Category: Food

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Make your own Boerewors

Robust and flavorful South African Boerewors is the sausage you need for your next grilling party!

South America has has chorizo, France has andouille, Poland has kielbasa, and Germany has their vast selection of “wurst”.

South Africa has boerewors!

What is Boerewors?
Boerewors (pronounces BOO-ruh-VORS) is a South African fresh sausage that is perfect for the grill. The name means “farmer’s sausage” and comes from a combination of the Afrikaans words boer (‘farmer’) and wors (‘sausage’).

Can you can see the Dutch influence in the South African language an culture in the name?

We’ll give you a hint: worst (similar to the German wurst) is the Dutch word for sausage.

What makes Boerewors different?
Like most sausages, there are specifics about the way boerewors should be made.

It must be made up of at least 90% meat, with the remaining 10% being spices, seasonings, and preservatives like vinegar and salt. The sausages must contain beef, but can also include some pork or lamb. And, no more than 30% of the meat content may be made up of fat.

Boerewors seasoning characteristically includes coriander, black pepper, nutmeg, and allspice, along with a dark vinegar (malt vinegar). The vinegar and salt act to preserve the sausages as well as adding flavor.

This combination of spices and vinegar creates a unique flavor that is very characteristic of South African cuisine.

What makes boerewors stand out, in addition to its unique flavor, is the way the meat is ground.

Boerewors is a course-ground sausage, giving it a more chunky and coarse texture, rather than the fine and smooth texture that you may be used to from, say, a German wurst.

Boerewors: a classic barbecue food
Traditionally, boerewors are shaped into a continuous spiral, around a foot in diameter.

It is a classic food for the South African tradition of braai, or barbecue. Boerewors are the perfect braai (pronounced brī, like ‘hi’) food because they are grilled in their large spiral.

When served, braai-goers can slice off a section of the sausage as they load their plate with other tasty braai fare like sosatsies (slightly sweet and smoky meat kebabs) and braaibroodjies (the South African version of a kicked up grilled cheese sandwich with tomato and onion cooked on the grill).

Traditionally boerewors are served with a porrage/polenta-like dish called pap that is made from mielie-meal, a coarse-ground maize (corn) flour.

But, it is also common to see Boerewors placed into a bun and eaten, hot dog style, served with a tomato and onion relish.

The unique flavor and smell of the sausage grilling reminds us of coming home to a sumptuous breakfast after our morning safari game drive.

“We went on a tour to check this out

As if the draw of the animals and the friendliness of the lodge staff and fellow safari-goers wasn’t enough to make for an incredible safari experience at Motswari, we were treated to so many delicious meals as well. We enjoyed dishes like Springbok Carpacio and Lamb with Sheba Sauce (a classic South African tomato and onion sauce)!”

Making homemade boerewors
If you’ve never made homemade sausage before, it might seem daunting, but it really is nothing to be scared of. You will, however, need a few special tools and ingredients.

First, you will need a tool to stuff your sausages. There are many ways that you can go about this, either a stand-alone sausage stuffer (saffashop.nl) or if you have a Kitchen Aid or other stand mixer, you should be able to find an inexpensive sausage stuffing attachment (saffashop.nl) for the mixer’s meat grinder.

The second things you will need are sausage casings. You should be able to find packages of salted hog casings at any good grocery store. Ask your butcher where they are kept.

The only other thing that could be helpful would be to have a meat grinder. (If you’re using your Kitchen Aid or stand mixer for stuffing the sausage casings, then you already have this covered!) This way, you can grind your own meat for the sausage.

If you don’t have a meat grinder, don’t worry, you’ll just have to make a few adjustments to the recipe instructions below. Simply purchase ground meat or ask your butcher to grind the cuts for you. At home, mix the spices into the ground meat, and let it marinate for 1 hour before stuffing the sausages.

If you’ve never made homemade sausage before don’t worry! The process may seem complicated, but it’s easy to get the hang of and quite rewarding to have completely homemade sausage ready for the grill!

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Zoo Cookies Story

I write of South Africa, where my heart sometimes resides, and my mind often drifts back to, across the distance of lands and oceans. An Africa that always beats with a strong heart of different people, languages and cultures, who irrefutably call this land their home.”

South Africa
South Africa

My “Z” entry this week, saddens me a little; not only because I have reached the end of a lovely journey of letters, but also because today I write of a food close to my children’s hearts.  A food they had left behind when they moved away from SA in dribs and drabs.  The Zoo Biscuit!

In our home they were primarily a party biscuit, for birthday parties!  Not for every day, they were special!  That is how they gained their popularity and fame!  Keeping something for special occasions adds value.

Zoo Cookies have iced silhouettes of animals ranging from lions to dolphins, these pastel coloured bikkies are still the staple food of picnics and kids’ parties.  Many people have specific ways of tackling the eating of these sweet treats that have been around in some form or another for about 100 years.

“You must lick, soften, and eat the animal first!” they say. It fits in with Nik Naks, Biltong, Boerewors and anything South African!

