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A fun drill

Photo: T. Saravanan

Refreshing A community event

Think Christmas, and richly flavoured fruit-filled plum cakes conjure up in the mind. .

The season gets kick-started with the annual ritual of fruit-mixing ceremony, described as a harbinger of Christmas and New Year celebration. Plenty of aromatic fruit mixture is soaked in choicest spirits on the occasion and much of the credit for the taste goes to the maturing process of the dry fruits.

The traditional ceremony at The Gateway Hotel, Pasumalai, was launched with a couple from California, Sara Bennett and Austin Hills, , laying their hands on the 30 kgs of dry fruit mixing it with 12 litres of liquor including rum, whisky and vodka. More pairs of hands from the kitchen and front office joined in the bonhomie. “Dry fruits such as raisins, black currants, prunes, dates, cherries, candied orange, dry apricot and sultana along with cashew nuts, pistachios and almonds are soaked in the best alcohol, flavouring agents and other taste-makers. The mixture is allowed to marinate for a month and then is ready for baking. The greater the duration of soaking, the better and richer is the end product. The mixture will be used to make 120 kgs of plum pudding,” informed Executive Chef Raj Sekhar.

For photo journalist, Sara Bennett, it was an entirely different experience, “Though fruit mixing is not new to us, since we do it in our homes every Christmas, but doing it here turned out to be a pleasant surprise. . I have asked for the recipe of this plum pudding so that I can try it out when I return,” she said earnestly. ”

Thrilled about being a part of the fun drill, Austin Hills, who owns a vineyard in the Napa Valley, California, said: “The rich fruit flavour along with the aroma of the spirits make it truly refreshing. And we will carry it back along with sweet memories of the event.”

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