BS: Food items one just can't get hold of

Subject: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Penny S.
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 08:25 AM

No, not live eels.

Some time ago there was a deli in the unfashionable end of Dulwich which stocked a French, or possibly Belgian biscuit, called Café Choc. It was like a delicious combination of Café Noir and Choco Leibniz, with coffee icing one side, and dark chocolate the other. That deli is now a Tesco, and I have not seen thse biscuits for years.

Anyone know an outlet for them? No sign on Google.

And another vanished shop had a version of Ovaltine with coffee instead of chocolate flavour.

Any ideas on that? Google hasn't.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 08:31 AM

Obviously a thread for those of you in the "Old World" but I gotta' tell ya'................the idea of Ovaltine which I love in coffee which I also love makes me gag!!!

You're very sick Penny.............


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: melodeonboy
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 08:42 AM

At least, she will be if she drinks that!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 09:59 AM

I used to be able to get muktuk in the stores but I haven't seen it in years. Any ideas?

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 10:01 AM

As Ovaltine is supposed to help you get a good night's rest, and coffee is supposed to help you stay awake. Then that sounds like one confused drink to me.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Jack Campin
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:15 AM

I haven't seen a fresh durian in the UK for about 20 years. Anywhere in London, Glasgow or Edinburgh ever sell it?

One thing I have never seen in the UK but don't miss one little bit: tamarillo (like a gritty tomato flavoured with battery acid). People in New Zealand grew it, for reasons I could never fathom. And chokos, the most flavourless vegetable in the known universe.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bert
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:41 AM

Here in the States there are dozens of things you can't buy that are common in England.

SEAFOOD
Buckling
Kippers
Bloaters
Shrimp
Whelks
Winkles

APPLES
Bramleys
Beauty of Bath
Cox's Orange Pippins
Blenheim Orange
Charles Ross
Russets

OTHER FOODS
Pork Pies
Saveloys
Pork chops with kidney attached
Lambs hearts
Purple Sprouting Broccoli
Scarlet Runners (although you can buy the seeds)
Gammon Bacon

And more that I can't think of at the moment.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Ebbie
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:54 AM

Evidently you ae correct, Bert- most of those items I have never seen. But shrimp?

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: EBarnacle
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:02 PM

A lot of the stuff on Bert's list is available by special order if you go to a real butcher or proper fish store. You have to work at it, though.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Maryrrf
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:06 PM

Oh gross why would anyone want to get pork chops with kidney attached ? Yuck!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: gnu
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:07 PM

Kippers, Shrimp, Whelks, Winkles, Russet apples, Pork Pies? Here in NB, CAN we get em.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: saulgoldie
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:10 PM

I don't know where I'd find Marmite. OTOH, I don't care that I don't know. I mean, whatthefuck would I do with the stuff, anyway? For one thing, I sure wouldn't eat it!

Saul

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: maeve
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:13 PM

Most of the apples are available regionally, Bert. We have both drag-netted and live-trapped shrimp here in Maine, Purple Sprouting Broccoli and Scarlet Runner beans are at various farm stands and farmer's markets.

For the rest, I wonder if this link would be of any use?http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=673543

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: theleveller
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:19 PM

It's going to be a bad year for rhubarb here in the Yorkshire "rhubarb triangle" this year due to bad weather conditions. I did see some for sale in the local greengrocers - but at a price!

"I don't know where I'd find Marmite."

I'm addicted to Marmite crisps...mmmmmmmmm. £1.32 for 6 bags in Morrisons.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bert
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:23 PM

I mean real shrimp. The little brown ones. Not prawns, which are what is sold here as shrimp.

...a real butcher or proper fish store... they are pretty rare here too.
I did order some lambs hearts from a local butcher once, but they went out of business.

We do have a so called British store here in Colorado Springs, but they have a very limited selection, are very expensive and their kippers are the little fillet ones with no flavour. They sell things like Bird's Custard and Bisto Gravy which I never use as I always make my own custard and gravy.

We can buy Marmite here in several stores and we have an Indian grocery that sells some British stuff.

