Local NYC Supermarket's UK/EU Offerings

[whirlcool]

Fortunately for us, here in Houston there are a few British import stores that have nice food sections, and most large grocery stores have an "imported" food section. Heinz Beans and Spotted Dick are commonly found in most of these.

Our favorite tea is Fortnum & Mason's "Royal Blend" and Jackson's "Coronation Tea"
But several years ago Fortnum & Mason withdrew from the U.S. market and now their Royal Blend tea is only available in their London shop. You can get it on Ebay for a rather expensive price. The British import store owner said even a few years down the road people are still asking about Fortnum & Mason teas.

We were drinking P&G tips in the morning, but it seems to have gotten bitter over the past few years. We like a very smooth tea, made using the traditional British method. No zapped tea for us!

We've been drinking Green tea in the mornings lately. Made rather stout, I don't like watery teas. We once tried "Lifeboat Tea", a very serious cup of tea! It kept us going for three days!

 

[davetranter]

Observations from new photographs

Here are a few thoughts / observations......

'Hob Nobs' (reply#32) made (or at least packaged) for the U.S. market. Note the U.S. spelling 'flavor'. Also worrying is the fact that the stuff they are putting on top no longer qualifies as 'chocolate'. I wonder if this has to do with the '0g trans-fat' promise. I will check U.K. items and compare. They are not something I buy.

'Barry's' tea (Reply#35). Can't say I've heard of this brand, but then I'm not a tea drinker.

'Cuppa Club' (Reply#36) Just a bit of advertising, as is the woollen 'glove puppet' character.

Heinz 'Taste of Home' puddings. Presumably made exclusively for 'ex-pats' around the World. Again, the packaging is not the same here, and the contents may differ, too.

This is turning into a VERY fascinating thread...

My 'P.S.' on my last 'post' only refers to 'Grant's' brand canned Haggis. I cannot vouch for any others. Don't let preconceptions about 'what it's made from' put you off. There are many foodstuffs which 'don't look good on paper'. It's worthy of an unbiassed taste test.

I'll check some local supermarkets and report back with my findings.

All best

Dave T

 

[ozzie908]

Most Marmite ad's were along the lines of you "love

or you hate it"

Now just a note about "Suet" we have a vegetarian version as well which is low in fat so makes a healthy alternative, I use it in pastry and puddings I believe a similar substance is " Crisco?" I also know that when I was in the US 15 years ago Marmite was brought out to me for my morning toast by visitors from the UK as I was unable then to find any even online.

Never heard of "Barrys tea" and the "Cuppa Club" is something that PGtips have been running with their adverts. Sadly though although I am English I cannot abide tea with milk prefer it black but my beverage of choice although extremely plebby is Nescafe coffee the nearest I found was Farmers Choice or something similar sold in stop and shop in a red and gold jar! Not a lover of drip coffee as it takes too long.

Austin

 

[launderess]

Fortnum & Mason's "Royal Blend" In USA

Knock yourself out! *LOL*

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/fortnum-mason-tea/

 

[spoodles]

Those Heinz 'Taste of Home' puddings are exactly the same as the ones sold in the UK. I think the name is meant to suggest that they're like the ones your mum used to make, not something aimed at ex-pats. Barry's Tea is an Irish brand, for those wondering why they've never heard of it!

We have US food sections in some UK supermarkets too, but it mainly consists of peanut butter Oreos, Reese's peanut butter chocolates, peanut butter M&M's, Smucker's peanut butter & jam (can you spot the theme?), various breakfast cereals such as Lucky Charms, Hershey bars and other US chocolate bars and some Aunt Jemima's products.

whirlcool's accidental rebranding of PG Tips to "P&G Tips" made me smile - it's made by Unilever!

 

[frigilux]

For those who like to browse online: The Brit Superstore Online ships a wide array of UK favorites to your doorstep. While prices for the items are reasonable, shipping rates will startle you. I order from them a few times a year and have had excellent luck.

Laundry detergents are listed under Home Care.

http://www.britsuperstore.com

 

[danemodsandy]

Ozzie:

We're not allowed to have real suet from the U.K. here (BSE concerns on the part of a U.S. government that has not kept up with the progress Britain has made with the issue), but the veggie version of Atora can be ordered.

 

[vacbear58]

A word of thanks to Laundress

For starting up a great thread.

