Lost thyme

When I was a child we ate thyme and parsley stuffing with roast chicken, and sage and onion with roast pork. For a long time now, thyme and parsley stuffing has disappeared from the local supermarkets – I discount perversions that contain garlic – so I used to go further afield occasionally, to Newhaven, whose Sainsbury’s used to stock it. Indeed, that was my only reason for going to Newhaven. Now I find that Newhaven’s Sainsbury’s has thyme and parsley stuffing no longer – only acres of sage and onion, and modish modernities (hazelnut and hellebore?) for the host more interested in stupefying his hosts than pleasing their palates. But not the traditional staple of thyme and parsley. It just means that I must make my own. We have lots of different flavours of thyme growing in the garden.

But why has such a basic commodity of my childhood disappeared from the shelves? Changing tastes? The mafia have cornered the thyme market?

— Puzzled of Sussex

Probably old fashioned stuff is thought to be “boring”.

Mom and I agreed on one thing – the perversion of putting garlic into damn near everything these days.
And I myself have noticed red (bell) pepper creeping into a lot of things, especially Asian ¹ food. Recipe books from the sixties and earlier don’t tend to have all this sort of rubbish in the recipes.

As you grow your own parsley and thyme, you’ll be better off (fresher!) making your own.

Here, I have thyme and rosemary and a bay tree. I don’t roast meat or make stew very often, but when I do it’s easy to pop outside with a pair of scissors.
The thing to remember is to be cautious. Fresh off the plant is much stronger than store bought stuff, so you need a heck of a lot less.

Assuming all goes to plan, I should have potatoes, leeks, carrots, and shallots fresh from the garden. Boil those up with some herbs, remove the herbs and chunky-blend and it’ll be a nice soup. Could boil it with some Ebly to bulk it up. My multicooker has a soup mode that would be just right for this.

¹ American definition, as in China, Japan, etc; rather than British definition as in India, Bangladesh, etc. But they’ve probably stuck this crap in their food too nowadays… 😠

Fresh off the plant is much stronger than store bought stuff, so you need a heck of a lot less.

Something else to be cautious of: I was running out of a liquid product, so tried to grab some from the supermarket. They’d run out of my usual brand, but had the supermarket brand for 60% of the price. It wasn’t until I got it home and noticed the colour difference that I compared the ingredients and found that this ‘cheap’ one was watered down to half strength! It was therefore effectively 20% more expensive than the real stuff.

modish modernities (hazelnut and hellebore?)

Reserved for the unwelcome guests? :) Not conducive to continued good health is probably a reasonable statement.

At the previous house I had a herb bed, I’ve no idea why the previous owners had built an 8-feet long, 2-feet wide and 3 feet deep stone “trough” at one side of the patio but the various herbs grew well, and the lime loving ones went well in the limestone chippings at the other side of the patio.
These days the current growth close to the house is wild strawberries and lemon balm. I have no idea where either came from. I discount the hazels as those usually get snatched by the squirrels or jays that probably brought the initial nuts.

But they’ve probably stuck this crap in their food too nowadays…

Bell peppers in curry? Typically, in “Jalfrezi” offerings – I leave it to someone like Clive to comment on whether that is considered “normal” Indian cuisine.

But why has such a basic commodity of my childhood disappeared from the shelves? Changing tastes? The mafia have cornered the thyme market?

Like all the supermarkets, Sainsbury’s monitor very closely that which doesn’t deliver the required profit margin. Your stuffing has probably fallen foul (fowl? — sorry) of that process.

Over the last 40 years I’ve lost count of all the products which they sell for which I seem to have been the only customer: toothpaste, shower gel, tissues, bread etc.

Like all the supermarkets, Sainsbury’s monitor very closely that which doesn’t deliver the required profit margin.

In short, if your tastes do not align with the majority you are screwed. Big is not better (apart from executive pay). This built-in tendency to homogeneity could perhaps be mitigated by tax laws. Those with special dietary needs, diabetics for example, are especially vulnerable to the economies of scale forces of homogenization. Or do we have to wait till the majority of us are diabetic? Reliance on market forces may be convenient for laisser-faire politicians and big business, but is disastrous for an unequal society.

if your tastes do not align with the majority you are screwed

There’s no money in niche. As RISC OS users we ought to well understand that.

It actually amazes me that there’s so much gluten free stuff around. I guess either it is actually fairly popular, or there’s legislation that says it must be stocked. If it was up to the shop, it would be dropped faster than a Netflix show if it wasn’t making sales.

but is disastrous for an unequal society.

<looks at America> Yes. Very much so.

Over the last 40 years I’ve lost count of all the products

I have a simple rule these days. Never fall in love with anything. Because ridiculously often something I discover and really like ceases to exist within a few months.

And don’t get me started on the supermarket replacing branded products with their own (often inferior) clones.

Most recently I lost the Panzani Chicken Bolognese sauce. When I saw it in another supermarket, I bought the entire stock (11 jars).
The own brand? Weird as hell taste. There’s clearly celery, and what I swear tastes like a blend of nutmeg and cinnamon. In a bloody pasta sauce! What?!

is wild strawberries and lemon balm

Same here. The strawberries I know the origin of, mom popped a hanging planter of wild strawberries in the car as we were coming over for good. They have colonised.
The lemon balm? No idea. There appear to be two types of mint that’s trying to colonise, that I keep hacking down (I detest mint, and used to live in horror of some random extended family member giving me a piece of lamb and then dumping that vile mint concoction on top).

There’s also a self sown pine tree in a pot. Problem is, it doesn’t resemble any sort of pine from around here.

I detest mint.

So do I. I used to assert that mint sauce was a Puritan invention, to spoil any enjoyment folk might have in eating roast lamb. But then I have much the same attitude to most sauces. We all have our own tastes.