What is National Indian Pudding Day?
National Indian Pudding Day is a national Pudding Day celebration that honors a cold-weather classic. Serve up this classic New England dessert that is sure to wow on November 13th each year.'s
In the seventeenth century, English colonists brought hasty pudding to North America, transforming it. The colonists eventually used cornmeal, although they started making the pudding with wheat due to a grain shortage. The crop was readily available since the colonists learned to cultivate maize (corn) from the indigenous peoples. The colonists derived the word for Indian pudding from their word for cornmeal – Indian meal. They also substituted the water with milk. Cooks can use either molasses or maple syrup for added flavor. Other ingredients they added include cinnamon, ground ginger, butter, eggs, raisins, and nuts.
They then slowly baked the Indian pudding for several hours. Baking transforms the pudding's texture from the original porridge-like texture of hasty pudding to a much smoother consistency that is more typical of custard.
- Most American cookbooks included a recipe for Indian pudding before 1900. Indian pudding was included in most American cookbooks before 1900
