The holidays always bring up conflicts — not just about family or politics, but important things like which seasonal treats are disgusting and which are delicious. Strong feelings tend to arise when we’re confronted with peppermint or eggnog. But there’s no holiday food that riles people up quite like fruitcake. An easy punchline, a dish Woman’s Day has said "everyone secretly hates," The Root calls "the worst" and Delish recommends you simply "throw in the trash," fruitcake still somehow never dies. In 2021, PBS reported that 2 million of them are sold each year. It can’t all be hate gifting, right?
As someone who recoils at the mere thought of candied peel or maraschino cherries, I too have reflexively avoided fruitcake for most of my life. But this year, I started wondering if maybe I’d been too hard on the treat all this time. Maybe fruitcake has its reputation as a bad tasting brick because a few bad fruitcakes have sullied its name. Maybe, not all fruitcakes?
