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Plain Truth · Guru

Hot cross buns

Dougwe · Chief one feather

Just saw it on the news.

As nice as they are, it's waaaaay too early.

Keep Safe on the roads and out there. (Hot Cross Bun FREE)

Whenarewethere · Guru

$3.00 pack of 4 at Coles, before Christmas!

-- Edited by Whenarewethere on Thursday 26th of December 2019 06:44:34 PM

2trout · Senior Member

Why is it too early? They only put them out if the consumers buy them. Personally, I don't understand the fuss about when they go on sale. If consumers buy them, the supermarkets will sell them; if the consumers do not buy them, then the supermarkets will not put them out. Don't blame the retailers, blame the customers. And why shouldn't they be able to buy them at any time? As I see it, it's their choice and they are not hurting anybody or offending anybody- are they????

Plain Truth · Guru

2trout wrote:
Why is it too early? They only put them out if the consumers buy them. Personally, I don't understand the fuss about when they go on sale. If consumers buy them, the supermarkets will sell them; if the consumers do not buy them, then the supermarkets will not put them out. Don't blame the retailers, blame the customers. And why shouldn't they be able to buy them at any time? As I see it, it's their choice and they are not hurting anybody or offending anybody- are they????

Doesn't worry me when they come out,just most people equate them with Easter.

Dhutime · Senior Member

I celebrate Easter all year

Plain Truth · Guru

Hot cross buns and chocolate.

vanTas · Veteran Member

A fruit bun any time of year is goodoh!

Don't need the cross on them until two weeks before Easter.

2trout · Senior Member

Yes, they are delicious especially if the baker puts plenty of fruit into them.

Cupie · Guru

I like them toasted and 'buttered' with Vegemite.... any time.

Umpie1 · Senior Member

2trout wrote:
Why is it too early? They only put them out if the consumers buy them. Personally, I don't understand the fuss about when they go on sale. If consumers buy them, the supermarkets will sell them; if the consumers do not buy them, then the supermarkets will not put them out. Don't blame the retailers, blame the customers. And why shouldn't they be able to buy them at any time? As I see it, it's their choice and they are not hurting anybody or offending anybody- are they????

That is why you see seasonal fruit and vegies all year round in the supermarkets. The customer cannot go without their oranges or whatever being available when they want them. That's why we import the cheap crap stuff from OS and our farmers suffer. If there was $$'s to be made for the supermarket then they would sell the buns all year round. Bet this happens within 12 months.

Relax-n · Guru

Save time and effort, stop offending the ones that are against eating yummy stuff all year, and just dont put the cross on it and sell FRUIT BUNS all year. That little cross on top does not add that much taste anyway........

JayDee · Guru

Whenarewethere wrote:
$3.00 pack of 4 at Coles, before Christmas!
Ingredient cost would be no more than 50 cents then of course plus all the add on like oven staff rent etc etc.
But I must admit I do enjoy a well made bun.
Jay&Dee

-- Edited by Whenarewethere on Thursday 26th of December 2019 06:44:34 PM

Santa · Guru

2trout wrote:
Why is it too early? They only put them out if the consumers buy them. Personally, I don't understand the fuss about when they go on sale. If consumers buy them, the supermarkets will sell them; if the consumers do not buy them, then the supermarkets will not put them out. Don't blame the retailers, blame the customers. And why shouldn't they be able to buy them at any time? As I see it, it's their choice and they are not hurting anybody or offending anybody- are they????

Its not so much about offence Trout, more to do with the fact that in this day of consumerism and instant gratification nothing is special any more.

A long time ago we waited patiently for Easter when we could enjoy hot cross buns, Christmas we looked forward to a roast chicken, ham, prawns and perhaps a crayfish assorted nuts, Christmas pudding as well as other luxuries we didn't enjoy throughout the year, these times were special and looked forward to by everyone, particularly kids.

Now these things are available year round, nothing is special anymore, we've been eating them all year long, when it gets to a festive occasion everything is pretty much ho-hum, nothing out of the ordinary here.

And of course much of this is to do with profit hungry retailers desperate to make a profit.

Delayed gratification is pretty much dead and buried, we want it all now. wink

KJB · Guru

Fruit buns are baked and sold by most bakeries all year round......I do not see what the fuss is all about....

Knightrider · Senior Member

Some miserable individuals wake up each morning looking for something by which they can be offended. That's how they live their life. Miserable today, miserable tomorrow & miserable every single day of their life. Hate it when they want to join real humans around Happy Hour. I avoid them at all costs.

elliemike · Guru

Like a lot of the traditions that are linked with Christianity. I read that the "Spiced Bun/Cake" specially marked with a Cross or other Emblem is a very old custom and possibly "predates" our ideas of when they should be eaten.