I used to be able to get real kippers at a Jewish Deli in Dallas. When I moved out of Dallas I called the supplier in Halifax Nova Scotia but they would only sell them in lots of 100 cases.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Penny S.
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:37 PM

Actually, there were a load of links in Google recommending a mix of normal chocolatey Ovaltine and coffee - which I don't fancy. I have tried their malt only version, but that didn't work. Anyway, it's not proper as it doesn't have egg in it.

I'm sorry you can't get kippers, Bert. 100 cases, my goodness! I can get decent ones whenever I feel the need. What I haven't see for years in that line is Fynnan Haddie.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 12:58 PM

No pork pies over there?? How dreadful, I just adore pork pies! Has anyone else noticed that Cadbury's Creme Eggs taste horrible now? A bitter, dry cocoa taste and not chocolatey at all. Has Cadbury's been taken over or something? I greedily bought a nice box of twelve, and gave them away to our neighbours' children.
Of course a large pork chop has a kidney attached, it adds a delicious flavour. I'm sorry, Penny, I've never heard of Cafe Choc bickies.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,Peter Laban
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 01:13 PM

Has Cadbury's been taken over or something?

They were sold to Kraft a few years ago weren't they?

Their chocolate was never of high quality but that's another story.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bert
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 01:20 PM

They were taken over by Kraft a couple of years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: mmm1a
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 01:36 PM

there's a store in Cincinati, Ohio called Jungle Jims international foods. We were just there a week ago. They have Durian there plus just about every thing else. I picked up some wild baby octapus salad to try. and it was very good and the look on my 18 yearold daughters face PRICELESS :). They have a wasabi paste in a tube that my husband uses in his cooking that we can not find any where else.It's about 3-4 hours south of us but well worth the trip ever few months.         
          mmm1a

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: maeve
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 01:36 PM

I understand about shrimp/prawns, Bert. I forgot the terms have a different meaning other places.

Here's one orchard somewhat near you then, and they say they specialize in heirloom varieties. I hope you find some of your desired apples!
http://www.yayafarmandorchard.com/   You can search for other orchards here: http://www.orangepippin.com/orchards/united-states/colorado

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bert
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 02:01 PM

Thanks for the links maeve, I've bookmarked them. There are four or five orchards within fifty miles. I'll be down there come apple picking time.

mmm1a, we buy wasabi powder at our local Asian Market and occasionally they have live winkles there.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 04:05 PM

I use a lot of the things mentioned which are all available locally nowadays.

And I personally prefer Vegemite to Marmite but I always have both in the house.

AND BERT......Try a "Melrose" apple if you can.


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 05:30 PM

Heck, I can get most of that stuff here in the Wilds of the West. Kippers of several sorts, some of the apples are grown locally and available in the Farmers Market during the late Summer/Fall, and there are two local REAL butcher shops and a fishmonger.

I haven't looked for marmite or vegemite -- they sound too much like cordite or dynamite. Nutella is easily available, however.

And, of course, there's always Salt Lake City and Provo -- and if you think that the Mormons don't know good non-USA food, think again!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 06:06 PM

Wanted- Winesap apples.
Have all the trees been replaced?

Pork pies in every supermarket (and farmer's market, etc.) in Calgary. A variety, different recipes.

Wasn't aware that Ovaltine was still being made. I haven't had any since childhood.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,kendall
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 07:18 PM

Smoked Alewives.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: gnomad
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 07:24 PM

Ovaltine is one of those things with very particular local associations:

To the average Brit it is a last-thing-at-night warm milky concoction with sends-you-to-sleep connotations.

In most of Europe it is sold as a gives-you-ENERGY-and-gets-you-going type of product, sold in ski-cafes and the like as an early to mid-morning pick-me-up.

Given our poor reputation as bedroom gymnasts, the British predilection for it as a bedtime drink is said to have wrinkled a few brows among hotel staff.

