GeniB

I love these snippets of history.. We got marmalade totally wrong as well. Also 'palaver' (did we ever listen and learn ) I love my stollen too,much nicer imo than christmas cake. Never could convince the neighbours to enjoy mince pies though.They used to lift the lids and peer suspiciously at the contents,convinced it was minced meat...

GeniB

Mary Berry has gone on to make a really good programme about cooking in stately homes.The people and stories behind the houses etc. It could have been totally naff and obsequious ,however its turned out to be really interesting . The real Downton Abbey's of today.

GeniB

i Don't know which state you live in Sultan but there are online stores that will ship frozen blackcurrants to certain ones. Also look out for any Polish stores in your area ,many stock small amounts of frozen blackcurrants.
My ED has done the research, as she is crazy about them (her grandfather had an allotment and grew them,along with every other fruit known to british man.) She now grows her own though .

mikelincs

That was last week, it was Scone Castle in Scotland last night. still an excellent series.

Maste

May I ask what channel, etc?

Cape Blue

Ah, back to the usual remainiac hate and ad-hom abuse in place of normal decent discussion.

Interesting to see the Celtic anti-English bigotry raise its head as well.

mikelincs

BBC1 8pm on a Wednesday night.

GeniB

Yep I missed that ,will have to see it on 'encore' tonight..

macliam

Everyone has Marmelade wrong!! - for the non-Portuguese speakers out there, Marmelade comes from Marmelada, which is a conserve of Marmelos, which is the Portuguese word for Quinces. So REAL Marmalade is actually Quince cheese. "Marmelet of Oranges" was in a late C17th English recipe book, but it was still a thick, solid paste like its Quince equivalent. Water was added to the paste in Scotland to produce a spreadable conserve, hence the Dundee marmelades, etc. (I'll refrain from suggesting that it also made the fruit go a lot further and increased the profits!!).

It's difficult to get the Portuguese to try a sweet pie - empanadas are savoury and you'd want to know what it was before putting it in your mouth, vegetable, meat, fish, seafood or whatever. The whole idea of using dried fruit is also a bit foreign (and expensive!) in Portugal too..... not helped by the fact that "fruto seco" is another term for a fart!! Having said which, fresh walnuts are a prize at Christmas (SWMBO has 3kg laid in) and the candied fruit/peel is a delight (especially the candied orange peel for me!!).

If you really want to confuse your Portuguese neighbours, try them on scones (especially with cream and jam). The idea of a non-sweet bready thing, spread with thick cream that is not sour or sweetened and then jam is a stretch for the imagination of most Portuguese. So much so that when we introduced friends of ours to a "Cream Tea" in Devon, the Husband was still trying to work out exactly what it was and why he loved it so much several hours later!! I'm not going to comment on the accompanying tea, with milk..... it was a day of discoveries for them!!

macliam

I think you know where you can stick your comment and your opinions, troll. I also think anyone looking back over my posts will clearly see that labelling me as "a remainiac" (in common with just about anyone who disagrees with you) says more about you than about me.

There is also no bigotry on my side and, luckily, little against me - but that might be because the snivelling cowards who usually resort to such abuse would rather pick on a woman. However, to deny that I have witnessed any such abuse or observed such behaviour in my 30+ years in the UK would be to deny the sun rises in the morning.

Keep posting, the spade isn't blunt yet.

SultanOfSwing

Blackcurrants can be found out here but it's harder to get them because they are a disease vector (although other ribes species like Alpine Currant are not affected). World Market sells blackcurrant jam though, which would work as a cheesecake topping I think.

macliam

IMHO, jam's too sweet for cheesecake, you need something really tart..... otherwise you just have a sticky jam cake.

I know blackcurrant growing is restricted over there due to some pine disease (allegedly), but I can't see why that should stop the fruit being available. However, as I said before, the bloody blueberry seems to be the grey squirrel of the berry world, once it gets a foothold it outcompetes the blackcurrant for market share. The cynic in me also wonders whether the blueberry producers didn't have a hand in the banning decision too!

SultanOfSwing

The blackcurrant jams I have found have had a reasonable degree of tartness, but I know I could find the fruit if I looked harder.

I don't get why the blackcurrant was singled out, yet I am buying plenty of its cousin (ribes alpinum) every bloody week for jobs at work

I actually like blueberries and they're pretty good for you but blackcurrants are vastly superior in all ways.

GeniB

Lovely macliam.. Our gardening club visited our local winery where they made the quince 'square' they eat with meat. It was all explained to us there and of course we had to test it..delicious. along with a glass or two of course.
It was actually our Dutch neighbours I was referring to when we lived in NL.My Portuguese neighbour here is very sophisticated, lectured the chef at our Golf club about how to present Raw Tuna...The way they do it in SWITZERLAND ??? oops.

macliam

Well now, we always used to say (nodding to the southside) there's no worse snob than an Irish snob. But, as with other things, Portugal sometimes punches above its own weight!

SWMBO has made marmelada - and very nice it is too, but my favourite way to eat Quince is cored and roasted, like an apple, with raisins and port in the middle. I'm looking forward to my return and a battery recharge - I've had enough winter already and I'm missing my secretos!

The local Waitrose here has opened a sushi/sashimi outlet - expensive but good. One taste reminds you that freshly-prepared sushi is a completely different beast to any supermarket selection box that you can buy - even their own, which is far better than the alternatives. But even in Sylly Suffolk, the idea that any fish in a supermarket is FRESH would astound my Portuguese relations!