I was, (before I retired) the Maintenance Supervisor of a very large Bakery. We increasingly over the years, started the "Trial" runs of Hot Cross Buns earlier and earlier in the new year. Testing the equipment and the Baker tweaking the Recipes and gear to improve production runs. Increasing the production from an initial, One hour Run in January, leading up to Three Shifts and extra staff in the couple of weeks before Easter. I never thought any of the buns we made were as good as the ones made when I was a Child. They lacked the Fruit and Spiced taste I remember.

Seems Children and Modern adults don't like dried fruit or spice we thought was the reason we had them at Easter. The fruit and Spice being a great treat for us 1944 model kids.. The Cross on the bun was piped on. Originally just Flour, a bit of sugar and Water. We even had the Crosses in a material like a Net that was laid on the buns as they went into the oven. But most of the prepared concoctions, we all thought were inedible.

I still think of Mr Kelly our local neighbourhood Baker in Liverpool, UK the smell of the HC Buns was the best and he never needed any advertising or promotions to sell them.

History[edit]

In many historically Christian countries, plain buns made without dairy products (forbidden in Lent until Palm Sunday) are traditionally eaten hot or toasted during Lent, beginning with the evening of Shrove Tuesday (the evening before Ash Wednesday) to midday Good Friday.

The Greeks in 6th century CE may have marked cakes with a cross.^[6]

One theory is that the Hot Cross Bun originates from St Albans, where Brother Thomas Rodcliffe, a 14th Century monk at St Albans Abbey, developed a similar recipe called an 'Alban Bun' and distributed the bun to the local poor on Good Friday, starting in 1361.^[7]

In the time of Elizabeth I of England (1592), the London Clerk of Markets issued a decree forbidding the sale of hot cross buns and other spiced breads, except at burials, on Good Friday, or at Christmas. The punishment for transgressing the decree was forfeiture of all the forbidden product to the poor. As a result of this decree, hot cross buns at the time were primarily made in domestic kitchens. Further attempts to suppress the sale of these items took place during the reign of James I of England (16031625).^[8] The first definite record of hot cross buns comes from a London street cry: "Good Friday comes this month, the old woman runs. With one or two a penny hot cross buns", which appeared in Poor Robin's Almanac for 1733.^[9] Food historian Ivan Day states, "The buns were made in London during the 18th century. But when you start looking for records or recipes earlier than that, you hit nothing."^[3]

Traditions[edit]

An 1884 advertisement announcing the sale of hot cross buns for Good Friday in a Hawaiian newspaper.

English folklore includes many superstitions surrounding hot cross buns. One of them says that buns baked and served on Good Friday will not spoil or grow mouldy during the subsequent year. Another encourages keeping such a bun for medicinal purposes. A piece of it given to someone ill is said to help them recover.^[10] If taken on a sea voyage, hot cross buns are said to protect against shipwreck. If hung in the kitchen, they are said to protect against fires and ensure that all breads turn out perfectly. The hanging bun is replaced each year.^[10]

Santa · Guru

KJB wrote:
Fruit buns are baked and sold by most bakeries all year round......I do not see what the fuss is all about....

Interesting as well as quite enlightening comment KJB.

What we are failing to see is an appreciation that for many hot cross buns are representative of a religious celebration at a particular time of the year, similar thing for Christmas.

If these things are available all year round it debases the original concept, but what do retailers care about that?

It's a sad fact of life that all it means for the majority nowadays is time off work, gift giving, drinking and gluttony, as well as a heck of a lot of extra work for Mum.

What its all about now is whats in it for me.

And of course lack of appreciation/understanding is a big part of the problem.

Yes, fruit buns are sold by bakeries all year round, the difference between a fruit bun and a Hot Cross Bun is of course the cross (the recipe is different as well) many people in the world still place great significance on the traditional Hot Cross Bun.

However I imagine if you don't understand the concept the tradition is pretty pointless. smile

Hot Cross Bun.jpg

Fruit Bun.jpg

Santa · Guru

Knightrider wrote:
Some miserable individuals wake up each morning looking for something by which they can be offended. That's how they live their life. Miserable today, miserable tomorrow & miserable every single day of their life. Hate it when they want to join real humans around Happy Hour. I avoid them at all costs.

