Saturday 31 May 2008

Marmite – an explanation

Saturday 31st May

For those of you who aren’t British and are reading this, a quick word about Marmite. We Brits carry Marmite to the ends of the earth – it is a quintessentially British thing. I have yet to meet anyone not from the UK who actually likes it. My friend in Portugal made the mistake of tasting it by sticking her finger into the jar and eating it – she then spent the next 10 minutes over the sink, retching, spitting and cursing me – much to my amusement – I did WARN her!

It’s a VERY strong tasting yeast extract. It looks black in the jar but it’s really dark brown. It can be used in gravies and cooking. Normal people eat it sparingly on bread or toast, maybe with cheese or tomatoes – maniacs like my Dad slather it on a centimetre thick and gobble it up with gusto! It comes in a sturdy glass jar, in three sizes – small, medium and BIG. There is a plastic squeezy version on the market now, which is really quite disgraceful. Plastic?? Squeezy? Good grief. How uncouth. I don’t know what came over them actually.

My Dad took a big jar to Saudi a few weeks back, and he’s running out already. I usually have a medium jar and that lasts for about a year – and the jars are magic! It’s almost impossible to run out – there always seems to be ‘just enough’ left to have a bit on your toast – hence my shock and horror to discover our jar is almost empty. I’ve had a jar in Portugal for years, as I go there so often [usually anyway], and the other great thing about Marmite is that no matter what it may say about expiry dates, it’s always edible.

And it’s one of the few things that can beat the ‘chemo mouth’! Gotta be a good thing right?

The only comparable thing is probably Vegemite in Oz, and Bovril [although I can’t stand Bovril OR Vegemite – not the same at all!]. Marmite is the best![this link will take you to the web site for your amusement]

Short note on today; I feel really sick! Can’t think why, as I am supposed to be in the ‘getting back to normal’ stage. Thank heavens it’s the weekend, so I can droop about the place and not worry about it. Will have to really scrape the marmite jar for some toast today! ;o]

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