While it’s not quite Christmas time - fruitcake's prime time of year - just yet, fruitcake is making news this week for showing up in the most unlikely of places – Antarctica. One of the most inhospitable places on the planet has served as a giant freezer for this slab of history for the past 106 years.
The cake was found by a team of Antarctic Heritage Trust conservationists at Cape Adare, in the ice continent’s oldest known building – a hut built by a Norwegian exploration team in 1899. As one of 1500 artefacts discovered since the conservation project began in May 2016, the fruitcake reveals details about life on the ice in the early 20th century.
The trust believes the fruitcake was probably brought to the ice as a high-energy snack to supplement an ill-fated Antarctic expedition lead by British explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1910. Scott captained the Terra Nova expedition (his second trip to the ice) in an attempt to be the first to reach the South Pole, only to find a Norwegian team had beaten him by five weeks. Battling blizzards, starvation and severe frostbite on their way back to base, Scott and his four British companions perished.
Made by British biscuit company Huntley & Palmers, the cake was found in its original “tin-plated iron alloy tin” container. “Although the cake tin had been packaged up at the hut site in 2015 and returned temporarily to New Zealand for conservation, the tin’s deteriorated condition meant the contents were not identified until work began on the object,” Lizzi Meeks, Antarctic Heritage Trust’s Program Manager tells SBS. “As access was gained to the tin interior during rust treatment, the contents became known as soon as the ‘fruitcake’ label was spotted. The team were immediately fascinated and began looking into the supply listings for the two expeditions that used the Cape Adare site.”
And, get this: it’s been deemed in “excellent condition,” which, in 106 year-old fruitcake terms, translates to “almost” edible.
Well preserved by the Antarctic cold, the 106-year-old cake will be returned to the icy continent. Source: Antarctic Heritage Trust
“The cake looks as new, feels heavy, and slightly gives to the touch,” says Meeks. “The ‘almost’ edibility stems from the aroma, which is of slightly rancid butter. The cake has largely been frozen, which has helped preserve it. It was also wrapped in a paper liner, similar to today’s waxed or sandwich paper, and then it was sealed in a tin - it’s been well-protected from light, oxygen and exposure to moulds and other bacteria.”
Fruitcakes were – and still are – common additions to ice expeditions, offering explorers a comforting taste of home. Their high sugar and fat content make them an ideal energy booster, and also works to preserve them over long periods. “The moisture from the fruit helps prevent the cake from drying out,” says Meeks.
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Of course, this isn’t the first time whole foodstuffs from bygone expeditions have been found on Antarctica. Over the years, conservationists have discovered bottles of Worcestershire sauce, Venezuelan chocolates, tins of jam, and seven “pristine” tins of Fry’s Pure Cocoa. “We have worked with all the Ross Sea expedition bases, and all of them have remnants of food inside them,” says Meeks. Antarctic explorers, it seems, knew how to feast.
All 1500 artefacts discovered (including the cake tin and its contents) will be returned to the hut at Cape Adare after appropriate restoration, in keeping with the site’s status as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area.
