We have a Polish Greengrocers !!!

[Berek]

Just opened in town.. what type of vegetables do they see I wonder ?? Nick ????

[Darwins Selection]

Just opened in town.. what type of vegetables do they see I wonder ?? Nick ????

I imagine they see the same ones we do.

Probably call them different names though.

How many different kinds of cabbage does he offer?

[Snoopy]

Polish cuisine is much like  the German variety. Lots of cabbage (sauerkraut is very popular) and they also make much more use of beetroot than we do. Pork features highly and of course lots of potatoes. Polish cooks tend to pickle more vegetables than we do and make greater use of spices.
There have been Polish greengrocers in many places for years. It just seems to have taken them a long time to have come to Berek's attention. I have used them in London and Bedford in the past, like all shopkeepers they stock what their customers will buy.

[Misunderstood]

When I was a youngster, LONG time ago. I worked a delivery round for a Polish baker in west London,  All the bread was nice but the coils were yummy.   

[Bar Wench]

I went to Wing Yip yesterday. Full of Eastern Europeans! Why?!?!

Dim Sum is yummy
Red bean paste is 
Tapioca!  Why?

[Darwins Selection]

the bread was nice but the coils were yummy. 

There has to be an IUD quip there somewhere.

[Nick]

Tapioca brings back some VERY unpleasant memories of school.

Thanks

[Bar Wench]

Tapioca brings back some VERY unpleasant memories of school.

Thanks

But what is it? What does it taste like? Why does it look like vomit?

[Snoopy]

Tapioca is a root based starch often used as a thickening agent in Caribbean cookery.
It can also be used in brewing (Mostly in South America). It is derived from the root of the Yucca plant. (Aptly if one thinks of school tapioca pudding)
It has many uses in cookery in place of ordinary flour.
It does not have to look like school puddings and if used properly you don't know it is there.

[Bar Wench]

What does it taste like?

[Nick]

I recall we disguised the taste. Was it Rose Hip Syrup?

Do they still make that?

[Snoopy]

What does it taste like?

In truth it tastes of nothing until you do something with it. Tapioca pudding is made using the Tapioca Flour (starch), vanilla and milk. Some may add an egg. It was a cheap product that was available during the War and thus tapioca pudding became a favourite cheap and nourishing thing to fill up hungry children. My mother used to flavour it with Apricot Jam, other boys mothers used other jams as I recall.

As for Rose Hip Syrup ~ yes Nick they do still sell it but why not collect the hips and make your own. It's made pretty much like jam.

[Nick]

Snoopy has now set me off on jam manufacture. Why?

[Marley's Ghost (Imbiber of Spirits)]

Snoopy has now set me off on jam manufacture. Why?

That strikes me as an extremely hazardous venture young Nick. Jam making involves large(ish) quantities of VERY hot sugar syrup. With you (and possibly the Boy) around, that sounds like a recipe for disaster, rather than jam!

[Nick]

We concur!

Might try it anyway!

If only we still had a fire extinguisher.