English food revisited

[potioncat]

> Tonks:
> Whipped cream I understand. Ah... is there a translator in the house... I am having a flashback... wasn't there a discussion before about what "custard" is? And what does 'single' mean?

Potioncat:
Much to my surprise I found some British foods at my ordinary Giant supermarket--sort of tucked in with assorted other international items that I had never noticed before. So I have tasted Marmite. (Won't be bothering with the love potions.)

Marmite reminds me of beef bouillon in flavor. It's very intense. As Geoff "hot" is one description, but not hot as in a spice. But I warn you, it looks like thick chocolate syrup and you have to put that out of your mind before you taste it. I'm surprised that children like it, but then, we Americans start babies on sugar almost before they're born.


> 
> Tonks:
But I don't understand why the main ingredient in anything would be yeast? And veggies? Uck.  But then I do like the stuff from the Middle East that is ground brown olives, on rye bread. If I get past the idea that everything on bread should be sweet, I might be OK. But yeast??? 

Potioncat:
Looks like it would be a good source of Vitamin B. If I think of the non sweet spreads in the US, I can only come up with butter, peanut butter or some cheeses. And that's pretty much different forms of fat.

>Tonks: 
> Custard is a milky pudding, not like the treacle type of 'pudding'. What is custard over the pond?

Potionat:
My mom used to make custard she said that she used to make it for pediatric patients when she was a nurse. Back in the days when it was dangerous to be underweight, custard was considered health food. Very few of our (US) children are in danger of being underweight today.  It's made with eggs and milk, and it's like pudding. (I'm assuming here that her pudding was the type her British parents made.) 
Along that line, I saw custard powder in a can. I assume that's like our pudding mix? 

I also saw Spotted Dick in a can, by Heinz I think. I was wondering how good it is? Has anyon tried it? I ask because later in my shopping I found frozen "Southern style" biscuits. Well, I've yet to find any pre-packaged biscuit that comes close to the ones my aunt used to make.