CHRISTMAS CHEER BEGAN IN AUGUST FOR TWO NORTH FOOD AND DRINK PRODUCERS (November 08)

A home-made Christmas pudding created by two of the North’s best-known food and drink producers has proved so popular it has been selling at food fairs since August.

Farmer’s wife Susan Green, who runs The Proof of the Pudding company from her farmhouse kitchen at Heckley High House, Alnwick, Northumberland, and Ian Linsley, managing director of the Alnwick Rum Company, signed an agreement allowing Susan exclusive use of the legendary dark rum in her luxurious Christmas pudding. The demand for the festive treat, says Susan, began back in the summer, and now with Christmas on the horizon the pudding is being sold in Fenwick’s food hall in Newcastle.

Susan, who began her business seven years ago, is also taking advance orders from customers in many parts of the North East and the Scottish Borders. “Even in the present economic climate people still want to celebrate Christmas in the traditional way,” she said. “Our Christmas pudding is genuinely home made in small batches in our farmhouse kitchen. We use my mother’s family recipe – top quality dried fruits and glace cherries soaked overnight in Alnwick Rum and then combined with fresh oranges, lemons, apples and carrots and steamed slowly in the traditional way. The pudding is moist and not too dark.”

The puddings are made in re-usable plastic bowls which are suitable for re-heating in the steamer or in a microwave oven. They have an ambient shelf life of nine months from the date of production and are attractively presented in hand-tied muslin with a festive touch.

While Susan and her two helpers, Lynne Dobson and Elyce Nolan, both from Alnwick, have been busy in the farmhouse kitchen producing Christmas puddings and other lines, including the best-selling sticky toffee pudding, Susan’s husband Richard and their eldest of four sons, Lance, 27, have been busy on the 700-acre farm harvesting cereals or looking after a suckler herd of 150 cows producing Aberdeen Angus beef for Marks and Spencer, among others. Heavy rains held up this year’s harvest and Richard and Lance had to work through the night at times to bring in the crops. The farm has diversified into seed production and now runs a modern seed processing plant. Seed is packed and delivered throughout the North East.

“It has been a very stressful time on the farm for all of us,” said Susan, “but we just have to get on with it.” Susan and Richard have worked hard to build up The Proof of The Pudding business which has been helped by the growing public demand for home-made produce. From modest beginnings they have established a large network of customers in the North East, including farm shops, delis, garden centres, butchers’ shops and food retailers.

Fourways Food, of Amble, have been a great help by distributing orders. In recent years there has been an increased demand for puddings from the hospitality trade, including pubs, restaurants and hotels, and an online service has brought orders from as far away as Europe and the United States. “We get quite a lot of business from other parts of the UK, usually from people who have been to Northumberland on holiday and have discovered our puddings. Many of them keep coming back for more, which is good for us,” said Susan.

The Proof of the Pudding is a member of Northumbria Larder, the lead organisation of North East England Food and Drink Group.