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Our sugar-based products are recognised

Dec 19, 2011 Letters

Dear Editor,
With the Christmas season upon us, many Guyanese will be looking forward to pepperpot and black (rich fruit) cake.  Ever since I can remember, Guyanese in the UK have agonised about how to lay their hands on a bottle of genuine cassareep, to make their favourite mixed meat Christmas dish.  They normally depend on relatives and friends ‘bringing back a bottle’ after a visit.
When a Caribbean-based contact emailed me recently, enquiring  about stockists in the UK,  my detective instincts took over and I went scouring supermarkets,  street markets and shops to find some, and discovered most of them had never heard of it.  I eventually found a few bottles, in two sizes,  in a  street market shop.
I purchased a small-size bottle and passed on the relevant details to my Caribbean contact and to Tesco, the supermarket giant, asking them whether they could have the product on their shelves, in time for next year Christmas.
They replied that the suggestion was being followed up and, after about two weeks, I received a complimentary bottle of cassareep from them, with a very nice note.  To me, this suggests cassareep is now in TESCO’s UK shops, in time for this Christmas.  I hope so, and my compatriots need not ‘go hunting around’ in future.   “Ask and it shall be given unto you.”
This reminded me of my ‘molasses experience’ in St Lucia a few years ago.
While being shown around a local brewery, the guide passed around a sample of molasses and mentioned that the best was produced in Guyana.
Naturally, I identified myself as a native and mentioned that the product was available in tins in most UK supermarkets under the name of black treacle.  The British tourists did not know that and asked what it was used for.  I told them that I use it in my Christmas cake (instead of burnt sugar), to give the cake a rich, dark colour.  On my return to the UK, I related this experience to a TV cookery programme and, after a while, several cookery programmes featured black treacle in their cake-making.  The idea seems to have caught on and the price of black treacle is now up by around 45% in supermarkets!
Therefore, “fellow Guyanese”, all is not doom and gloom.  Our sugar-based products, at least, are recognised, including our rum.  Let us be a bit optimistic and see the glass as half-full.
Geralda Dennison

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