Australian Christmas puds impress Londoners

Pudding Lane’s (puddinglane.uk.com) sumptuous handmade festive dessert range attracted crowds of food lovers at London’s BBC Good Food Show last weekend (16 to 18 November 2007). Visitors were on fine foodie form at the show in Olympia, west London, as they shopped ‘til they dropped for Christmas treats, presents and dinner party goodies.

Christmas puddings are a staple in most British households on December 25th. Australian Pudding Lane desserts, exclusively available from online gourmet retailer Porter Foods (porterfoods.co.uk/) and a handful of gourmet independent retailers across the UK, offer people a break from the norm.

The puddings are handmade to traditional recipes passed through generations of Australians. They provide a lighter, gourmet choice with an outstanding flavour profile that means people can eat smaller portions but enjoy the experience much more (after a belly-busting plate full of turkey, sprouts and roast spuds this will be necessary!).

Wrapped in white calico cloth with a focus on authenticity and taste, the puddings stand out in a market packed with mass-market, factory-produced Christmas puddings.

The smaller traditional single-serve Christmas Puddings (100g) were a runaway success at the London Food Show. One customer at the Porter Foods stand said: “This will make the perfect present for my Gran. She loves traditional Christmas puddings. I think she would eat them all year if she could.” Perfect for smaller appetites, stocking fillers, or for the ultimate in gourmet dining serve each guest an individual pudding with a single serving of brandy sauce or thick vanilla custard.

The Macadamia & Brandy Christmas Puddings in a round traditional format, as well as a log shape, caught the attention of the many customers looking for “something a bit different” this year. While the traditional 500g and 1kg variants were snapped up for large family meals and parties over the festive season.

Pudding Lane’s Date & Toffee Log (1kg) offers a real point of difference against the many mass-market products available on the market. Sales of the alternative flavoured puds exceeded all expectations according to Michael Patton, chairman of Porter Foods, which retails and distributes Pudding Lane puddings alongside a wide range of festive gourmet food.

“While the sales of traditional Pudding Lane puddings are high and they attracted a lot of attention from visitors looking for a handmade, more authentic pudding, there are lots of people who are keen to serve something very different to the standard fare. Pudding Lane’s Date & Toffee and Macadamia & Brandy puddings provide that point of difference on Christmas day,” said Patton at the London BBC Good Food Show.

Australia may be known as the home of the barbeque, but the country’s rich landscape also provides everything a traditional Christmas pudding needs. The care that goes into the preparation of each individual pudding is equally homespun. Specialising in corporate and client Christmas gifts, family business Pudding Lane remains fiercely passionate about its range of handmade puddings made from the finest ingredients

“We are really excited about the introduction of Pudding Lane to the UK market just in time for Christmas. Our naughty-but-nice puddings are already attracting acclaim in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, and of course Australia”, says Michael Pudding, managing director of Pudding Lane in Australia.

“The London BBC Good Food Show was the perfect place to debut the puddings in front of a large, highly knowledgeable audience. Londoners know what they want from a Christmas pudding, and we know we can meet the British high standards for quality, authenticity and most importantly a delicious taste and texture.”