On one of my visits to the body shop, I took along a fruitcake from Hickory Farms. As usual in such instances, almost no one would even taste it. People have the strange idea that fruitcake isn't good. But a couple of the regulars had some, and others had some after I badgered them into trying it. And as usual in such instances, the fruitcake was almost gone in a few minutes.
I have an important secret to share with you all. Some fruitcake (but not all fruitcake) is good - really good. Yes, I mean that. Seriously. It is good. Beyond merely good, it is delicious. But you have to actually eat some to discover this little known fact.
Now, not all fruitcake is good. There are, in general, two kinds of commercially baked fruitcakes: light and dark. Avoid the dark. It is usually not nearly as good. Some of it is not good at all. Hickory Farms calls their light fruitcake "Golden Fruitcake." Since it is the easiest to find, at most malls during the Christmas shopping season, I'd recommend you start with that.
I originally received my fruitcake wake up call when I was selling real estate. Yes, I used to sell real estate. I even made some money doing it. But I hated it, so I had to quit. Anyway, in our office we picked names out of a hat, or box, or something, for a Christmas gift exchange and the fellow who got my name took a Big Chance and gave me a fruitcake from the Collin Street Bakery in Corsicana, Texas. Let me tell you - what a surprise! The stuff was fabulous! One of these years I really must get some more.
One year, desperately in search for a suitable fruitcake, I bought one baked by The Capitol Cake Company, of Baltimore, Maryland, at Walgreen's. It was also very good.
The other day I saw an educational-type TV show on the Discovery Channel, or the Travel Channel, or one of those channels, about various foods made in the United States. One segment was about Gethsemani Farms, a Trappist Monk monastery in Kentucky which sells, among other products, fruitcake. Theirs looked very good on the TV screen.
Look, buy a fruitcake. Make sure it's the light kind, not the dark kind, and from one of the above high-quality bakers, or another one with a similar good reputation. There are many. Expect to pay some serious money. You won't get a top-quality fruitcake for chump change. Putting all the stale (pun intended) jokes out of your mind, try it. You might just like it. If you don't, send it to me!
Back to my home place.