Received a nicely packaged gift Which had fruitcake 🙂  Not the typical! A fruitcake you will not recycle 🙂  Ju’D’s @judlao artisan fruitcakes since 1975.  They developed fruitcake flavors from heirloom recipes. This box has 4 of their bestselling flavors and its mini!!! The best things come in small portions.   Top to bottom – Classic fruitcake baked with the finest ingredients & aged to perfection.  Ju.D Blue – Blue mountain coffee flavored aged with Kahlua coffee liquor for a distinctive taste.  Ju.D Gold – Apricot and cranberry baked with honey and orange. Prune fruitcake – an exotic mixture of prune and coffee makes this a must try in a class of its ownThey also make Chewy Cookies which are fruitcake cookies 🙂

It was in 1975 when Ju.D Lao started selling fruitcakes. A two-pound loaf of fruitcake at the time was P50. The Philippine population was at 35 million. The average salary was maybe a bit more than a hundred pesos a day. Through the years, Ju.D’s business has endured the scarcity of imported ingredients, rotating brownouts, devaluation of the peso and all sorts of calamities.

Her classic recipe, which took six months to develop was inspired by a trip to Switzerland where she was introduced to fruitcake that she enjoyed. “I never attended cooking classes, but I love to read cook books. I do a lot of experimentations on recipes that catch my fancy. And since I’m from a big family, we’re never short of guinea pigs or should I say, brave and curious souls,” explains Ju.D who has authored two Vegetarian cookbooks for the Tzu Chi Foundation which are available in the different Tzu Chi chapters all over the world.

In the 1980s, Ju.D came out with fruitcake cookies which she has called the “Chewy Chewkies”.

The kids of her customers loved them because they tasted like fruitcakes but without the brandy. In the 90s, Ju.D started becoming playful and worked on different flavors of fruitcakes giving birth to Ju.D Gold- which is a honey-based fruitcake;

Ju.D Blue- Blue Mountain Coffee fruitcakes; Ginger Cranberries and Ginger Apricot Fruitcakes and even a Coffee flavored Prune Fruitcake.

Her box of mini fruitcakes offers a sampling of the different flavors. In 2009, she came out with assorted premium nougat in cookies and cream, espresso, cranberry-almond and cheese.

Since her childhood, Ju.D Lao has loved to travel, and one of the people she would visit was her godmother in Iloilo – Emma Cua Locsin. She would share with Ju.D fruitcakes sent from the United States. Back then, imported food was not very common, and needless to say, this meant that the fruitcakes were very precious.

These fruitcakes from America were full of spices, strange liquors and very sweet glazed fruits. For Ju.D, eating them with her godmother was both an honor and an act of bravery — which is to say that it was not a delightful experience.

Traveling to Zurich, Switzerland in the summer of 1975, Ju.D was introduced to a different kind of fruitcake. Along with a delicious five-course meal, a plate of fruitcake a la mode was served as dessert. Ju.D says it was the best fruitcake she ever tried then – a slice of moist cake, packed with wine-cured slices of orange, cherries, raisins and walnuts that melt in your mouth as the warmth of brandy reached all the way to your soul. It was the first time that she tasted fruitcake that was so good! She she wanted very badly to bring that experience to the people back home.

So upon returning home to Manila, she began experimenting with all sorts of fruitcake recipes, usually European, calling for ingredients that had to be imported from abroad. After months of hard work in the kitchen, she was able to come up with a recipe that attracted the attention of family and friends. She made time to design her own brand and packaging, and come the holidays that year, 1975, Ju.D started selling her first few batches of Ju.D’s Fruitcakes.

A two-pound loaf of fruitcake at the time was P50. The Philippine population was at 35 million. The average salary was maybe a bit more than a hundred pesos a day; and 1975 was the year the government implemented the 13^th month pay. Ju.D’s suppliers then were all in Cartimar since they were the ones who had the imported PX goods. She had to go to Divisoria and Quiapo every now and then to buy fresh eggs.

Ju.D once remarked to a niece that although the fruitcake business is seasonal; there isn’t a single day of the year that she does not think of her fruitcakes, or how to make it better for the coming season.

In the 1980s, they came out with fruitcake cookies which they have called the “Chewy Chewkies”.

The kids of their customers loved them because they tasted like fruitcakes but without the brandy. In the 90’s, JuD started becoming playful and worked on different flavors for fruitcakes giving birth to JuD Gold- which is a honey-based fruitcake; JuD Blue- Blue Mountain Coffee fruitcakes; Ginger Cranberries and Ginger Apricot Fruitcakes and even a Coffee flavored Prune Fruitcake. In 2009, they came out with a whole range of petite cookies for the younger generation and a set of vegetarian cookies for those who are health conscious.

Q&A with Ju.D Lao of Ju.D’s Pastries and Confectionery

How did you get into baking/cooking?

