Hot Cross Buns - The Secret is Revealed

I've always had a complicated relationship with Easter. The food issues alone could fill a book.

It started with the hot cross buns that Mum would bring home on Good Friday. Heated in the oven before serving, they were warm, cinnamony, slathered with melting butter. Perfect, right? Yes they were, until you bit into.... The Thing. The Unidentifiable Chunk. It was green, translucent, sweet... and totally inedible... Fruit gristle?

Mum never understood. No such thing as fruit gristle and no, you can't pick it out and leave it on the plate. Eat up.

As an adult, I just avoided the issue. Hot cross buns were simply not on the menu. Then we opened a bakery...

I went shopping with Alan this week, looking for candied peel. At our first stop, we came across a container of "mixed candied fruit". The first ingredient on the list? Rutabaga!!!!!

All became clear. That's what I'd been biting into all those years ago. Rutabaga - the gristle of candied fruit!

We moved on till we found mixed candied peel - 100% rutabaga free.