which is located far in the east of the country on the border with Poland. Like I care, Joe, […]

Reader Thomas weighs in from the Continent: Interesting to read about fruitcakes… there is no such thing over here in Austria (and to my knowledge, in Germany). Well, there are some fruitbreads and yes, there is stollen… but all with no booze. I take it that your fruitcake is an offspring of the “drunken” english […]

Create that transparent neon color you mean? The color comes of course from food coloring which is added as the fruit pieces are tumbled in syrup (I mean, how else could the pineapple possibly be green?). The transparency is a factor of the fruit flesh being suffused with clear sugar syrup, which allows more light […]

If Jerry Seinfeld were doing a stand-up routine on fruitcake (and I’m certain he has at some point), it would surely begin: so what is that funky colored fruit all about? Earlier I wrote that fruitcake makers of old used dried fruit, and indeed they did. The trouble with dried fruit, though, is that once […]

My mother-in-law has gotten years of mileage out of that pun. As I understand it, German-style fruitcake — stollen — was always a big thing in my wife’s family, and I find that interesting since they’re a very Irish lot. But then Stollen was also a big thing in my own mother’s family, especially where […]

Reader Sandra weighs in on the aging of sweets: Today you say ‘Or maybe it’s simply that “ripe” fruitcakes just taste better than young ones.’ I don’t know about fruitcakes, but brandy balls/rum balls (etc.) most *definitely* improve with age. I remember making some with my roommate a good many years ago (no, I don’t […]

The natural question to ask at this point is: can a fruitcakes really be kept at room (or cellar) temperature for weeks, even months without spoiling? Yes, my friends, they can. Well-made fruitcakes have been known to keep for years, even decades if you can believe it. And you probably can. One of the big […]