British holiday traditions followed the Anglican religious calendar. Celebrations theoretically centered around going to church but were also a very good reason to eat and party. Sweet treats such as cakes, cookies, puddings, sugared nuts and seeds all made it onto the table. Comfits are sugared seeds that were sometimes also called sugarplums, although they were not plums at all. There are many references throughout the late seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries which clearly define sugar-plums as large comfits. Many recipes called for the sugar to be colored with beet juice, spinach juice or saffron. Most were caraway comfits. Our version is made with fennel. Original images show them being eaten out of paper cones.
Storytelling was also a large part of holiday merrymaking and most of the stories were devoid of religious themes. They instead focused on secular topics, the supernatural (ghosts, goblins, etc.) or are quite unfit for children. Poetry was also popular during the holidays, just like it was during the rest of the year. In the spirit of one pamphlet The Christmas Frolick published by G. Allen, 1775: A Merry Christmas, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR Who’d fail to be merry that could be? Who’d wish to be dull in dull weather? Let us all be as happy as we should be And sing and tell stories together.