Foods Mentioned In Christmas Songs That You've Probably Never Eaten

Today's food that is mentioned in a Christmas song that you've probably never eaten is pudding.  And no, we are not talking about the Jello kind. 
  
Over The River And Through The Woods

Over the river and through the woods,
Now Grandmother's cap I spy!
Hurrah for the fun! Is the pudding done?

Although the word sounds familiar, you likely haven't eaten the kind of pudding Lydia Maria Child was referring to in her 1845 poem, "The New-England Boy's Song About Thanksgiving Day," which evolved into a Christmas song in the 1870s. (Here's a fun fact: The reason Child talked about sleigh rides through the snow at Thanksgiving was because New England in the early 19th century was enduring a Little Ice Age that had earlier winters.) 

Just like in "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," Child was likely referring to figgy pudding. But unlike the more recent evolution of figgy pudding that you saw in the first song—which is made in a pudding basin—by the looks of the illustration that accompanied the 19th-century poem, this round pudding was made in a cheesecloth bag that was "boiled for several hours in a pot," as detailed in the History of American Cooking by Merril Smith.