On the subject of con-food..

[fredT]

Pancake day yesterday so off down the shop to pick up what we needed.

I was flipping pancakes, wife and our 2 little boys wipping cream (back home in Sweden we eat pancakes with wipped cream and jam).

So me and the boys were trying the cream, as you do, and it tasted foul.

As it happened I had picked up a tub of 'Elmea double'. This is not cream it contains:

Buttermilk (63%)
Vegetable Oil (26%)
Vegetable Oil (8.8%)
Buttermilk Powder
Emulsifiers (E435, E322)
Lactose
Stabilisers (E412, E410)
Colour (e160a)

Nestled in between real cream I picked this one up as it was the only one in the size I required.

Was never a big fan of supermarkets, but this sort of practise is plain stupid.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Foul stuff, ought to be banned. There is no substitute for proper cream.

 

[brucemillar]

Look on the bright side. It could have been made out 100% horse.

 

[Mercy1]

...should have paused and reflected...

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Elmea isnt cream - thats its point!?!

 

[fredT]

Look on the bright side. It could have been made out 100% horse.

Probably would've tasted better..

...should have paused and reflected...

Having to bring my boys 1.5 and 3.5 there aint much time to hang around and reflect!

Elmea isnt cream - thats its point!?!

Exactly, so it shouldn't be marketed as such! If it was clearly labelled as cream substitute, i wouldn't have a problem. Packaging clearly designed to deceive

Im sure you can see where I am coming from

 

[balge]

Elmlea Double

see how tiny that 'alternative to cream' is, the rest of the pack is screaming double cream. I did nearly buy some of that muck by mistake once

 

[fredT]

Elmlea Double

see how tiny that 'alternative to cream' is, the rest of the pack is screaming double cream. I did nearly buy some of that muck by mistake once

And also if you look closer the retailer is categorizing it as double cream.. :fail

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Playing Devils Advocate here, but I would have thought everyone knows this? its been advertised that its an alternative to cream since it was created. the old TV adverts made light of this...?

The very fact its a brand name and not just 'Cream' makes it kinda obvous doesnt it?

+ isnt it faily more expensive than real cream?

 

[fredT]

Playing Devils Advocate here, but I would have thought everyone knows this? its been advertised that its an alternative to cream since it was created. the old TV adverts made light of this...?

+ isnt it faily more expensive than real cream?

I have never seen an advert for it, i've lived here for 12 years.

And also (this is quite funny) upon noticing my mistake I sent the wife down to fetch proper cream whilst i finished the pancakes, what did she come back with??

The same ****!! and she is born here!!

 

[balge]

See that, tiny tiny writing down at the bottom? That's not misleading?

At least you didn't end up with that evil inflatable aerosol cream...

Anyway, pancakes and marmalade is the way forward, tried some of my own ginger grapefruit Seville marmalade on ours!

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Look at Tesco's cream, in tiny letters also:

The fact that the Brand name is the biggest thing is a hint IMO - I cant see what the problem is. you should have taken it back

And you wont do it again

 

[fredT]

And you wont do it again

Certainly.

But isn't it tireing and boring that you have to scrutinize eveything or servcie you buy?

The norm these days is (and you sort of confirms this by seeing no fault) that if you dont double check everything, and get conned and it's fair game.

 

[MOCAŠ]

Looking at the Elmlea pack shot, it doesn't state that it is cream - and makes a big thing about having 55% less fat than double cream. Like KillerHERTZ, I can't really see how it could be mistaken for cream.

But yes, you do need to scrutinize what you buy these days, as there's no other way to know what's gone into processed foods (assuming you can even trust what it says on the packet!).

 

[BTB 500]

My mother in law (German) thought our icing sugar tasted funny when she used it to dust a cake she'd baked.

It was baking powder ...

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Years back I worked in a small local shop/minimarket and the number of people that would come back into our shop slam down an open product and kick off big style was alarming, if they had read the label there would be a problem.

Not having a go at the OP, but generally people need to read the label on all goods.

re: the Elmlea its not tiny on the front, font size 14? it does clearly say that its an alterntive to cream...

 

[Derek Mc]

It is now finally emerging that Butter is not all that bad for you (in moderation naturally) and that all this chemical goo stuff called margarine etc stuffed full of god knows what,,, is!!

 

[Paul/]

I find Elmlea an OK substitute for cream in most cases (then again, I like buttermilk).

You should have had the pancakes the traditional British way instead- with that acidic stuff squirted from plastic lemons

 

[fredT]

Years back I worked in a small local shop/minimarket and the number of people that would come back into our shop slam down an open product and kick off big style was alarming, if they had read the label there would be a problem.

Not having a go at the OP, but generally people need to read the label on all goods.

re: the Elmlea its not tiny on the front, font size 14? it does clearly say that its an alterntive to cream...

Nah didnt even try and take it back, binned 3 packs of that crap 1 unopened. They would just refuse it and tell me what you lot say...

Yes I suppose it is not THAT misleading, and had I stopped and looked I clearly would've seen.
It was my stupidity that led me to believe that a product looking like cream, standing amongst the cream was cream.. when in fact it was not.

I use a lot of cream in all sorts of stuff, I have actually never seen a product like this!
You learn something every day

I find Elmlea an OK substitute for cream in most cases (then again, I like buttermilk).

You should have had the pancakes the traditional British way instead- with that acidic stuff squirted from plastic lemons

Check you tastebuds mate, that stuff is nasty.

Lemon (sorry, went for the fresh variety) and sugar is nice for some variation, cream and jam wins though!

 

[Scott_F]

I had a similar incident a while ago when I went to the shop to get something nice to spread on my toast and came home with some awful stuff in a yellow tub.

Even now I can't believe it's not butter.