Ozark pudding is a dry fruit

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

with

nuts Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed, or a collective noun for dry and edible fruits or seeds * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut or Nuts may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Com ...

that, as the name implies, appears to originate in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

, being named after

The Ozarks The Ozarks, also known as the Ozark Mountains, Ozark Highlands or Ozark Plateau, is a physiographic region in the U.S. states of Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas. The Ozarks cover a significant por ...

region. It is most famous for being a favorite food of President

Harry Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Frankli ...

, a recipe by his wife

Bess Truman Elizabeth Virginia Truman (''née'' Wallace; February 13, 1885October 18, 1982) was the wife of President Harry S. Truman and the first lady of the United States from 1945 to 1953. She also served as the second lady of the United States from Ja ...

having been widely published in the 1950s as her contribution to the

Congressional Club Cookbook The Congressional Club (founded in 1908) is an historic clubhouse located at 2001 New Hampshire Avenue NW, Washington, D.C., in the U Street Corridor. The organization it hosts, which is the official club of congressional spouses, was created in M ...

Ingredients and preparation

Ozark

pudding Pudding is a type of food. It can be either a dessert or a savoury (salty or spicy) dish served as part of the main meal. In the United States, ''pudding'' means a sweet, milk-based dessert similar in consistency to egg-based custards, in ...

always contains

fruit In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...

and

, which comprises most of its volume, with the custard only serving as a glue between the packed bits.

History

According to the book ''All American Desserts'',Deep South Dish: Ozark Pudding
/ref> the predecessor for Ozark pudding, ''

gateau aux noisette A layer cake (US English) or sandwich cake (UK English) is a cake consisting of multiple stacked sheets of cake, held together by frosting or another type of filling, such as jam or other preserves. Most cake recipes can be adapted for laye ...

s'' (cake with

hazelnuts The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus ''Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according ...

), was brought to the New World by the French

Huguenot The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Bez ...

s who settled in Charleston, South Carolina. Because hazelnuts were not common in the US,

pecan The pecan (''Carya illinoinensis'') is a species of hickory native to the southern United States and northern Mexico in the region of the Mississippi River. The tree is cultivated for its seed in the southern United States, primarily in Georgia, ...

s were used, and it came to be known as

Huguenot torte The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Beza ...

. By the time the recipe reached the Ozarks and acquired its current name,

black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, ...

s were a common alternative to pecans.

References

{{reflist Custard desserts Cuisine of the Midwestern United States Missouri culture Nut dishes

Ingredients and preparation

History

See also

References