Is black pudding good for you

Pudding is a traditional English dish. The British make it out of anything, using various combinations of flavors, textures, and culinary techniques. A thick, rich, shapeless, crumbly mass of papaya or regular potatoes may be called pudding. A dish of eggs, milk, and sugar, cooked in a water bath, may also be called a pudding. Even a soft curd mass packed in a yogurt container meets the criteria for a dish. Is black pudding good for you?

What is black pudding

The British refer to a wide variety of dishes, structures and combinations of ingredients as pudding. Black pudding is a blood sausage. The dish consists of the blood of a bull/calf/pig cleaned of fibrin (coagulated blood clots). Stuffing for black pudding is made from meat, skins, scraps of other sausages and seasonings. White pudding is considered stuffing for blood sausage, in which there is no blood. Blood sausage is additionally fried before serving to achieve a bright flavor and crispy crust. 

Fresh blood is a major ingredient in many national recipes. For example, blood pancakes at Latvians and Finns, scrambled eggs with blood at Croats and fried blood with lard and milk at inhabitants of the Far East. Some peoples consume fresh blood to protect their bodies from deadly diseases. For example, northerners drink warm deer blood to save them from scurvy. As for blood sausage, it is believed that it was invented by the ancient Greek chef Atheneus, the hero of Menander’s comedies.

Black pudding is a type of meat product, the main ingredient of which is animal blood. Usually used for cooking cleaned from clots of pig, calf or bovine blood, less often – goose or duck blood. Are there any benefits of this dish and should it be included in your diet? Let’s try to find out.

The benefits of black pudding

  • Accelerates the process of hematopoiesis. The product contains a lot of divalent iron, which is fully and quickly absorbed by the body. Therefore, black pudding is recommended for people with anemia, as well as those who have undergone surgery, blood donation or chemotherapy.
  • It improves the blood composition. Periodic consumption of black pudding has a beneficial effect on blood composition: it positively affects the number and quality of red blood cells.
  • Normalizes the work of the nervous system. B vitamins included in the blood sausage improves the condition of the central nervous system, which has a positive effect on human health.
  • Suitable for pregnant women. Quality black pudding can be eaten by women who are planning to conceive and are expecting a child. Consumed in reasonable amounts, black pudding can increase hemoglobin levels, which decrease during pregnancy.