Next: 25 Dec 2026
Christmas Day baking
Plum pudding, mince pies, gingerbread, eggnog and pumpkin pie: the Christmas table is built on the warm spices.
Spices for Christmas Day baking
Christmas in the English-speaking world is a day of sweet spice: Christmas pudding with mixed spice, nutmeg and clove, mince pies filled with spiced dried fruit, gingerbread and eggnog with grated nutmeg. In the United States, pumpkin pie uses a blend of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and clove, known as pumpkin pie spice. The ingredients arrived in Europe along the spice routes, first as luxuries for a rich table and then, as prices fell, as everyday pleasures.
The spices
More spices used for Christmas Day baking
🇲🇽 Mexico and 1 moreChipotle
Smoke-dried ripe jalapeño peppers used in Mexican and Tex-Mex cookingChilli · Hot and fiery · Smoky
🇳🇱 Netherlands and 5 moreJuniper berry
The fleshy seed cone of the juniper tree, a piney spice for game and gin.Sharp and pungent · Citrus and bright
🇹🇷 Turkey and 2 moreMahleb
A ground cherry seed used to sweeten Middle Eastern baked goods with an almond-cherry note.Seed · Sweet and mellow · Bitter
Written by the EveryMasala desk with AI assistance. Background: "Christmas" on Wikipedia. Customs differ from place to place and family to family. If this is your tradition and we have it wrong, tell us.
Photo credits on this page
The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Clove: Bayu Nugroho, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Juniper berry: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 1.0, source
- Mahleb: Steve Hurst @ USDA-NRCS PLANTS Database, Public domain, source
- Mixed spice: Unknown author, CC BY-SA 3.0, source
- Pumpkin pie spice: Stephen Witherden, CC BY 2.0, source
- Chipotle: User:Carstor, CC BY-SA 2.5, source
- Nutmeg: Herusutimbul, CC BY-SA 4.0, source