Trapped Organically

Switzerland is bipolar when it comes to grocery supermarkets. The big two Migros and Coop share about 80% of the market*. I'm a Migros shopper by choice. Coop's shops are just a tiny bit too clean for my liking (I don't like to shop in hospitals) and it is difficult there not to buy organic products (I usually go for Integrated production).

However, Migros is catching up on the organic front. Though while Coop sticks to the copper-wool-bast-tree-hugging-taliban kind, Migros goes for the European-Union-style-lowest-common-denominator kind of organic production.

Migros did this catching up by putting an identical design in earthy colours on all their organic products. Apparently it worked admirably well on my subconscious. Our fridge is stocked up with organic Migros yoghurt that cost at least 33% more than the ordinary ones with the juicy fruits print on them. And honestly, I can't detect a difference in taste. Why do I buy them?



* both Migros and Coop are customer owned co-operatives.

Excluded

I think I do not watch enough (Swiss) telly. Yesterday at our after swim pizza, this add was the part of the table talk but I could not add any wit or repartee to the discussion since I haven't seen nor heard of the commercial, although it seems to have been around for 4 months.

Double Touch of Evil

We all (at least the Swiss) know that Cumulus - the customer loyalty scheme by Swiss retailer Migros - is evil (if you don't know, read about). As it happened, on the eve of my birthday (thank you very much for all flowers, sweets and good wishes) Toño received a personal invitation to participate. With the big leap ahead, I was in kind of a mellow mood and freely volunteered to collect points on his account when ever shopping at Migros.



But who was I to know that this was not the only touch of evil surrounding my birthday. Among other fine stuff, Toño gave me a novel set in Tijuana. Yes, this is exactly the place where Orson Welles set his film Touch of Evil (it's called Los Robles in the film, but everybody knows it really is Tijuana). I can't deny that I suspect a conspiracy.

Berry Season

Summer is almost a month old and I haven't reviewed Migros' Summer Yogurt Collection. Enough of this procrastination. First I will review the yogurts and then iron the laundry.



Migros made it kind of easy for themselves or they are just running out of ideas. Two of the yogurts are recycled!

Pêche Melba was part of the Spring Collection 2006. Peaches and raspberries are actually summery delights and it makes much more sense to present them now. However, the yogurt was such a disgrace that I will not buy it again.

Kiwi & Gooseberry was part of the Summer Collection 2005 and I still think it's the perfect summer yogurt that gives great cross-grained acidulous pleasure.

The new one is Redcurrant, which is also a member of the big gooseberry family. It lacks a bit the complexity of the Kiwi & Gooseberry version, however, it is still a worthy member of this year's Summer Yogurt Collection.

Tasting Spring

I almost gave up on Migros, my favorite grocery store. Innovation seemed to have dried out. They kept repeating themselves. But just before Easter I discovered that Migros have resurrected themselves by butting the brand spanking new Spring Season Yogurts on the shelfs:



Still disappointing, though, is that they are not able to spell strawberry in German. It's Erdbeer, stupids. Never mind, what really counts is, how they taste:

Strawberry and Lemon Balm
Very refreshing. The strawberry flavour is subtle and well bonded with the bitter-fresh lemon balm. Uplifting as spring should be.

Elderberry Flowers
Tastes like Flauder and nothing else. One dimensional, boring and far too sweet.

Rhubarb
Also very refreshing. The acidity of the rhubarb is well bound with the yogurt. Even better than my rhubarb cake.

Pentration-Resistant

In the endless series Things I like about Switzerland I feature today a kind of yogurt that is anything but floppily creamy:



We call them stichfest. I'm not quite sure how to translate this. It means something like firm, tight, dense or penetration-resistant. They come in various flavours, such as nature (actually the one without any flavour), chocolate, caramel, vanilla, maple syrup and mocha (my favourite).

Spring Reviewed

And here is my say to Migros' Spring Yogurt collection:

• Pêche Melba
  A traditional French dessert that combines two favourite summer(!) fruits: peaches and raspberry sauce accompanying vanilla ice cream. It is was created as an homage to Australian opera singer Nellie Melba. Migros' version is so dominated by raspberry that the peaches haven't got a chance at all. Migros failed on this. It's boring and an insult to Nellie Melba.
• Pistachio
  I love pistachio, but unfortunately, I don't like pistachio in any combination with other food. This yogurt has only 2 percent pistachio in it, but the flavour is still too intense for my taste.
• Papaya
  This yogurt finally pleases my senses. The flavours are well balanced and the temper of spring is matched.

