Figgy's Christmas pudding: an indulgence in a bowl

For many food bloggers Christmas has already started in summer, when they went to different Christmas-in-July venues, where brands meet bloggers and showcase their seasonal offerings. Alas, most of them took place in London, and I haven't been able to go to any of them. But my Christmas sampling has also started ahead of the season, and just the other day I had a taste of my first Christmas pudding of a new season. It happened to be a delightful Figgy's Christmas pudding.
I have tried many luxury ranges of puddings, and let me tell you, this must be the best of all (it even beats Betty's and Heston's creations).
The pudding comes in a traditional Mason ceramic bowl, wrapped in a white muslin cloth. It looks perfectly classic and stylish.

Very reasonably priced (from £10 to £20), this is a pure indulgence in a bowl.
Figgy's pudding is an award winner, in fact it is a recipient of multiple awards, and no wonder why.
These artisanal puddings are handmade in Devon, following a traditional family recipe.

I confess I have never made a Christmas pudding in my life. In Russia we have our own traditional foods for the winter festivities, and Christmas pudding is not one of them. The first time I tried one was almost 20 years ago, when I came to England as a student. It was probably a standard supermarket fodder, and I wasn't impressed with it. In fact I was wondering what all the fuss was about, and explained it to my family as a charming English eccentricity.

But my curiosity won over, and since my first taste of the Christmas pudding, I have tried many varieties, from luxury brands to homemade. Some were delicious, some quite forgettable.
Figgy's Christmas pudding is a lovely discovery. I would be happy to buy it and offer it to my family and friends.

It would make a great gift for foodies or busy families who don't have time to make their own pudding. In fact it might solve me the problem of buying gifts for a couple of friends, as you can send a pud straight to your addressee with just £1.95 for postage.

I read with great interest that owners Jo and Richie Evans are passionate about producing the best authentic Christmas puddings.
They carefully select the finest ingredients for their produce, for example, the legendary ten-year-old Somerset cider brandy and CAMRA champion Port Stout from Hanlons in Devon.

The flavours are marvellously rich, yet the texture is light and not at all dense, as often happens with puddings.
It is quite crumbly, appley, with a good amount of booze (not overwhelming) and not too sweet. Its ingredients are Californian raisins, sultanas, breadcrumbs, carrots, vegetable suet, Demerara, golden syrup, free range egg, Hanlons Port Stout, English Bramley apples, 10-year-old Somerset Cider Brandy, glace cherries, ground almonds, orange juice, lemon juice, mixed peel, zest, spices and more.
It is light enough to be a served as a grand finale for a Christmas meal.

I have tasted it in a company of two friends, and both were very enthusiastic about it and said they'd definitely buy it.
It would probably be gorgeous mixed with ice cream, but I haven't got any left to try. It was so good, that it didn't last long.
Top marks from all testers!

Please see Figgy's to order one of Figgy’s luxury Christmas Puddings or call 01392 459 488.

Disclosure: I received a Figgy's pudding for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are mine.