Fruit is not a Pudding – the 2018 winner

As another festive season draws to a close, it is time to commiserate with our fellow free-from diners over their disappointing afters. And I may as well cut to the chase, hadn’t I? This year there could only be one winner of the dreaded Fruit is not a Pudding gong.

Whilst many poor party-goers were once again served with lacklustre efforts at fancy venues; the usual parade of melon bookends, unripe strawberries and pears, pears, pears; just one intrepid chef had the audacity, the cheek, to dump cornflakes on some stewed fruit and call it a crumble.

The winner this year is Nikki.

I hope that she will be more than amply consoled by the prize of delicious puddings from our friends at Pudology that will be winging their way to her soon.

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But, I know, you also want to see the rogues gallery of other entries, don’t you?! Strap in!

In every year of Fruit is not a Pudding we see new trends in the fruit salad world. If only the effort of thinking them up was applied to learning how to make some egg-free meringue, or remembering that crème brûlée is already gluten free without you having to do anything special!

This year, instead, chefs busied themselves with such innovations as:

Spatchcocked grapes that look like mini demogorgons,

dying their apples red,

IMG_8064 and creating heady mixes of sweet and savoury by adding what we presume is a generous drizzle of balsamic vinegar to mango.

IMG_8286 In fact, let us be kind to this noble profession, because in fact some tried so hard, they were injured in the process of plating up:

As debate continues to rage over whether sorbet should be considered fruit or pudding, another slew of entries demonstrated something of a 1970s revival in the dessert world. Fruit juice was on offer as a last course for more than one Christmas meal, and one poor vegan entrant was treated to the ‘best of tinned’ in a vegetable broth & fruit cocktail double bill whilst in hospital, because the last thing you need when poorly is some proper sustenance.

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We’re delighted, of course, that everyone enjoyed joining in and making light of their disappointment; as well as this year sharing some truly good free from desserts. Wishing you a happy, and inclusive new year; here’s to better puddings in 2019!

 

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