After more than 80 years, a family’s plum pudding business nearly came unstuck
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Ross Carter’s 2021 batch of handmade plum puddings was almost brought undone by a lack of one simple but crucial item – cloth. Dr Carter’s family have been making and selling Christmas plum puddings since the 1930s. His grandparents started the tradition by selling the puddings at their cake shop in Moonee Ponds and, these days, the recipe remains largely unchanged.
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4th generation Ross Carter at his happiest on the floor with his family as they all come together every year at this time to make Ray’s Traditional Home Made plum Puddings.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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Marina Carter along with her husband Ross carter own the business. Pictured here Marina is wheeling a squeezing trolley.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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Duncan Carter is hand mixing the fruit with the other ingredients.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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Ross Carter and son Duncan pick up and gather cloth to tie the pudding. Ross has been tying puddings for more than 50 years and Duncan is following in his footsteps.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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The puddings are cooled on a rack for more than an hour getting ready to be packed for refrigeration.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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Ross is having a joke with Clare, a new member of the Ray’s Plum Pudding family.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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The puddings are cooled on a rack for more than an hour getting ready to be packed for refrigeration.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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The team of family and lifelong friends at Ray’s Traditional Home Made Plum Pudding in their factory in Essendon. The business is a 4th generation family run business.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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An old image of Ray Carter mixing the ingredients. Nothing has changed since the process is exactly the same.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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Soft cotton string is used to tie the puddings ready for cooking.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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Walking into the factory you can feel the tradition of Ray’s Plum Puddings with the proudly displayed photographic history on the wall.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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5th generation family member Talia, 6.5 years old, enjoys her Ray’s Traditional Home Made plum Pudding at a family gathering.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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After tying the puddings they are placed in a tank of 800 litres of boiling water and cooked depending on size for up to half a day.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
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Packaged product is taken home boiled and tipped out of the cloth and enjoyed by all generations.Credit:Meredith O’Shea
After more than 80 years, a family’s plum pudding business nearly came unstuck
Source: Philippines Alive
