Christmas pudding advice please...

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I am a Christmas pudding novice and would like to make this as DP loves Christmas pudding but is a type two diabetic. Would you say it will keep once made? If so, how long for? And if pre-made, how woukd you reheat it? Thanks in advance!

Traditional Christmas pudding should be made at least 5 weeks before Christmas (by Stir-up Sunday, which is the Sunday before Advent starts) and can be made any time before that. It's like homemade mincemeat and things like that which improve with maturing. I've kept one for a year and it was fine. You can freeze them if you are worried, but I never do. As long as you keep it tied-up after you have boiled it, keep it in the warm until the teatowel has dried out, and then put it in a cool dry place (like a garage), it should be fine.

But if you would be reducing the sugar content, I don't know how well it would keep, unless you upped the brandy content a lot! Is is a special recipe designed to be suitable for diabetics that you are looking for?

My recipe has a total cooking time of 6 hours! (Or 2-3 in a pressure cooker) and you just divide the time how you like between the day you make it and the day you eat it. So I usually do 2 hours in the pressure cooker on the day I've made it and then a further hour on Christmas Day - I put it on just as we sit down for the first course. You can do the reheating in a microwave too, but I think you get a nicer (moister) flavour with steaming/boiling.

Hope that helps!

Thanks so much Lovage that is really helpful. I did wonder if the diabetic version might differ as you have said, bespcause of the sugar! I might follow your tips and make two versions.... If the low sugar is a fail DP can make do with a sniff of the other one!!

There is a recipe for Christmas pudding on the Diabetes UK website here. I think it will keep because it has got some sugar and alcohol in it.

I make the Delia Smith Pudding recipe every two years which should give you a clue how long they last for :) From memory, there isn't a huge amount of added sugar in the thing. It's mostly dried fruit loosely held together with some egg, flour and alcohol. TBH I'd have thought the sugar concentration in dried fruit alone is going to be problematic for a diabetic.