# 100-year-old fruitcake... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 12, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382 "2017-08-12T00:05:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/1 "2017-08-12T00:05:27Z")
… returns from the dead! Long frozen in Antarctica, a [100-year old fruitcake](https://www.nzaht.org/pages/100-year-old-fruit-cake-found-in-antarcticas-oldest-building#) has been thawed out and now “looked and smelt (almost) edible”. You’d think it was a superhero (didn’t Captain America’s sidekick get frozen and then thawed when they revived the comic?) or maybe a zombie (yeah, that’s all we need, zombie fruitcake). ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/2 "2017-08-12T01:06:48Z")
Amazingly people _still_ won’t eat it, despite the improvement to almost edible. Plans are to regift it to another group of conservators. (Actually I like fruitcakes.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/3 "2017-08-12T04:15:59Z")
_All_ fruitcake is 100 years old–it came off that meteor from the Tunguska Blast. ---
**Author:** ![anomalous1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e56c9b/32.png) [@anomalous1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anomalous1)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/4 "2017-08-12T04:26:40Z")
I couldn’t let a fruitcake get over a day old before it would be in the garbage… do people still make those things? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/5 "2017-08-12T15:16:30Z")
Wino Holiday Breakfast: a half pint of Knotty Head and a [Claxton “Old Fashion/World Famous” Fruit Cake.](https://i5.walmartimages.com/asr/1cebc91c-5b1a-4380-8315-1fe825e35df0_1.508248a1d877c5befe0efb62ced20c30.jpeg?odnHeight=450&odnWidth=450&odnBg=FFFFFF) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/6 "2017-08-12T18:56:23Z")
The reason it wasn’t eaten is because [it simply wasn’t seasonal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STzgXXU6GpI). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/7 "2017-08-12T19:15:19Z")
> [@anomalous1](#): > > I couldn’t let a fruitcake get over a day old before it would be in the garbage… do people still make those things? I’ve had excellent home made fruit cake and god-awful crap called fruit cake that was worse than eating cardboard. As least cardboard was tasteless. A bad fruit-cake is a putrid assault on my taste-buds. But there are good fruit cakes out there. There really are. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/8 "2017-08-12T19:17:03Z")
Sez you. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2017, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/9 "2017-08-12T19:43:13Z")
For the record: I like fruitcake. I like it a lot. But no one ever sends me any. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/10 "2017-08-13T01:33:59Z")
Motive and opportunity. They did leave it behind, after all. ---
**Author:** ![G0sp3l](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c68b51/32.png) [@G0sp3l](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/G0sp3l)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/11 "2017-08-13T02:54:05Z")
How do they know it’s fruitcake and not simply a part of the tundra some scientist had taken as a sample? ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/12 "2017-08-13T08:27:14Z")
How can they tell? I actually had a fruitcake that was fairly good from some bakery in Texas once but that is the only one. The rest of them just get passed around and I am not surprised that a few end up in Antarctica. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/13 "2017-08-13T11:19:24Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > How can they tell? I actually had a fruitcake that was fairly good from some bakery in Texas once but that is the only one. The rest of them just get passed around and I am not surprised that a few end up in Antarctica. “That bakery in Texas” also ships to Aus. Judging by the number of customers they have /in Melbourne/, with the /same name as my dad/, (and also, parcels /in Melbourne/ in the /dead letter office/) they must have an enormous operation. But we’ve been eating their fruitcakes for 40 years: I think they’re ok. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/14 "2017-08-13T15:25:48Z")
> [@Common\_Tater](#): > > Motive and opportunity. They did leave it behind, after all. You know, now that you mention it, it _could_ have been used as a murder weapon (other than eating it). ---
**Author:** ![txjim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f07891/32.png) [@txjim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/txjim)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/15 "2017-08-13T19:31:06Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > “That bakery in Texas” also ships to Aus. Judging by the number of customers they have /in Melbourne/, with the /same name as my dad/, (and also, parcels /in Melbourne/ in the /dead letter office/) they must have an enormous operation. > > But we’ve been eating their fruitcakes for 40 years: I think they’re ok. [Might as well add the link](https://www.collinstreet.com) ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/16 "2017-08-13T19:33:37Z")
Anyone else think this was going to be a Liberace thread? As for real fruitcakes, living in Thailand I learned the Brits are gobsmacked by the American dislike for the comestible. I’ve had the British version though, and it is miles above anything I’ve had in the US. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/17 "2017-08-13T22:44:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Anyone else think this was going to be a Liberace thread? \ I was having dinner in a BBQ joint when I read this and I actually spit chicken across the table, chuckling so hard, I was. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2017, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/18 "2017-08-13T23:50:32Z")
There’s a story about an oil exploration crew working in Libya in 1958 and coming across the wreckage of a WWII bomber, the _Lady Be Good_, which flew off course and crashed in the desert in 1943. They never found remains of the crew, but they did find a thermos containing warm coffee, still drinkable (would’ve gone well with the 100-year-old Antarctic fruitcake). And yes, the Collin St. Bakery makes very good fruitcake. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/19 "2017-08-14T01:07:42Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There’s a story about an oil exploration crew working in Libya in 1958 and coming across the wreckage of a WWII bomber, the _Lady Be Good_, which flew off course and crashed in the desert in 1943. They never found remains of the crew, but they did find a thermos containing warm coffee, still drinkable (would’ve gone well with the 100-year-old Antarctic fruitcake). Crew found in 1960. As I recall, bomber found high level winds (very poorly understood at the time), and went past the landing base so early that they thought it was a decoy. Ditched and walked another 100 miles into the desert with no water. ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2017, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382/20 "2017-08-14T03:54:26Z")
According to my stepfather, his step-daughter from his first marriage has a wonderful fruitcake recipe that takes a month to make. Her aunt bought the recipe for some ridiculous price around the turn of the century from some county fair winner and passed it down to her and made her swore she’d never reveal it. Said step-sister is in her 70’s and never has, and it will probably go to the grave with her. I don’t like fruitcake, but even I wish I could try to make it. StG [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/100-year-old-fruitcake/793382.md?page=2)