# Please help: What are sultanas & aubergines? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 7, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820 "2005-02-07T15:56:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/61 "2005-02-08T12:59:37Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > I like lemon barley water (which tastes much nicer). Don’t ask me about the barley bit - I don’t know. Barley water is essentially water that’s been boiled with barley. The barley is first boiled to clean it, this water is then strained off. The barley is then simmered with fresh water for about 20 or so minutes, before being strained and flavoured. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/62 "2005-02-08T13:05:30Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > Barley water is essentially water that’s been boiled with barley. The barley is first boiled to clean it, this water is then strained off. The barley is then simmered with fresh water for about 20 or so minutes, before being strained and flavoured. So now I know. It tastes lovely too. There is no better soft summer drink IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/63 "2005-02-08T13:32:41Z")
You can get “old-fashioned lemonade”, which is closer to the American stuff. Much nicer too, than the R Whites/7-Up style stuff. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/64 "2005-02-08T14:31:15Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Snake and pygmy pudding has the same filling as snake and pygmy pie. But the crust is different - in the pudding its a suet pastry that is steamed rather than baked. It’s proper lovely. You can get it in tins from those british groceries on line sites. > > The tinned stuff is good but nowhere near the home made nirvana of snake and kidney pud. I tried steak and kidney pie once at a British pub in Florida. Never again. The “steak” was not that bad – just chunks of nondescript gray meat – but the kidneys tasted like liverX10. I was still belching and tasting it the next day. I guess you have to grow up eating this stuff to like it. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/65 "2005-02-08T14:38:15Z")
> [@Angua](#): > > Barley water is essentially water that’s been boiled with barley. The barley is first boiled to clean it, this water is then strained off. The barley is then simmered with fresh water for about 20 or so minutes, before being strained and flavoured. In William Gibson and Bruce Sterling’s “steampunk” novel _The Difference Engine,_ one of the protagonists (who is from Sussex) tries to buy a drink called a “huckle-buff” from an outdoor vendor at an auto race. (In Victorian England – it’s steampunk.) The vendor (also from Sussex – apparently it’s a Sussex drink) can’t oblige him because he’s out of barley water. Does anybody know what this drink is? What’s in a huckle-buff, besides barley water? Is it any good? ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/66 "2005-02-08T14:47:02Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > I tried steak and kidney pie once at a British pub in Florida. Never again. The “steak” was not that bad – just chunks of nondescript gray meat – but the kidneys tasted like liverX10. I was still belching and tasting it the next day. I guess you have to grow up eating this stuff to like it. Pah! Softie! It’ll put hairs on your chest! In all seriousness it’s very popular here and no one considers it even a bit “odd” We reserve those feeling for tripe and my local delicacy - jellied eels (think inner tube in vaseline) ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/67 "2005-02-08T17:26:54Z")
If Babe Ruth had lived long enough to participate in an old-timers’ game, would he have been The Sultana of Swat? ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/68 "2005-02-08T17:58:29Z")
> [@curly chick](#): > > Wasn’t marrow jam one of those recipes that, if not invented during WW2, was at least repoplarised then, due to the rationing? Bingo! My Mum, who grew up during WWII was still making it well into the '60s when we finally persuaded her to stop. It wasn’t nasty, just very, very, bland, even when she added ginger. During the war of course marrow jam was better than no jam at all but eventually we had most of the previous years production in the cupboard when the new season came round. She made a lot of good jams, I’ve fond memories of going blackberrying then making delicious pies as well as huge saucepans of jam. What I really want to know is why \ ***eggplant** \* ? I’ve never seen a shiny purple egg! What was wrong with whatever the Italian word is? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/69 "2005-02-08T18:43:41Z")
> [@violacrane](#): > > What I really want to know is why \ ***eggplant** \* ? I’ve never seen a shiny purple egg! What was wrong with whatever the Italian word is? I always wondered that, too. I guess it’s because they’re vaguely egg-shaped. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/70 "2005-02-08T19:13:49Z")
> [@violacrane](#): > > What I really want to know is why \ ***eggplant** \* ? I’ve never seen a shiny purple egg! What was wrong with whatever the Italian word is? There are some varieties that are small and white and really do look like eggs. ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/71 "2005-02-09T12:14:49Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > I’ll do you a deal - I’ll explain mincemeat if you explain the pie floater. It is not possible to explain the pie floater, but I can attest to it. As I understand it, pies in the US are mostly sweet or extremely sweet. This is not the case elsewhere. In the UK they make pies from lungs from the “before” photos of those anti-smoking ads. These are euphemistically known as “pork pies” and their culinary appeal is further enhanced by the use in the pastry of a rare ingredient in Britain: hot water. These pies are served cold, lest the goo surrounding the blotchy pink filling ooze away. Pies in Australia are also generally savoury. The most popular type has a filling resembling cheap dog food. These are tricky to eat, as the piping hot filling likes to escape and burn. Eating it on a plate with a knife and fork is frowned upon. In South Australia this problem has been solved in a novel way: the pie (complete with a good squirt of tomato sauce injected through the crust) is deposited in a dish of pea soup. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/72 "2005-02-09T13:03:01Z")
