Friday, April 02, 2010

The world's oldest hot cross bun

A grandmother has the world's oldest hot cross bun - baked on Good Friday in 1821. Nancy Titman, 91, was given the incredible 189-year-old bun when her mum died and amazingly it shows no traces of mould.

The bun, which was made the same year as Napoleon died, George IV was crowned king and poet John Keats passed away has been in her family for generations.

"It's a relic which has been passed down through the family. My mum said our ancestors worked in a baker's shop and they believed buns baked on Good Friday didn't go mouldy," said Nancy.



"It is rock hard and the currants have disintegrated but you can tell it's a hot cross bun and you can still see the shape of the cross."

The bun, which has the date March 1821 on its base, was made by Nancy's great, great, great grandfather, William Skinner, who owned a bakery in London.

His son was helping in the shop that Easter and made the fruity bun as a present for his mum, but she never ate the gift and instead preserved it in a box.

2 comments:

arbroath said...

Dried baked goods have the tendency of not getting mouldy. Nothing extraordinary in that. But having a bun from the 1821 is quite impressive, anyway.

arbroath said...

Ew.