Chocolate puddings are a class of desserts in the

pudding Pudding is a type of food which can either be a dessert served after the main meal or a Savoury (dish), savoury (salty or sweet, and spicy) dish, served as part of the main meal. In the United States, ''pudding'' means a sweet, milk-based des ...

family with

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

flavors. There are two main types: a boiled then chilled dessert, texturally a

custard Custard is a variety of culinary preparations based on sweetened milk, cheese, or cream cooked with Eggs as food, egg or egg yolk to thicken it, and sometimes also flour, corn starch, or gelatin. Depending on the recipe, custard may vary in con ...

set with

starch Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diet ...

, commonly eaten in the

U.S. The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, and

East East is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that ea ...

and

South East Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

; and a steamed/baked version, texturally similar to

cake Cake is a flour confection usually made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elabor ...

, popular in the UK,

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

North American and Asian version

The U.S./Canadian and Asian version is one of the most common varieties of ''sweet'' or ''dessert''

served in these countries. It is usually eaten as a

snack A snack is a small portion of Human food, food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including Food packaging, packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at ho ...

dessert Dessert is a course (food), course that concludes a meal; the course consists of sweet foods, such as cake, biscuit, ice cream, and possibly a beverage, such as dessert wine or liqueur. Some cultures sweeten foods that are more commonly umami, ...

. It is also used as a filling for chocolate (pudding) pie or

black bottom pie Black bottom pie is a type of pie originating in the United States that features a layer of chocolate pastry cream or pudding, the "black bottom", topped with whipped cream or meringue. The single crust is pre-baked and of variable composition, b ...

. Historically, it is a variation on

, with starch used as a thickener rather than eggs. Early versions of the dish using both egg and flour can be found in the 1918 edition of Fannie Farmer's ''Boston Cooking School Cook Book'' and in the 1903 edition of Mary Harris Frazer's ''Kentucky Receipt Book''. In the late 19th and early 20th century, chocolate pudding was thought of as an appropriate food for invalids or children as well as a dessert. It was not considered a health food in the modern sense of the term but as a wholesome, high-calorie food for those with poor appetites.

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by C. W. Post, Charles William (C. W.) Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, a ...

(Jell-O) introduced chocolate pudding mix in 1934 as "Walter Baker's Dessert". It was renamed "Pickle's Pudding" in 1936. Modern chocolate puddings are usually made with

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

and

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, flavored with

and

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). ''Vanilla'' is not Autogamy, autogamous, so pollination ...

and thickened with a

such as

flour Flour is a powder made by Mill (grinding), grinding raw grains, List of root vegetables, roots, beans, Nut (fruit), nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredie ...

cornstarch Cornflour, cornstarch, maize starch, or corn starch (American English) is the starch derived from corn (maize) grain. The starch is obtained from the endosperm of the kernel. Corn starch is a common food ingredient, often used to thicken s ...

. Occasionally, eggs are still used when making chocolate pudding. Usually, it is cooked together on the stovetop, but other methods exist including

microwaving A microwave oven, or simply microwave, is an electric oven that heats and cooks food by exposing it to electromagnetic radiation in the microwave frequency range. This induces polar molecules in the food to rotate and produce thermal energy ( ...

steaming Steaming is a method of cooking using steam. This is often done with a food steamer, a kitchen appliance made specifically to cook food with steam, but food can also be steamed in a wok. In the American Southwest, steam pits used for cooking ha ...

baking Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot Baking stone, stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is ...

(sometimes in a

bain-marie A bain-marie ( , ), also known as a water bath or double boiler, a type of heated bath, is a piece of equipment used in science, Industry (manufacturing), industry, and cooking to heat materials gently or to keep materials warm over a period of ...

), or

freezing Freezing is a phase transition in which a liquid turns into a solid when its temperature is lowered below its freezing point. For most substances, the melting and freezing points are the same temperature; however, certain substances possess dif ...

(using gelatin as a thickener). Sometimes

white chocolate White chocolate is a chocolate made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids. It is Ivory (color), ivory in color and lacks the dark appearance of most other types of chocolate as it does not contain the non-fat components of cocoa (cocoa sol ...

pudding is made. Chocolate pudding is commonly purchased ready-made in stores; popular brands include

Jell-O Jell-O (stylized in all caps) is an American brand offering a variety of powdered gelatin dessert (fruit-flavored gels/jellies), pudding, and no-bake cream pie mixes. The original gelatin dessert ( genericized as jello) is the signature of ...

Pudding by the

Kraft Foods Kraft Foods Group, Inc. was an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate (company), conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. on October 1, 2012, and was headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz on July ...

Corporation and Snack Pack by Hunt's. Many people make their chocolate puddings at home, but commercially produced tinned or refrigerated versions are commonly available in supermarkets.

British Isles and Australian version

In Britain, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, chocolate pudding is a dessert made of

baking powder Baking powder is a dry chemical leavening agent, a mixture of a carbonate or bicarbonate and a weak acid. The base and acid are prevented from reacting prematurely by the inclusion of a buffer such as cornstarch. Baking powder is used to increas ...

, whole eggs,

aroma, and

cocoa powder Dry cocoa solids are the components of cocoa beans remaining after cocoa butter, the fatty component of the bean, is extracted from chocolate liquor, roasted cocoa beans that have been ground into a liquid state. Cocoa butter is 46% to 57% of the ...

mixed together to make a batter and steamed or

baked Baking is a method of preparing food that uses dry heat, typically in an oven, but it can also be done in hot ashes, or on hot stones. Bread is the most commonly baked item, but many other types of food can also be baked. Heat is gradually t ...

similar to

Christmas pudding Christmas pudding is sweet, boiled or steamed pudding traditionally served as part of Christmas dinner in Great Britain, Britain and other countries to which the tradition has been exported. It has its origins in England in the Middle Ages, me ...

. Texturally it is similar to chocolate cake, but denser courtesy of being steamed or baked with boiling water poured over the pudding batter.

External links

* ''Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook'', Ruth Berolzheimer, ed. (1988). * ''Larousse Gastronomique'', by Prosper Montangné (1961). * * ''The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book'' by Fannie Merritt Farmer. "Steamed Chocolate Pudding" (1918). (http://www.bartleby.com/87/r1195.html). * ''Kentucky Receipt Book'' by Mary Harris Frazer. (1903). (http://www.oldlouisville.com/Recipes/Puddings/chocolatepudding.htm )
A History of Jell-O Brand 1930-1940

BBC recipe of Chocolate self-saucing pudding - a good example of the British and Australasian version of chocolate pudding

Aunt Betty's Chocolate Fudge Pudding. A commercial example of the British version on sale in New Zealand
{{Puddings Chocolate desserts Puddings Steamed foods Creamy dishes

North American and Asian version

British Isles and Australian version

See also

External links