Well said Knightrider. biggrin

yobarr · Guru

Santa and EllieMike are some of the few who seem to understand.....And I wish everybody a good and prosperous New Year.Cheers

Santa · Guru

yobarr wrote:
Santa and EllieMike are some of the few who seem to understand.....And I wish everybody a good and prosperous New Year.Cheers

Thanks Yobarr.

Best wishes to you as well, oh, and and happy Easter, even if it's still almost four months away. wink

Cupie · Guru

Here's something to winge about .. What's the world coming to, I ask? ..

Couldn't find any XMAS mix lollies (you know the packets that included cubes of layered fondant and licorice) or those bags of un-shelled mixed nuts in the shops this year.

Missed them on the XMAS table, despite the fact that my diverticulitis doesn't permit me to eat nuts and my lollies aren't good for my cholesterol. It's the principle of it all though, isn't it? Just like crosses on the fruit buns, even though I'm agnostic.

Who would have noticed though, amid the piles of food & drink, like a full baked and glazed leg of ham, whole roast Turkey, whopping great rolled pork loin with a pile of crackling, chicken pieces, massively piled plate of peeled prawns - each of the preceding with its own selection of sauces & gravy tastefully presented of course, several 'exotic' salads, potato salad, green salad, breads, good red wine, over-chilled white wine, champagne & sparkling shiraz and a bottle of Grandfather Port for the stayers, various fruit juices and soft drink, even a large crock of iced water (strangely a favourite given that I didn't use sliced citrus in it this year) and a massive fruit bowl, not forgetting a large bowl of ice with lots of drumstick ice creams and ice blocks for the kids. Some hardy adults indulged in long glasses of crushed ice with port liberally poured over the top ... just a few things that I can recall from our simple family repast.

Much of it was later distributed in doggie bags or is now residing in a couple of my bulging fridges awaiting dumping in a week or so... not including the booze of course.

LOL

Izabarack · Guru

Coles baker I know is scheduled, been told to, to bake Hot Cross Buns on and from the morning of the 29th. Bakery staff is sick of customers asking for them. If customers want them, the whingers don't have chance with their selfish demands. If christians don't want to eat them until easter, then don't.

Iza

Izabarack · Guru

Dbl post

-- Edited by Izabarack on Friday 27th of December 2019 02:35:49 PM

TheHeaths · Guru

Its about respect of beliefs. Sadly that is becoming more and more difficult to find in society today.

These have become associated with a Christian sacred time (yes Iza, it does have a capital c). Whether you are Christian or not, it would be reasonable to respect that observance, and forgo the treat until Easter.

Relax-n was right, take the cross off and sell them as fruit buns. That respects the association but allows those that have to have everything they want, whenever they want it, their bun. Only one problem, people will swear blind they dont taste the same,

And if you feel it is not worth respecting the Christian belief in this case, dont whine when something close to your belief system is not respected how you consider it should be!

Unfortunately, money appears to be the belief system with the almost 100% adherence!

-- Edited by TheHeaths on Friday 27th of December 2019 05:09:41 PM

DMaxer · Guru

We can eat them whilst we wait for Xmas in July.

Warren-Pat_01 · Guru

Thank you Santa, Relax-n, EllieMike & TheHeaths - we certainly won't be buying them until Easter.

I have no issue with the buns being sold without the cross on them (it doesn't add to the taste anyway).

Remember (those with no belief in religious ideals) that it was the Church that gave you laws to live by, the first hospitals, the first trade unions with fair work rules including sick leave, holidays (would your kids still be working in coal mines instead of going to school?). The secular world that has overtaken Australia has short memories of where all the good things have come from. And no, I'm not excusing the scandals that have occurred recently.

Izabarack · Guru

Just got some clarification from my Baker. It is the full range of Hot Cross buns that will be offered tomorrow. So, larger individual buns, more fruit, different spices, chocolate, and packaging. Now here is the rub. My bakery contact assures me she has been baking hot cross buns all year. Just a reduced range but with the cross so they are advertised as hot cross buns. It is in response to customer demand. People have been ringing her store all week and ordering buns for pick up tomorrow. Apparently, store staff is quite amused by all the anxiety that seems to have come from the News story.

Iza

Izabarack · Guru

Warren-Pat_01 wrote:
And no, I'm not excusing the scandals that have occurred recently.

Appears that way to me. All the supposed good attributed to the churches is in the gutter following the recent Royal Commission into the institutional abuse of children by Clergy.

Iza

TheHeaths · Guru

Lets remember one thing.

As much, if not more, abuse against children and women is perpetrated by family members in the home!

Doesnt excuse those in the church who abused positions of trust, nor those who protected them, but there are many more in the church who live good lives and do much good.