A birthday party!

[KeenCook2 Profile]

Hi, I'm also not as much a baker as some of our friends on here! But my instinct is that it would be fine ... I'm sure someone else will be able to say for sure ....

[Suelle Profile Website]

PP, I was going to make your Blueberry Crumble Cake but I'm having a bif of trouble getting polenta, any idea if it could be substituted with semolina please?

I think it's worth a try, but semolina is finer than even 'instant' polenta, so you might not get quite the same texture.

This is a similar style of cake, using just flour, in which you could use blueberries as a filling. For a crunchy top, sprinkle demerara sugar over the top, or mix 25g finely chopped nuts of choice into the dough set aside for the topping.

https://mainlybaking.blogspot.com/2020/ ... -cake.html

[Pepper Pig Profile]

But isn’t instant polenta the mushy stuff?
What I use is quite granular, much more so than semolina.

[KeenCook2 Profile]

Suelle, that looks like a super recipe!

[Suelle Profile Website]

But isn’t instant polenta the mushy stuff?
What I use is quite granular, much more so than semolina.

My polenta is labelled 'express' because it cooks in 8 minutes; I'm sure it used to be called either 'quick cook' or 'instant'. It has larger grains than semolina, as I said earlier. I think there are types of polenta which take much longer to cook, but I've never seen them in local supermarkets.

The mushy stuff in a block is already cooked and just needs slicing and reheating.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

...

This maybe a local phenomenon but decent palm sugar is one of the things that mysteriously vanished in lockdown round here, I’m sure I’ll be able to get it if I go to the big pan-Asian supermarket. I’ve been looking through Ching-He Huang’s Asian Green and she uses golden syrup quite a lot, presumably as a cheap and cheerful substitute for palm sugar

Two things
1. I went to Longdan Oriental supermarket today, and asked about palm sugar, They don't have any, and the lad I spoke to said he was surprised, but when he though about it, they'd never had a delivery in all the months he's worked there. So if you see it, grab it

2. I don't think Ching is using golden syrup as a substitute for palm sugar, but as a substitute for brown rice syrup. which makes a lot more sense, someone used it in a Guardian recipe and the penny dropped

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/ri ... p-glossary

[Earthmaiden Profile]

I have seen small tubes of palm sugar in Waitrose very recently. Wouldn't be much good if you wanted a lot and I have no idea if it's good stuff or not but the info might be useful.

[Stokey Sue Profile]

I’ve seen the Waitrose one, I have bought it in the past but it’s really poor, had all the flavour refined out of it, waste of money IMO as it’s very expensive

To be honest, I use at most 2tbs at a time in savoury dishes, so if I use Demerara the difference isn’t striking

[liketocook Profile]

I use this site for ingredients I can't find locally (lots of things tbh), of course delivery bumps the price up but I usually combine an order with the family so we get it free. https://www.souschef.co.uk/pages/search ... lm%20sugar

[Stokey Sue Profile]

Penny drops

That’s also labelled coconut sugar - Longdan had that, it’s probably where all the palm sugar has gone

Thanks liketocook!

[liketocook Profile]

Penny drops

That’s also labelled coconut sugar - Longdan had that, it’s probably where all the palm sugar has gone

Thanks liketocook!

[Pampy Profile]

Tesco and Ocado sell palm sugar.

[liketocook Profile]

Tesco and Ocado sell palm sugar.

Unfortunately no Ocado here and locally none of the supermarkets stock it.

[Earthmaiden Profile]

That's interesting, I hadn't equated coconut sugar with palm sugar. Coconut sugar has been quite trendy lately so maybe it really is the answer to where palm sugar has gone.

Presumably the Ocado stuff is similar to Waitrose. Do Ocado only stock M&S stuff now?

[Pampy Profile]

Palm sugar is made from a variety of palm trees, including coconut. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_sugar

[Stokey Sue Profile]

The Ocado one is Thai Taste, the picture looks about right, like sticky molasses sugar

Now I know it’s Thai Taste in a tub I might well be able to find it either in a deli or in Asda who I think stock a lot of their products - our Asda is small but has a surprisingly good world foods aisle. Or the one LTC found, which I wouldn’t have spotted among the curry pastes unless I was pretty sure it was there as the tubs are so uniform

I don’t get deliveries and the only Tesco round here is a metro the functions as a second canteen for the police station!