It is time again to go shopping at our favourite web-based Foreign Buyer's Club (FBC). Items like tinned soup, tinned tuna, condensed milk, rolled oats etc. are cheaper at FBC. Some things like tomato soup are hardly to be found at all in the standard Japanese grocery store, so we order periodically from FBC.
I was alerted to the low level of Golden Syrup (never seen this in Japan) just this week and so I went looking. FBC has two types of Golden Syrup. I couldn't believe that one of them is Maple Flavoured. "What's the point?", I ask you.
Editor's note: Sorry, I wrote this post in a hurry before rushing off to school. I should have realised it wouldn't make sense to my non-Australian friends. Golden Syrup is like Maple Syrup except it comes from sugar cane. It has a different (I think better) flavour. It is used in much the same way at Maple Syrup. I just don't understand why they sell Maple-flavoured Golden Syrup. It is kind of like selling tea-flavoured coffee. Why not just drink tea, if that is the flavour that you want!
Editor's note: Sorry, I wrote this post in a hurry before rushing off to school. I should have realised it wouldn't make sense to my non-Australian friends. Golden Syrup is like Maple Syrup except it comes from sugar cane. It has a different (I think better) flavour. It is used in much the same way at Maple Syrup. I just don't understand why they sell Maple-flavoured Golden Syrup. It is kind of like selling tea-flavoured coffee. Why not just drink tea, if that is the flavour that you want!
Maybe it's a price thing? (As you would know), in Australia pure maple syrup is a lot more expensive than golden syrup. Though I think the brand in the picture is English - perhaps it's the same in England?
ReplyDeleteBut I was wondering when I read this post, whether maple syrup was easier to buy than golden syrup in Japan anyway? (which would make this product even more superfluous)
From Ken:
ReplyDeleteGolden syrup seems to be unknown across the USA except in a few sugar cane growing places like Louisiana. I've never found any Americans who know what it is. On the other hand, they all know maple syrup. So maybe the maple/golden mixture is a marketing ploy.
I think you are possibly correct Ken. It seems to be an English product, so perhaps an overseas largely American market recognised "Maple" better than "Golden" syrup.
ReplyDeleteCaroline, you are quite correct. Maple syrup is far more readily available than golden syrup. But perhaps as Ken suggests, it is a marketing ploy.
ReplyDelete