The British have enjoyed a long-lasting love affair with the classic pud, from the earliest-recorded examples of the 1600s (French travel writer Henri Misson de Valbourg noting: “Ah, what an excellent thing is an English pudding!”), to the nation sitting down as one to watch bakers struggling to master Sussex pond pudding on The Great British Bake Off.
Warm and comforting puddings pop up regularly in British literature, from A Christmas Carol’s festive plum pudding, proudly brought flaming to the table by Mrs Cratchit “like a speckled cannonball”, to Mrs Weasley conjuring up a sticky treacle pudding in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
