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Traditional Brummie Food

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Sugar said:
I know it's not food but I remember when I was young having to queue up with my two brothers for our weekly spoon of cod liver oil which our mother forced us to have .SHe believed it kept illness AWAY! WE always had a glass of cordial ready to swallow down straight away and sometimes if we were lucky we would steal a spoonful of our mums Andrews liver salts and add it to our cordial which would make our drink fizz up like lemonade ,mind you you had to drink it straight away before the fizz went flat . I am sure we must of had iffy stomachs after but we did not know what it was only that our mum drank it sometimes!!
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Hi Sugar, my mum made us take Virol it tasted disgusting I just looked up ingredients......refined fats, sugar, orange vitamins etc....doesnt sound too bad ....but why did it last like iron when I had to take it ! Ughhh can still taste it !
I loved a glass of andrews haha
 
for us it was cod liver oil and malt...a thick brown treacle like substance..it tasted awful...god i can still taste it now... :rolleyes:

lyn
 
absolutely never wendy horrid stuff but just reading up on it good for you...now of course we have the much easier to take multi vits but can still buy jars of cod liver oil and malt:eek:
 
Astoness said:
absolutely never wendy horrid stuff but just reading up on it good for you...now of course we have the much easier to take multi vits but can still buy jars of cod liver oil and malt:eek:
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You will never get me buying cod liver oil Lyn :joy: but I do buy jars of malt as I use it when I make malt loaves...can't get them here in Oz and I do love a slice of buttered malt loaf now and again :yum
Wendy
 
My family and I were really fortunate as, our Mom didn’t give it to us. The reason being, she was made to take it as a child and knew how disgusting it tasted!
However, my friend Annette from school had a spoonful of Malt and Cod Liver Oil each morning. I had never heard of it. Annette made it sound delicious and invited me to her house. It was arranged for me to call for her before we went back to school after lunch. Annette said I would be able to have a taster while her Mom was out. Well, she got this big brown glass jar from the pantry and plunged a teaspoon into it. It was quite a dollop as I recall. Anyway she had the first spoonful and I could see her savouring the taste, she absolutely loved it. Then she dipped a spoon in for me. I think I only put it to my lips and oh my goodness it was indeed vile. Annette said don’t waste it give it to me!

I too enjoyed a glass of Andrews. As I drank it little droplets of the fizz showered my nose!
Happy days
 
yes thats it linda...in a big brown jar to hide the contents :D but as you say they were happy days...well i would not swap them

lyn
 
I loved Malt and Cod Liver Oil, great big spoonful every morning. Wondering if you can still buy it? Was quite a fan of Andrews Liver Salts too. Drink while still fizzing was the saying.

Not sure if these were Traditional Brummie Food, most certainly they were Traditional Brummie home Remedy’s. Boil Beans (?) and De Witts pills (?) and Vicks Vaper Rub were some of the weapons in my moms arsenal of keeping us all well.
 
Cod liver oil and malt, lovely, there is always a jar in the kitchen. There are two versions today, the original and a more palatable butterscotch one, which I prefer.

www.pottersherbals.co.uk

Potter's Malt Extract with Cod Liver Oil

Potter's brings you a broad range of reliable natural healthcare products that have been trusted by families for generations.
www.pottersherbals.co.uk www.pottersherbals.co.uk
 
wendylee said:
Hi Sugar, my mum made us take Virol it tasted disgusting I just looked up ingredients......refined fats, sugar, orange vitamins etc....doesnt sound too bad ....but why did it last like iron when I had to take it ! Ughhh can still taste it !
I loved a glass of andrews haha
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On the bridge over the railway line at Sutton Coldfield station there was an enamel sign 'Anaemic Girls need Virol', no one would ever tell me why. Cod Liver oil, one spoonful every day during the war and separately afterwards a big spoonful of Malt. Used to love that and that orange juice we used to get. Gosh weren't we lucky, few toys, no computers or television, short trousers austerity and cod liver oil. Nowadays everybody wears shorts, I could not get out of them quick enough.

Bob
 
I like that orange juice, when I was fortunate enough to be somewhere that had it. It seems that I was too old, at the time, to qualify for it maybe?
Bob, we were never told anything about girls - just not spoken about - we had to make our discoveries as we ventured through life. :laughing: Consequently girls were as mysterious as science and you know what curiosity did - apart from killing a cat!
Nowadays, it appears, the mystery for many youngsters has mainly got lost as so many are prepared for post puberty at an early age.
 
Astoness said:
yes i like the odd slice of malt loaf with butter wendy...followed by a nice cup of tea :)

lyn
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Hi Astoness,

As you, like me enjoy a slice of malt loaf have you tried any of these versions? They're equally as good as the original and in some cases dare I say better: Plum, Apple & Banana mmm.

