Trade Descriptions Act: shortbread?
Michael Kilpatrick
lines of 1 part suger, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour (oatmeal flour or
these days, wheat flour). Or perhaps a ratio of 1,2,2.
So, if I buy something called "Buttery shortbread" which has as its two
most significant ingredients "Wheat flour, vegetable fat (then a
description of all the things that make up said vegetable fat)".
Then further down the list are "sugar" and then "butter (10%)".
Isn't that a clear breach of the Trade Descriptions Act? The butter
content should be at least 33% according to most of the recipes.
How can "buttery shortbread" have only 10% butter?
Michael
Chris Lamb
>
> How can "buttery shortbread" have only 10% butter?
Presumably because 'buttery' has no well defined legal meaning in the
context of foodstuffs?
I refer the hon. gent. to 'chocolate flavoured', 'lemony' and a whole host
of other fudge (no pun intended) words associated with food naming.
C
ng...@aol.com
An even odder, and much more cut-and-dried case to my mind, is Tesco's
"All-butter shortbread." Surely if something is "all butter,"
it's.....well, it's not shortbread, is it?
Theo Markettos
> An even odder, and much more cut-and-dried case to my mind, is Tesco's
> "All-butter shortbread." Surely if something is "all butter,"
> it's.....well, it's not shortbread, is it?
There was also some chocolate in Waitrose that proudly advertised itself on
the front as '100% cocoa butter' and then happened to mention on the back
that it was 35% cocoa solids. I never did get around to sending a picture
to the ASA.
Theo
Theo Markettos
>
> The entity calling itself Michael Kilpatrick wrote:
> >
> > How can "buttery shortbread" have only 10% butter?
>
It's a good thing it wasn't 'batter shortbread', then.
Theo
Roland Perry
Sun, 21 Mar 2010, Chris Lamb
<chris_...@lykaon.noeggsausagebeansandspam.org.uk> remarked:
>> How can "buttery shortbread" have only 10% butter?
>
>Presumably because 'buttery' has no well defined legal meaning in the
>context of foodstuffs?
A buttery is an old name for a cafe/teashop. It's not necessarily a
description of a particular recipe.
--
Roland Perry
Cwatters
"Michael Kilpatrick" <mic...@mtkilpatrick.SPAMfsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:xrWdnYDunKERGjvW...@pipex.net...
"Utterly Butterly" is only 9%..
http://www.dairycrest.co.uk/our-brands--products/spreads/utterly-butterly.aspx
Ingredients: Vegetable Oils, Water, Reconstituted Buttermilk (9%); Salt
(1.6%); Omega 3 (derived from fish oils) Emulsifiers - E471; Soya Lecithin;
Preservative - Potassium Sorbate; Lactic Acid; Flavouring; Vitamin E;
Colour - Natural Beta Carotene; Vitamins A&D
Michael Kilpatrick
>
> "Utterly Butterly" is only 9%..
>
> http://www.dairycrest.co.uk/our-brands--products/spreads/utterly-butterly.aspx
>
> Ingredients: Vegetable Oils, Water, Reconstituted Buttermilk (9%); Salt
> (1.6%); Omega 3 (derived from fish oils) Emulsifiers - E471; Soya Lecithin;
> Preservative - Potassium Sorbate; Lactic Acid; Flavouring; Vitamin E;
> Colour - Natural Beta Carotene; Vitamins A&D
Hmm, but perhaps the "l" in butterly makes all the difference. Butterly
isn't really a word, whereas buttery is.
Or if it is intended to suggest that it is really quite like butter
perhaps that may actually not be misleading. However, that could clearly
(at least to my tongue) not be said of the "buttery shortbread"!
Michael
Brian Watson
"Michael Kilpatrick" <mic...@mtkilpatrick.SPAMfsnet.co.uk> wrote in message
news:xrWdnYDunKERGjvW...@pipex.net...
I'd be more concerned that (1) it ain't short, and (2) it ain't bread.
--
Brian
"Fight like the Devil, die like a gentleman."
www.imagebus.co.uk/shop
Michael Kilpatrick
> On Sun, 21 Mar 2010 15:30:01 -0700 (PDT)
> "ng...@aol.com" <ng...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>>Surely if something is "all butter,"
>>it's.....well, it's not shortbread, is it?
>
>
> That means that all of the fat content in the shortening is butter, or
> at least that's how I think it's supposed to be interpreted.
It seems to me that this is the definition of shortbread. It's sugar,
butter and flour. Calling it "all butter" is therefore redundant. If it
isn't made predominantly with butter as the fat, it ain't shortbread. In
the same way that a "Victoria sponge cake" is a very particular recipe
of cake, and if you stray too far from the path then you simply can't
call it a VCS. Or call something without any almond content a "Bakewell
pudding".
Michael
Duncan Wood
Do you anything other than your own opinion to suggest that shortbread
that isn't called all butter shortbread doesn't contain any other forms of
shortening though?
--
Duncan Wood
Michael Kilpatrick
>
> Do you anything other than your own opinion to suggest that shortbread
> that isn't called all butter shortbread doesn't contain any other forms
> of shortening though?
It's rather like the various forms of "cautionary accidental" in music,
where it is customary to put a natural sign in front of a note which is
an octave higher/lower than a note in the same bar which has been
sharpened or flattened by an accidental. Yet musical convention dictates
that other-octave notes are not altered by such an accident. The
presence of the "cautionary" natural is merely a reminder of the rule to
avoid ambiguity yet its existence in fact creates the need for it always
to be there and the creeping assumption that its absence would mean that
the note in fact *is* affected by the sharp or flat in the other octave!
Shortbread used to mean "butter, sugar, flour" yet now because people
love to burn down rainforets for palm oils to stuff in our foods, we
have to suffer proper shortbread being called "pure butter shortbread"
to distinguish it from the shitty veggy-fat rubbish which through
stealth misappropriates acceptance under the simple, unqualified term
"shortbread".
Michael
Duncan Wood
But it's had other shortening in some recipes for centurys, I've seen
many old recipes with lard, e.g.
http://www.bigoven.com/4588-Petticoat-Tails-%233-recipe.html
--
Duncan Wood
Michael Kilpatrick
>
> But it's had other shortening in some recipes for centurys, I've seen
> many old recipes with lard, e.g.
> http://www.bigoven.com/4588-Petticoat-Tails-%233-recipe.html
Bleargh. Not sure I like the sound of that. Lard is good for pastry
(50/50 with butter for pastry used to make mince pies), but I'm not sure
I need to squeeze a pig in order to make a biscuit.
Michael
Duncan Wood
The all butter versions do taste better IMHO but I'm not Scottish.
--
Duncan Wood