Lots of kippers available where I live, though the health 'n' safety killjoys don't approve of traditional production methods. The (intrinsically disinfectant) tar which builds up on the walls of the smoke-houses is deemed to be 'dirt' and therefore a health hazard, so sales are permitted only from the place of production, where a buyer can be duly horrified by the production conditions. I'll grant you it is fire hazard, as will anyone who has seen a kipper house burn, but that danger doesn't stay with the product. As a big concession it is permissible for the makers to sell by post, but local lore has it that the buyer must buy and address the mailer themselves, with the smoker just dropping the kippers into the package, and the package into the mail. Making a virtue out of necessity, the smokers dutifully sell everything retail, and rub their hands with glee looking at their daily queues. I don't blame them in the least.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: catspaw49
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 07:29 PM

I quit smoking...............Kendall is afraid to say what he wants and threw that up (maybe literally) as a type of red herring, so to speak............LOL..(good one Spaw).........


Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 08:06 PM

Smoked alewives? Hell, I catch alewives by the netful in the summer to use for Spanish mackerel bait. I've never tried smokin' 'em. Do you use a bong or twist 'em up into aledoobies?

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: kendall
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 08:18 PM

We used to "Butterfly" them. They are bony as hell but taste good.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 10:43 PM

Even within the US, there are regional differences that make foods popular in one part of the country virtually impossible to get in another place where they're less known.

I can recall the "Chittlin Incident," ca. 1946(?), when the entire grade school (in Wichita KS) was recruited to ask all their friends and relatives where they could be found. The educational part of it was trying to "politely explain" to those who'd never heard of 'em that you knew of someone who wanted to eat some pig guts.

A neighborhood grocer (reluctantly) special ordered a batch, rumor is that he got warnings from the Dept of Health and declined to place another order.

'Tis said they're still a popular "holiday side dish" in some parts of the southeast US, but the health dept advisors are kinda scared by them.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: katlaughing
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:23 PM

Penny, maybe Maxims in Paris has them?

I miss the Portuguese rolls we used to get in New England. They were delicious for egg salad sandwiches, etc.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: number 6
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:44 PM

I miss the Italian Bakeries since we moved here to Saint John from Toronto ... also one can't find any black pudding here.

I wish we could also find some piri piri spice ... you can get piri piri sauce but that isn't the same thing.

biLL

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Gurney
Date: 28 Feb 12 - 11:58 PM

Here in NZ, Horlicks tablets are not available, and pork pies are hard to find, and Darjeeling tea.

Fancy coffee with patterns in the froth is everywhere. The cafe I went into today had never HEARD of Darjeeling!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,olddude
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 12:05 AM

If someone mentions green Jello I am coming after ya I will :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bert
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 01:05 PM

Spaw: Melrose Apples, Never seen them here in Colorado Springs. I'll look out for them though.

Hey Rap! where exactly are you in the wilds of the West?

We have two Indian Grocers in The Springs and they both sell Darjeeling.

There is a German Bakery here that sells Something like Black Pudding. It looks the same but is strongly flavoured with cloves which spoils it.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Gurney
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 01:52 PM

Obviously, there are people of refined taste in Colorado Springs.
But blood pudding with cloves? Isn't lumps of fat enough?

Oh, and we can only get jelly crystals, not those ready-flavoured slabs that it used to come in. How are you going to get strong fingernails without jelly slabs?

To quote Blaster Bates, jelly is made from 'cows udders, horses hooves, and donkeys queer things.'

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Penny S.
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 02:32 PM

It has occurred to me that I can reproduce those biscuits by buying Cafe Noir and coating the non-iced side with melted dark chocolate.

What a lovely shop.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 02:53 PM

Hope I can find this when I visit Virginia in the summer. Last visit 3 years ago I looked everywhere and found it in the last gas station filling up the hire car before returning it at airport (Raleigh Durham NC) just before we flew back.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 03:03 PM

Pocatello, Idaho -- right on the coast, with the waves gently lapping against the sandy beach and the tropical moon lighting the night sky as I sit 'neath the swaying palms.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Helen
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 04:07 PM

Jack Campin,

Chokoes - baked until translucent, then garlic lightly fried in butter, and drizzled over the top. Yum! I bake zucchinis (courgettes) as well, when I bake the chokos.

Or you can use them as cheap/cheat apples in "apple pie", i.e. half quantity of apples, half of chokos which was done in the Great Depression because choko vines can grow like weeds here in Australia.

Or you can make choko pickles or relish.

