Savoring the Sweet History of Sugarplums
Tchaikosky's Sugarplum Fairy made them popular but few have ever eaten let alone know what a sugarplum is.
Sugarplums have a mottled past. Sugarplum, also written as sugar plum, conjures up a variety of images that may or may not dance in one’s head as Clement Moore wrote in 'Twas Night Before Christmas. For many, a sugarplum brings to mind a ballerina or a fairy, the Sugarplum Fairy to be precise, from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker Suite. For others, sugarplums are candy made from chopped dried fruits and nuts, which by the way does not include plums. It’s a candy known as dragee or comfit that’s generally rolled in sugar or panned, a technique that creates a hard shell like an M&M. Without any plums in the recipe one might ask – why call it a sugarplum? Historians believe in the 1600s sugarplums were named to reflect the shape and size of …
