Nationwide hunt to save Britain’s puddings

14/05/2009

 Every family seems to have one. A legendary pudding recipe passed down from generation to generation - and now a maker of traditional British puddings is seeking to bring the very best regional variations from around the country to a wider audience with a unique search for the UK’s most treasured pudding recipes.

 

From peerless fruitcakes invented by great, great grandmas that  people still enjoy to this day to hand-written, dog-eared recipe books containing sticky toffee masterpieces and Christmas pudding delicacies that endure through the ages, great recipes provide a priceless link with our culinary heritage. But many traditional methods for making puddings are sadly dying out and with this in mind Cole’s Traditional Foods, a family run, national firm and the longest standing maker of traditional puddings in the UK is  launching a nationwide hunt for the great pudding recipes that are the true taste of the British Isles.

 

"This year Cole’s Traditional Foods is celebrating its seventieth anniversary and, though we make puddings in exactly the same way as my father did all those years ago, we feel the art of properly producing puddings is being lost so have decided to launch a campaign to preserve our nation’s food traditions,” says company owner Chris Cole.

 

”We’re encouraging people from all over the British Isles who are  passionate about puddings to send their traditional pudding recipes to puddings@colestrad.co.uk with a description of where in the country the recipe originates and who is believed to be responsible for it. The entrants will then be categorised by locality and the best from each area will be awarded the title of Cole’s Traditional Foods True Taste of British Puddings winner in each region. When we have presented the awards, the most exciting recipes will then be made by our chefs and published with accreditation in a special book of traditional pudding recipes.”

 

The very best pudding from the North, South, East and West of England and Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will then finally be entered into the True Taste of British Puddings grand final where people will be able to vote online and the winner will be crowned the inaugural True Taste of British Puddings champion and their recipe made into a range by Cole’s.