General Chat

I have already started to worry because there will soon be no vanilla available or, any that is will be very expensive and I do use a great deal of vanilla. I love it.

No doubt it will always be expensive now, even if there is a good harvest again so I need to think of a substitute.

I really dislike cinnamon very much so it will not be that but I have been yhinking about trying nutmeg, even though I find grating it a pain.

Any ideas?

There's some stuff called Vanillin - apparently extracted from wood bark/pulp or cloves - or other 'stuff'. :-S
Could also be known as Vanilla extract.

Or you could try Almonds.

If you google it, there are several suggestions, but the commonest one seems to be maple syrup. You use the same amount, but less sugar, as the syrup is sweet. Apparently you can't tell the difference!

The other main idea is almond extract, as suggested by Maggie, only this time half the quantity, as it is very strong.

Pomegranate molasses?

When our granddaughter came home for the weekend she said there was a shortage of halloumi where she is so she took some back with her.

I walked into Sainsbury for some yesterday and all they had was Halloumi Light - and not many of those either.

Does anyone know what is happening with it?

JoyL ...........

If you Google "halloumi shortage", there are lots of hits.

One report says that farmers in Cyprus are having difficulty to meet demand, other reports seem to indicate it might be a false alarm ................... I haven't opened all the reports, but you might be able to find the truth.

Reports of shortages seem to have begin around June 24

I did google it Sylvia but could not find the truth - unless I did not Google enough of the reports.

You're right, that's about when our granddaughter rang and told me so I got some in for the following weekend when I knew she was coming to see us.

At that time our Sainsburys had stacks on the shelves but now not many and only Light.

It's a strange one so I would not be surprised if it was a contrived shortage.

I had heard nothing of the vanilla thing so that surprised me as I usually read everything that comes through the letterbox as well as a daily paper.

I had heard about vanilla, but rarely bake so hadn't paid too much attention.

Halloumi shortage I hadn't heard of, but there seemed to be plenty in the supermarket where I bought some this afternoon.
Although I don't buy it all the time, I'd be more affected by this shortage than a vanilla one.
I think I remember seeing a TV report saying that a firm in Yorkshire was making good halloumi.

I needed vanilla last week and was concerned about how much it would cost me after reading all of the reports. I was pleasantly surprised to see that it didn't cost any more than the last bottle I bought about 2 years ago.
Don't use vanillin, horrible stuff! It's labeled Imitation vanilla over here.
As for maple syrup, I can't see that a teaspoon of maple syrup would add any flavour. I would think that you'd need half a cup to add any flavour.
(My computer must be American, it doesn't want me to spell flavour that way, it wants flavor)

If what I read a couple of months ago is correct, vanilla should be back on the market fairly soon ........... Madagascar re-planted and those plants will soon be old or large enough to produce the flowers and then the pods. It hen takes several months for them to go through the drying process


They might have a problem because another problem has risen its head ............ people stealing the plants, pods or dried products


Gwyn ...........

it can't be called halloumi if it is produced in Yorkshire .......... the name is limited under EU rules to cheese produced only in Cyprus.

Sylvia
That's interesting. I didn't realise that halloumi was a protected name.

When we lived in Cyprus, we often wondered where all the milk came from to make halloumi, because there was sometimes so little grass to graze the sheep and goats, so one would think they would not be able to produce a high milk yield.


An article about Yorkshire halloumi here.

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/how-i-fled-syria-and-brought-halloumi-cheese-to-yorkshire-1-8239023