What Is a Sugarplum, Anyway? Bringing the Sweet Mystery to Life

What Is a Sugarplum, Anyway? Bringing the Sweet Mystery to Life
These modern-day sugarplums, a mixture of spiced dried fruit and nuts rolled in crunchy turbinado sugar, are a sweet and wholesome Christmas treat. Jennifer McGruther
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As you nestle your children snug in their beds this Christmas Eve, perhaps it’s more likely that visions of tablets and smartphones will dance in their heads than sugarplums. Clement Clarke Moore’s iconic Christmas poem “A Visit from St. Nicholas,” in which the sweets appear, is nearly two centuries old, and sugarplum fairies may dance their way across countless stages this December in renditions of Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker,” but most of us are left wondering exactly what a sugarplum is.

Sure, it’s clear they have something to do with Christmastime, but you’d be hard-pressed to pinpoint exactly what they are or precisely why they’re so intricately connected to yuletide festivities. It seems their meaning is lost with time. Instead, we’re left with vague ideas. Sugarplums are the stuff of winter dreams.

Jennifer McGruther
Jennifer McGruther
Author
Jennifer McGruther is a nutritional therapy practitioner, herbalist, and the author of three cookbooks, including “Vibrant Botanicals.” She’s also the creator of NourishedKitchen.com, a website that celebrates traditional foodways, herbal remedies, and fermentation. She teaches workshops on natural foods and herbalism, and currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.
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