Yesterday, we managed to get the geraniums pruned and re-potted. Now they have to stay at about 16°C for about 3 weeks.



I hope, I will be back from Malaysia till then (we're wading knee deep through problems down there). But now I should pack (I supposed to be at the airport in a couple of hours) and kiss Toño out of bed, so that he can help me with the ironing ;)

Almost Like Common People

Roe used to be the food of the poor. I once heard that in Basel it had to be prohibited by law to serve roe to the attendants every day. Sweet Chestnuts had been a cheep but nutritious food for the poor too, since they were introduced by the Romans into Ticino. Nowadays, both have turned into culinary frills (you will agree if you ever had a saddle of venison with chestnuts).

My beloved Migros has now brought this delicacy to my breakfast table by choosing it as the third flavour of their winter season yogurt collection:

La Belle Hélène

In 11 days we can celebrate the 141st anniversary of the premier of Jacques Offenbach's operetta La Belle Hélène at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris. I could not wait until then and tasted already the new Migros winter season yoghurt Pear and Caramel:



This yoghurt tastes like the desert that has been named after La Belle Hélène to promote the operetta back in 1864. It combines the delicious sweetness of caramel with the aromatic acidity of the pear.

In a Vortex of Seasonal Emotions

Love can have an influence on habitats. Switzerland has a bipolar shopping world, which is dominated by Coop and Migros. Gatín used to buy at Coop while I'm an ardent Migros shopper. Nevertheless, Gatín discovered Migros new winter season Yoghurts before I did and brought some home. This morning, I tasted the Apfelstrudel flavour.



Apfelstrudel (Apple strudel) is a traditional Austrian pastry, which consists of an oblong strudel pastry jacket with a filling of chopped apples, sugar, cinnamon, raisins and bread crumbs. The art of preparation is in making the pastry very thin and elastic. A single layer should be so thin you could read a newspaper through it. The filled Apfelstrudel is baked in an oven and can be served warm, usually sprinkled with icing sugar. The traditional way to serve it is with vanilla custard.



Much to my surprise, this yoghurt really tasted like real Apfelstrudel. This seems like another victory for the artificial flavour industry!

Unfortunately, I prefer Apfelstrudel in the time between lunch and midnight and I use to eat yoghurts for breakfast. Hence, this flavour does not fit at all into my unconscious pattern of behaviour.

But maybe I have to change. As Nature reports in its latest issue, the North Atlantic's natural heating system, which brings clement weather to western Europe, is showing signs of decline. This means there will be much more winter in Europe, and hence, maybe much more of this Apfelstrudel yoghurt.

A Fairy Tale Come True

While shopping my groceries, I discovered that my Migros has put the third seasonal autumn yogurt on the shelf: Forest Berries. Wow, it was worth waiting for this enchanting experience. It's a midautumn night's dream come true. It even has elderberries in it. I love elderberries and I love this forest berries yogurt.

Disappointing Autumn

Migros has put the autumn selection of their season yogurts on the shelf. I loved all three of this year's summer collection. They were pleasantly zestful, cross-grained acidulous and passionately fruity. However, the days are getting shorter and autumn is approaching fast. It's time to get used to it. So far, my branch of Migros has two autumn flavours on sale:

• cherry plum
• grapes

I will have two find another mean to adapt to autumn. I don't like neither of them. They are far to heavy. The grapes flavour has nothing of the freshness of the real fruit and the cherry plum is laking smooth texture.

Dear Migros,

I hope you will do a far better job in winter.

Regards,
gomad

The Season Tasting

I've told it here many times: I like season! - that is, I advocate for buying product in season and not out of it. I've just arrived from Malaysia, which is truly a beautiful country. However, they have more or less only one season throughout the year. The Malaysians say that right now, there is more haze until the end of August, but that's only because the blokes of Sumatra are burning forests.

My first shopping trip in Switzerland led me to Migros, my favourite groceries store (among the affordable ones - I loaf the other major one [Coop] because it has far too many organic stuff). I was delighted to discover that the three summer season yogurts have arrived:

• lime & green tea
• kiwi & gooseberry
• peach & passion fruit

This morning I went straight for the tasting and the result was devastating. I could not decide for a winner. I like them all. Everyone is unique and matches perfectly with summer. I reckon that my current mood will have to decide. Do I want to have it pleasantly zestful (lime & green tea), cross-grained acidulous (kiwi & gooseberry) or passionately fruity (peach & passion fruit)? Hey, it's good to have summer season!