Christmas Pudding without the alcohol and candied peel

Asked on 23 Nov 2020 by Simon01

Hello Lindsey. A further question about substituting alcohol in my Christmas poudding. We're not fans of candied peel, if I subbed with dried cranberries, could I use cranberry juice instead of red grape juice as you originally advised?

Also I'm doing a mix of smaller size puddings - 120 ml and 175 ml. Do I steam them all at the same recommended time of 3 hours and 1 hour (reheat) on the day?

Thank you. Eileen

Lindsey, Food Editor replied

Hello Eileen,

Dried cranberries will work, although I’d probably go for dried cherries if I didn’t like candied peel.

A lot of people say they don’t like candied peel but we think the reason they don’t like candied peel is because ‘bog standard’ candied peel often isn’t very nice. For anyone who is reading this thinking that they hate candied peel, but have only ever tried the ready chopped variety in a small plastic tub, we would urge them to try a really good quality candied peel before they rule it out altogether…

Candied Peel

If you want to give your cake that five-star flavour, then go for whole candied peel and look for the bright, glistening signs of the new season's crop. You'll find it has a great deal more flavour than ready-cut peel. No matter how good the original.

For the cranberry juice – it will work but I don’t think it would be to my taste. If I had to substitute the alcohol in Christmas Pudding, I would use apple or orange or grape or prune juice.

Yes, we would use these steaming times for the smaller puddings too.

Kind regards

Lindsey

Simon01 replied

Thanks for that Lindsey. I really do appreciate your advuce as yes, you're right, it's the chopped stuff in the plastic tubs I don't like and you've made me rethink. I'll order the whole peel from Country Products as suggested. Thank you again. Eileen