Welcome to Brain Stuff, a production of IHeartRadio.

Hey, Brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbaum here.

Each year in December, the U.S. Postal Service delivers tidy, dense packages of certain baked

goods into mailboxes across America. With a shelf life of up to three years, and even longer, if generously

doused with rum, it's easy to see why they're so male-friendly. But what exactly is

fruitcake? In the parlance of our times, fruitcake is a sweet, rich, moist type of cake. The batter

is traditionally made with wheat flour,

eggs, butter, dark sugars, and warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and allspice.

It's heavily studded with dried and candied fruits and nuts. Most traditionally, raisins,

citrus peel, and almonds, but honestly anything goes, and candied cherries are common

modernly. A rich brown liquor, like brandy, whiskey, or rum, is often incorporated. Either the

fruits are soaked in it before being stirred in, and or the finished cake is basted in liquor.

For those who don't imbide, things like apple juice or vanilla syrup can be substituted here.

The overall effect is a little overwhelming, lots of heavy flavors and differing textures,

but it basically tastes like Christmas time.

There are a lot of different recipes.

Some include other flavorings like cocoa powder. Some are coated in a

glaze and icing or with marzipan. Fruitcake is a tradition that technically goes back to Roman times.

It became a staple of festivals and today is widely associated with winter holidays. There are

some ardently against these dense fruit-filled loaves. On average,

they share a density with mahogany. Johnny Carson famously joked back in 1985,

the worst Christmas gift is fruitcake. There's only one fruitcake in the entire world, and people

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