Just when you thought you had heard the last on the subject of breakfast muesli, it makes a return.
Yes folks, I am revisiting the muesli jar and the last two bothersome items. Sultanas and dried apricots.
Both sultanas and dried apricots fall under the heading of dried fruit and although you might think either of these would be readily available on the supermarket shelves as an Australian product, this is not so.
Sultanas are more easily found than apricots. At the moment imported dried apricots rule on the supermarket shelves; it might be possible to find some Australian dried apricots but the ingredient labels will invariably read ‘local and imported ingredients’. How much is local content and how much is imported is anybody’s guess. Turkey seems to lead the way with the imported products and Turkish dried apricots are easily identifiable by their plump shape and bright golden colour.
All of the above has led to dried apricots being moved to the too-hard basket for the moment. And being temporarily removed from the breakfast muesli ingredient list. I use the word temporarily; I am at my optimistic best today and like Mr Micawber, I live in hope that “something will turn up” in the local dried apricot line.
Sultanas on the other hand may be imported or they may be marked ‘Australian sultanas’ on the packaging but sitting right next to those two words it will be the words canola oil, with no country of origin identification. Vegetable oil of one type or another often appears as part of the ingredients description on dried fruit packaging. While the consumer may think they are buying only sultanas (or currants, or raisins) they will invariably find they are buying an extra such as the vegetable oil, which is used to glaze the fruit, reducing its moisture loss and maintaining product quality.
I’m not interested in whether oil has been added to my sultanas and I am less than impressed to find yet another ingredient whose origin cannot be traced.
Yet another cause to get the magnifying glass out and run it over the labelling.