I need custard.

[lee websterParticipant @leewebster72680]

Well, a custard plant really. I can buy tins of custard from Morrisons, but I would rather grow my own. I grow rhubarb, and there are blackberries growing at the bottom of my garden. A few days ago I picked rhubarb and blackberries and cooked the rhubarb in the microwave. Easy. After cooking, I added the blackberries and warmed some custard separately. A very enjoyable sweet, not too much sugar, just a sprinkle. I then thought, "why am I buying custard? I should be growing my own". So, any reccomendations? I do have a small greenhouse if required.

A friend suggested Birds custard, but I am a vegetarian, so I can't eat birds.

[lee websterParticipant @leewebster72680]

[Brian GParticipant @briang]

With a greenhouse you could grow the "Custard Apple" Annona Reticulata.

Brian G

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

If you can't eat bird's then you should try Ambrosia. This photo is of the Ambrosia plant that produces custard

[Ramon WilsonParticipant @ramonwilson3]

I grow two varieties of Rhubarb and have a prolific cultivated Blackberry that produces huge fruits so am in constant need of custard.

Bird's 'ready to mix' in packets – just add hot water and stir – is our preferred choice. Quick, easy, just the right amount of sweetness and goes with the above a treat – bugger trying to grow your own

 

Best – Tug

Edited By Ramon Wilson on 13/08/2023 15:55:39

[Roger ClarkParticipant @rogerclark]

Posted by JasonB on 13/08/2023 15:32:17:

If you can't eat bird's then you should try Ambrosia. This photo is of the Ambrosia plant that produces custard

Yes but only Gods are allowed to eat Ambrosia

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Added sugar! I have an oven dish 12 x 8.5 x 2.5" deep, with a fruit crumble in it, to dip into each day. Supermarket cooking apples, skinned chopped and cooked then when nearly cooked, blackberries picked by me from hedgerows chucked in on top to cook, taking only a few minutes.No sugar at all. Turned out of saucepan into oven dish covered in a commercial crumble mix. Sainsburys own brand is very powdery and tastes like there too much sugar added for my liking. Sugar not listed in the ingredients. Aunt Bessie's version lists sugar, demerara sugar, Cane Molasses but I can't detect any of that by taste, so could be only minimal. Point is, at no stage do I add sugar and find it OK. But then I can eat grapefruit or lemon with no sugar, or any other sweetener. Dont do artificial sweeteners. Not tried it yet but plan to make my own crumble mix, so I know exactly what's in it and what's not, like palm oil which I struggle to avoid because its shoved in everything. I always cook blackberries to sterilise them after sat on by flies, no telling what else they've sat on!

John

Edited By DMB on 13/08/2023 16:04:13

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Sorry I cant help with custard, I just 'suffer' the Birds version, but think its OK.

John

[Frances IoMParticipant @francesiom58905]

since, as I’m sure you know, proper custard is made by slowly cooking whisked egg yolks and sugar with whole warmed milk until it thickens (4 egg yolks, 3-4 oz sugar + 1/2 pt of full cream milk – thus for self sufficiency you need to purchase a cow, some laying hens and unless you are in the tropics grow sugar beet – though personally I would make a trip to the local supermarket for the raw ingredients.

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

Bird's Custard Powder contains no egg the ingredients are simply :-

• Maize Starch
• Salt
• Flavouring,
• Colour (Annatto Norbixin)

So you need to grow some corn and set up a mill
Oh yes, you need to add the milk so you want a suitable source of that.

John

Edited By Journeyman on 13/08/2023 16:19:37

[peak4Participant @peak4]

I think maybe someone has missed the point in Lee's post where he differentiates between upper and lower case B

Bill

[V8EngParticipant @v8eng]

Don’t custard plants grow alongside Spaghetti trees?

I guess only the slightly more aged amongst us (myself included) might understand that.

Edited By V8Eng on 13/08/2023 16:48:01

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

Don't want to start a row, but Card Carrying Vegetarians aren't allowed custard of any type. Custard has egg in it.