I think the other name for them is chayote.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 04:18 PM

"Humbugs" (molasses peppermints) from Sanders Candy in Detroit (pronounced but not spelled Saunders). Last time I was in Detroit, even Sanders didn't have them.

I actually did find some candies called "humbugs" in Northern Ireland. They tasted almost the same as the Detroit ones, but they were twice as big - bit enough to choke on.

The taste brought back good memories, though. I haven't found anything similar anywhere in the U.S. outside Detroit.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Abdul The Bul Bul
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 05:18 PM

Taylors Yorkshire Tealoaf has semingly disappeared from the shelves in Kent? Is there a reason? We should be told!
Al

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: katlaughing
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 05:37 PM

VTam, we can still get Bit-O-Honey here in Colorado. If you ever want me to send you some, holler.

Bert, looks as though you'll have to wait until October for any Melrose to come on ripe in the one place I found with them in CO, in Ft. Collins.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bill D
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 06:54 PM

*remembering Cadbury's Shortcake Snacks*... which I used to eat almost every day in about 1960-62.

Noreen brought me a close imitation about 7-8 years ago, but I suppose they are gone now.

and yes, I remember Bit-o-Honey fondly... stuck to a bit of paper, like a sweet accordion.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 07:04 PM

Vermont Country Store is a mail-order store as well as having brick and mortar stores in VT. It may have some of the things you are looking for, including Bit-O-Honey candy. Click on the Food & Candy tab near the top of the site for the category that interests you. It is a fun site to explore. A few years before my dad died he complained that he could no longer find snap-front boxer shorts. I found them in the Vermont Country Store catalog.
http://www.vermontcountrystore.com/store/home.jsp

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Rapparee
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 10:19 PM

I found humbugs in Canada, but that was some years ago.

It all seems to depend on marketing. About 18 months ago Life Savers Raspberries and Creme (in fact the whole "with creme" line) disappeared. I used them to help with my blood sugar balance.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Gurney
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 10:50 PM

We used to get spicy meatballs called faggots, years ago, until the revised meaning of the word became known. They just disappeared. Renaming would be enough.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 29 Feb 12 - 11:02 PM

Virginia Tam -

I haven't seen the "bars" in several years, but the separately wrapped "Bit-Os" are available here (Wichita Kansas) at "Joan Fabrics" shops, and some other "artsy/crafty" stores. You might try a local "sewing shop" since they're likely to use similar distributors to get their stock.

They're also nearly always available at Atwoods (Farm Supplies & Hardware) shops here, in bigger (and more economical) bags; but still not in the "bar" wrappers - only as individual bits.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 05:54 AM

Sent an email to Cadbury yesterday saying how ghastly their creme eggs are and they've just replied. Naturally, 'they haven't changed a thing in their recipe for a long time, and it must be the storage conditions' in the shop. What a cheek, our village shop is perfectly ok. I also looked on several forums about this, and loads of people have noticed the same thing. Shan't be buying them ever again!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,vega
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 06:08 AM

Can't get the mixture now, but they were like a small pancake eaten with a fry-up.

They were called "Frizzets" DEEElish

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: banjoman
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 06:27 AM

PanYan Pickle - I was brought up on it but have not seen it for many years and have to make do with Branston - a poor substitute

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: theleveller
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:01 AM

"Taylors Yorkshire Tealoaf has semingly disappeared from the shelves in Kent? Is there a reason? We should be told!"


Exports were stopped after lorries carrying them south were hijacked at the Yorkshire border by the YRA (Yorkshire Republican Army) intent on ensuring southerners didn't get a taste for this highly-prized Yorkshire delicacy (I mean look what happened to Yorkshire puddings – totally ruined by southerners who cook them with oil instead of dripping, like they do fish and chips!).

