Moral Conundrum -- The "Bartering Eggs For Coffee" WILL HAPPEN!

[fullhouse]

Fair trade coffee! Problem solved.

 

[CarriBrown]

Quote:
Hum... I'll have to see if BevMo sells it! They sell a lot of import beers so they just might have Belgian beer.

 

[carugoman]

1) Wine from Italy is the best.
2) Stilton from England cannot be beat.
3) Almonds from Spain are to die for.
4) Chocolate from Switzerland is the win.

1. Sangiovese from Italy is the best. German Rieslings and Gewurtz are also the best. Napa Valley Chardonnay and some Pinots are the best, too. And French Burgundy and Syrah, those are the best as well.
2. English Stilton is good. As is Maytag Blue from Iowa. And brie from Lorraine. And Camembert with fresh apples and a bracing shot of Calvados from Normandy.
3. I dunno, the almonds my MIL grows in Cyprus are also insanely good. Although I grant you, the Spanish ones are also quite nice. Have you had Italian chestnuts? Those are very nice. As are American black walnuts.
4. No, Droste beats Lindt every time.

Now, me personally, I would rather go to Italy, the UK, the Netherlands and the Mediterranean myself and taste all their stuff in person. Hard experience has taught me that what they export isn't at all the same as what they keep for themselves. Export chocolate for the American market can best be described as "cheese," only because "chalk" isn't a food product.

1. Is wine made from an American-Italian count for great wine, I wonder? I make day-go white (sweet) and day-go red (not sweet) from grapes that I grow. Learned from my Italian father how to make great wine and judging by how many show up for our BBQ's to drink wine and limoncello and beer; all made here on our farm well what can I say?

2. My father's mother taught me to make Italian cheeses of a few dozen types; I've also learned to make use of a neighbor's dairy goats for making various cheeses including an outstanding rocambole and an equally wonderful scamorze de provologne. Another neighbor has a herd of Guersney cows that yield a high butterfat cream to make excellent camembert and brie. I have to drive 2 hours away to get sheeps milk to make a bleu mold cheese that's spot on for Roquefort; I get the cultures and mold from France.

3. We get imported Italian chestnuts for Christmas holidays. To me California almonds are just fine. The best,by far, were Persian almonds, but since the US doesn't trade with Iran (Persian basmati rice was far superior to anything else on the market.) I truly miss central PA eastern WVA in August- September to gather black walnuts.

4. Can you say Callebaut? My DW wanted Belgian chocolates for Christmas this past year, so I bought her a bar of it...a five kilo bar of Callebaut couverture bittersweet chocolate (72%). I also bought her a bottle each of: Grand Marnier; Chambord; Armagnac, Calvados, RumpleMinz and Cherry Marnier; for the making of ganache and truffles. I also bought her 500 grams of Bensdorp Cocoa to dust the truffles with.

Technically speaking, the FDA does recognize "chalk" as a food product, additive and drug.​

 

[bluie]

Lovemychickens is right. Chicory used to be used as a coffee substitute. Otherwise known as bachelor buttons I think. The light blue flower that grows on roadsides all over the place in West Virginia anyway. The root is roasted and ground. I think some brands of coffee even blended some chicory in back in the day. You can also make mint tea, yum. We have a huge sassafras tree in our front yard and get seedlings everywhere. We dig 'em up and make tea that tastes just like hot root beer. For oil, get a cow or goat and make butter! If it was me, I would definitely go to the store though. I admire you for your efforts to produce nearly all your own food. You are amazing. I could never do it (unless something terrible happened and I HAD to, of course)

 

[shmooborp]

i live in the willamette valley! i dont know if there is an omish store around here.. hmmmmmmm... try looking it up on line or in the phone book.... i find alot of local grown stuff that way.

wish u wel!

 

[MissPrissy]

I believe 8 o'clock brand has chicory.

 

[greyfields]

Reading this thread has made me so hungry!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Even Mrs. Ingles bartered eggs for stuff they couldn' grow/make w/ mrs Olsen.

Sorry---- I LOVE little house on the prairie!!!!!

 

[Backyard Buddies]

Quote:
You forgot beer from Belguim.

Beer from Belgium is my FAV!!! But! You can make your own beer and since hops are grown fairly locally in the PNW, this would probably help with the local issue. Making beer is easy, and it's fun too.

But, I have to disagree with greyfields. I'd give the chocolate from Belgium a big thumbs up as well. And I am 1/4 Swiss! But, Rosalind is correct. All of the chocolate for export pales in comparison with what you can buy there in Europe. I once gave some of my Swiss relatives some American chocolate just for fun. They asked me not to do that again.

Carri - Next time you're in Tustin, we'll go Belgian beer shopping or, better yet, there's a deli in Orange that we can go to that carries quite a supply (on the tap and in the bottle). I'll even buy as a thanks for more of that great manure! DH and I made a trip to Belgium, just to drink the beer, and I did a lot of studying beforehand so I might be able to help you find something you'd like.

 

[tiki244]

Yeah I vote for fair trade coffee and you can feel good about it for helping a family in central america (or where ever it comes from) to earn a living wage

you dont need baking powder---add more eggs

the other two I dont know, but just doing what you are doing you will learn a lot and be able to do more next year