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There are a few things gratifying about the word pudding. It brings connotations of comfort, of taste bud – tantalizing things, rich and delicious.

Pudding counsels something chic, delicate, restrained – a sweet mouthful to close off a meal.

Our family goes in for puddings for important occasions and Sun. lunches. We do not have them each day, so when we do, we’d like it all : comforting over-indulgence at its best no refined twiddles of patisserie here, though we do not do the steamed, stodgy stuff either. We have got a number of recipes that are firm family favorites and need to be considered and a list of recipes from cookery books to try – so puddings oust the main course as the focus of discussion and decision making. The occasion dictates the main course roast lamb for Easter, turkey and gammon for Xmas , no quandaries there. Choosing just some puddings from the family repertoire, though , is a painful process. Xmas and New Year close together lightens the dilemma what we do not have for Xmas , we are able to do for New Year’s Eve, but on other occasions leaving out a specific fave recipe is too hard. We regularly finish up with a variety of four puddings ( though , before you are too frightened, we are customarily feeding 12 or more folks ) and as a consequence feel stuffed to the gills later, as gluttony necessarily overcomes caution and all 4 need to be sampled.

2 of our family staple recipes come from my mother-in-law, who as a mummy of 6 on a small budget had to use a large amount of invention to feed her folks. Guava fool ( pureed guava mixed with condensed milk and cream ) is one of her recipes that rates high on the must-have list thru winter when guavas are in season. Choccie pudding is a year round urgent, a chocolate custard poured over boudoir biscuits which soak it up and melt delectably into a velvety gloop.

I have proudly managed to add one of my folks pudding recipes to the essential list Summer Pudding.

My mummy still makes it, frequently with blackberries culled from the hedgerows, as well as the more normal redcurrants and raspberries. Here in SA we’ve got a different palette of berries to work with and most often use youngberries, mulberries with some strawberries ( strawberries all alone do not work, you want the acidity of some of the darker berries ). Here is the recipe:

Summer Pudding

1 loaf of slightly stale white bread

About 1kg of mixed berries: blackberries, raspberries, youngberries, mulberries, redcurrants the choice is yours. Apple can be added if you are short of berries.

Sugar (the amount of sugar depends on the sweetness of the fruit, if the fruit is sweet you would only need a small amount of sugar)

Into a pan put the fruit and a sprinkling of sugar and bring it to a boil or wait until the fruits are soft. Softer fruits only need a shorter amount of cooking, so check if the fruit needs a little more time cooking.

Cut the bread into thick slices, take off the crusts and line a pudding basin with it. It needs to fit tightly but don’t squash it.  Keep three slices for the lid. When the fruit has stewed, use a slotted spoon to transfer the fruit into the bread-lined bowl. Most of the juice gets left behind but keep it to pour over the pudding later. Fill the bowl with the fruit and top with a tight layer of bread. Place a plate or saucer on top and weight it, so the fruit compresses and the juice soaks into the bread. Leave in the fridge for at least a few hours, but better if overnight.

Now our main preoccupation on our smallholding is establishing enough fruit trees and berry plants to ensure a year round supply of pudding potential in our freezers, but maybe that would make them less special. The seasonal aspect of guavas and berries mean excitement when they come back into season, gluttony for a few weeks until common sense sets in. Then we put a supply away in the freezer for a few special treats later in the year, the season ends and is followed by the next thing. A pudding for each season, a season for each pudding.

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