22 September 2007

It's Fruitcake Season!!

Ah, I can feel it.The weather is starting to change and people are starting to think about holiday purchases. I've already received at least three fruitcake catalogs, and for certain companies where fruitcakes are a seasonal item, fruitcakes have reappeared on their website.

One of these companies is Hickory Farms. As previously proven by Turnip 1 and Turnip 2, the most popular food gift companies have really horrible fruitcakes, leading, it is my theory, to this mass hatred of fruitcakes. And a justified reaction it is.

So in the interest of the consumer, and all that is good and right with fruitcakes, my next fruitcake will be (shudder) Hickory Farms. Yes, I admit, I'm prejudging the cake. Hey, I've eaten a lot of them lately, and the latest two were both lovely. I'm not looking forward to eating more turnips or high-fructose corn syrup or preservatives or cabbage or whatever the food technologists in the back rooms of Hickory Farms have come up with. They're going to have to bring it, and I doubt they will.

I'm not kidding when I say I eat the fruitcake so you don't have to. Most of the time I enjoy it. Let's hope I'm pleasantly surprised with this one.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

From the Nutrition tab beneath the Hickory Farms "Dark Fruit Cake" page:
"Allergy Information: Contains Milk, Wheat, Egg, Soy, Walnuts, Almonds, Pecans".

Okay. How does Soy get into a fruitcake?? Or rather, why does Soy get into a fruitcake??

From the picture of the cake alone, it really doesn't look very dark.

Isabelle said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Isabelle said...

Hi Brian, I agree with you--maybe Soy is the Turnip for Hickory Farms. Always surprises from the mass-produced fruitcakes!! As for light versus dark, I didn't notice any photo variation and I don't think they even gave a reason in the description. I'll have to figure it out, and I hope I can do so without having to order and eat both of them.

Anonymous said...

vermont country store sells vermont fruitcake

www.vermontcountrystore.com

Lizzie Azzolino said...

I wanted to let you know I linked to your blog because I just interviewed a 93-year-old fruitcake lover, and she gave me some great tips! Keep up the great posts!

Isabelle said...

Hi Anonymous, I checked out the fruitcake at the Vermont County store and that really looks like Old Cavendish, the fruitcake I just reviewed. I see big chunks of prune . . .

Anonymous said...

Isabelle,
You're absolutely right about the Vermont Country Store fruitcake being identical to the Old Cavendish fruitcake. If you compare the Nutritional info at the V.C.S. fruitcake to the list of ingredients on your picture of the Old Cavendish tin lid you'll find that the ingredients are identical and listed in exactly the same order.

Now, c'mon Isabelle, stop messing around with Hickory Farms and review a Monastery Fruitcake. (Hopefully the one at http://www.trappistabbey.org) I swear Isabelle: it will be DARK and it will NOT contain prunes (nor soy, nor turnips.)

Isabelle said...

Oh Brian, don't tempt me so . . . Hickory Farms is already in the house, but if I can bring myself to try another fruitcake this season, I promise you it will be Our Lady of Guadalupe.

Anonymous said...

Although pricey, these are the best fruitcakes I have tried:

http://www.societystjohn.com/jampot.jp?page=fruitcakes.jp&cart_id=5245763.15859

Isabelle said...

Thanks, anonymous at 6 pm, I have never seen that abbey, so looking forward to trying their fruitcake (maybe sometime next year . . . . ::sigh::)

ANDY PAGE said...

A&P is selling its famous Jane Parker fruit cake online and through a toll free telephone number this holiday season.

If interested, the toll free number is 1-866-443-7374 or at
http://www.apsupermarket.com