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Indian pudding is a traditional cornmeal-based dessert boiled with milk and sweetened with molasses. It dates back to colonial times in America and is typically served hot with various toppings. It has health benefits due to its ingredients, including cornmeal, eggs, and milk.
Indian pudding is a cornmeal-based dessert boiled with scalded milk, sweetened with molasses, and slow-cooked until thickened, then cooked until set. It is typically served hot with hard sauce, ice cream or whipped cream, cream or cider sauce. It can also be sliced and eaten cold as a breakfast dish.
Indian pudding dates back to America’s colonial days, when newly arrived settlers in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and elsewhere sought to recreate the dishes of their homeland with the ingredients they make available to them in the new land. This dish is derived from the British hasty pudding, a dish made from wheat flour or oatmeal boiled with milk. The settlers didn’t have quantities of wheat flour yet, so they made their own hastily made pudding with cornmeal, which they had in abundance, thanks to the Native Americans or Indians, hence the name. Native Americans themselves enjoyed a version of this dish called supawn, a boiled cornmeal mush.
To flavor their Indian pudding, the settlers added spices such as ginger and cinnamon and fortified it with eggs and butter when available. A distinctly Yankee touch was the addition of molasses, which was a product of the local maritime trade. The Shakers made a variation of this pudding that replaced the molasses with maple syrup as the sweetener. For added embellishment, colonial cooks might have added raisins into the boiled cornmeal mixture before cooking, or drizzled over the finished Indian pudding with a healthy slug of thick cream.
Today, Indian pudding remains a popular dessert, especially in Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire. Its appeal has extended beyond the New England region, particularly around Thanksgiving Day. It has a comfortable, homey texture; it is cheap and relatively easy to prepare; and as a bonus, it has some surprising health benefits.
Cornmeal, the main ingredient in Indian pudding, contains potassium, folic acid, vitamin A and phosphorus. Enriched cornmeal also contains riboflavin, niacin and thiamin. Made with eggs and milk, Indian pudding is a source of protein and calcium. Black treacle, used to sweeten the dish and give it its distinctive flavor and color, is a good source of several minerals, including iron, calcium, copper, magnesium, manganese, and potassium. Low-fat milk can be used successfully in the recipe, and butter can be substituted for margarine or omitted altogether.
While many connoisseurs of this traditional dessert would be hard-pressed to pass up the usual scoop of vanilla ice cream or lusciously melting sugary whipped cream, some of the more health-conscious might be persuaded to swap it for frozen yogurt.
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