It's better if you wait

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The clip opens with the credit Meredith family, It’s better if you wait. Sitting at the table, Mrs. Helen Meredith and Mr. David Mendel explain the tradition of Stir-up Sunday.

- In terms of desserts, everything sort of happens at the same time. In the Anglican Church’s prayer cycle, the first Sunday before Advent is known as Stir-up Sunday because there’s a prayer read at Mass that begins with “Stir up, we beseech thee, O Lord…” and so on. And it’s a bit like…like the cue, and people realize “Oh my gosh! It’s already the week before Advent, we should start the Christmas preparations.” And the fruit cake, plum pudding, mincemeat, whatever, we want them to stand, we want…You know, once it’s made, it can stay and stand and age, in a way, and we eat it later in December.  

- And it’s better if you wait. If you eat it too early, the ingredients aren’t combined in the same way.

- So, by making things in November for Stir-up Sunday, you have, you know…There’s a good four weeks before you eat them. But sometimes, I make too much, so I put some aside and we eat it a year later. But often, I have just enough for the season. If I was really good, I’d double the recipes to be able to keep some and eat some right away, but that doesn’t happen often. But it’s definitely the type of thing…Like, fruit cake and such, they’re things you can keep for a while. Even the shortbread. It’s the same for other things we make. In a way, they just get better as they age. Not exactly like wine, but it’s the same idea.