Snell shares history of figgy pudding on Bill Green’s Maine

Rachel Snell ’06 ’16G, was featured in the Bill Green’s Maine segment “Here’s your darn figgy pudding.” In her home kitchen, the Honors College lecturer made figgy pudding (also called plum pudding or Christmas pudding), that dates back to the 16th century in England and was the crown jewel of Christmas dinner. The dense, sweet breadlike pudding can include suet, raisins, flour, dried fruit, liquor and spices. While figgy pudding is still popular in England, it’s less prevalent here as American pudding has become more custardlike, says Snell, a specialist in 19th century North America, women’s history and food studies. Green said Snell’s figgy pudding tasted like Christmas. A recipe adapted by Snell is online in the story accompanying the video segment.