A random thread for food things that don't really warrant a thread of their own

[matthew]

Just harvested 1.2kg of raspberries, probably took a simmilar amount last week and there's more to come next.

Last weeks harvest was undefined as most went dirrectly into my niece and nephew's mouths. 

My portion of last weeks harves made raspberry and choc fudge but not sure what to do with this weeks yet.

[matthew]

Just harvested 1.2kg of raspberries, probably took a simmilar amount last week and there's more to come next.

Last weeks harvest was undefined as most went dirrectly into my niece and nephew's mouths. 

My portion of last weeks harves made raspberry and choc fudge but not sure what to do with this weeks yet.

My problem of what to do with said raspberries has been solved by the addition of lemon, sugar and heat. I now have jam.

[essexian]

Deep in the HHGTTG there is machine called the  Nutri-Matic machine which: "provided him with a plastic cup filled with a liquid that was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea." I think Maxwell House have obtained a copy of this machine to produce their coffee as despite making a cup using two large spoonfuls of the stuff, it tasted like something which wasn't really like proper coffee. YUK 

I tend not to drink too much coffee: the caffeine and I don't really get on, but when I do drink it, remind me only to drink the good stuff or to stick to tea!

[Cudzoziemiec]

So is that the origin of the phrase? Or was it already a phrase before Douglas Adams?

[essexian]

To be honest, I don't know although I would expect, knowing how his mind worked, that it's his own work.

Perhaps someone better read than I can confirm this 

[Cudzoziemiec]

It does sound very Adamsian.

[citoyen]

So is that the origin of the phrase?

What I want to know is whether "Brown Drink" is an original Larringtonism or if he pilfered it from elsewhere, because that also has an Adamsesque ring to it.

[Mr Larrington]

I may have been influenced by these:





when coining the phrase "brown drink" as a euphemism for instant "coffee" but I think " a cup of liquid almost, but not  quite, entirely unlike tea" is a DNA original.

If the images don't show it could be your ad-blocker being overzealous.

[citoyen]

"brown drink" as a euphemism for instant "coffee"

Are you sure you've got that the right way round? Maybe it's more the case that "instant coffee" is a euphemism for "brown drink". I mean, "brown drink" seems to me to be an objectively accurate description, while "instant coffee" is more an unfulfilled aspiration.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Instant coffee probably cannot truly exist outside of a Star Trek replicator.

[Kim]

Instant coffee probably cannot truly exist outside of a Star Trek replicator.

I expect this will come up on @RikerGoogling just as soon as he gets his galaxy class starship through the emissions test...

[hellymedic]

Was there some sort of brown drink scene in a teenage angst film, maybe Gregory's Girl?

[T42]

In my experience of British railways, tea & coffee were invariably beige, and to tell them apart you had to look at the label on the pot.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Greengrocers up the road was selling cherries for £2.99 a kilo yesterday. So I bought a kilo. And they're the best, sweetest, juiciest cherries. None bad, none unripe. 

[citoyen]

Oooh, yes, I forgot it's cherry season - thanks for reminding me. One of the good things about living in Kent is that good cherries are easy to come by at this time of year - and cheap. There's a farm along the road from me that sells them from a roadside stall. Must pop by this weekend.

[ElyDave]

we had soem quite dissapointingly bland cherries from the local greengrocer

As for brown liquid, I can't accept it as a Larringtonism, as it's been there in my BRANE since the year dot. At least pre YACF, even as a pre-PSO it was always "brown beer" as a disticntion.  Brown liquid was definitely attributed to the coffeemachine in our 6th form common room

[Cudzoziemiec]

I thought it was "brown drink" rather than "brown liquid". Does that make a difference? Well, "brown liquid" could refer to aqueous Marmite...

[Kim]

I thought it was "brown drink" rather than "brown liquid". Does that make a difference? Well, "brown liquid" could refer to aqueous Marmite...

Also, the Thames.  Which tastes marginally better (or did last time I got an accidental mouthful of it).

[T42]

Anyone for brown fluid? One lump or two?

[ian]

Cherries always used to be lovely, the ones I've had recently have been bland. Probably I'm getting old, when I were young and all that. Hopefully, find some for sale direct from the farm on a country walk. We did get some in the US from a farmers market last week and they were so gorgeous I think I ate about 5kg of them.

[hellymedic]

We don't see many white cherries on sale. We scrumped quite a few en route to voting in the referendum in 2016.

They had a slightly bitter taste.

Supermarket cherries are much like any other supermarket fruit: visually attractive but bland.

[ian]

This seems to be a universal truth with supermarket fruit these days. The cherries I had at the weekend were a reminder of what cherries should taste like, and I've certainly not had anything similar from the UK crop this year. We usually snag a few bags from the farms in Kent/East Sussex on our country walks – as Citoyan says, it's one the high spots of the season, along with non-supermarket varieties of apple and pear that frankly taste about million per cent better than anything that finds its way to a supermarket.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I find nectarines the worst. Unripe more often than not. I don't know why nectarines are sold like this much more than, say, peaches, but it's my experience. Which is a shame, cos a ripe nectarine is delicious. As for supermarket fruit, yes, avoid, go to greengrocer.

[hellymedic]

(click to show/hide)

Some of the peaches I've had from Sainsbury's, at 50p per punnet, have really been quite edible once ripened.
Sweet, tangy, juicy...

[ian]

I find anything labelled for 'home ripening' simply bypasses the ripening stage and goes from concrete to mush in a single move. Fruit generally should ripen on the plant.