Only poachers turned gamekeeper claim eggs aren't really flesh. In my opinion all those who have betrayed the movement should be boiled, fried and scrambled. It will teach them to take a yolk.

Dave

[lee websterParticipant @leewebster72680]

I remember the news article. It was that, and having lived in Hemel Hempstead for many years (Hemel is also know as "treacle bumpstead" because of the treacle mines) that makes me search for a good custard plant.

Thanks for the replies, I was afraid that some might not think me serious.

[peak4Participant @peak4]

Posted by V8Eng on 13/08/2023 16:45:40:

Don’t custard plants grow alongside Spaghetti trees?

I guess only the slightly more aged amongst us (myself included) might understand that.

Edited By V8Eng on 13/08/2023 16:48:01

I believe only in the forest surrounding Montallegro, on Caissa Inferiore, in the San Serriffe archipellago.

Bill

[colin branniganParticipant @colinbrannigan54160]

It was believed that custard was invented in my hometown of Swansea but this was just an urban myth, some chemist in Birmingham invented it, not sure if invented is the right word.

But Swansea did have the first passenger carrying railway horse drawn of course, 1807 I believe.

Regards Colin

[lee websterParticipant @leewebster72680]

Oh nice try Colin! Custard was invented, I'm not falling for that old chestnut!

Still searching for the plant/bush/tree.

[Mick B1Participant @mickb1]

Posted by Rockingdodge on 13/08/2023 15:58:42:

Posted by JasonB on 13/08/2023 15:32:17:

If you can't eat bird's then you should try Ambrosia. This photo is of the Ambrosia plant that produces custard

Yes but only Gods are allowed to eat Ambrosia

OK, but there must be a lot of 'em about, to need a factory like that – and they obviously shop in our Morrisons.

[Ed Dinning 1Participant @eddinning1]

Looks like the Ambrosia factory is suitably situated in the Yorkshire "rhubarb triangle"

Ed

[john halfpennyParticipant @johnhalfpenny52803]

Pearce Duffs custard powder was the best, but it probably contained lots of E numbers which are now banned. I believe the factory in east London burned down, but a version is still available in the Canary islands, of all places.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Posted by Mick B1 on 13/08/2023 20:56:42:

Posted by Rockingdodge on 13/08/2023 15:58:42:

Posted by JasonB on 13/08/2023 15:32:17:

If you can't eat bird's then you should try Ambrosia. This photo is of the Ambrosia plant that produces custard

Yes but only Gods are allowed to eat Ambrosia

OK, but there must be a lot of 'em about, to need a factory like that – and they obviously shop in our Morrisons.

Well if that were true, the Ambrosia people made a mistake building their factory in Devon (I think), as it's well known that God lives in Yorkshire.

[Sam StonesParticipant @samstones42903]

Kitchen science can be rather intriguing.

I found mixing Bird's Custard powder fell into that category.

At a specific moment when there was just enough added liquid (milk), the mix would resist stirring as it became a dilatant non-Newtonian fluid. Yet the same fluid would trickle off the spoon, albeit appearing to be (but not quite) lumpy. Is it something to do with corn starch?

So where, in the kitchen, could you easily demonstrate Bernoulli?

Sam

Chilling out in Melbourne

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Sod it, I'll just toddle down the road to Sainsburys for a tub of Birds. Walk good for me and if there's any 'nasties' in it, little harm done as I don't make custard very often – hate cleaning saucepan, damn milk.

Lazy John

[Nick Clarke 3Participant @nickclarke3]

Posted by Journeyman on 13/08/2023 16:17:26:

Bird's Custard Powder contains no egg the ingredients are simply :-

• Maize Starch
• Salt
• Flavouring,
• Colour (Annatto Norbixin)

So you need to grow some corn and set up a mill
Oh yes, you need to add the milk so you want a suitable source of that.

John

Edited By Journeyman on 13/08/2023 16:19:37

The original Birds custard was developed because the wife of the company founder was allergic to eggs and he wanted to find her a substitute

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Thanks for brightening up my morning …

🤣

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