LIFESTYLE

If you celebrate Christmas, you likely associate it with certain season-specific goodies. Traditions vary by family; it wouldn’t be Christmas for me without whipping up a batch of my great-grandmother’s sugar cookies, and my husband lives for his holiday eggnog fix. But no matter what traditional treats you indulge in, they’re probably the product of a long history that’s as rich as the treats themselves. This month, we’ve searched far and wide for the origins and traditions surrounding your favorite Christmas comestibles. So settle in with a cup of ’nog (under the mistletoe if you’re looking to get lucky) and learn a thing or two.

Christmas Cookies
The custom of baking cookies to mark special occasions dates back to medieval Europe, but the first cookie specifically associated with Christmas was probably German lebkuchen, or gingerbread. German and Dutch settlers brought this tradition to America in the early 1600s, introducing variants of the shaped and decorated cookies we love today. If you’re the kind of person who would rather buy your cookies from the store than get your hands all floury with the from-scratch variety, be glad you weren’t baking in 1796, when this Christmas cookie recipe by Amelia Simmons came out in American Cookery, one of the very first cookbooks:

“To three pound of flour, sprinkle a tea cup of fine powdered coriander seed, rub in one pound of butter, and one and a half pound sugar, dissolve one tea spoonful of pearlash [a rising agent] in a tea cup of milk, kneed all together well, roll three quarters of an inch thick, and cut or stamp into shape and slice as you please, bake slowly fifteen or twenty minutes; tho' hard and dry at first, if put in an earthen pot, and dry cellar, or damp room, they will be finer, softer and better when six months old.”

Candy Canes
For years, the story behind candy canes has been loaded with religious symbolism. Some accounts say that the white base stands for the purity of the virgin birth, and that the red stripes were symbolic of Jesus’ bloodshed—even that the shape itself is supposed to be a “J” for Jesus. But most likely, the candy cane started out simply as a confection, no symbolism involved. They first appeared in Europe toward the end of the 17th century. One account says that the straight, white sticks of sugar candy were already a holiday tradition when an enterprising choirmaster thought of bending them into the shape of a shepherd’s staff and giving them to restless children in the cathedrals during Christmas ceremonies—but that’s where the religious symbolism ends. The red stripes weren’t put on until much later; American Christmas cards printed before 1900 depict plain white candy canes, and the early 20th century cards show the red-striped canes we know today.

Eggnog
The origins of eggnog are varied and debated, but almost all food historians agree that it originated in England. It likely descended from a hot drink called posset, made with milk, eggs, and ale—a drink that could be afforded by only the upper class, since the majority of peasants didn’t have ready access to the required ingredients. (“Nog” was the British slang for strong ale, hence the reason we don’t still call it posset today.) The warmth and richness of the recipe made it a prized wintertime drink, abundant at holiday celebrations. When the recipe came to America, the ale was traditionally replaced with the more affordable—and more plentiful—rum. These days, nonalcoholic versions show up in grocery store refrigerator cases (and later, waistlines) as early as November.

Fruitcake
Fruitcake is one Christmas tradition whose lore has reached epic proportions. It can be summed up by a phrase coined in 1983 by Russell Baker: “Fruitcake is forever.” He wrote an entire article about a fruitcake which had been in his family since 1880, in which he quipped, “Fruitcake is the only food durable enough to become a family heirloom.” Whether you enjoy a dense slice or think it would be better suited for use in construction, fruitcake’s longevity as a tradition is a testimony to the fact that there are indeed people who like it. The oldest referenced fruitcake recipe originated in Roman times, and by the 1400s, when dried fruit arrived in Europe from the Mediterranean, bakers began adding this fruit—plus honey and spices—to the original concoction of pomegranate seeds, pine nuts and raisins in barley mash. Its tradition as a holiday treat probably began because it was made after the last harvest and left to age until around Christmas time.

Mincemeat Pies
Mince pies began in—you guessed it!—Medieval Europe. These days, they don’t usually contain meat, but back then they were a good way to stretch a small quantity of meat by adding dried fruits and nuts. The pies as we know them today are larger than their ancestral cousins, and their fillings consist of some variety of dried fruits, apples and nuts—much better than the small pies of old, which contained chopped liver or fish, hardboiled eggs, and ginger in addition to the fruit. (Oh, yum.) They were traditionally made in the fall and winter months, which is why they’re still associated with that time of year.

How many cookies or cups of eggnog have you downed without being aware of their long and illustrious histories? How many fruitcakes have you passed up, unaware of how much better the recipe has gotten since its inception? This year, you can scarf down your holiday treats with a new appreciation of their histories and why they are what they are—and impress your friends with your extensive knowledge in the process.