“Eaten very quickly, with a glass of milk!”

Life is a Zoo Biscuit, if you don’t mind!

Two Baumanns

A sixteen year old german boy, living in London at the time, was persuaded by his uncle to emigrate to Durban, South Africa in 188o. 

JML Baumann joined his uncles grocery store business, looking after the bakery, later taking the business over.

In 1885 he began to make biscuits, hard dry biscuits by the sack load, that he could sell to the ships that docked in Durban; during the wars they were ordered by garrisons as well.

Baumann Biscuit Building

The name of the business had to be changed and the business was given government protection in 1915, after the baker’s was burnt down in anti-german riots in Durban during World War l.

Bakers index logo

It was changed to Bakers Ltd, as we know it today.  The Ginger Nut and the Marie biscuit were first sold in 1895 after John Baumann had a fancy biscuit machine installed.

So it is  these gentleman, born in Germany, that we have to thank for the Zoo Biscuits we all love, but I have to admit, John Baumann would be appalled at the shape of the animals on them today!  I have found them selling in the UK, just down the road in our local ‘South Africa’ shop, Hunters Biltong. 

So, with the world being such a small place now, we can even order Zoo Biscuits, on line; and my girls will never have to go without.

BUT ! only for special occasions, girls! We need this in the South African Shop in Netherlands!

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Castle Light Beer

We started from the bottom, now we are here: our beer is proudly African: having started in South Africa in 1994, we have grown over the years to be enjoyed in 10 other African markets including:  South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, Mozambique, Eswatini, Botswana, Uganda, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria. We are proud to be the biggest premium beer on the African continent.

The first Castle Lite was packaged in a brown bottle and since then, our packaging has undergone many enhancements. In 2000, we relaunched Castle Lite as a local premium brand, in more or less the form it’s in today; a green bottle with a silver and red label. 

Dedicated to unlocking Extra Cold refreshment, in 2009 we introduced the innovative thermo-chromatic temperature indicator on the Castle Lite label, which turns blue when your beer is perfectly extra cold for ultimate enjoyment. 

Extra Cold refreshment isn’t the only thing we’re known for unlocking. We’re also big on unlocking world-first experiences like Castle Lite Unlocks where we bring you the biggest and best hip hop acts out there, The Republic of Extra Cold, and the African continent’s very first ice bar.

Since the launch of Castle Lite in 1994, this proudly South African brand has become the biggest and fastest growing premium beer brand on the African continent. What began as a lower alcohol volume, lower in kilojoules and carbohydrates alternative to Castle Lager, is now adored here and in 10 other African countries.

The first Castle Lite was packaged in a brown bottle and since then, our packaging has undergone many enhancements. In 2000, we relaunched Castle Lite as a local premium brand, in more or less the form it’s in today; a green bottle with a silver and red label. 

Dedicated to unlocking Extra Cold refreshment, in 2009 we introduced the innovative thermo-chromatic temperature indicator on the Castle Lite label, which turns blue when your beer is perfectly extra cold for ultimate enjoyment. 

Extra Cold refreshment isn’t the only thing we’re known for unlocking. We’re also big on unlocking world-first experiences like Castle Lite Unlocks where we bring you the biggest and best hip hop acts out there, The Republic of Extra Cold, and the African continent’s very first ice bar. 

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Robertsons Spices

Bringing the flavours of the world to our consumers spice racks

Robertsons is a South African brand of herbs and spices with a history that dates back to 1924. Over the years the Robertsons ship logo has established itself as a guarantee of high quality herbs and spices.

Since 1924 our Robertsons Spice Experts have journey around the world in search of only the finest and purest herbs & spices.

The knowledge of Herbs & Spices have been handed down through the generations and the Spice People at Robertsons have proven through the decades to deliver only the very best to its consumers – they offer their consumers over 60 different types of flavours and flavour combinations. As a result, today Robertsons is South Africa’s biggest and Best loved brand bringing the flavours of the world to our consumers spice racks.

ROBERTSONS is as South African as braaivleis and sunny skies. Over the years the ROBERTSONS ship has come to signify top quality herbs and spices you can trust to add mouthwatering flavour and aroma to your cooking.

In 2010 Robertsons teamed up with well known food celebrity and Cape Town based chef Cass Abrahams to bring locals a range of spicy cooking demonstrations and recipe tips.

Robertsons is proud to announce that this winning partnership will continue in 2011 with a host of Heart FM radio cooking slots, recipe cards in Kuier magazine and cooking demonstrations at the Hotel School in Granger Bay.

Through each of these channels, Cass shares her winning Robertsons Combinations and gives listeners and readers her tips on how to create the perfect combination of flavour using Robertsons Herbs and Spices as well as some exciting and mouthwatering recipes.

Cass is well known to Capetonians and has a personality as zesty as her beloved spices and prizes herself on being a specialist in Cape Malay cuisine and culture. Her biggest inspiration in cooking has been from watching her mother-in-law in the kitchen and she draws further inspiration from the rich history and mélange of flavours that South Africa has to offer.

