20 Days to go! 1 Week until Hanukkah
Where do they come from? The Romans decided that they would make a cake that had mixed pine nuts, barley mash, pomegranate seeds, raisins and honeyed wine and shaped it into a cake they called “satura.” (source:New York Times ) That sounds fun. Also the word Satire comes from this dish's name. The idea of putting fruits , especially dried ones and forming it into a cake because it's a good place to put your fruits. Though fruits can be naturally sweet nothing sweetens them more than sugar, and with sugar being inexpensive in 16th century and that fruit can be preserved by drenching it in sugar and apparently they need a place to put all these fruits so bake them! (source: https://web.archive.org/web/20120209211648/https://www.villagevoice.com/2002-11-19/restaurants/a-short-history-of-fruitcake/web.archive.org/web/20120209211648/https://www.villagevoice.com/2002-11-19/restaurants/a-short-history-of-fruitcake/ )
Like many traditions that America has , this one was imported from Europe when people brought their recipes , fruits and ideas with them. But in true American style, nuts were added because hey , they're there. A tradition with wedding cake is to save some for later or something , and that can last some time with a good freezer. ( Wonder who gets the cake if there's a divorce?) After sometime you may have to get rid of it , I think, but a fruit cake can still be eaten when it was made when a 25 year old was just a new born babe. (mmm cake from 1992) Or maybe some that Washington touched? ( http://www.nytimes.com/1983/12/25/magazine/sunday-observer-fruitcake-is-forever.html)
It's lasted from the Romans but then why is it so hated? There is some blame on Johnny Carson and maybe he started it , also other comedians may have done in the 70's. Manitou Springs , Colorado has a fruit cake toss.
He’s the vice president of the company that makes Claxton Fruit Cakes, in Claxton, Ga., where the city water tower reads “Fruitcake Capital of the World.”
“In the ’60s, it was different,” Parker says. “Fruitcake was respected. Then along came some of the comedians, passing jokes. Fruitcake got a bad rap.”
Then again, he adds, “A lot of the comedians who told those jokes, they’re gone now. And we’re still here.”
-from the Washington Post I do like how he says they are dead but we aren't.
That article alludes to maybe they aren't being made right , they are a simple cake to make but maybe try some different fruits or something. That's our probably un informational look at fruit cakes.