I was delighted to be able to buy some Kentish cob nuts and greengages from my local greengrocers today. Brought back memories of childhood!
I know that until this year I bought greengages [and all sorts of other plums if the macolet had them] but everything being so seasonal and with the macolet being closed this last month, I have not been able to get any. I am sure that they, and my favourite Victoria plums have just been in season but not being able to get out means I have no idea if or when they were. And the seasons are so short as far as fruit goes. Cob nuts also bring back childhood memories but I do not think I have ever seen any here. They are hazel nuts are they not?
Yes, they're a variety of hazel nut. I'm thinking of trying to get a couple of bushes and seeing if I can grow some - apparently you have to get two different varieties for pollination. And thinking back to my childhood favourites - can anyone remember tiger nuts? I loved them, though I know they're not actually nuts. Shame if you've missed out on the plum season Malka. The sooner that macolet reopens the better!
@Janet - the problem with fruit [and some vegetables but mainly fruit] is that is it so seasonal. Something comes into season - expensive - the next week there is loads and the price goes down - and the following week pfffttt. So much of our produce is exported that there is never any guarantee as to what is available and for how long. At the moment we have peaches, nectarines, mangoes, various types of melons, and grapes. But bananas are finished and the only apples are not the type I like. The name "tiger nuts" rings a bell but I do not remember ever having any. Must check to see if and where they are available.
When I was a child we used to look forward to things coming into season - now of course we expect everything to be available all the year round. As far as I can remember, we used to get tiger nuts in little packets from the sweet shop. They were shrivelled up little brown things - looked a bit like rabbit droppings I suppose - but were lovely and juicy.
Yes, remember tiger nuts, and have been looking for them for years. A slightly woody, crinkled outer, but a creamy nutty centre. You got loads for six (old) pence. I got all excited in Asda the other week when I saw a stand labelled 'Tiger Nuts'. It turned out to be a Walkers brand name for coated peanuts.
Oh what a swizz - I'd have been really disappointed. I'll have to ask at the local Health Shop to see if they stock them.
And that is the problem. Because people expect everything to be available all the year round, what you are buying is imported from here, there, and everywhere, so you really do not know how fresh/how long since it was harvested, and for how long it has been stored. We are limited to what is in season, and when one thing has finished there is always the next to look forward to - and in the meantime we enjoy what there is. And even though I get fancies for various things that have been, gone, or not yet arrived, I think I rather like it this way!
I haven't had any cobnuts for years.... as a child my cousin and I used collect them from the hedges surroundIng my grandfather's farm. Last year one of my neighbours gave me 2 kg of greengages from her trees ... absolutely delicious ... I've still got some in my freezer! When I was a child my grandfather had a large plum tree in his garden which produced fruit similar to greengages which I always knew as "winter cracks". The only time I've come across another tree was on my first visit to Hungary where one one was growing in the hotel garden. (I didn't dare pinch any in case someone was watching)! I thought I was going to have a bumper crop of Victoria plums this and was really looking forward to lots of pies and jam this winter, but most of them fell off the trees when they were half ripe, so that was the end of that idea. I know I'm not the only one in the village that lost their plums and there'll be a serious shortage of home made "Palinka" .... plum vodka .... which is TRAGIC!
