Clootie dumplings ‘should be protected like champagne’
IT has been a traditional Scottish favourite for centuries – but now there are calls for the clootie dumpling to be given protected status amid fears microwavable puddings are undermining the genuine dish.
Michelle Maddox, who runs a dumpling shop in Perth, is calling on the Prime Minister to recognise the authenticity of the real thing.
Miss Maddox, 45, produces 1,500 fruit puddings each week, which have been wrapped in a cloot, or cloth, before being boiled for hours – a process which makes them unique.
The method of cooking goes back centuries, with the first published recipe dating from 1747. But Miss Maddox
fears a new generation of microwave dumplings could threaten the heritage of the clootie.
Speaking yesterday, she said: ‘I would like to protect the process. I am finding that some companies and individuals are calling it a clootie dumpling, but it has been microwaved. Or it had just been steamed.
‘It really grates me, a clootie dumpling is about family, community, sharing and experience and it has become just doing something really quickly.
‘We have lost a lot of our heritage and it is about keeping that heritage alive.’ Other popular Scottish foodstuffs, including the Stornoway black pudding and the Arbroath smokie, have had their geographic primacy recognised, while further afield Parma ham and champagne are also protected.
After initially being delayed by Covid-19, Miss Maddox has now formally sent a letter to Downing Street, asking for Boris Johnson’s help.
She said: ‘People don’t stay around their families as much any more. People have lost their sense of community. What upset me was when I would be inside service stations or I would go to craft fairs, people were calling [something] a clootie dumpling, but it was nothing like a clootie dumpling.’