What do you do to coins to put them in Xmas pudding?

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I can't find the recipe I had which gave instructions for this.

I think it said to sterilise the coins in boiling water for 10 mins before adding them to the pudding before cooking - but I can't remember if they should be wrapped in tinfoil or something first.

Any ideas? Some of our Christmas Day guests are going off to America the next day so I want to put some quarters and dimes in.

Thanks!

We used to wrap our coins in greaseproof paper then some tinfoil.

We used to just lob the sixpence in before the final stir.

Surely the cooking process will kill any germs?

Yep, boiling for ten minutes is fine to sterilise coins - no need for foil or anything else (well this is what I've done for years & we're all still fine!!)

Great, thanks. I've just realised it'll take at least six hours to cook!

So I'm going to have to rely on my teenage dd to put it on before I get home from work, and trust her not to let it boil dry!

The fruit is soaking in alcohol at the moment, and I'm about to soak some alcohol myself too.

Cheers!

DM always used to wrap them in greaseproof paper - I think more because she was worried about the taste contaminating the pud than for hygiene reasons.

Only I eat Christmas pud in our house so I don't bother any more

Oh, I wouldn't use foil, specially not if you think there's any chance the pudding might last beyond Christmas - it can corrode, and you don't specially want to be eating aluminium! We do boil and wrap charms; the wrapping is partly to make them bigger, so that you don't swallow one by accident (less likely with a coin, I guess)