Do you like a nice hot cross bun on Good Friday?
- Hot cross buns are food items, that are sweet dough based bread, that are generally spiced with mixed spice, a mixture that typically includes cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice, among others.
- Flour, milk, sugar, butter, yeast, sultanas or raisins, currants and mixed spice are the traditional primary ingredients in making hot cross buns.
- Hot cross buns are typically eaten on Good Friday of the Easter period, although they are often sold all year round, peaking from January to April.
- It is thought that hot cross buns originated at a pagan Saxon festival, as a praise towards Eostre, a goddess, and the cross is said to have originally represented the seasons and the moon.
- A cross shape is found on the top of hot cross buns, and it is made of icing, pastry, or a water and flour paste, although it is said that originally the cross was most likely cut into the dough with a knife.
- Hot cross buns now come in an increasing variety of flavours, like chocolate, apple, orange, toffee or coffee, and they can also be fruitless.
- The commonly accepted symbolic meaning of hot cross buns today, originates from the Christian worldview, representing the cross and crucifixion of Jesus on Good Friday.
- Hot cross buns are often glazed with a heated sugar and water mixture, that is brushed on the top of the cooked buns while they are still hot.
- Typically, hot cross buns are served heated as a snack, and are commonly accompanied by a spread, such as butter.
- Hot cross buns are surrounded by many myths, such as the bun’s supposed protection against fire and its year-long resistance to mould if baked on the correct day.
Bibliography:
Hot Cross Bun, 2015, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_cross_bun
Ysewijn R, Hot Cross Buns through Paganism, Christianity and Superstition, 2013, Miss Foodwise, http://www.missfoodwise.com/2013/03/hot-cross-buns-through-paganism.html
