South Africans in Germany

Here is a list of substitutes and translations for general food and kitchen items like cling film, maize meal, custard and biscuits

Product	Substitute
Foil	die Aluminiumfolie, auch Alufolie oder Silberpapier
Cooking spray (Spray and Cook)	It is called Trennspray or Backspray in Germany and can be found in most shops
Clingfilm	die Frischhaltefolie
Maize Meal	You might find it in African shops, although mostly the yellow variety. Best it to buy online. Polenta / Maisgrieß is not the same!
Peanut Butter	die Erdnussbutter or die Erdnusscreme.
Marmite or Bovril	No substitute. You can buy online or find it in British shops. Sometimes you can find Marmite in shops like Edeka
Taystee Wheat	It is made from Semolina (hartweizengrieß or just Griß), to find substitutes look for Grießbrei. You can buy Grieß and make it from scratch or buy pre cooked in packets.
All Bran Flakes	Can be bought at Lidl
Custard Powder	You can buy the Dr Oetker Dessert Soße, but it is not exactly the same. It is a good substitute though. Some of the major shops have Bird’s Instant Custard which is more like the custard we know. Other options: South African Shops in Germany (see the list here) Indian/Pakistani shops British shops
Peppermint Crisp	Peppermint Crisp is made by Nestle, and is a chocolate bar bar filled with a multitude of thin cylinders of mint-flavoured ‘cracknel’ (which is a brittle crystalline/sugar concoction extruded in fine hollow tubes).Marabou Mint Krokant. Aero mint or any mint flavoured chocolate. Online shops selling South African products normally stock Peppermint Crisp. Another option is to add 5 – 10 ml peppermint or spearmint extract to the mixture, together with a Cadbury flake type of chocolate
Tennis Biscuits	Leibniz Butterkekse is an option, it works well as a general biscuit substitute, but does not have any coconut in them. You can add 2 tablespoons of desiccated coconut when making a recipe that calls for crushed Tennis biscuits. For a nice twist, you can also use Spekulatus biscuits, they are spiced with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, cardamom and nutmeg. Another option is Kokos Taler, it looks different but taste much the same
Marie Biscuits	Maria biscuits are available at most shops, and pretty much the same as the Marie biscuits we know
Graham Crackers	You can buy it in British Shops. As alternative you can use the following: Leibniz Vollkorn crackers For Custard Slices you can use Phyllo or Puff pastry
Jelly Powder	die Götterspeise. My own and other peoples experience is that the German jelly powder is stronger than those in SA. The German product does not contain any sugar like the SA one. It also tastes a lot more like gelatine Your dessert will be much stiffer. You will also not find all the flavours we have in SA. You can find pinapple and lemon flavours at online shops like Saffa Shop A good alternative has come to our attention. RUF makes jelly powder with sugar in the mix. Make sure that you look out for “Zucker enthalten”. They have a lemon flavour. We have not tested it in South African recipes yet, but will soon.
“Government” Bread. A normal loaf of bread as we know it in South Africa	The sliced variety you can find in most big shops. Look for das Toastbrot. If you are looking for whole loaf that is not sliced, aks for das Kastenbrot in the bakery.
Hotdog or Hamburger buns.	I have not find similar buns in Germany yet. You can find ok alternatives in the bread section of major shops. They tend to be very dry and are not freshly baked.
Sago	Can be bought in most shops. Tapioca is a good alternative – Tapioca is made from the starchy root of the cassava tree, whereas sago is made from the inner part, or pith, of the stem of the sago palm tree. They are similar, flavorless starches that are used in cooking and baking, and they can be used interchangeably in many recipes. Both tapioca and sago are used to make puddings and baked goods, and to thicken soups, stews and pie fillings.
Goldyn Syrup	Called Sirup in Germany. You can find Lyles Golden Syrup at Edeka and Rewe (also in their online shops) You can also buy at Amazon or online British Shops Grafschafter makes a Karamell sirup
Jamaika Gemmer	According to the Aspen website, Lennon’s Jamaika Gemmer 20 ml. Each ml contains the alcoholic extractives of: Ginger – 0.5g. Contains: Ethanol (100%) – 84% v/v. Sugar free.
Vinegar	For normal white wine vinegar, you can buy Tafelessig or Weißweinessig. Be very careful of Essigessenz, this is a very concentrated (25%) vinegar and is mainly used for cleaning. You can of course water it down to use in cooking. The general consensus is one part Essigessenz and four parts water. There should be instructions on the bottle as well.

Meat

German meat cuts are different from those in South Africa. South Africa tends to follow the British way of cutting meat.Below is a explanation of the

Substitutes – Drinks

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Frozen products

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Types of Sugars

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Dairy substitutes

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Spices and Herbs

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Where to buy South African products

SA Food Store

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Sonja Kohlöffel – Gem Squash

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Outer Africa

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Saffa Shop

A variety of South African products Home made biltong, boerewors, droëwors and chilli bites. Lamb chops. Maize Meal and Samp Maltabella, Jungle Oats, Kreemymeelm and

Die Spens

Die Spens shop is situated next to the A1 in Amersfoort, easily reachable from all over The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Come and have a

Here is a list of suggestions for ready-made pasty (dough) products and some translations.

English	German	Information
Frozen dough
Puff Pastry	der Blätterteig	‘Puff pastry is a light flaky pastry with a lot of butter in in. Perfect for savoury or sweet pies, Beef Wellington, pastries, croissants, cheese straws, sausage rolls, strudel, Tarte Tatin and Mile-feuille.
Filo Pastry	Der Filo- & Yufkateig	It is not the same as Puff pastry/ Blätterteig, although it could be used as a substitute in some recipies. Tante Fanny sells a filo dough
Shortcrust	der Mürbeteig.	Used for the base in sweet tarts or quiche and flans. It can also be used for sweet and savoury pies like apple or chicken.
Pizza	der Pizzateig	Tante Fanny sells various options, found, square, made from Dinkelmehl etc
Quiche and Tart dough	Quche- und Tarteteig	Tante Fanny sells a round Quiche and Tart dough. It is a shortcrust dough, just shaped round. They also make a sweeter dough and one with more butter in, but in the end they are all Shortcrust dough
Strudel dough	Strudelteig
Flammkuchen dough	der Flammkuchenteig	Tante Fanny sells various doughs for Flammkuchen. Flammkuchen has a very thin and crisp crust
Dough in a tin
Vetkoek ready made dough		You can use “Sonntags-brötchen“ that you buy in a tin, and use it exactly as you would the ready made dough, by frying it in oil