In 1934 General Foods Introduced A Chocolate Pudding Mix As “Walter Baker’s Dessert.” In 1936, They Renamed It “Pickle’s Pudding.”

Updated April 29, 2024

(June 25, 2020) Each year on June 26th, National Chocolate Pudding Day gets us all excited for a serving of this creamy dessert. Children and adults alike love chocolate pudding and have done so for generations. Usually eaten as a snack or dessert, chocolate pudding is also used as a filling for chocolate creme pie.

• 17th Century – The proverb “The proof of the pudding’s in the eating” dates back to at least the 17th century.
• 1730 – The earliest print reference for chocolate pudding is 1730.
• 18th Century – Traditional English puddings no longer incorporate meat.
• 19th Century – The sweet and creamy confection we know as pudding emerged in the mid-19th century when an English chemist named Alfred Bird developed an egg-free custard powder. This remarkable invention made it very easy to produce a delicious pudding with the perfect consistency.
• 19th Century – In the 19th century puddings were still boiled but the finished product was more like cake. These puddings are still traditionally served at Christmas time.
• 19th Century – Rice pudding was known but until the 19th century it was regarded as a medicine. It was supposed to be good for digestive ailments.
• 1903 – The 1903 edition of Mary Harris Frazer’s Kentucky Receipt Book
• 1918 – the 1918 edition of Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cook Book, both printed recipes for the earlier version, using both eggs and flour.
• 1934 – General Foods (Jello) introduced a chocolate pudding mix as “Walter Baker’s Dessert.” However, in 1936, they renamed it “Pickle’s Pudding.”
• Originally a British dish, pudding could be made on very short notice.
• Ingredients vary, but it was basically a sweetened porridge made from flour, tapioca or oatmeal and milk. The term originated in the late 16th century.
• In Colonial America cornmeal was cheaper and more readily available, so here, Hasty Pudding was a cornmeal mush (cornmeal added to boiling water and cooked) with molasses, honey, brown sugar or maple syrup and milk.
• There are both savory and dessert versions of this dish.  An example of a savory version would be a meat pudding.
• Historically, chocolate pudding is a variation of chocolate custard, using starch as a thickener instead of eggs.
• The word pudding is believed to come from the French boudin, originally from the Latin botellus, meaning “small sausage,” referring to encased meats used in Medieval European puddings.
• The most common kind of pudding is chocolate. Some other kinds are vanilla, butterscotch, banana, and pistachio.
• Savory puddings are boiled or steamed dishes consisting of meats (steak and kidney being the best known), game, poultry, and vegetables enclosed in suet pastry.
• Haggis is a savory pudding containing sheep’s pluck (heart, liver, and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, and cooked while traditionally encased in the animal’s stomach though now often in an artificial casing instead.
• Black and white puddings are sausages with cereal added, the black being colored with pig’s blood.
• The Yorkshire pudding is a common English side dish consisting of a baked pudding made from batter consisting of eggs, flour, and milk or water. It is eaten with roast beef in a baked egg-rich batter.
• Pudd’nhead Wilson, written by Mark Twain, reflects the term’s use as a metaphor for someone with the mind of a fool.

Sources:

National Day Calendar

Foodimentary

Mobile-Cuisine

Just Fun Facts

National Today