So, in case any of you are wondering what I sent to Flo, here it is. Lois and I had great fun deciding what exactly to put into a parcel that is:

a) very South African
b) not too heavy
c) not going to go stale or get damaged in transit

This is what we (after great deliberation) decided on, clockwise from bottom left:

Biltong and droe wors (jerky and dried sausage). Along with beer and braais (bbq) you do not get more South African than this. Once you start eating, you cannot stop. The wors (sausage) is dried beef sausage, while the biltong (jerky) is made from Kudu (you can use beef or any game meat). To foreigners, it may sound very strange, but its really good, and highly addictive.

Next, we have a pair of hand-carved salad servers, bought from Cape Town’s famous Greenmarket Square.

Behind the salad servers is a packet of Honeybush Tea. This tea is a variation of Rooibos (red bush) tea, which has become quite famous for its lovely flavour and healthy properties. In particular, it is caffeine free. The tea is prepared and served like normal Ceylon tea.

Behind the tea is a small recipe booklet on Braai Recipes. While the recipes are outdoor focused, most of them can be made indoors in the kitchen.

Next up is a bottle of Mrs Balls Famous Chutney, and item to bring a tear to any expat South African’s eye. Traditionally used as a condiment to a curry, it can be used as a condiment to any stew or meaty dish. Its also good in a meat marinade (its also great thinly smeared with cheese on toast).

Behind the chutney is a bottle of Nando’s mild chilli sauce, a really great local chilli sauce. They also do a hot sauce which will blow the socks of your feet. You can use this sauce on almost anything, from a burger sauce, to adding to a pasta sauce to give it a bit of a bite.

In front of the sauce is something truly African, a small bottle of Amarula Cream. The overripe fruit of the Amarula tree is often eaten by elephants, which promptly get drunk from the fermenting juices in the fruit. The aperitif is really nice over crushed ice, or by itself (We don’t have pasties, but we do have Amarula Cream!)

Next is a bottle of sun-dried olives, which I threw in because they are really yummy.

Behind the olives is a bottle of pepperdews, a unique hybrid between chilli’s and tomatoes. While they are spicy, they are not hot. Pepperdews were discovered by chance growing in somebody’s garden and are now sold all over the world.

Finally, another item to bring a tear to our expats, a packet of NickNacks. These crisps have been around for as long as I can remember, and no braai is complete without them to snack on.