A Fruitcake for the Ages

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/opinion/letters/a-fruitcake-for-the-ages.html

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To the Editor:

Re “A Fruitcake Feeds on Chill of South Pole for 106 Years” (news article, Aug. 14), about the discovery of an “ ‘almost’ edible” fruitcake that is believed to be from a Robert Falcon Scott expedition:

The Upper West Side may bear little relation to Antarctica, but it shares in being home to a decades-old fruitcake. Ensconced in the freezer compartment of my parents’ refrigerator is the customary fruitcake from my wedding in England in 1982.

Tradition has it that there is enough liquor in an English wedding (fruit)cake to preserve it for the ages, but caution has prevented us from sampling it. To the general American palate, though, even the freshest fruitcake would rank as only “almost” edible.

BESS STEIGER HASTINGS-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.