After more than 80 years, a family’s plum pudding business nearly came unstuck

His grandparents started the tradition by selling the puddings at their cake shop in Moonee Ponds. In 2021, the recipe remains largely unchanged.

Two thirds of the company’s staff are family members, and Dr Carter’s son is the fourth-generation to work with the yearly plum pudding operation, now based in Essendon North.

“We don’t know any different, this is just what you do in our family at this stage,” he said.

The puddings are still made by hand – except for one machine in the factory used for mixing shortening and sugar.

They start the lengthy pudding-making process by mixing all the dry ingredients, including the flour and fruit, then adding water and vinegar, and mixing again by hand.

The mixture then gets tied in a cloth and weighed before it is boiled for between two and five hours, depending on the size of the pudding.

“You then have to dry the cloth a little bit so that you can pack it without problems,” Dr Carter said. “Then seal in a plastic bag to keep the freshness, cool it down overnight and the next day, and then it is ready to pack and go out to the shops.”

He said the secret to a perfect pudding is using the freshest and best ingredients: “I have a bit of an advantage over people’s mum and dad making pudding at home because I have access to the top quality fruit from Mildura.”