Pudding Trivia | 30 facts about the English dish

Pudding is a type of food that can be either a dessert or a savory. It is very common in the U.S.A., Canada, and the United Kingdom.

Let’s find out more about it!

1. Pudding is a type of food that can be either a dessert or a savoury (salty or spicy) dish that is part of the main meal.
2. In the United States and Canada, pudding characteristically denotes a sweet, milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, instant custards or a mousse.
3. It is often commercially set using cornstarch, gelatin or similar coagulating agent such as Jell-O.
4. The modern American usage to denote a specific kind of dessert has evolved over time from the originally almost exclusive use of the term to describe savory dishes.
5. Specifically those dishes created using a process similar to that used for sausages, in which meat and other ingredients in mostly liquid form are encased and then steamed or boiled to set the contents. Black (blood) pudding and haggis survive from this tradition.
6. In the United Kingdom and some of the Commonwealth countries, the word pudding is still used to describe both sweet and savory dishes. Unless qualified, however, the term in everyday usage typically denotes a dessert.
7. In the United Kingdom, pudding is used as a synonym for a dessert course.
8. Dessert puddings are rich, fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts such as rice pudding, steamed cake mixtures such as treacle sponge pudding with or without the addition of ingredients such as dried fruits as in a Christmas pudding.
9. Savory dishes include Yorkshire pudding, black pudding, suet pudding and steak and kidney pudding.
10. In some Commonwealth countries these puddings are known as custards (or curds) if they are egg-thickened, as blancmange if starch-thickened, and as jelly if gelatin-based.
11. Pudding may also refer to other dishes such as bread pudding and rice pudding, although typically these names derive from their origin as British dishes.
12. One of the earliest documented recipes for asida is found in a tenth century Arabic cookbook by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq called Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ.
13. It was described as a thick pudding of dates cooked with clarified butter (samn).
14. A recipe for asida was also mentioned in an anonymous Hispano-Muslim cookbook dating to the 13th century.
15. In the 13th and 14th centuries, in the mountainous region of the Rif along the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, a flour made from lightly grilled barley was used in place of wheat flour.
16. A recipe for asida that adds argan seed oil was documented by Leo Africanus (c. 1465–1550), the Arab explorer known as Hasan al-Wazan in the Arab world.
17. According to the French scholar Maxime Rodinson, asida were typical foods among the Bedouin of pre-Islamic and, probably, later times.
18. In the United Kingdom and some of the Commonwealth countries, the word pudding can be used to describe both sweet and savory dishes.
19. Unless qualified, however, the term in everyday usage typically denotes a dessert.
20. In the United Kingdom, pudding is used as a synonym for a dessert course.
21. The original pudding was formed by mixing various ingredients with a grain product or other binder such as butter, flour, cereal, eggs, and/or suet, resulting in a solid mass.
22. These puddings are baked, steamed, or boiled. Depending on its ingredients, such a pudding may be served as a part of the main course or as a dessert.
23. Steamed pies consisting of a filling completely enclosed by suet pastry are also known as puddings.
24. The sweet and creamy confection we know as pudding emerged in the mid-19th century when an English chemist named Alfred Bird developed an egg-free custard powder. This remarkable invention made it very easy to produce a delicious pudding with the perfect consistency.
25. The word pudding is believed to come from the French boudin, originally from the Latin botellus, meaning “small sausage,” referring to encased meats used in Medieval European puddings.
26. The proverb “The proof of the pudding’s in the eating” dates back to at least the 17th century.
27. Queen Elizabeth has announced a very special competition ahead of her Platinum Jubilee later in 2022. She’s searching for the Platinum Pudding.
28. Five finalists will prepare their pudding for an expert judging panel including Dame Mary Berry, Monica Galetti and Buckingham Palace Head Chef Mark Flanaghan – who has shared his top tips for entrants.
29. The pudding must be sweet and an original recipe, and the entrants must be UK residents and over the age of eight
30. The very first version of the pudding originated in the 14th century by the British.