[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

[keristor.livejournal.com]

American usage, yes? It isn't general British usage traditionally, although I am seeing an increase in bottles labelled "pear cider". And note that UK cider is always fermented, we never use 'cider' to refer to unfermented apple juice.

It is my understanding, though, that so-called "pear cider" is usually apple cider with pear juice added, whereas traditionally perry is pure pear juice fermented. I'm not sure whether that is true for all of the "pear cider" I see in UK shops these days (it certainly is for some), but it is all low alcohol (around 4% ABV) compared to that labelled 'perry' (around 7% ABV or better).

[janewilliams20.livejournal.com]

Cider, with added pear juice???? (winces). Thanks, warning noted, yet another reason not to buy the stuff. (What I've tried has been far too sweet for my taste anyway.)

[djonn]

There are definitely differences in US vs. UK usage as regards "cider" -- over here, "apple cider" in particular may refer to either hard cider or the unfermented juice, and (as the vinegar bottles illustrate) "apple cider" is absolutely not considered a redundancy.

I think I'd be wary of generalizing about the apple juice content of "pear cider"; my sense is that recipes and formulations may vary widely. I know one of the sites I linked does, as you note, make its pear cider by adding pear to an apple cider base. However, I am fairly confident that there are small makers here in Oregon producing all-pear cider (some hard, some not).

Just to complicate matters further, a bit of Google-fu also produces references to a number of other sorts of cider, notably peach cider and cherry cider; some of these refer to apple ciders flavored with other fruit, but I found at least two peach cider makers who aren't using apples at all.

[hitchhiker.livejournal.com]

peach cider is wonderful stuff, incidentally - worth trying at least once