Stormy Weather

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

Golden Syrup was called treacle when i were a lad .... it is as old as the hills as a brand in the UK marthe a sticky golden coloured syrup of sugar and very very sweet! i use it in red cabbage stew ....



curried porridge any one?

beautiful autumn morning in the middle kingdom ...

[mangerton]

Golden Syrup was called treacle when i were a lad .... it is as old as the hills as a brand in the UK marthe a sticky golden coloured syrup of sugar and very very sweet! i use it in red cabbage stew ....

CDJ, treacle is something quite different, black in colour, and not as sweet. It's similar to, but not the same as, molasses, which I think is more commonly used in the US. (marthe?) I've never been able to work out why "treacle pudding" is actually made with Golden Syrup.



The tins bear a quotation from the Bible: "Out of the strong came forth sweetness", Judges 14, 14.

[Karafan]

Jayne, I also like hot milk before bed and sometimes spike it with something a bit stronger "for medicinal purposes". Tisane/herb tea is good before bed too. Valerian is a good choice though my favorite is lime/linden flower tea. Right now I've got lemon verbena, lemon balm, mint from my garden.

Karafan, nice to know that there's another Belgian around. Though we ate porridge with my Belgian grandparents in the USA, we always had bread and butter, rolls, jam, chocolate spread (like nutella), and coffee for breakfast when actually visiting in Belgium.

Saly, lucky you getting free cereal on the doorstep!

Lots of Golden Syrup fans here. Is it better than honey? It's not something I really know. Time to make that bedtime hot drink and read a bit before going to sleep. Rain tomorrow! Night all.

Marthe - did you enjoy the hagelslag muisjes ('mouse sh*t' or droppings!) as a child? I still enjoy them now at 47 (to the consternation of my purely-English friends). For the uninitiated they are chocolate sprinkles poured onto bread (or toast) and butter! Delicious. They are formally called Chocolade Hagelslag (chocolate hailstones) and are eaten across the low countries by one and all. You cannot get them in great big boxes here in the UK, so I have to get a friend to bring them from the continent. The choco spread Nutella-type stuff you can get here is just not the same, somehow.



Do you see them in the US, Marthe?

As for the Golden Syrup - yes it's gorgeous but must be an English-thing I am sure and foreigners probably look ascance at us! The lion and the flies/bees(?) and the quotation on the tin always fascinated me as a child!



Karafan

[vinteuil]

As for the Golden Syrup - yes it's gorgeous but must be an English-thing I am sure and foreigners probably look ascance at us! The lion and the flies/bees(?) and the quotation on the tin always fascinated me as a child!



Karafan

very much bees. The story is biblical -

http://virtualvictorian.blogspot.com/2010/07/out-of-strong-came-forth-sweetness.html

[Nick Armstrong]

Marthe - did you enjoy the hagelslag muisjes ('mouse sh*t' or droppings!) as a child? I still enjoy them now at 47 (to the consternation of my purely-English friends). For the uninitiated they are chocolate sprinkles poured onto bread (or toast) and butter! Delicious. They are formally called Chocolade Hagelslag (chocolate hailstones) and are eaten across the low countries by one and all. You cannot get them in great big boxes here in the UK, so I have to get a friend to bring them from the continent. The choco spread Nutella-type stuff you can get here is just not the same, somehow.

Karafan

Maybe the internet can fill in when friends are unavailable:

http://www.holland-at-home.nl/admin-...slag-melk.html

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

it were treacle in our house ...

[vinteuil]

it were treacle in our house ...

... well, we were so grand that I remember, as a lad, we had both 'golden syrup' and 'dark' treacle (which was almost black in colour)....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treacle

[Nick Armstrong]

CDJ, treacle is something quite different, black in colour, and not as sweet. ... I've never been able to work out why "treacle pudding" is actually made with Golden Syrup.

I think it is because 'treacle' covers all that kind of condensed sugar syrup, some of which is light (and also called golden syrup) and some dark (dark / black treacle). Hence the pudding or tart is made with treacle - the lighter kind.

EDIT: vinteuil's link seems to confirm this.

[Anna]

Proper porridge, giant oats (not namby-pamby ReadyBrek type of stuff, which is for small infants and cissies) with a swirl of golden syrup and a larger outer swirl of single cream. Heaven! No lo-fat nonsense here.

My grandma's name was Lyle, when I was small she told me she made the syrup! I loved the way the bees fed on the lion. I certanly don't fancy a spurtle, chocolate or otherwise.

I've just volunteered myself to the British Legion, I'm going to be a Poppy seller! How exciting is that?

[Karafan]

You'll need to line your stomach with the "proper porridge" then, Anna, to keep those chills at bay as you sally forth with your tray o' poppies. Good luck to you!

K.

[marthe]

Anna, good luck with your tray of poppies!

Karafan, somehow I missed out on hagelslag muisjes, though they look delicious. In the US these chocolate bits are called "jimmies" in New England and "sprinkles" elsewhere and are usually sprinkled over ice cream. The Belgian/Dutch hagelslag are probably made from much better chocolate than the American sprinkles. I'll have to ask my cousins about these.

Golden Syrup is available over here but is quite expensive as it's considered a foreign food only to be found in the international section of the supermarket, actually in the Irish section of our local super. I've never used it, nor T&L treacle. We use something called corn syrup (Karo) which comes from maize corn rather than sugar cane. We also use molasses which comes in various strengths, black strap molasses being particularly strong and dark. The whole history of sugar production and the sugar trade is fascinating. Newport's colonial history is quite tied up with the rum/molasses/slave trade and the Sugar Barons of Barbados, Antigua, and Jamaica.

Rainy and chilly here. Time for a cup of tea and to cook tea/supper/dinner whatever you want to call that evening meal. A whole topic in and of itself!

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

....tricky that marthe ...

because of this discussion of treacle/syrup i woke up with vivid recollections of my mother's walnut bread [which surely assured her a place in heaven] .... covered in butter and rich in currants and nuts and golden syrup, i think the longest any loaf ever lasted was three minutes after release [usually we had to wait for father to get home from work] ... yet strangely none of us can now make it, somehow the recipe or the method passed us by ....

we are blessed in the middle kingdom with another day of bright sun and chilly air ... the light the light ....

[Mahlerei]

Hi marthe

Yes, tea/supper - what to call it? I've never been able t get my head around the idea of a meal as tea so it will always be supper to me.

My nephew has just got back from a two-week motorbike ride around West Virginia and passing through Chicago as well. He spent the last two days sightseeing in New York; they had planned to cross into Canada and see the Niagara Falls on the way back but ran out of time. Always good to see these youngsters embarking on big adventures.

[BBMmk2]

Yes it is Mahlerie. Wish my son would. He is 24 now but has gone back to unbi, studying law!!

On the weather front, tho0ugh, it's brrr!! Had to de-ice my car today for the first time!!

[marthe]

Showers this morning, though I hope they end before I go out to lead a walking tour in a couple of hours. Calum, your mother's walnut bread sounds delicious! And it's supper (or suppah as they say in NE) here, though my husband still calls it tea. When living in England I was never sure what to call the noon and evening meals.

Mahlerei, your nephew has seen more of the USA than I have. Here in Newport we joke about needing a passport to get off the island, go over the bridge, and drive to Providence! God forbid that one should have to go all the way to Boston. My son is the adventurous one who has crossed the country to live on the West Coast.

Brassbandmaestro, Brrr! We're still at warm temps here. No frost in sight yet. It's a good thing too as my Brown Turkey figs are just getting ripe! Car de-icing time will come soon enough.