9.4.20

Vintage trifle and brand new rice


After our UK lockdown was officially announced and we were still slightly in shock (even though we had been expecting it), I decided to make a comforting treat of trifle. I was sure I had the basic ingredients, including some stale home made fruit cake leftover from Joe's packed lunches which I'd saved 'just in case'. 

I rifled the shelf where my baking ingredients are and unearthed a packet of blackcurrant jelly, use by date 2007 and some (in date) packet instant custard. Also a tin of mangoes; it was going to be an odd combination, but trifle is, I thought, always nice.It just needed some 'hundreds and thousands', which I eventually found in a box of old cake decorating stuff.


Joe was in the kitchen as I was scattering them over the rather beige looking trifle. He'd been a bit concerned about the 2007 jelly, but I reassured him that it was only jelly, and what could possibly go wrong? Then I looked at the date on the lid. And even I was slightly shocked.


We worked out that if the 'best before' date was 1999, then they were probably bought a couple of years beforehand. This meant that these 20th century sprinkles pre-dated my blog by a good seven or eight years. Andy and I hadn't even moved to our little cottage in the Cotswolds then. These sprinkles were not only vintage, but a piece of history, and I had just flung a handful over my 'make do and mend' trifle. It was a frugality too far for Joe.

Strangely, at the end of our evening meals over the next few days, he was mysteriously 'full and couldn't eat another thing', so it was left to me to consume the beast. The last soggy helping was finished a few days ago. Served in a nice bowl, to make up for what I have to admit was a pretty unappealing dessert. I have not, as yet, suffered any side effects from consuming over two decades old sprinkles.  



Speaking of food, just before I sat down to share this tale of culinary delight, a large and heavy parcel arrived. I hadn't ordered anything, so it was a complete mystery, which revealed itself to be a whopping 10kg of jasmine rice! There was no accompanying note, and I am completely in the dark as to the thoughtful and generous sender. Rice has been on my 'I wish I could find' list for several weeks now, so you can imagine how welcome this is. On the off chance that the sender is one of my blog readers, I'd like to send a huge and heart felt thank you - every time we eat it, I will be reminded of the kindness of the anonymous 'someone'. And it will definitely be consumed by it's use by date. 


9 comments:

Lin said...

I am glad you survived the stale-dated sprinkles. I am not so sure I'd be so brave!

Sweet that someone sent the rice! Hooray for good people!

Kathy said...

Great surprise! Glad you survived the sprinkles. I am forever finding such things and hate to toss anything. My daughter is always taking it into her own hands and getting rid of out of date things. She works in a grocery store here in the Chicago, IL USA area and so she has been pretty busy. So far she has not gotten sick and neither my husband or I either. Stay safe and enjoy the rice! Nice person!

Caroline B said...

Sugar doesn't go off - here is a quote from when I Googled it:
"Sugar never spoils because it doesn’t support bacterial growth"
...that being said, not sure I would have eaten twenty year old sprinkles! (I have eaten six year old home made grape jelly this week & it was great!)

Shrimpton and Perfect said...

Gretel, I think you're showing just the right kind of lockdown spirit. Its just a suggested date. no? My son , who is staying with us for the duration, wouldn't even eat some oats that were a few months out of date. I don't know, the younger generation, ha ha.
The rice delivery was a kindness and I can see was much appreciated.

Kepp well and safe

Granny Sue said...


How kind of the mystery person to send the rice! What a gift :)

I laughed and laughed about the jelly and sprinkles. My mother's cabinets were full of such things--and honestly I might have to go take a look at my sprinkles! They might be just as old as yours.

And now I want to make trifle. I wonder what I have that might work...

Gerry Snape said...

The potter and me would have eaten it. Smell it...put it to the lip...and have a go...just finished off half a bag of frozen hash browns a kindly member of our pottery group donated...fine! X

Pam said...

My neighbour asked if I had any coriander seeds today. Imagine my embarrassment when I found I had two bottles of them, one dated 2009 and one 2010. She was happy to get them, all the same...

Jess said...

You made me laugh! 'consuming the beast'! xx

Soozcat said...

Ha, Gretel, bold eater of Hundreds and Thousands (of days out of date)! I will admit we keep a number of items in our freezer and pantry far longer than we should, although Miss V has been urging us to go through both and use up everything in the wake of the pandemic. To this end we unearthed a box of falafel mix and introduced V to the joys of falafelburgers tonight. Not too shabby, actually.

The situation here is odd. While we're not on full lockdown, the governor has issued a "Stay Home, Stay Healthy" order which requires Washingtonians to stay at home unless "they need to pursue an essential activity," which includes getting groceries, picking up prescriptions, filling the car with gas, dropping off mail, visiting the doctor and a handful of other activities. We can also walk around our neighborhoods, ride bikes, garden, walk dogs, etc. as long as we stay six feet or more away from each other. It does seem to be working, as our epidemiological "curve" has trended down over the last few days.