141 – Year Old Michigan Fruitcake
. (Photo by Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images for NYCWFF)
Family Passes Down 141-Year-Old Fruitcake from Generation to Generation In a Christmas tradition that’s spanned several generations, a Michigan family has been passing down a fruitcake for 141 years.
. (Photo by Chris Jackson – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Tecumseh resident Julie Ruttinger says the Christmas cake was baked way back in 1878 by her great-great-grandmother, Fidelia Ford, who died before anyone had a chance to eat it. In honor of their departed loved one, her family decided to keep the cake instead of eat it — and its been handed down from one generation to the next ever since. “It’s a great thing,” she says of the rock-hard desert. “It was tradition. It’s a legacy.” Ruttinger took possession of the fruitcake in 2013, when her father — Ford’s great-great-grandson — passed away, she says. Despite its age, the 141-year-old fruitcake doesn’t even come close to the record holder. That honor is held by a 4,176-year-old cake that was recovered from an Egyptian tomb, according to the “Guinness Book of World Records.” It’s currently on display in a Swiss museum. What’s the oldest thing you own?
Do you have an heirloom that’s been passed down in your family?
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