Australia is apparently a gastronomic hotspot. Apparently. Mincemeat can mean two things: Firstly: Minced meat, usually beef (what yanks call ground beef). Also its a sweet mixture of things like candies peel, raisins, syrup etc. It goes in lovely pies (Mince pies) which we eat at christmas whilst wearing silly paper hats and drinking sherry, and watching the Queen on the telly, followed by James Bond (It is the law in Britain that there is always a James Bond film on Christmas day. It is also compulsory to wear the paper hat). Recipe here (Hat not included). Can yopu get suet in the colonies? I was under he impression that you think it’s bird fod. (and just to prove that I WAS RIGHT about raisins and currants - please note that they are listed seperately BECAUSE THEY’RE TWO TOTALLY DIFFERENT THINGS!!!) Makes: 3.2kg (7lb) 675g (1½lb) Cooking Apples 450g (1lb) Seedless Raisins 450g (1lb) Sultanas 450g (1lb) Shredded Suet 450g (1lb) Soft Brown Sugar 350g (12oz) Currants 225g (8oz) Candied Peel 50g (2oz) Flaked Almonds 2 Lemons 4 tbsp Brandy or Rum ½ tsp Ground Mixed Spice Peel and core the apples. Coarsely mince the apples, raisins, sultanas, currants and candied peel. Place into a bowl and add the chopped suet, sugar, almonds, mixed spice with the juice and grated rind of the lemons, mix thoroughly. Cover with a cloth and leave in a cool dark place for 2 - 3 days, stirring the mixture 3 - 4 times a day. Mix in the brandy or rum before potting, pot and seal as jam. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/73 "2005-02-09T13:22:51Z")
Sorry to go on about this \*\*Owl \*\*but although currents and raisins are different things they are both **dried grapes** when used in this context. Please see the above links to the blessed Delia. I know that there are other things called currents ( red , black and white ) but they are not used in such things as mincemeat , Christmas puddings , cakes or spotted dick ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/74 "2005-02-09T13:29:54Z")
> [@Rayne Man](#): > > I know that there are other things called currents ( red , black and white ) I thought the two main varieties of curr_e_nts were alternating and direct. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/75 "2005-02-09T13:34:13Z")
Maybe this is a regional thing. But in the original and rightful capital of England where I grew up currants were the things that grew on bushes, and raisins were dried grapes. Currants were dried like raisins but were different (rather confusingly they taste pretty much the same). If you think they’re both small dried grapes, what is the difference between them that they have to have separate names? ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/76 "2005-02-09T13:43:53Z")
To Quote from Delia . First Raisins and sultanas - The sultana differs from the raisin in two ways, one of which is fairly apparent. It is lighter in colour – the lighter the better, in quality terms – but it is also the sun-dried grape of one variety alone, the green, seedless Sultana grape of ancient (possibly Persian) lineage. The business of drying vine fruits has taken ancient names like Smyrna and Corinth, and Mediterranean families into the New World: the sultanas grown in the irrigated lands along the Murray River, in Victoria and South Australia, are especially fine and were developed by Greek immigrants from the 1920s onwards.\* Now the currant ( I know, spelt with an a ! ) - Currants are small black grapes (often Zante or Corinth varieties) that have been dried. The same technique is used to make raisins and sultanas: the grapes are coated with a harmless drying emulsion and left to dry in the sun. When they are done a production line of sieves, combs and air jets removes the stems and any fragments of leaf or twig which, in the tough old days, the conscientious cook would have to pick off herself before she made her cakes and puddings.\* ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/77 "2005-02-09T13:48:50Z")
Far be it for me to argue with Queen Delia (for foreigners: If there is only one cookbook in a British house it will be by Delia. She is a national institution. I’d still do Nigella first though). But why do they have two names for the same thing? ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/78 "2005-02-09T13:50:50Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > If you think they’re both small dried grapes, what is the difference between them that they have to have separate names? You’ll notice that in your ingredients there, raisins and sultanas are also separately listed. They are, honestly, all dried grapes – the difference is the type of grape they start out as. I don’t know why currants are called that – it’s obviously confusing as hell – but they aren’t related to blackcurrants or redcurrants. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/79 "2005-02-09T13:52:58Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Far be it for me to argue with Queen Delia (for foreigners: If there is only one cookbook in a British house it will be by Delia. She is a national institution. I’d still do Nigella first though). But why do they have two names for the same thing? Because one is made from the large green grape and the other from the small black grape. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/80 "2005-02-09T14:26:05Z")
> [@Rayne Man](#): > > Because one is made from the large green grape and the other from the small black grape. Nah that’s not it - the big green grape makes sultanas - the little black grape makes raisins. If that’s the case why is there a separate word (and listing in recipes) for two appently different things? I only have a Collins little Gem dictionary to hand and it says that currants are dried grapes and also things off currant bushes. I’ll accept that the word currant and raisin are interchangable nationally, but would point out that where I come from they aren’t. It’s like bacon and gammon in English and scottish usage - both are pork products but the meanings are very different. Still, just so long as my dick has spots on it I’m not too bothered how they get there. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820.md?page=5)