Love a good Christmas pud? Then you should know the best time to make it. The last Sunday before Advent is also known as ‘Stir-up Sunday’. It’s traditionally the day that families gather to making their Christmas pudding. The idea is that every member of the family stirs the pudding from east to west to symbolise the journey of the three wise men, and then makes a wish.

It’s a nice way to get the whole family involved, and the timing is perfect, giving your pudding a few weeks to mature and let those flavours deepen before Christmas Day. In 2025, Stir-up Sunday falls on Sunday, November 23.

Even if you’ve only ever experienced Christmas in the heat of the Australian summer, you’re certainly not alone if you’re a traditionalist when it comes to the food. Glazed hams, roast turkeys and all the trimmings just scream Christmas, and perhaps nothing is more festive than a rich, fruity pudding… and it’s such a spectacle when you bring it lighted to the table.

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What is the origin of Christmas pudding?

To understand the origins of the Christmas pudding as we know it today, we have to go way back in European history to medieval times, when it started as a ‘pottage’ – a soupy mixture of spices, fruits, grains and fats that were mixed with meats and vegetables. These ingredients were sometimes stuffed into the stomach or intestines of an animal, like sausages or a haggis, which helped preserve the pottage for longer. These early versions of pudding were usually served at the beginning of a meal, or eaten as a fasting meal before the Christmas festivities kicked off. Over the centuries, the recipe evolved (fortunately losing the meat and the stomach), until it became the Christmas pudding we know and love (or hate!) today. At its heart, it’s quite simple: a mixture of dried and fresh fruits and spices bound together with either suet or butter and flour.

In our many years of recipe development (and eating of good things), the delicious. team has picked up a basin-load of tricks and tips that can help you when you head to the kitchen this Sunday to create your masterpiece. So check them out below, and have a happy Stir-up Sunday!

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How to make Christmas pudding

1. Use good quality dried fruit, not packets that may have been sitting on a supermarket shelf for years. Try to buy from a shop that sells loose dried fruits (Middle Eastern stores are great for this). Plump, juicy fruits are the key.

2. Soak your fruits overnight either in your chosen booze or in a fruit juice, as this will help plump the fruit and give it great flavour.

3. Use citrus fruits at room temperature and give the fruit five or six rolls along the benchtop before you start, as this will yield extra juice. Make sure your eggs are also at room temperature, as an egg straight from the fridge is sure to curdle the mixture.

4. Give your flour two or three sifts before adding, as this will remove any lumps and help keep your pudding light.

5. Look out for all the different sugars available in supermarkets – dark muscovado, for instance, will add deep caramel tones to your pudding.

6. If you’re using nutmeg as one of your spices, be sure to buy whole nutmeg, and only finely grate it fresh, when you’re ready to cook. This will deliver a more fragrant, spiced end result.

7. A great tip from the Country Women’s Association is to steam your pudding sitting on an upturned saucer. This will rattle as it sits in the boiling water at the bottom of the pot, so if you can’t hear it rattling anymore, this means the water level has dropped too much and you’ll need to top it up.

8. To store your pudding after cooking, wrap the cooled pudding thoroughly in plastic wrap, then place in an airtight container or in a freezer bag. Refrigerate for up to 3 months or freeze for a year.

9. It was once traditional to hide a sixpence in the pudding, and finding it in your slice was meant to bring good luck and wealth in the coming year. However, that was in the days when coins were made out of gold and silver. These days, coins are made of different metals that are not safe to add to food. If you still want to include a lucky coin in your pudding, wrap the coin in some foil before adding, or you can buy specially made pudding coins which will safely allow you to carry on the tradition.

Need more pudding inspiration? Check out our ultimate Christmas pudding collection!