Name: Grandma Houston’s Plum Pudding
Yield: Serves about 20 people.
Cuisine: Australian
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons brown or white vinegar; 2 teaspoons ground nutmeg; 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda; 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; 125 ml (½ cup) port or sweet sherry; 2 teaspoons vanilla essence; 370 g (2 cups) dried mixed fruit; 600 g (4 cups) plain flour; 2 tablespoons port or sherry (extra); plain flour (extra); 340 g (2 cups) sultanas; 140 g (1 cup) currants; 250 ml (1 cup) milk; 2 teaspoons mixed spice; 45 g butter, chopped; 330 g (1½ cups) white sugar

Preparation info

Serves about
20
people.

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Australian Blue Ribbon Cookbook

By Liz Harfull

Published 2014

About

Even a flood almost to her back door didn’t stop Valmai Hood entering cooking in her local show. Valmai lives in western Victoria on the banks of the Wimmera River, which floods occasionally, with the water rising halfway up the hill towards the old Duchembegarra farmhouse that has been her home since she married in 1963.

About 30 years ago, the flooding coincided with the Horsham Show so Valmai put her collection of cakes, puddings, scones and biscuits into a small