In Defense of the Fruitcake!
Now that the election is over the fruitcake has become the favorite target of jokes for the holidays.
This is unfortunate but if you have tasted some of
the "sweetened pasteboard and fruit flavored plastic" sold for fruitcake
these days you can understand. The old fashion fruitcake that our mothers and grandmothers made just takes too long for most
people today. If you ever taste a "true" fruitcake you will never make fun of them again.
The kind of fruitcake we are talking about is made with dried fruit such as apples, peaches and figs, nuts include pecans,
black walnuts, hickory nuts and hazel nuts, dates, dark brown sugar, molasses, brandy or wine, and spices including cinnamon,
nutmeg, allspice and cloves. Wrap the cake in cheesecloth and soak with wine or grape juice. Store it in a cool place and
moisten with wine or grape juice once a week. To be really good it needs to age for about 4 weeks. Now that is a fruitcake
from heaven!
Unfortunately the recipe for the traditional fruitcake made at Nichols Cut during the 1930's and the 1940's has been lost.
If you have a recipe for a cake like the one above we would appreciate your sharing it with us.
Send us your comments and, don't be a stranger,
come back and visit us often.
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