Summer Pudding

summer pudding is one of Britain’s best puddings. It uses bread and fruit and is made in a pudding basin, but only the fruit is lightly cooked, which makes it unlike other British puddings. This dessert was customarily made with raspberries and red currants, which give a pleasing, slightly sharp taste; now white currants, strawberries, blackberries, mulberries, and sometimes pitted cherries are used. The fruit is briefly cooked with a little sugar until the juices begin to run and the sugar has dissolved. The basin is tightly lined on the bottom and sides with slices of day-old white bread; when cool, the fruit is added and covered with a layer of bread to enclose it completely. The pudding is chilled overnight with a weight on top to compact it. To serve, summer pudding is unmolded onto a dish, cut into wedges, and served alone or with cream. The fruit juices soak into the bread, turning it a deep red, making the domed pudding truly spectacular and inviting. See pudding and united kingdom.