Lozellian.
 
jmadone said:
Never had a crumpet with or without jam. Had thousands of Pikelets though ! :yum :yum :yum
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What is the difference between a pikelet (not a baby pike for Dave M's heron) and a crumpet. Only polite answers please. The problem is what I call a pikelet is called a crumpet down here, so are they the same thing and pikelet is a midland name for them or is a pikelet something from long ago and now surpassed by the crumpet and then there are of course the scotch pancake and the muffin which are now different to when I was small with my ration book in my hand.

Bob
 
Bob Davis said:
What is the difference between a pikelet (not a baby pike for Dave M's heron) and a crumpet. Only polite answers please. The problem is what I call a pikelet is called a crumpet down here, so are they the same thing and pikelet is a midland name for them or is a pikelet something from long ago and now surpassed by the crumpet and then there are of course the scotch pancake and the muffin which are now different to when I was small with my ration book in my hand.

Bob
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Image result for is a crumpet and pikelet
sayingsetc.blogspot.com
The main difference between a crumpet and a pikelet is the thickness of the dough. Unlike a crumpet, a pikelet is not cooked in a ring hence why it is thinner and has more freedom in shape. The crumpet was originally hard until the Victoria era when it became soft anf spongy as we know it today.
 
mw0njm. said:
View attachment 138221
sayingsetc.blogspot.com
The main difference between a crumpet and a pikelet is the thickness of the dough. Unlike a crumpet, a pikelet is not cooked in a ring hence why it is thinner and has more freedom in shape. The crumpet was originally hard until the Victoria era when it became soft anf spongy as we know it today.
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Thank you, I have always enjoyed a bit of crumpet and now I know that I now eat crumpets not pikelets I am content. However as a lad, my nan used to call the Pikelet as in your picture a scotch pancake, 'nip round to Vickers or up to Wimbushes our Bobby and bring some scotch pancakes back for tea', she would say and I would go in the shop and duly point at them and buy two each, dependent on the number having tea. I do not like the modern muffin, Nan also called the crumpet a muffin on occasions.
Bob
 
What's the difference between a Pikelet & a Crumpet.Crumpets were for Rich people.Wouldnt catch Rich people having Pikelets.My rich Aunty always had Crumpets.
 
Radiorails said:
I like that orange juice, when I was fortunate enough to be somewhere that had it. It seems that I was too old, at the time, to qualify for it maybe?
Bob, we were never told anything about girls - just not spoken about - we had to make our discoveries as we ventured through life. :laughing: Consequently girls were as mysterious as science and you know what curiosity did - apart from killing a cat!
Nowadays, it appears, the mystery for many youngsters has mainly got lost as so many are prepared for post puberty at an early age.
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i wonder if we can still buy that orange juice our mom used to get from the carnegie in hunters road...such a lovely distinctive taste

lyn
 
Bob Davis said:
Thank you, I have always enjoyed a bit of crumpet and now I know that I now eat crumpets not pikelets I am content. However as a lad, my nan used to call the Pikelet as in your picture a scotch pancake, 'nip round to Vickers or up to Wimbushes our Bobby and bring some scotch pancakes back for tea', she would say and I would go in the shop and duly point at them and buy two each, dependent on the number having tea. I do not like the modern muffin, Nan also called the crumpet a muffin on occasions.
Bob
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I always thought that Pikelet was the Birmingham name for what Southerners called Crumpets. I can't think I ever saw the thin version being sold in Wimbush's. A Scotch Pancake or Drop Scone is made with a thicker version of the batter used for Shrove Tuesday Pancakes, the mixture just being spooned into the frying pan. Normally it would have very few, if any holes in it. The English Muffin, also ring-cooked, also would have very few holes in the surface.
I think there are genuine local variations in names for food items around the country (and the world) and they are equally valid. What is a pity though is that whereas items like Crumpets/Pikelets were once made locally and sold loose and called by the local name now they are more likely to come from one bakery in a packet with a printed description that is the same wherever it is sold. Pikelet is a lot nicer name and avoids confusion with the local 'talent'!
 
Astoness said:
i wonder if we can still buy that orange juice our mom used to get from the carnegie in hunters road...such a lovely distinctive taste

lyn
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There is an article on Welfare Orange Juice here. The article shows a bottle with a 'commercial' label on it. My recollection was that ours came in the standard clear medicine bottle, the same as the cod liver oil. That suggests it came via a pharmacy with a bulk supply. Perhaps Mum picked it up from a baby clinic.
When I was 17 I had a period of convalescence and had to take liquid paraffin. They served it up with a shot of that orange concentrate. The paraffin didn't bother me so I took it straight and then enjoyed the childhood memory of the orange on its own!
I have just had the memory that the orange had a light blue screw-top.
 
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