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11-11-2002, 04:33 PM
|  | Registered User | | Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Indianapolis
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| |  Vegetarian Mincemeat
Hello all.
I am looking forward to the Christmas season, where I will be furthering a family tradition and making sour cream cookies with mincemeat filling. I have several vegetarian mincemeat recipes, but Christmas is a busy time where I work, and I would love to skip that step. Does anyone know of a good vegetarian mincemeat that I could order?
~~Shimmer~~
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11-11-2002, 07:44 PM
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Um, isn't all mincemeat vegetarian ??, I thought it was just veggies, fruits and spices. I am curious to know though.
thank you.
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11-11-2002, 08:02 PM
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The Whipple Company, Natick, MA, makers of Grandmother's Mincemeat. A New England classic.
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11-12-2002, 04:43 AM
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Quote: Originally posted by coolJ
Um, isn't all mincemeat vegetarian ??, I thought it was just veggies, fruits and spices. I am curious to know though.
thank you. | Mincemeat got its name because there's minced beef in it. Look at the label of what I consider to be the best mass-marketed mincemeat: Nonesuch. UNLESS it says "meat free" or "vegetarian" on the label, you will find BEEF in the ingredients.
I think manufacturers have gotten away from the inclusion of beef in mincemeat, or making two products - one vegetarian and one with the small amount of beef. It should not be hard to find in supermarkets, especially at this time of year. Just look at the ingredients to make sure beef is not listed.
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11-12-2002, 07:35 AM
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Quote: Originally posted by coolJ
Um, isn't all mincemeat vegetarian ??, I thought it was just veggies, fruits and spices. I am curious to know though.
thank you. | CoolJ:
Having just finished a Sunday of manufacturing mincemeat for anticipated Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners (it freezes well), I can assure you that the traditional mincemeat is exactly what the name implies - minced meat. As Chiffonade said, what you see in old recipes is generally beef, although I'd bet in reality it used to contain whatever meat was available.
Mincemeat goes back centuries, since sugar was used as a preservative before refrigeration. I've seen recipes back to the 16th century, and I'm pretty sure I remember one in the Forme of Cury (approx. 1390), although as I'm at work while writing this, I can't check that. The recipe I was using is adapted from Lydia Child's 1832 cookbook.
BR |
11-12-2002, 02:07 PM
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Thank you Chiffonade and Brreynolds. Now I know.
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11-13-2002, 06:10 AM
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| |  Not strictly meat.
Quote: Originally posted by coolJ
Um, isn't all mincemeat vegetarian ??, I thought it was just veggies, fruits and spices. I am curious to know though.
thank you. | Well Chiff and brreynolds are correct up to a point, it was originally minced and spiced meat, but meat as you would normally think of it has not featured for many tens of years. What you do find in mincemeat is suet which is derived from the hard fat round the kidneys and loins of beef (the little white bits in the mincemeat). So you need to check that it uses non-animal (artificial) suet, or says that it is vegetarian. Even if it uses animal suet you WON'T find beef on the label. |
11-13-2002, 02:03 PM
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If you happen to have an old copy (1953) of the Joy of Cooking, you will find a recipe for "Mock Mincemeat" and it was made with green tomatoes, apples, sugar, raisins, currants, spices, etc. It also calls for 1/2 lb. of finely chopped suet which won't do at all for vegetarians, but using an appropriate fat substitute will probably work fine. If you don't have an old copy of JOY, just do a search for "mock mincemeat" and you should find lots of recipes. |
12-08-2002, 12:47 PM
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I was at Extra Foods yesterday, and I was looking for a jar of antipasto, and I just happened to look down and there looking back at me was the President's Choice brand of mincmeats, and it just so happens that they sell an all fruit mincemeat the website is www.presidentschoice.ca
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12-09-2002, 09:56 AM
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And if you haven't tried it, let me assure you that President's Choice mincemeat is really, really yummy.
Highly recommended by me -- devoted mincemeat and fruitcake fan! |
12-09-2002, 04:10 PM
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Maybe you can help me find it at the website. I looked everywhere, in every category I thought it fit under, and couldn't find it. There isn't a search box anywhere..... I'm definitely interested!
~~Shimmer~~
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"There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea"
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12-09-2002, 05:58 PM
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Fruit cake! Compassrose, I thought I was alone in this depravity! 
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12-09-2002, 07:27 PM
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Fruitcakes is enjoyable, just depends who made it. I don't care for green cherries but if it is made with dried fruits, it's great.
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12-10-2002, 09:51 AM
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I prefer fruitcake made with nice real dried fruits... but I'm ashamed to confess that I'll devour chunks of even the stickiest commercial variety, studded with lurid plastic cherries and cased in faux "almond icing." Mmm, fruitcake!
Which reminds me, I'd better get moving. I haven't made this year's fat-free all-organic-dried-fruits fruitcake yet. Yikes! |
12-10-2002, 06:43 PM
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Fat free fruitcake? Are you serious??
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