Fruitcake
It’s often the punchline of jokes – some sort of bread-like brick regifted between extended family members at Christmas. But this fruitcake is actually quite good.
The monks at the New Camaldoli Hermitage on the south coast of Big Sur started making their famous fruitcake nearly 50 years ago.
“The recipe is ours and they were made here until a few years ago when demand became so high that we had to enlist the help of our baker in San Luis Obispo,” says Rich Veum, commercial operations manager at the Hermitage.
Each fruitcake is still individually hand-dipped in brandy and then wrapped twice with protective cellophane. Inside the fruitcake wrapping is a world of earthy, smoky, bitter and sweet, with the brandy adding a rich caramel to a moist cake studded with nuts. It’s a pleasant surprise.
Outside of the Hermitage gift shop and online, the fruitcakes – in one and three-pound sizes – are sold at Bruno’s Market in Carmel and Star Market in Salinas. A one-pound brandy-dipped fruit cake is $20.98
The monks also sell granola, which is made at the Hermitage.
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