diff --git a/lib/puppet.rb b/lib/puppet.rb
index 484fda4c4ef..e80248b86c9 100644
--- a/lib/puppet.rb
+++ b/lib/puppet.rb
@@ -237,7 +237,7 @@ def self.base_context(settings)
       :ssl_context => proc { Puppet.runtime[:http].default_ssl_context },
       :http_session => proc { Puppet.runtime[:http].create_session },
       :plugins => proc { Puppet::Plugins::Configuration.load_plugins },
-      :rich_data => false
+      :rich_data => proc { Puppet.lookup(:current_environment).rich_data? }
     }
   end
 
diff --git a/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb b/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb
index c527358e3f6..a351b23cae2 100644
--- a/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/unit/resource_spec.rb
@@ -906,6 +906,12 @@ def inject_and_set_defaults(resource, scope)
     # Note: to_stringified_spec.rb has tests for all other data types
   end
 
+  # Try something like
+  # include PuppetSpec::Compiler
+  # Puppet[:rich_data] = true|false
+  # resource (?) = evaluate('Deferred("func", ["a", "b", "c"])')
+  # resource.to_data_hash()
+
   describe "when converting from json" do
     before do
       @data = {