Sorry! If you care to meet me Woodall services I may be able to smuggle a couple into your car boot if the price is right!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: maeve
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:06 AM

ChanteyLass linked the Vermont Country Store a few posts ago; Bit O' Honey is there in 2 forms: Bit O'Honey

This is a good resource for all kinds of useful and nostalgic items.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: maeve
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:28 AM

banjoman, you are not alone in your desire for PanYan Pickle; have a look, here-
http://cranfieldsfoods.wordpress.com/2010/01/05/pan-yan-pickle-recipe/

And from Premier Foods:
"11 March 2008 • premierlife
Premier Foods has been inundated with letters and emails from consumers who wanted to see Pan Yan Pickle back on the shelves
again after Chris Evans put out a plea on his BBC Radio 2 drivetime
show in January for Premier Foods to revive it. Premier Foods acquired the brand when it bought the Nestle ambient portfolio in 2002, but by that time Pan Yan pickle, a spicy, apple-based
spread, was no longer made. The recipe was kept at the Bury factory, but was lost in the fire that destroyed the site in 2004.
Such was the public reaction that Premier Foods is giving serious
consideration to trying to reproduce the recipe. Said Head of Pickles,
Jamie Crofts: "We asked people who had got in touch with us, if they still had a jar of pickle, to send it in so we could analyse the contents." Over 1,000 people responded - twelve people still had an original jar, including four who sent in full, unopened jars that were at least six years old. Unfortunately for Pan Yan fans, the timing isn't quite right. "This is an exciting NPD opportunity for us to explore; however, driving sales of Branston has to be our top priority. Getting the Pan Yan recipe just right would have taken up a lot of everyone's time. Who knows; this could be one to watch next year," said Jamie." from 11 March 2008 • premierlife newsletter, found by searching their site for PanYan Pickles.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:38 AM

Away from the weymouth /Portland area of the UK, I've rarely had a good pea fritter in a chip shop. Its not a concept that travels well, and rarely at all.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: maeve
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:43 AM

I looked up Jack Campin's "durian". This Asian fruit might be found in London:

"The doyenne of London gastronomes is at it again. Ann's West End Foodies walk is good-to-go [with]. Here she is:

"Would you eat a fruit that smells of sewage and vomit? The durian is so pungent that you can't carry it on public transport or airlines in the Far East. But its butter smooth golden flesh is addictive and very, very popular. There are many tales about it – death by durian is not unknown – it grows on trees up to 100 ft tall, and can weigh up to 6lbs. So don't take a nap under a tree laden with ripe durian. And its supposedly aphrodisiac qualities are enshrined in an Indonesian saying – when the durians come down, the sarongs go up.

At this time of year you can buy durian at some of the stores in London's Chinatown – it's large, green and spiky on the outside, uncompromising. Ask for a chunk, or see if there is some ready prepared in the chiller cabinet."http://www.walks.com/London_Walks_Home/FOOD_WALKS/default.aspx

I also see references to See Woo, in London and Glasgow, where durain appears to be available...along with a host of many other interesting foods.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: theleveller
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:50 AM

"We used to get spicy meatballs called faggots, years ago, "

In Yorkshire they were called savoury ducks, were made with assorted liver and offal, and most butchers sold them. But they are really a Midlands delicacy and were sold by Walkers Pork Butchers (who, of course, diversified into crisps). The (in)famous Brain's Faggots are still available in supermarkets (Tesco has a special offer: a pack of 6 for £1 (save 74p)). Personally, they make me puke!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bert
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 10:57 AM

Thanks for the link kat. Now you will have to remind me to look them up in October.

And whatever happened to Tiger Nuts (Shut up Spaw)
and does anyone remember the locust beans that we used to buy in the Greengrocers when we were kids. They smelled awful but were very sweet.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Penny S.
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 11:10 AM

I had a pea fritter in Haywards Heath that was delicious, and made with what were apparently frozen or fresh type peas. In NW Kent, they were made with mushy peas, and not so nice, in my opinion, though OK.

I meant to check out Waitrose, which has had Yorkshire Tea loaves in the past, but forgot. Sorry.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: maeve
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 12:20 PM

Bert, were your locust beans still in the pods when you bought them? I just learned a couple of years ago that they're a traditional wild food treat here, too- as are the fresh flowers. We have a row of Black Locust trees bordering the road, so I hope to try them this year.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: maeve
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 12:34 PM

Oh, Eliza, look here: a recipe for homemade creme eggs!
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Cadbury-Creme-Eggs/

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 12:40 PM

Yummy yum, maeve! They look totally delish! Thank you for that! Eliza xx

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: MarkS
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 12:45 PM

Just try getting seal flipper pie outside of Newfoundland!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Gurney
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 02:11 PM

Eliza, Cadbury are experimenting (here) with Palm Oil in place of their traditional ingredients. Chocolate lovers organised a national boycott.
They have seemingly gone back to real chocolate.

