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Norwegian Prune Pudding
1/2 lb. prunes=22 prunes 2 cups cold water 1 cup sugar 1 inch piece stick cinnamon 1 1/3 cups boiling water 1/3 cup corn-starch 1 tablespoon lemon juice Pick over and wash prunes, then soak one hour in cold water, and boil until soft in same water. Obtain meat from stones and add to prunes and water; then add sugar, cinnamon, boiling water, and simmer ten minutes. Dilute cornstarch with enough cold water to pour easily, add to prune mixture, and cook five minutes. Remove cinnamon, add lemon juice, mould, then chill, and serve with cream.
A Scandinavian fruit grøt of the sort that thickens into a moulded pudding, but the instruction to crack the stones and eat the kernels puts it outside what we can recommend.
- The kernels are the problem"Obtain meat from stones" means cracking all 22 prune pits and adding the almond-like kernels inside. Plum and prune kernels contain amygdalin, which releases hydrogen cyanide when the kernel is chewed, crushed or wetted — the same chemistry that makes bitter almonds dangerous.
- Why the quantity matters hereAmygdalin content varies widely by variety and drying method, so there is no way to know from the page how much cyanide 22 kernels carry. Twenty-two is a large number to put in one dish, and the ten-minute simmer is not a reliable way to drive it off. If you want a prune pudding, use a current recipe rather than adapting this one.
- Why old recipes did itThe kernels were most likely used as a flavouring, in place of bitter almond. The intended taste is marzipan-like, and that almond flavour comes from the same breakdown of amygdalin that releases the cyanide.
- Stick cinnamonA one-inch piece of cinnamon bark, removed before moulding. Ground cinnamon is not a substitute here, since it cannot be lifted out again.
- Cornstarch proportionA third of a cup of cornstarch to roughly three and a half cups of liquid is a firm, sliceable set — this is meant to be turned out of a mould, not spooned like a loose fruit soup. Diluting the starch in cold water first, as the text says, is what keeps it from lumping.
- Mould and yield"Mould" here means to turn the hot mixture into a plain mould or bowl and leave it until thoroughly chilled before unmoulding. The recipe gives no yield; the quantity is roughly three and a half cups.