And I see you have been out in the trench coat and fedora again LOLOL - only teasing. And thanks for the second crop of photos

 

[vacbear58]

back to the shopping

Barry's tea is actually Irish, I have seen it on sale here in Morrisons. Same with the Bolands products - I am trying to remember the brand name they used to be but for the life of me I cannot remember it. I remember the Coconut Creams (its actually a soft cookie, topped with a blob of marshmallow and dusted with coconut and the non-chocolate version of Kimberley too - that's a soft, slightly gingery cookie sandwiched with marshmallow. The main place I see Chocolate Tea Cakes is Marks & Spencer - small soft cookie, with marshmallow on to and the whole thing enrobed in a thin layer of chocolate.

The only "proper" Jaffa Cakes in the Uk are made by McVities, who also make several other varieties shown in reply 33. Curiously Chocolate Hob Nobs (in the "grab and go" package are a completely different (although equally delicious) product to the non-chocolate product, very good straight from the fridge.

Rolling back up to reply #32 I am surprised to see there are two distinct varieties of McVitie biscuits/cookies - the ones on the lower shelf are the sort we get here, I dont believe I have seen the packaging of, apparently the same product, that are seen on the top shelf before.

Back down to # 33
A Mars bar is what North Americans know as a Milky Way (it gets confusing for us Brits as a Milky Way in this country is a completely different product). A Twix is two fingers on crisp cookie each covered with a reasonably thick layer of caramel and enrobed in chocolate. A Bounty is a coconut bar (again two in a packet) covered by reasonably thick chocolate - the blue is milk chocolate, the red plain.

Aero started out as an aerated chocolate bar (firm not soft - the point being you could see the bubbles) which is covered in smooth chocolate. In the 1960s an additional product was launched when the chocolate filling was replaced by a green peppermint flavouring. The orange filling was added later. It looks like there might be some peppermint ones in one of the orange cartons

Just visible are Maltesers which are malted flavour honeycomb (like) balls enrobed in chocolate.

Al

 

[vacbear58]

@ Frigilux

I am quite startled to see the of variety of products on that site you linked too. I noticed two of the products in the new section - Tiptree Jam and Fudges biscuits. Although the prices might look very high they are premium products and the prices shown are not a great deal more than they are in this country. Tiptree jam (or marmalade if you like it) is particularly good if you ever want to treat yourself - particularly something like afternoon tea with cream scones.

Now this is where it gets confusing - a scone is a sweeter (although not massively so) version of what you guys call biscuits - so for say 8oz flour/1oz shortening you add about 1 oz sugar - its like a sweetish bread rather than a cake. When freshly made but cooled you split them horizontally, put a nice thick layer of jam (strawberry by tradition, I prefer raspberry) on the lower part and a good blob of thick cream on top, finally topping with the upper part of the scone. Serve with plenty of cups of tea

 

[aquarius1984]

Al,

The coconut marshmallow things were last known under the 'Jacobs' name FWIR, but I wondered if at one point they were made by 'Caxton' who also make the Marshmallow Pink n Whites - ice cream wafer sandwiched with marshmallow and dusted with caster sugar.

 

[supersuds]

Allen, if you like a smooth tea you might try Yorkshire Gold. It is sometimes sold in the British food sections of stores here, but it is cheaper from Amazon. They also make a slightly less expensive version that is just called Yorkshire Tea.

Fauchon Darjeeling from France is possibly the best tea I've ever had, but it seems hard to get.

 

[launderess]

Only Cream Cookie One Wants To Find Is Gypsy Creams

*LOL*

One day when over that way will check out the British store in the Village on Hudson Street. Keep meaning to pop in but usually am down that way well after hours. Know they sell UK laundry products but not sure if the prices are anything to write home about.

Am wondering how fast the turnover for these British foods are at my local. I mean if one were tempted probably would reach to the back of the shelve for anything.

Hot scones with butter are wonderful at tea time, though jam is equally good as well. Unlike say croissants (the official baked good of France), scones are rather easy to make. As noted the batter is really a type of biscuit and as with making that you don't want a heavy hand with the mixing or you end up with bricks.

 

[aquarius1984]

Your closest thing to Gypsy creams are Fox's cream crunch although they are not quite the same FWIR.

