Almanac Food (Christmas Treats): Oldies but goodies

 

With the Festive Season upon us, we thought we’d reprise editor Ian Hauser’s ‘Christmas treats’ post from a couple years ago. Ian will be making his 2026 batch of rum balls in the coming days so that they’re suitably fermented in time for Christmas. 

 

We all have them. Those traditions, treats, experiences and so on that shaped our experiences of Christmas over the years. Some go back to our childhood; others are the result of more recent circumstances in our lives. Here are a couple of mine.

 

I grew up near Laidley, about 100kms west/southwest of Brisbane, where my parents were vegetable farmers. This is Lockyer Valley heartland, the so-called ‘food bowl of Brisbane’ but really much more than that. Historically this is conservative country where the English, Irish and Germans provided most of the human stock. My forebears dating from the 1860s were predominantly German Lutherans but our farm was surrounded by Irish Catholics – O’Shea, O’Keefe, Hughes – in the district known as Blenheim. I haven’t lived there since 1964 but it’s still ‘home’, my ultimate point of reference.

 

As a child, I attended the local one-teacher Blenheim State School. It was there in Grades 4-7 that consecutive teachers – Mr Kelly, Mr Bovey and Mr Whelan – provided the role models that made me want to be a teacher which I duly became a decade or so later with the encouragement of and material support ofrommy parents. The school celebrated its centenary in April 1979 but I couldn’t get there as I lived in Adelaide at the time. A local Committee prepared a Souvenir Booklet.

 

 

 

I love the photo on page 29 that shows my father as a six-year-old in 1930.

 

Like many country schools in those days (and still today?), they also produced a centenary Recipe Book of which I also have a copy.

 

 

 

 

A more recent phase in my life has seen me somehow or another designated as the provider of two particular treats at Christmas. For these I go back to my roots based in that area at that time. On page 36 of the Recipe Book is my Uncle Charlie’s recipe for Rum Balls. I actually had three men called Uncle Charlie – Dad’s brother (Reginald ‘Charlie’ Hauser), Mum’s brother (Charlie Bichel) and Dad’s brother-in law (Charlie Gelhaar). In 1970 at Mum and Dad’s 25th wedding anniversary, all three were standing together chatting away outside Weis’ restaurant in Toowoomba – a moment you couldn’t script if you tried. These days my sister-in-law Susan asks me to make them as part of the food furniture of Christmas.

 

Here’s Uncle Charlie Hauser’s recipe: Use 1 tin of condensed milk, 10 Weet-Bix, 12oz. packet of mixed fruit (hey, these were pre-metric days!), 3 tablespoons of cocoa and 2 tablespoons of rum (I use an overflowing 3!). Crumble the Weet-Bix in a basin. Chop the mixed fruit and add to the Weet-Bix. Add cocoa, condensed milk and rum. Mix well. Roll into small balls. Roll in (dessicated) coconut and put in an airtight jar. Keep in refrigerator. (Makes about 50.) Very simple, very tasty – and you get to lick your fingers as you mix it all together!

 

The other delight comes from the Mulgowie QCWA Diamond Jubilee (1925-85) Recipe Book. Mulgowie is another Lockyer Valley farming district just over the hill to the east of Blenheim.

 

 

 

 

This time it’s Apricot Balls (unattributed, page 45). Here’s that recipe: Put through mincer 1lb. dried apricots and combine with 1 cup coconut, 1 cup crushed cornflakes, 1 tin condensed milk. Mix well and roll into balls and coat with extra coconut. Keep in container in refrigerator. They improve in flavour if kept for several weeks. (Makes about 40.) I infuse three generous tablespoons of brandy which certainly add to the developmental characteristics over a week or two. And I get to enjoy the ‘dregs’ of the condensed milk as I scoop it out of the tin.

 

So this year’s treats have been assembled in the past few days ready for a trip south in the coming weeks. It’s Christmas in Melbourne this year. Here’s what they look like. Just remember that I grew up on a farm and so their appearance may be a tad ‘rustic’ rather than ’rounded’. But I can assure you that they taste just great! Feel free to try the recipes for yourselves.

 

 

 

My rum balls and apricot balls are just a part of the frou frous of Christmas as I experience it these days. Of far greater significance to me is the message of the Saviour born in the manger in Bethlehem. I’m looking forward to attending the choral service at Christ Church South Yarra on Christmas morning to celebrate just that.

 

Christmas blessings to all in the Almanac community. May the season bring you fulfilment, however that may be found in your particular circumstances.

 

All photos by the writer.

 

To read more by Ian Hauser click HERE.

 

 

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