National Indian Pudding Day

Students who are taking online culinary courses might know about the delicacy called Indian pudding. It rarely makes appearances outside of New England, but it has grown in popularity over the last few years. The pudding even has its own national holiday held on Nov. 13.

The history of Indian pudding dates back to the 17th century, when English colonists brought over the recipe for hasting pudding. When the Native Americans introduced the colonists to maize, they transformed the original recipe. Instead of wheat, they used cornmeal. They also substituted milk for water, while adding eggs, butter, ground ginger, honey, molasses or maple syrup. To top it all off, the pudding is seasoned with cinnamon and mixed in raisins and mixed nuts. The mixture is then baked for several hours, transforming its porridge-like consistency into a more custardy texture.

Despite all its sweetness and confectionery goodness, Indian pudding has been hard to sell.

“We like people to try it and eat it, because most of the people like it,” innkeeper Steve Pickford told NPR.com. “It’s sweet, it’s sugary, it’s good. But, it looks like crap.”

Baked Indian pudding
What you’ll need:

• 2 quarts milk
• 2 1/2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole eggs
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups cornmeal
• 1/3 teaspoon ginger
• 2 cups molasses

Boil the 2 quarts of milk in a large, thick pan. Whisk in cornmeal until the mixture thickens in consistency. Add the ginger, the other spices, molasses and salt. Set aside. Take the 2 1/2 cups of milk and mix with eggs. Put the entire mixture in a baking pan and put in the oven for an hour at 350 degrees. Garnish the pudding with whipped cream, ice cream or some frozen fruit.