Welcome to South Africa with a gift hamper of specially South African delicacies and treats
Guests from the U.S stayed at Liz at Lancaster a few week-ends back and to celebrate Duane’s birthday, his daughter asked me to make him a gift hamper. Lots of local goodies went into the pack …. and they loved our South African red wine
She asked me to make you a special birthday treat. I hope you enjoy some of the goodies South Africa is known for:
- Great Cabernet Sauvignon red wine; biltong (like American jerky)
- snoek paté (snoek is a local fish and is much loved in Cape Malay cooking)
- Cape dried peaches (we have a big export market in dried fruit)
- Boerenkaas (farmer’s cheese)
- Provita biscuits (Provita is one of many things that ex-pat South Africans crave when away from home, along with Marmite – a vegetable spread which Americans think is quite horrible!)
- Sally Williams nougat (Sally Williams is a local success story. She started making nougat in her kitchen at home and now the company exports internationally)
- salted mixed nuts (can’t claim anything particularly South African but macadamias and pecan nuts are grown in Mpumalanga and Limpopo and we are the 3rd largest macadamia nut producer in the world – after Australia and Hawaii)
- sweet potato chips (bit of a cheat on this one: the sweet potato is a substitute here for the local amadumbe which is very like a sweet potato)
- pastéis da nata (custard tarts made by local Portuguese; also a bit if a cheat as you should be sampling melktert – an Afrikaans custard tart)
- a little Amarula liqueur – a local South African product.
I know you are going on safari so will not be able to take the chips, pate, cheese & tarts so perhaps you can have these as a light meal this evening to save you going out after your long journey here. You can save the other goodies which will keep as nibbles on your safari! And a very happy birthday for Thursday
Welcome to South Africa and to Liz at Lancaster Guesthouse