Would you eat a Christmas pudding that expired at Easter this year?

[Hairofthemonster]

We didn't eat it last year. My mum was dying at Christmas and it wasn't very Christmassy. It got shoved into a cupboard.

Wondering if the booze content means it's perfectly fine to eat now about 9 months later? Or is the amount of brandy that goes into a supermarket Christmas pud so miniscule it will be a sad mouldy lump?

Feeling devastated and bereaved anyway this year, so it doesn't really matter a jot if it should be binned, but thought I'd check as don't like food wast and live abroad where I can't buy puddings locally.

Yes, without any hesitation. I’ve eaten ones years out of date.

for context I am someone who is quite cautious with best before dates for almost all other foodstuffs.

I would and I have. Enjoy.

Definitely. After cooking, smothering it in brandy and setting fire to it, it'll be just perfect. We're having last year's pud too as we all had covid.

The first Christmas after my mother died was rough, eight years on, it's OK, we reminisce and raise a glass to her. It takes time to learn to live with it.

When my dd was little she spent some weeks in Great Ormond Street hospital, and, of course, I stayed in with her. She was not a good sleeper, so I spent many hours each night awake by her cotside. One night in mid-June the night staff cooked themselves up a Christmas pudding from the previous December, and the smell permeated the whole ward. I can never smell Christmas pudding now without being taken back in my mind to those long, anxious, exhausting nights.

I have eaten pudding a couple of years out of date. Once it starts rattling in the pot, no. But other than that they have been fine. Sugar and alcohol are good preservatives.

It’ll be fantastic! Some years we eat Xmas pudding that I made 2 years prior, can’t beat a nice mature one!

They last for years, wouldn't give it a second thought.

Mine is sitting on the side with an exp of March 23 too.

I think I’m going to eat it thanks to this thread.

I'd leave it for next year if I were you!

I wouldn't eat it if it was in date... 🤢

Yeah, damn right. Aren’t they supposed to be left to mature?

My Mum makes her own puds, they would be at least a year matured before being eaten.
If your shop bought pud is still sealed in wrapping it will be fine. Just check the cellophane seal is not bulging. Bet it will actually taste better.