Blancmange ........ with a bit of nostalgia and a history lesson in fast food from the 19th century

I grew up with Blancmange and it is one of those puddings that mark me out as a child of the 1950s.

Historically it goes back to the Middle Ages when it was made with chicken, milk, rice and sugar, and variations can be found across Europe as far down as Turkey.

But in our house and I guess in most homes it came in sachets and consisted of flavoured cornflour to which you added some sugar and a pint of milk and  given that it was that simple it was something mother trusted me to make for my sisters.

And this week after something like half a century I am about to make it again.

Now I can’t quite make up my mind up as to whether this is just pure nostalgia or something more.

After all there are plenty of retrospective TV programmes featuring the food we ate and the scary thing is that those featuring the 1950s so powerfully take me back to that time of dripping, sugar sandwiches, and over cooked cabbage that I spend days afterwards boring the family with the stories of what we ate.

Of course it is remarkable how our eating habits changed dramatically from the end of rationing in 1954 with a whole range of new and convenience foods which were on offer within five years.

All of which takes me back to blancmange which was a product of an earlier revolution in quick and cheap foods which surfaced in the middle of the 19th century and included Mr Bird’s custard powder.

Despite those who can be sniffy about custard powder and I have been one of them in my time it must have offered up a boon to those running a home at a time when there were few labour saving devices.

It avoided the need to buy eggs and just required that pint of milk a bit of heat and some stirring.

And apparently lots of people also reached for a packet of the stuff for according to the Independent,  Pearce Duff which are the only company still making blancmange, sell 700,000 units a year and sales were up by 7%*

So I shall give my blancmange a go later today.

*Old food brands that refuse to die out, The Independent, March 14 2006, http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/features/old-food-brands-that-refuse-to-die-out-469869.html