I’ve never attended any cooking classes, but I love to read cook books. I do a lot of experimentations on recipes that catch my fancy. And since I’m from a big family, we’re never short of guinea pigs or should I say, brave and curious souls.

Why do you like baking/cooking?

Maybe I love to share or maybe I like to see happy faces once they tried my cooking.

Aside from baking, you also cook. What type of dishes do you cook?

I only cook vegetarian dishes now. I used to do beef jerky like Cow Label; fried pigeons and other simliar exotic dishes that make a lot of people happy.

Do you sell your vegetarian dishes?

As of now, we really don’t sell the vegetarian dishes. Maybe in the future we might do it to encourage more people to change to vegetarian to lessen the killing of innocent animals.

Please tell us about your cookbooks. Where are they available?

I did two Vegetarian cookbooks for the TzuChi Foundation. They are available in about 50 TzuChi chapters all over the world. In Manila, they’re available at TzuChi Foundation Headquarters at 76 Agno St. corner Cordillera St. QC. You can check on the availability of the cookbook at 732-0001, I know they are usually out of stock.

What did you do before getting into the fruitcake business?

I started doing fruitcakes right after I graduated from college.

What else do you do aside from this baking business?

I’m a volunteer for the TzuChi Foundation. Aside from helping in calamities, I teach cooking vegetarian dishes and I do translations for the foundation.

How long did you experiment before ending up with your final fruitcake recipe?

It depends on which product. The first one was really hard, there wasn’t so much cookbook regarding this and no Google to approach. I would say maybe 6 months. It was hardest for the JuD Blue which is coffee flavoured fruitcake. We have to source for Blue Mountain Coffee flavour and have to have the right liquor to age the fruitcake. For that, we spent about 8 months. Lately, we have been experimenting with some cookies and it’s been a big challenge for us too.

Who helps you bake, especially during the peak season?

Through the years, our workforce has been composed of neighbour’s maids; out of school youths; parents from schools who are in financial need but cannot take regular jobs. We only sell fruitcakes during Christmas season and we cannot afford to hire regular employees so this arrangement has been a win-win situation for all of us. I remember a few years back, we had a group of young ladies from El Shaddai Choir who came to help us, and from time to time they’ll burst out singing while they are working. That was a very lovely and memorable Christmas for us.

During your baking season, what is the most number of people you have working in the kitchen?

There are only 10 of us including me.

How much lead time is needed for orders?

We start selling in October, but since Fruitcakes can “stand the test of time”; we usually keep a few classic fruitcakes on hand for anyone who had the urge to have fruitcake between January to November. If not it will take 3 weeks time to have them aged.

What is the minimum requirement for orders?

If we do not have any fruitcakes on hand or if the customer wants to have the other fruitcakes aside from the Classic, the minimum is 8 pieces.

What is the minimum order requirement for the cookies?

Cookies are 10 boxes per order if it is off season.

What is the shelf life for each of your fruitcakes?

I think it was John Fernandez (Brother of director SoKi Fernandez) who kept our fruitcake without refrigeration for 7 years. That was a special case. We advise customers to have them refrigerated after they opened the product. If it is not opened, we advise them to have it refrigerated after the Christmas season since there’s no point in keeping a big box of fruitcake in the ref when everyone is stocking on foodstuff for the Christmas season. The best way is to wrap it with a cheesecloth and seal in a freeze Ziploc, but since it’s so hard to get cheesecloth now, the next choice is a greaseproof paper. Aluminum will melt into the fruitcake. Fruitcakes can be kept for a very long period of time because the brandy and rum preserve the fruitcakes. The oldest fruitcake is in London, 125 years old. John Fernandez wants to keep his for 25 years. When we asked him to open his, we sent him 24 pieces to compensate him and in the hope that he can keep them for 25 years. My youngest sister Margie kept one piece for 20 years, but her house was flooded during Ondoy. That was her biggest regret cause she really brushed the fruitcake every now and then just to keep it in the best condition.

How about your other products (cookies etc) what is the shelf life?

Cookies is best in 3 months time since we never use preservatives in any of our products.

Is there anything special worth mentioning about the ingredients that you use?

We never changed any of our ingredients since 1975. We do not add or lessen any amount of ingredients and we always see to it that it is the best. I think one of the reasons we do not sell off season is that walnuts get rancid easily. When we started, I remember we always get rancid walnuts between the months of February to September, so we decided to just do fruitcakes only during the time when the walnuts are fresh and that has became our tradition even though the availability of walnuts has become all year round now, we somehow retained this tradition though we still bake a few piece from time to time just to satisfy some customers.

You have baked products for vegans? What are they?

The Apricot/Cranberry Ginger cookies was baked for the TzuChi nuns of Taiwan, so it is without eggs. I remember the daughter of Doy Valencia who is a vegetarian also bought the ginger cookies from us many many years ago.