FOOD TRIVIA: British Tea with milk and Desserts (Puddings)

 FOOD TRIVIA:  British Tea with milk and Desserts (Puddings)

British put milk in tea  because in the 17th - 18th centuries, tea was served in China cups that were so delicate they often cracked when boiling tea was poured straight into them. Milk was put in cup,  prior to adding the hot tea, to cool the tea, thus preventing the cups from cracking. Soon milk in tea became the preferred way to drink it. While teacups are not so fragile now, most English tea drinkers still put milk into their tea. Tea etiquette suggests that you put enough milk in the bottom of a teacup, “to cover just the bottom of your teacup or mug” before pouring in the tea.

In Great Britain, what we call the last sweet course of a meal  "dessert", they call "pudding". The Brits eat a wide a variety of dishes called "pudding.";  their  sweet "dessert" ones are generically called, "pudding" -"What are we having for pudding (dessert) ? - while savory ones are defined  by a descriptive name; e.g. Yorkshire Pudding, Bacon Pudding, Black Pudding, Pease  Pudding, etc..

FUNNY NAMES OF BRITISH PUDDINGS (DESSERT) : SYLLABUB, a popular dessert in 17 - early 19th century England, is a mixture of whipped cream, whipped egg whites, juice and zest of lemon and white wine. The amount of white wine added determined whether the Syllabub was a popular punch or a creamy dessert, FOOL or FOOLE, whose name derives from the French word, “foule”, meaning, “pressed or crushed”, is made up of a combination of crushed fruits and thick cream. TRIFLE, a dessert which evolved from FOOL, consists of layers of sponge cake, moistened, and softened with wine followed by jam or fruit which is followed by custard and, finally, the whole thing is covered with whipped cream; candied rind or seeds, e.g. caraway, are added for decoration. ETON MESS, meringue, broken into pieces, mixed with  whipped cream and crushed strawberries, placed in to a bowl and covered with quartered strawberries,  SPOTTED DICK, a light dessert, steamed pudding, originally made with suet, (but now, probably butter) with dried currents suspended in it and served with a custard sauce. STRANGE NAMES! all TASTY .