[Public] And ... today's wtf moment

[kniteracy]

OK. Now I've talked before about what's different when you compare living in the UK to living in the US, and sometimes I've learned things (like where to get decent hot dogs) and sometimes life just bes that way and you have to lump it (note my semiannual importing of American feminine products, for example).

Would you believe that they don't regularly sell apple cider vinegar in the grocery store in the UK? The only product listing on the Tesco website is for a pricey salad vinegar. Everything else is malt vinegar or white wine vinegar.

Here's where I can get apple cider vinegar in the UK.

I can get it from Higher Nature, which looks to be a pricey health food website. For £6.95. For 300ML. Dude. I'm used to paying like $1 for a gallon of the stuff....

I can get it from Ostler's Cider Mill, and I can get it in 5- or 10-litre boxes (like wine in a box. Remember wine in a box? We're playing all the hits here on WIAB....). It's £24.95 for 5 litres and £36.91 for 10 litres (tempting, but where would I put it?).

Or....

I can get it from Wells Poultry Housing and Accessories (at chicken-house.co.uk, no less!) where it's £3.99 a litre and £12.95 for five.

Right. Here I go, shopping at chickenhouse.co.uk, unless anybody else has a better suggestion.

And, as an aside -- stevieannnie, what the *ahem* do you use apple cider vinegar for wrt chickens? From the chickenhouse.co.uk web site: Apple Cider Vinegar 5 Litres
A total Natural Organic, anti-bacterial, anti-coccidial anthelmintic and tonic beneficial effects for all livestock and poultry. Increases egg supply,improves feathering and improves flavour and tenderness of meat birds. Seriously? you feed chickens vinegar to make them more tender?

ETA: OK, OK, I have been shown the error of my ways once again! It is possible to buy cider vinegar in the UK at a grocery store for a decent price -- just not the way I was looking for it, on the Tesco website apparently tailored to my postcode. But. I am leaving this post up. For the chickens.

*grin*

Comments

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

Well, I've never seen it sold as APPLE cider vinegar here, but I have bought it as cider vinegar and my bottle at home is from Tesco.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

How odd. The only vinegar that had the word 'cider' in it anywhere on the tesco site (they may try to check stock for your area or something) was the expensive 'cyder' salad dressing vinegar.

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Well to start with, stop looking for "apple cider". Cider is made from apples. That is the definition of cider. One does not refer to "apple cider" any more than one does to "bee honey", if for slightly different reasons.

I will drop into Sainsburys this afternoon, and pick up a bottle of cider vinegar, unless for some strange reason they've stopped selling it: I think I've run out myself. Of course, getting the stuff from me to you may increase the cost slightly, but I'll grab an extra bottle for the next time I see you, anyway.

Checking their website....
Sainsburys cider vinegar, 500ml, 76p
Aspall cider vinegar, 350ml, 90p - well, that's Aspall for you.
Aspall Cyder vinegar, organic 500ml £1.31 - probably paying extra for the pretentious "y".

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Right, I'll check Sainsbury's instead. Searches on the tesco site for 'vinegar' revealed only the Aspall 'cyder' vinegar, at about that same price.

[djonn]

Cider is made from apples. That is the definition of cider. One does not refer to "apple cider" any more than one does to "bee honey", if for slightly different reasons.

Er, um....no.

One can also find pear cider on both sides of the pond (see the Wikipedia entry for Brother's Cider for a UK example, complete with relevant photo, and the relevant Ace Cider page here for a California maker. And this page from another US maker gives a lengthy history of pear cider, aka "perry".

And as for the vinegar -- I have a bottle of "apple cider vinegar" in my cupboard at this very moment, bought from the Safeway just down the street and labeled exactly as such. (Both the Heinz product and the Safeway house-label version are called "apple cider vinegar" on this side of the pond.)

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Actually, German labelling often does refer to "bee honey" ("Bienenhonig"), which boggled me a bit when I saw it (what, apart from bees, makes honey?). But cider vinegar has been available here in the UK at least since the 1960s, my mother has used it as long as I can remember.

