Reader angorian wrote us to say she was inspired by the recent post on blancmange to make her own molded milk pudding...

She used a vintage ceramic mold she recently received, and poured the leftovers into individual dishes like the one above. So pretty! You can see her recipe for orange cardamom blancmange and a writeup at her blog.

Here's a passage from Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, that first made us wonder what blancmange was:

"That looks too pretty to eat," he said, smiling with pleasure, as Jo uncovered the dish, and showed the blancmange, surrounded by a garland of green leaves, and the scarlet flowers of Amy's pet geranium.

"It isn't anything, only they all felt kindly and wanted to show it. Tell the girl to put it away for your tea. It's so simple you can eat it, and being soft, it will slip down without hurting your sore throat."