Maybe they bought a Palm plantation, and you are getting the 'benefit.'

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bert
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 02:45 PM

Locust beans were still in their pods 'cos the pod was the only part that you ate.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 03:13 PM

I recognise that one man's meat is another man's poison. Keeping this in mind, I will hesistantly mention an item I was introduced to, and fell instantly for, as a very young man in the early 1960s. It was an imported product known as Callard & [something like Bowser's or Mowser's] dessert nougats and was marketed in cylindrically-shaped cans (light blue in colour). I seem to recall that this was a British product and, not having seen it in years, am wondering if it is still on the market in other countries. Eliza, if you read this, you might be able to help me with some information.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,PeterC
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 03:53 PM

Going back to pork chops with the kidney in th UK. My butcher told me that these are no longer available as, since the BSE scare, all offal is supposed to be separated from the carcass in the slaughter house. Occasionally the odd one slip through if you are really lucky.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Penny S.
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 04:25 PM

Manuel, unfortunately Callard and Bowsers was lost in a take over situation, as was the lovely nougat wrapped in rice paper, and their butterscotch. Suchard bought them out. Kraft bought Suchard.

'Nuff said.

Except that there's a lot of people wanting it back, and one has made a version themselves. DIY Nougat Haven't tried it myself yet.

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 07:01 PM

Short of buying it on-line, it's damned near impossible to get 100% cane syrup anymore, even here in the southern US where it's a tradition. You can find cane/corn syrup blends, but not the real, unadulterated thing. I can get 100% maple syrup, and there's not sugar maple tree within 700 miles, but not 100% cane syrup when there's sugar cane grown locally. Even roadside produce stands, the last bastion of locally produced farm goods, only have blended crap canned in factories three states away.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: GUEST,Manuel
Date: 01 Mar 12 - 08:24 PM

Thanks a lot, Penny. I'm indebted to you.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 04:54 AM

Thanks all re the Bit o Honey. Part of the enjoyment of an unobtainable is the waiting and the rationing when you finally get your hands on it.

There is a company in the UK called American Sweets. The prices are frightening. I shall wait for my Bit o Honey and if I cannot find it on my visit, will consider the other more expensive options when I return to UK.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: gnomad
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 02:41 PM

Cybercandy Ltd. is a place I have come across, but never bought from. Exiles in the UK may find they sell something from 'back home' that answers a craving.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Penny S.
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 02:47 PM

Thanks for that link - its a cheaper source of Cherry Ripes than the Aussie shop in Covent Garden!

Penny

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Joe_F
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 10:12 PM

Possum.
Groundhog.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 02 Mar 12 - 10:36 PM

Joe F., I suspect there are people here who can help you!

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 08:04 AM

The best pea fritters(IMHO) have mushy peas with just a touch of spice, and a heavy - but not oily batter. Bit of salt and glass of warm dandelion and burdock - bloody brilliant. but a rare delicacy.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: EBarnacle
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 11:22 AM

Lady Hillary and I just finished a C & B chocolate bar. The chocolate tasted fresh. They don't seem to be out of business.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: gnu
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 02:35 PM

Cod tongues and cheeks. Last time I had any was in NFLD about 15 years ago. I was staying in a cabin on the shore on the west coast. I was in the cabin closest to the harbour dock. Two lads of about ten knocked on the door. Their father was just in. I asked how much a pound... $5. I asked how many pounds they had. 7. I said I'd take 7 pounds. They were agape and then off in a cloud of dust. Best I ever ate. Maybe seeing their faces added to my culinary delight.

Subject: RE: BS: Food items one just can't get hold of
From: Penny S.
Date: 03 Mar 12 - 04:26 PM

C&B were last bought by Wrigleys, but on last reports on the web, were not making any of the old products except strong mints. There are many bewailing the nougat, and some the butterscotch.

Penny