Tesco's Price Check

[peaceful-fox.livejournal.com]

Lists it as Cyder Vinegar:

http://www.tesco.com/whatsinstore/search.asp?subgroup=G42AG

Re: Tesco's Price Check

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Or without the pretentious "y" at under half the price.
"OL CIDER VINEGAR 350ML £0.48"

[sageincave.livejournal.com]

OK, what's up with the feminine products? Just curious...

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Specifically, UK tampons do not come in the larger, more absorbant sizes. What they think of as a very high absorbancy tampon here is about what sells for a 'regular' in the US.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

out of curiosity, have you checked at either Asda or Costco? I remember there being Costco in the UK..............

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I stay away from ASDA, as they're owned by Wal*Mart. And as for Costco, there's not one anywhere near us, plus it's not worth going to a place like that if you're not driving.

[shannachie.livejournal.com]

There's lots of apple vinegar in Germany. It was fashionable to imbibe the stuff diluted preceding a meal. people thought, the meal would then be less fattening. My mother was forever trying to get me into the habit. I refused. Can't stand the stuff.

But it's true that where vinegar is concerned I found the British isles sadly lacking when I last tried to buy some there (which admittedly is very long ago).

My latest acquisition: aceto baldsamico crema. Nice.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

I don't actually like vinegary food. I'm looking for large amounts of apple cider vinegar for skincare purposes.

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's a good all-round pick-me-up for chickens. Chickens looking a bit off-colour? Feed them vinegar. Not laying? Feed them vinegar. Off their food? Feed them vinegar.

Mind you, if you think that's strange, I managed to save the lives of 8 chickens by feeding them yoghurt drink.

Chickens habitually reside in Bizarro-World.

[smallship1.livejournal.com]

I can explain "anthelmintic," if you want, having worked in a farmer's co-op, but it squicks me so it might squick you.

EDIT: er, this to Harper, not to Annie, because I expect she knows. Sorry.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Ask me sometime about weirdsister's son N's former near-obsession with chickens. He was young at the time, but the Chicken Thing went on and on....

[tattercoats.livejournal.com]

*For the chickens!*

I'll get me coat.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

See below comment to wayward_va about substituting the word 'chickens' for the word 'children' in Roger Whitaker's "classic" song "I don't believe in If Anymore".... ;-)

(Well, it makes me giggle.)

[valydiarosada.livejournal.com]

We've been using cider vinegar for years. We buy it at Sainsbury's - usually from the large store in Sydenham. :D

[silme.livejournal.com]

I know you can buy it at our local Waitrose because I've bought it there. (We have a large Waitrose and a teensy tiny Tesco. We have to drive several miles to get to a larger Tesco, and the nearest Sainsbury's is 11 miles away, hence our not shopping there that often. Once a month I go to Sainsbury's for their recycled toilet roll. :)

You know the weird thing about feminine products? I've used Natracare for years, as recommended at the clinic where I used to moonlight. (They're 100% cotton, unlike most other commercial products.) It wasn't always easy for friends of mine to find that brand in other parts of the US, but their US importer was in Denver, so it was relatively simple there. However, they're made in Sweden and distributed worldwide from the UK, meaning that I can get them at the local Waitrose. Yay! :)

[khall.livejournal.com]

       Not exactly a big apple producing country, you know? They're a little short on land.:)

K.

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Oh, you sad, provincial, little man. ;-)

I won't list all the various links to apple customs in the UK, because you'd never even look at them. You are a meanie!

*giggle*

[wayward-va.livejournal.com]

for the chickens

Now I will be forced to substitute this whenever nutjob politicians here in the US say we must do X 'for the children'. Thanks for giving me a new source of merriment.:)

Re: *giggle*

[telynor.livejournal.com]

Try watching This Roger Whitaker video, (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hrnLkd3UFo8) if you can stand it, and substituting the word 'chickens' for the word 'children'. Well, it made me laugh. ;)