You have to wonder about glace cherries. I mean, what the hell are they? They bear absolutely no resemblance to fresh cherries. Were they ever fresh cherries? Since 1956, according to their packaging, Winn (a division of Australian Nut Processors) has been producing red glace cherries. But what the hell are glace cherries? How on earth are they made? The ingredients list tells us: “Pitted red glace cherries (95%), glucose syrup, sugar, preservatives (211), flavour, acids (296), colours (129, 122).” That suggests to me that, even at the outset of the manufacturing process, there weren’t any fresh cherries in the mix.
So how did glace cherries acquire such an exalted position. Why did Aunt Mabel – a mysterious, sepia-toned, elderly figure in my family’s past who may or may not have existed but who, very kindly, bequeathed to my grandmother, Alice, and thence to my mother, Robin, a very very marvellous Christmas pudding recipe in spidery handwriting – choose to use glace cherries, which clearly weren’t ever fresh cherries, in that famed Christmas pudding recipe?
And why, in Favourite Recipes of America – Salads, Including Appetizers (Favourite Recipes Press, 1968, Louisville Kentucky) – do glace cherries appear in a Cranberry-Pineapple Salad on page 49, an Angel Salad on page 50 (never mind “Barbara’s Salad” on page 50 which calls for “miniature marshmallows”), the Hawaiian Tuna Salad on page 192, and the Sweet Macaroni Salad on page 205 (courtesy of Mrs Maurice W. Dunn, Officers Wives’ Club, Fort Riley, Kan.).
Okay, I’m taking the piss just a bit here. I’m sure the mysterious Aunt Mabel, and Mrs Maurice W. Dunn of Fort Riley, Kansas, had the very best intentions. But 1968 is only 38 years ago. It’s extraordinary how far we’ve come, and yet how much we cling to the past. I wouldn’t dream of making any other Christmas pudding than Aunt Mabel’s. Her pudding, glace cherries and all, is as much a part of the family as my new niece, Marni, 10 months, who’s walking now and creating terror, and for whom I’m going to spend my Christmas digging sandcastles.
