By Austin Price, Staff Writer
Up next our focus is on a sweet treat, sugar plums. I am sure we have all heard of the magical Sugar Plum Fairy, featured in the iconic ballet, “The Nutcracker” or we have read Clement Clarke Moore's iconic 1823 poem "Twas the Night Before Christmas," which includes the line, "The children were nestled all snug in their beds / While visions of sugar plums dance in their heads." However, I am sure it has never occurred to you what a sugar plum is. Surprisingly, sugar plums often do not include actual plums.
The sugar plum originated as a piece of dragée or hard candy made of hardened sugar in a small round or oval shape. "Plum" in the name of this confection does not always mean plum in the sense of the fruit of the same name, but commonly refers to small size and spherical or oval shape. Brian Earl, host of the “Christmas Past” podcast, blog, and YouTube channel, says, "Originally, these were caraway seeds or cardamom pods, some kind of spice that was then coated in sugar.”
Disappointing, I know. Sugar plums without actual plums are like brownies without actual chocolate. However, despite their lackluster interior and deceptive name, sugar plums have been utilized as a sweet treat, symbolizing the beginning of the Christmas season. Since 1668 when the term was first used, sugar plums have been considered a confection. They originated in Portugal, where they contained green plums, but are now just as likely to feature black figs. They were poached for days in syrup and rolled in sugar to preserve them through the winter. Time Magazine writes “By the 16th century in England, the word referred to almost anything sweet and round, such as a poached fruit or a confection of minced and dried fruit rolled with nuts.”
While these sweet snacks seem underwhelming to us, they were very popular in the past decades. According to Time Magazine, “Sugar plums were produced in an incredibly labor- and time-intensive process called panning, where layer after layer of sugar is poured over a nut or a seed and allowed to harden. Before the industrial revolution and the advent of automation, it could take a candy maker several days to complete a single batch of comfits. The confection’s price often reflected this, which meant sugar plums were a luxury item worthy of visions, to be enjoyed on a special occasion.”
Sugar plums, while miscredited as deserts using actual plums, are still seen as holiday icons representing happiness and Christmas spirit. The term “sugar plum” was then expanded to encompass almost any kind of sugar candy or bite-sized confection. So, with a name that refers to anything and everything sweet and wonderful in the world, it makes sense that the Sugar Plum Fairy is chosen to rule the Land of Sweets while the Prince is away in Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”.