Thanksgiving has passed and everywhere you turn now, signs of Christmas holidays are everywhere!!  The stores have had their Christmas decorations up for days now, some even weeks.  Around town, homeowners are putting up their Christmas decorations.  And reading Bonnie Erickson's post all got me to thinking about Christmas and then I remembered some friends of mine talking about fruitcake - making jokes about it actually.  And well, you can see where this is going.......

Did you know that fruitcake dates back to the Roman Empire???  Way back then, they mixed pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins into a barley mash.  That sounds kinda gross!

During the Middle Ages, they added honey, spices, and preserved fruit to that barley mash mix, and then hunters and Crusaders carried this cake when they would be gone over long periods of time.

During the 16th century, Europeans made fruitcake part of their European Harvests.  At the close of their nut harvests, they'd make their fruitcakes, save them and then eat them at the end of the following harvests.  They did this in the hopes that their harvests would bring about another successful growing season.

In the early 1700's, fruitcake was known as "plum cake", and was actually outlawed throughout Europe because it was "sinfully sweet".  In the late 1700's, England had laws in place restricting plum cakes/fruitcakes to special occassions only - Christmas, Easter, weddings, funerals, and christenings.  The English considered it 'too decadent for everyday consumption'.  Imagine that?!?!?!?

In the 1900's and into the 20th century, fruitcake came back into being popular again.  It was always served at Victorian Teas.  It also became a custom during this time period for unmarried wedding guests to sleep with a slice of fruitcake under their pillows.  This was supposed to cause them to dream of the person they were to marry.  Hmmmm.......interesting tradtion!  And believe it or not, in some areas, this sleeping with fruitcake under the pillow still continues! 

The Ringling Brothers Circus had alot to do with the resurgence in the popularity of fruitcake in the early 1900's.  Their choice in fruitcake was the Collin Street Bakery in Texas.  They loved it so much that they had it shipped all over the country to various friends.  And thus was born the mail-order fruitcake!

One other little interesting tidbit - did you know that monks are the bakers of most of the fruitcakes with alcohol in them?  That's right!  Trappist monks in Louisville, Kentucky and Holy Cross Abbey monks in Berryville, Virginia make just about all of the fruitcake varieties that are sold with alcohol in them.

I am no fan of fruitcake, but my grandfather just LOVED it!  His all-time favorite was the fruitcakes made by Claxton Fruitcake out of Georgia.  He tried all kinds because he really did like fruitcake, but he could just never get enough of his favorite from Claxton. 

And now you know the history of fruitcake!!  When you receive a gift of fruitcake, don't just turn your nose up at it - think about the slice history they've given you!  ;-)

By the way, in case you're traveling over the holidays, remember fruitcake has been banned on airplanes because it's too dense for the x-ray machines.   So pack carefully!!