The Treats Of Christmas Past

Chocolatier Diana Short on discovering the sweet festive traditions of times gone by…

- Elaine Reilly

NEW DOCUMENTARY

The Sweetmakers at Christmas

FRIDAY / BBC2 / 9.00PM

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas... and a big part of the holiday season is all the delicious foods on offer – especially the array of sweet treats.

But have you ever wondered why we’re so fond of a Chocolate Orange? Or what a sugarplum is?

Rolling up their historical costume sleeves to answer these questions and more are chocolatiers Diana Short and Paul A Young, expert cake decorator Cynthia Stroud and sweet consultant Andy Baxendale in a festive edition of BBC2’s entertaining history-of-food series The Sweetmakers.

The team will be travelling through time, from the Georgian era to the 1920s, to recreate the sweets and treats of Christmas past.

We caught up with Diana – who founded luxury handmade chocolate company Lick the Spoon – to find out more about the one-off special…

What’s in store in this seasonal edition of The Sweetmakers?