 

[petek]

Nestle, Kraft and Hershey

They're ruining the chocolate industry with all their acquisitions. Crappy products to gain more shelf space.

 

[whirlcool]

Food Turnover In Grocery Stores

I have noticed that things like Malt Vinegar, digestives and tinned kippers turn over pretty fast. You can find Spotted Dick in a can with dust on the lid. Barley water moves pretty fast.

Sorry about the PG tips name screw up.

And Laundress: Thanks for the link to the Fortnum & Mason tea! I ordered a tin!

And Supersuds, we'll give the Yorkshire Gold a try. Love smooth teas. On Sunday morning we wade through the pot!

 

[iej]

Barry's Tea is actually one of the biggest local food/drink brands here in Cork in Ireland.
They're still a family-owned business and do a pretty nice range of teas.

The two 'big' tea brands in Ireland are Lyons (now part of Unilever) and Barry's Tea. People seem to become diehard fans of one or the other. All the smaller tea brands (including main of the big names like Twinings) are sort of niche in comparison.

Jacob's Biscuits is a little bit like the story of Persil. Two companies ended up owning the brand which originated in Ireland in the 1800s. One company is in Ireland and one in England and they've had court battles over the trademark.

There were actually court battles as recently as 2007 over Fig Roll packaging similarities.

The Irish part is Jacobs Fruitfield which is now called Valeo.

Jacob's biscuits are as quintessentially part of the Irish pallet as Oreos are in the US. There's a range of products that are just absolutely part of culture.

They're around for a VERY long time though as this slightly politically incorrect early 1970s TV ad would demonstrate

http://https//www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRQAa7eA9l4

 

[iej]

The things I miss when I'm abroad...

When I'm abroad I actually start to miss some of the oddest things which I don't think of as particularly British or Irish.

One of the main ones is actually Indian curry spices and cooking sauces. There is an absolutely fantastic range of them in the supermarkets here including some locally produced ones from a small company about 2km away.

I also really miss the very high quality pasta sauces you can pick up here. I know you can get decent ones in the US, but I find sometimes in continental european countries you end up stuck with quite bad selections or have to make it yourself from scratch almost.

In the US, the main things I started to miss were breads. I'm quite lucky to be very near some really good bakeries and my local convenience store's quite gourmet. So, I'm fairly used to picking up very high end bread fresh every day.

When I was in the US there wasn't really anything local so I ended up just stopping eating bread as I hate he supermarket stuff.

I know you can get really amazing bread in the US too, but it just wasn't available where I was.

I also really missed soft drinks with actual sugar as opposed to corn syrup. US Coca-cola for example, despite being an american classic, tastes 'strange' because of the corn syrup content. It's made with beet sugar here.

 

[vacbear58]

Jacobs

James

Thanks for posting the ad - I could remember that one on Ulster Television maybe back in the 1970s or possibly early 1980s. Milkado were ALWAYS my favourites - still are the odd time I see them.

And thanks also for filling in the story about Jacobs, I thought Kimberly, Milkado and Coconut Creams were Irish made, but could not work out where the cream crackers fitted in. I have done a quick search on YouTube but so far Jim Figgerty is no where to be seen - but that's well before your time I think.

And like you, when I came to live in London, I too missed the wide variety of breads that I was used to - very occasionally you might see a "Plain" loaf here (they are made in Scotland too) and potato cakes and soda farls are easily available here now as are what I used to know as "Oven Wheaten" or "Oven Fruit Bread" - sold here under the James Rankin label although they are very similar to Ormo products. Of course I am a bit spoiled as I worked for three (VERY happy) years at Ormo (strictly it was Ormeau) Bakery so all their products were immediately available to me.

I am actually planning a trip to NI in the summer (the first time in a very long time) and I am looking forward to such fondly remembered delights as Griddle Wheatens (like soda farls only VERY course wholemeal), slims, snowballs, Veda bread, Indians, Treacle Scones, Paris buns ....... As usual I could go on and on ...

And actually I could make a number of these myself, but I can never get wheaten meal course enough here - I can see the car will be well stocked up when I am coming back LOLOLOL

Al

 

[vacbear58]

"make it yourself from scratch almost"

James

I nearly laughed out loud at that one - true desperation then. I hardly ever use a
pasta sauce, I always make it from scratch

Al