(no subject)

[slemslempike]

Normally when I buy a sandwich for lunch I have Boots just ham, which is just ham NO BUTTER on plain bread, (unlike Tescos and Sainsburys "just" ham, which also has butter, which is therefore a lie and one that they should be prosecuted for). Boots Just Ham is also only £1, which means I don't normally get extras for the meal deal as it doesn't work out any cheaper. Yesterday, however, I plumped for a chicken and bacon wrap which was amazingly sans mayonnaise AND claimed it would be good for me, with nutrients. Since my diet in the past few days has mostly been cake, squirty cream directly into the mouth, cheese and ice lollies (hashtag no regrets), this seemed like a good idea. Thus, I was in the market for a free drink. I have heard people talk about coconut water, which sounded fairly rank as I only like coconut in curries. I had not previously, however, heard of birch water (which has never actually been mixed with any water, said the label), so I got some to try. Why do people drink it? It was like water (but not water) with a sort of synthetic taste to it, and it was slightly thicker than water and rather expensive and it didn't seem to have any vitamin claims attached to it. What is it for?

Comments

[mockduck.livejournal.com]

I didn't enjoy my one tangle with birch water either, but I was informed, when I posted a picture on Instagram, that it's a proper thing in Scandinavia and that fresh birch water tastes amazing. I can't confirm that.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

I suppose it could. Is it meant to have health giving properites as well?

[mockduck.livejournal.com]

I don't know, but I'm sure you'll enjoy the fruits of my unsuccessful google search on the matter: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qo_FRJ0ye4o

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

Having eaten a few classics of Scandinavia, like rotten shark, (I actually bailed at the thought of lutefisk and the exploding sardine thing) I'd be taking any claims of deliciousness with a huge pinch of salt.

[medland.livejournal.com]

The Afro Caribbean contingent from my church made me try coconut water at a party and it was only because I was being polite that I didn't projectile sick it back up into their faces. It also had that 'slightly thicker' thing which was so creepy and wrong. Blergh.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

Did it taste coconutty?

[medland.livejournal.com]

Not even a little bit. I can't say I've ever done it but it felt like drinking a cup of spit.

I really like it, in the right circs

[jinty]

I'm not interested in the coconut water that comes in a carton - it always tastes a bit sweeter than it should do, and a bit icky. But have you never opened a coconut and drunk the liquid inside it? When fresh I think it's really nice (though can appreciate it might be an acquired taste). Best way to have coconut water is on a tropical beach, buying a green coconut that has been kept in a cooler. The water is very refreshing. It still doesn't taste that coconutty though. The younger / greener the coconut is, the less strong the taste of the liquid is, to the extent that it becomes very much more like water with a hint of something.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Is birch water the same as birch juice? I had some of that (from a Belarussian shop) and quite liked it.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

The bottle said it was pure sap from the birch tree. I cannot help but think it might have been better to leave it in there.

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

Birch + water in a drink is entirely acceptable when it is birch eau de vie. I cannot imagine it being so otherwise.

[slemslempike.livejournal.com]

It seemed a mostly harmless and pointless thing to be having.

[motodraconis.livejournal.com]

I thought the only point of collecting birch sap was to make wine, which would at least be alcoholic. I briefly considered it when I was on a wine-making kick years and years ago (I had grapes in my garden at the time, planted by the previous owners, and I don't like to waste stuff.) Never got round to it as I'd have had to find birch trees and... well it looked faffy.

This article seems to think that the wine is pretty pointless too.

[antisoppist.livejournal.com]

It's just Scandinavians trying to make more money out of all that forest that's sitting there. Like Benecol. Though that does have demonstrated health benefits.

I do not like butter in my sandwiches and am grateful for the knowledge that when one retailer says Just Ham, they mean it. Only I am so used to people putting mayonnaise or margarine or various revoltingly slimy things in their sandwiches that I rarely buy sandwiches so this doesn't really help.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

I must confess to being somewhat baffled at the idea of a sandwich with no butter (or equivalent) - in all my experience in the UK a sandwich has been two slices of bread and butter (again, or equivalent) with something in between, even in the days when butter was on ration. If I bought a ham sandwich that had no butter, unless the packaging had conspicuously stated "no butter", I would complain as I would feel that I was being given short measure.

[ankaret.livejournal.com]

I read a book once by a rather unsympathetic and annoying woman who tried living for a year as a Tudor in a Welsh cottage, and she once used birch water to wash her hair with.