Louise Carroll: Official fruitcake of the Friends of the Fruitcake named

A few months ago, Alex Ronacher, managing partner of Jane Parker Baked Goods, got in touch with The Ellwood City Ledger because he had read about the Friends of the Fruitcake and wanted to get in touch with the group.

Honestly, people from all over the states and a few other countries read The Ledger. I have heard from people in many states, Canada, Ireland and the Caribbean.

I called Alex and we had a lovely talk. Jane Parker and the Friends of the Fruitcake are a match made in some heavenly bakery. Alex and his brother, Chris, make fruitcakes and the Friends of the Fruitcake are friendly to fruitcake. We were just meant for each other.

He told me how wonderfully marvelously good the Jane Parker fruitcakes are and I smiled and wrote it all down. Then I went to the web to check it out. Yes, Jane Parker had high ratings everywhere and I verified that Alex was telling the honest-to-goodness fruitcake truth. The web reported that the Los Angeles Times declared the Jane Parker dark fruitcake the overall winner in a contest. The Times article said, "Made with molasses and brown sugar, this cake is a little earthier and, well, cakier than some of the others, and does a good job balancing the citrus flavors, which dominated the Claxton fruitcake. This one tastes a bit sweeter than the rest, which might be due to what seemed to be a heavier-than-normal reliance on glacé cherries."

I was quite impressed.

Although the Friends of the Fruitcake don't have fruitcake at every monthly meeting, they have eaten many different fruitcakes over the years. Alex sent us a fruitcake and some samples that we ate at our November meeting. We seriously chewed and considered every yummy bite.

After serious consideration, we gave the Jane Parker Fruitcake the Friends of the Fruitcake Seal of Approval and (drum roll, please) we made the Jane Parker fruitcake the official Fruitcake of the Friends of the Fruitcake.

As a special offer to our readers, the Ronachers are giving a 5% discount and free shipping on orders to any U.S. address valid through Dec. 31, 2022. Just use the code ECL5. : https://janeparker.com/discount/ECL5.

The Friends of the Fruitcake was formed to befriend and support the fruitcake from abuse that includes bad jokes like "'Unbeknown to most theologians there was a fourth wiseman who was turned away for bringing fruitcake." Boo, hiss!

We like the nice jokes. For instance,  "What happens when no one comes to your Christmas party? You can have your fruitcake and eat it, too" and "What did the fruitcake say to the fork? Do you want a piece of me?"

For those readers who are too young to remember the Atlantic & Pacific Co. (A&P) was the first supermarket and from 1915-75, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States. Until 1965, it was the largest U.S. retailer of any kind with over 16,000 A&P Supermarkets nationwide, and in Canada, it was as well known as McDonald's is today. They did not keep up with the times and went bankrupt. The Ronacher brothers bought the exclusive rights to the Jane Parker baked goods and saved the fruitcake.

The Friends of the Fruitcake would give them a heroes' medal if they had such a thing instead they just say "Thanks for saving the fruitcake."

I can't resist adding one more quote.  "Look at the world as a big fruitcake. It wouldn't be complete without a few nuts in it."

The Friends of the Fruitcake meet at 11:30 a.m. on the second Thursday of each month at Mike's Bar & Grill, 709 Lawrence Ave. Everyone is welcome. There are no dues and just one rule, You don't have to like fruitcake, but you can't bad mouth it at the meeting.