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Amazing Story about Mrs Balls

For over many decades, Mrs H.S. Ball’s Chutney has graced dinner tables of many South African households. ‘CHUT­NEY’ is a pun­gent condi­ment that orig­i­nated in In­dia. The name is de­rived from the…

The story of Mrs Ball and her well known chutney has been told so many times by different sites. The narrative is however, laden with so many errors that it warrants an attempt to correct some of the fabrications.

A quick search on Google will tell you that the famous chutney recipe supposedly originates from Canada and it was brought to SA by Mrs Ball’s mother, Sarah Adkins.

And that she, together with her husband, Henry Adkins, and the chutney recipe were shipwrecked on the SS Quanza in 1852.

There after, settled themselves in King William’s Town. The story goes that the couple had a daughter, Amelia in 1865. After getting married to Mr Ball, Amelia was supposedly given the magic secret chutney recipe from her mother, that went on to be enjoyed by the world for decades.

This is a fascinating story but its far from the truth, It’s the kind of narrative that adds value to the brand, and can sell chutney – but as the saying goes, “never let the truth get in the way of a good story!”

The popular narrative is problematic in many ways. First of all, Mrs Ball’s parents were English not Canadian, and Henry Adkins held no naval position.

SS Quanza

Additionally, the SS Quanza got wrecked in 1872 not 1852 and the couple only met in SA. Furthermore, the original Adkins chutney recipe differs from the now famous chutney, notably by replacing dried apricots with mixed fruit as well as adding a key secret ingredient.

In 1852, Henry James Adkins married Elizabeth Sarah Spalding in King William’s Town, the couple settled in the village of Fort Jackson to run a general dealership.

In 1870, Sarah started making the famous chutney commercially, but she wasn’t good at building a brand. She initially named her delicious chutney, ‘Mrs Henry Adkins Senior, Colonial Chutney Manufacturer, Fort Jackson, Cape Colony.’

How Sheldon Tatchel Grew Legends Barber From 1 Store In Eldorado Park To 50 Across SA

The couple had 12 children in total; 7 sons and 4 daughters, one of whom was Amelia.

Amelia Ball

In 1886, Amelia married Her­bert Sad­dle­ton Ball at Newlands, East London. Herbert worked as a rail­way su­per­in­ten­dent. The Ball family moved to Johannesburg – with Amelia taking her mother’s chutney recipe to her new location.

In between raising a family of seven children, Amelia continued to follow her mother’s chutney making tradition, and the condiment became popular at church bazaars, at the time of the First World War (1914 – 1919).

It is during this time that Amelia created the famous Mrs H.S. Ball’s Chutney we know and love today.

In 1921, Her­bert re­tired and the family moved back to Cape Town, where they lived in the coastal vil­lage of Fish Hoek. Amelia con­tin­ued making the chut­ney on a home in­dus­try scale, with Her­bert tak­ing a few bot­tles a day to sell at cen­tral Cape Town.

While sell­ing their chut­ney, Her­bert met Fred Metter – a food exporter, who de­cided to help them with marketing. Sales surged soon afterwards.

The business got bigger and outgrew its premises in Fish Hoek, the Ball family es­tab­lished larger fac­to­ries in Diep River and then Re­treat.

In 1957, the chut­ney was ex­ported to Eng­land for the first time, and by the early 1960s, over two mil­lion bot­tles a year were be­ing sold.

Amelia Ball passed away in November 1962, aged 97. May her soul RIP.

The fam­ily busi­ness was sold to Brooke Bonds Oxo in the early 1970s, which later sold it to Unilever Foods.

Over the years, the chut­ney has been ex­ported to many African countries, as well as the UK, Ger­many, Australia and New Zealand.

The chutney has be­come such a pop­u­lar ad­di­tion to braais, stews, bobotie and cheese sand­wiches that more than 8000 bot­tles are pro­duced every single day.

5 flavours of Mrs H.S. Ball’s Chut­ney are pro­duced: orig­i­nal, chilli, peach, hot and tomato.

The orig­i­nal recipe re­mains a closely guarded secret to this day, but over the years with the internet, sev­eral cooks have revealed that it mainly comprises of apricots, peaches, sugar, grape vine­gar, onions, salt and cayenne pep­per.

Mrs H.S. Ball’s original chutney

In December 2012, Tiger Brands acquired Mrs H.S Ball’s Chutney from Unilever for a reported R475 million. To this day, the iconic chutney remains under Tiger Brand’s ownership.

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Quality Website to Sell Your Products in Netherlands.

List South African products on The South African Shop in Netherlands!

Anybody that makes or wants to sell their South African products can list it on The South African Shop in Netherlands. The market place is designed to be simple and has a huge amount of searches per month relating to South African products and Services. It also has one on the best Top Level Domains money can buy to make it easy to find by customers. There is no signup and its free for anyone that wants to list South African related products!