A day for pudding lovers. . .
Some people make it from scratch, others take it from a tin, many stir in jam while others prefer it naked, writes Sue Wilkinson
However you like it, August 9 is a day to celebrate the staple and favourite rice
pudding.
What is National Rice Pudding Day for?
For honoring and enjoying the great taste of homemade rice pudding.
What is Rice Pudding?
A dish made from rice mixed with water or milk and sometimes other ingredients.
HISTORY
Originally used to aid the malnourished, rice pudding was first made in Asia. Over thousands of years, various pudding recipes have developed in Eastern Asia. Some include jam, cinnamon, fruit and honey, while others are far simpler consisting of only rice, water and sugar or rice and milk and cinnamon and sugar and raisins
For the west, rice pudding originated in the Middle East or Persia. The dessert gained popularity during the Middle Ages.
Records of an Indian sweet milk pudding occur in the 14th century. Shola, flavored with rose water, was introduced to Persia by the 13th century Mongols and is now eaten in much of west Asia. However the Indian Kheer has an independent history, as it is older than 2000 years.
In Europe, rice pudding with goat’s milk was first used by the Romans for medicinal purposes.
Medieval European sweet boiled rice pudding often was made with almond or cow’s milk. Rice pudding appeared in 1542 in the then Danish town of Malmø. In the Tudor period in the UK, the earliest rice pudding recipes were called white pot. One of the first-known methods was written down by Gervase Markham in 1615.
RICE PUDDING AROUND THE WORLD
Rice puddings are found in nearly every area of the world. Recipes can greatly vary even within a single country.
UNITED KINGDOM
In the United Kingdom, rice pudding is a popular traditional dessert.
Rice pudding is traditionally made with pudding rice, milk, cream, sugar and is often flavoured with vanilla, nutmeg or cinnamon.
It can be made in two ways, in a saucepan or by baking in the oven.
In a saucepan, it is made by gently simmering the milk and rice until tender and then the sugar is carefully mixed in. Finally, the cream is mixed in and it can either be left to cool and be served at room temperature, or it can be heated and served hot, it should have a very creamy consistency.
When made in the oven, the pudding rice is placed into a baking dish and the milk, cream and sugar are mixed in. The dish is then placed in the oven and baked at a low temperature for a few hours, until the rice is tender and the pudding has a creamy consistency.
An alternative recipe, frequently used in the North of England, uses butter instead of cream, adds a small pinch of salt and requires the pudding mixture to stand for an hour or so prior to being cooked.
Such puddings tend to set firmly when cooled, enabling slices to be cut and eaten like cake.
Ready-made rice pudding, which is pre-cooked and ready to eat, is sold in tin cans or pots and is very widely available and found in most supermarkets and shops.
NORTH AMERICA
In Canada and the United States, most recipes have descended from European immigrants. In the latter half of the 20th century Asian, Middle Eastern and Latin American recipes have become more common. In the New England region of the United States the most popular pudding is made with long grain rice, milk, sugar or, in Vermont, maple syrup. This is combined with nutmeg, cinnamon and raisins. The pudding is usually partially cooked on top of the stove in a double boiler, and then “finished” in an oven.
THE NORDIC COUNTRIES
In the Nordic countries, rice porridge is a common dinner. It is made as a warm dish from rice cooked in milk and occasionally mixed with raisins.
When served, it is commonly sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar or with an ‘eye’ of butter in the middle. In Iceland it is sometimes served with cold slátur – a type of blood sausage.
The rice porridge dinner is used as a basis for rice cream dessert. There are many different variants of this dessert but the basis is the same. Cold rice porridge!
In Sweden it is sometimes mixed with oranges and is then called apelsinris.
In Norwegian, the dessert is called riskrem and sometimes served with red sauce made from strawberries or raspberries.