“Can you get these ingredients in Spain?” she asked me in a Facebook message.
I love when my readers send me messages, ask me questions, make comments about my stories, and tell their own “Weaving Cultures” tales.
On Saturday morning, I received a message from a reader back in the U.S. While reading my last story, “10 Favorite Things I Can’t Find in a Spanish Grocery Store,” I think she could feel my pain.
She’s obviously had little kids before, begging her for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.
In the Nick of Time!
Her message came just in the nick of time. School officially starts tomorrow, and I have to make my boys’ lunches every day. In their school here in Spain, there is no cafeteria for hot plate lunches. Packing lunches is one of the things that I DON’T miss during the relaxing summer months.
“Can you get these ingredients in Spain and make your own grape jelly?” my reader asked.
Hmmm . . . I had thought about making strawberry, abricot, raspberry, and fig jam, but never grape jelly.
I quickly clicked on the link to the recipe that she had included in her message.
https://www.food.com/recipe/quick-grape-jelly-118985
Only Three Ingredients
I only needed three ingredients: grape juice, sugar, and pectin.
Upon reading the recipe, I knew immediately that I could find grape juice and sugar here in Spain. However, I had no earthly idea what the word for “pectin” was in Spanish. (I quickly looked it up—”pectina“!)
So, if I can find some pectina at the local grocery store, I can make some “easy homemade grape jelly” today. I will have discovered the perfect mate for my very expensive creamy Skippy peanut butter.
My kids better enjoy their pricey, Spanish, “homemade” PB&Js tomorrow on the first day of school!
Idea: Maybe I could start a “Grape Jelly” business here in Spain. Now, that would be a creative way to introduce our American culture here and would certainly be a “Weaving Cultures” adventure!
Not the First Time
It’s not the first time that I have tried to make something homemade that I couldn’t find while traveling and living abroad.
Remember my “homemade” maple-frosted donut cake in “Celebrating My Birthday on the Other Side of the World”? Well, it wasn’t quite the same. In fact, my maple frosting didn’t turn out real well. It was somewhat disappointing.
We also make homemade maple syrup, creamed corn, and many other foods and recipe ingredients that we can’t find abroad.
Stay tuned for my “10 Favorite Ingredients I Can’t Find in a Spanish Grocery Store.”
Oftentimes, “homemade” is a cheaper and healthier option. If I can eventually learn to make my own peanut butter, my PB&Js might end up being even cheaper than in America!
—The Cultural Story-Weaver
Let’s Weave Cultures!
Have you ever had to make something “from scratch” or homemade that you couldn’t find locally when traveling or living abroad? If so, what was it?
We invite you to tell us your own cultural stories and global adventures . . . as you engage with the world, breaking down barriers, building bridges, and “weaving cultures”! Write about them in the comment box below.
