Out of the Cheap came Forth the Weakness.

"Out of the strong came forth the sweetness" is Samson's riddle from Judges 14:14. The answer refers to bees making a meal out of a lion carcass. Unfortunately as we all know, bees make honey from flower nectar and not from carrion. What the "bees" were are more likely to be a fly laying eggs. These harmless flies take on the disguise of a bee to avoid getting eaten by birds.

I was reminded of this because of a Shrove Tuesday visit to Aldi where we were lured by the promise of maple syrup. The previous year we bought a whole case of these at £2 a bottle. It is between £3 and £4 in Stroud so this was a very good buy. It was also top quality 100% maple syrup and very excellent. It lasted us about 9 months.

So come pancake day it was time to replenish the stock. This time what they had were some bottles with tempting names like Maple Praline and Roast Maple made by Blackberry Patch

The presentation is perfect, a lovely bottle with a little glass loop for a handle and a great colour proclaiming "Blackberry Fields". What it turned out to be was flavoured and coloured glucose syrup. The taste is weak and unpleasant. The texture is slimy. I'm not fussy about food but I think that these will end up being poured down the drain. What is more shameful is that these came from Georgia, the heart of Pecan county where they ought to know better.