# 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:** 18\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/121 "2005-02-11T14:55:33Z")
Easily half a ton: [http://www.bigpumpkins.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=92&gid=23](http://www.bigpumpkins.com/ViewArticle.asp?id=92&gid=23) ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/122 "2005-02-11T15:00:42Z")
Here are some British loonies: [http://www.bathandwest.co.uk/hotnews.lasso?article=183](http://www.bathandwest.co.uk/hotnews.lasso?article=183) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/123 "2005-02-11T15:07:24Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Here are some British loonies: > > [http://www.bathandwest.co.uk/hotnews.lasso?article=183](http://www.bathandwest.co.uk/hotnews.lasso?article=183) I find that giant cabbage oddly…alluring. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/124 "2005-02-11T15:10:10Z")
OK, our pumpkins are bigger, but you have a much broader range of Big Stuff. I’ve never seen a giant cabbage in any US fair. ---
**Author:** ![dangermom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e274bd/32.png) [@dangermom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dangermom)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/125 "2005-02-11T15:41:21Z")
I think they grow more of a variety of giant veggies in Alaska. Or so I’ve heard. The extended daylight in summer makes them grow more. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/126 "2005-02-11T16:17:26Z")
> [@](#): > > Here are some British loonies: > [http://www.bathandwest.co.uk/hotnews.lasso?article=183](http://www.bathandwest.co.uk/hotnews.lasso?article=183) You understand that now the first thing us colonials are going to do is say “Bath and West Show”? Do you have cowboys in chaps demonstrating new sink and bathtub models? Rope and wash the calf competitions? The latest outhouse models? Bucking toilets? Strange customs indeed over there. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/127 "2005-02-11T16:20:19Z")
No, no. Bath is a city (not a town, please) in Somerset, England. It is so called because prior to the Industrial Revolution it was the only place in the country where you could go for a bath. But IIRC the B&W Show is actually held in Shepton Mallett, which is not (by English standards) all that near to Bath. ---
**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 11, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/128 "2005-02-11T16:20:23Z")
Bath ( as in the town ) and West ( as in the west of England) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/129 "2005-02-11T16:34:15Z")
It took me the better part of a week to remember this, but in England, rutabagas are called swedes. 1. Why? 2. Does anyone actually eat them? (I do, but most people make funny faces at me when they hear this.) ---
**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 11, 2005, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/130 "2005-02-11T16:42:13Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > It took me the better part of a week to remember this, but in England, rutabagas are called swedes. > > 1. Why? > 2. Does anyone actually eat them? (I do, but most people make funny faces at me when they hear this.) We have swedes at home , boiled , mashed and mixed half and half with mashed potato. To complicate matters the Scots call them neeps and they are part of the traditional accompaniment to haggis ( neeps and tatties ) ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/131 "2005-02-11T16:45:12Z")
> [@Rayne Man](#): > > We have swedes at home , boiled , mashed and mixed half and half with mashed potato. To complicate matters the Scots call them neeps and they are part of the traditional accompaniment to haggis ( neeps and tatties ) I thought neeps were turnips? ---
**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 11, 2005, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/132 "2005-02-11T16:53:02Z")
> [@LifeOnWry](#): > > I thought neeps were turnips? Yes, yellow turnips ( rutabagas ) , which are called swedes south off the border . We also have white turnips which we call ( surprise , surprise ) turnips [http://www.visitdunkeld.com/neeps-tatties.htm](http://www.visitdunkeld.com/neeps-tatties.htm) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/133 "2005-02-11T17:29:26Z")
> [@](#): > > No, no. Bath is a city (not a town, please) in Somerset, England. It is so called because prior to the Industrial Revolution it was the only place in the country where you could go for a bath. Come on, even us ignorant colonials know better than that! Bath was, IIRC, the site of famous Roman baths. The waters there, I think, were held to be particularly “healthy” , and have curative properties. Probably mineral-rich spring water. ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2005, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/134 "2005-02-11T18:28:39Z")
> [@owlstretchingtime](#): > > Where I live. The South of England around London ie Kent, Sussex, Surrey, Hampshire Berkshire, Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. > > In short the prosperous part of the country which is also perceived as rather dull. A sort of Greater Suburbia AFAIK Hampshire is not a Home County and I was born there so I thinks I know. The HCs are the ones immediately adjacent to London and hence bits of London used to be in them. ---
**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 11, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/135 "2005-02-11T18:56:14Z")
This from the Guardian Unlimited web-site T_he ‘Home Counties’ refer to the counties from where the majority of London workers commute._ and _The Association of British Counties website ([www.abcounties.co.uk](http://www.abcounties.co.uk))gives this explanation: The phrase “home counties” has no specific legal definition but as a popular expression it appears to have been around for many years. According to the OED it is simply “the counties nearest to London, namely Surrey, Kent, Essex and Middlesex; sometimes with the addition of Hertfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and ocassionally Sussex.”_ ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/136 "2005-02-12T11:45:34Z")
> [@violacrane](#): > > AFAIK Hampshire is not a Home County and I was born there so I thinks I know. The HCs are the ones immediately adjacent to London and hence bits of London used to be in them. I’m from Winchester and I think part of Hants could easily be called “Home Counties” ie Liphook and Farnborough etc. Once you get south of Basingstoke it isn’t “home counties”. I think the dfeinition should be sonething along the lines of golf clubs and Daily Mail reading areas. ---
**Author:** ![violacrane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c57346/32.png) [@violacrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/violacrane)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2005, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/137 "2005-02-12T14:14:25Z")
Weeeeell I’m from Aldersho’ (just down the road from Farnborough) and our part of Hampshire fought hard not to get absorbed into Surrey so I’m damned if it’s going to be lumped in with the Home Counties! And Winchester is one of my favourite places in the world let alone Hampshire but it’s demned posh you have to admit and I bet it has Daily Mail readers and golf clubs so there. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2005, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820/138 "2005-02-13T10:27:53Z")
> [@violacrane](#): > > Weeeeell I’m from Aldersho’ (just down the road from Farnborough) and our part of Hampshire fought hard not to get absorbed into Surrey so I’m damned if it’s going to be lumped in with the Home Counties! And Winchester is one of my favourite places in the world let alone Hampshire but it’s demned posh you have to admit and I bet it has Daily Mail readers and golf clubs so there. It has TWO golf clubs - and damned fine golf clubs they are too! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-help-what-are-sultanas-aubergines/288820.md?page=6)