I'm modern Britain you should be able to buy marrons glaces

[twoopsie]

We forgot to buy any before Xmas and now a desert I've got planned for today is in dire need of some but no where open yesterday had any. The Italian deli won't be open until jan, I would of hoped even waitrose or John lewis would of stocked them, but no.

[Archduke]

OP it is a scandal. Write to your MP.

[Archduke]

Or the Telegraph might be interested in it for a "Blighted Britain" article . . .

[FishWithABicycle]

Where are you? If you are near one of the 8 big cities with a Harvey Nichols they have a fantastically well stocked deli section.

[TheRtHonGeorgianaGobshite]

Substitute sprouts.

[twoopsie]

Well obviously I'm being lighthearted but didn't want to put that in because that got some people pissy last time

[FrigginFuckinFiggyPudding]

Sprouts...

[mumonashoestring]

Our local Sainsburys sells them, perhaps you could send a staff member to fetch some? ;)

[twoopsie]

I'm near Falmouth ATM, this is why we just shouldn't leave London!

[kilmuir]

What is it?

[Eastpoint]

Waitrose did have them, whether they still have them near you... The other issue is that theirs are individually wrapped which means there might not be enough.

[Trickydecision]

Lakeland have them, and Hotel Chocolate used to and maybe still do.

[FishWithABicycle]

Ah. There's your problem see. Cornwall, lovely though it is in a great many respects doesn't qualify as "modern Britain" in terms of ease of access to niche retail.

If your recipe uses the mg chopped, I'd substitute a packet of vacuum packed unsweetened chestnuts from a supermarket plus an equal volume of delicious local fudge.

[TheRtHonGeorgianaGobshite]

I mourn the lack of glace cherries in the provinces. Whenever we move I check the glace cherry situation before I even look at schools.

[3bunnies]

M&S had some, a box for £15. Someone was saying on here that it is quite easy to make them, but takes ages.

[Purplepixiedust]

Never heard of them! (slopes off to google it)..

[Yuleloglatte]

I have some I could send you? They were something I coveted and they taste like sweetened icing sugar. Bleurgh!

[FannyFifer]

Make your own.

[OttiliaVonBCup]

15 pounds for a box?

[Trickydecision]

I have tried to make them a couple of times, using the vacuum packed ones, with minimal success. You have to simmer them very gently in sugar syrup, repeating this for several days. They are so fragile that you end up with plenty of gravel and a couple of whole chestnuts. It does explain why they are so expensive to buy.

[twoopsie]

Make your own? You have to be kidding they are very difficult.

Would go the fudge method but sadly they need to be whole. I know its only a garnish, but was the best bit!

If I had my sugar thermometer I would attempt chestnuts dipped in fudge, but my sugar skills aren't up to par on that

[AllMimsyWereTheBorogoves]

The next election will turn on this vital issue.

The Tories will promise legislation to ensure that no one will ever have to wait more than an hour to get their vital supplies of marrons glacés.

UKIP will campaign for them to be banned because they're foreign muck.

The Greens will try to get people to think about the hideous conditions in which the chestnuts have been reared, with secret video footage from battery chestnut farms and eyewitness testimony from whistleblowing former candying operatives.

A PR executive parachuted into a northern ex-coalmining constituency as the Labour candidate will be caught on camera exclaiming 'Oh, marrons glacés and pistachio icecream, awesome!' when her host is in fact offering her a plate of Brain's faggots with mushy peas.

The Scots Nats will have them distributed to every household free of charge as a way of marking the Auld Alliance between Scotland and France, in the halcyon days before the Union of the Crowns.

Plaid Cymru will rush through legislation to protect a Welsh version involving balls of seaweed coated in lard.

The LibDems will formulate a policy for marrons glacés that succeeds in upsetting 95% of the electorate and they will lose every single seat they contest, forcing the party to disband two days after the election.

See what you've started, OP?

[ElizabethHoover]

op

PLease accept your ' we come from london ' badge and wear it to ingratiate yourself with your neighbours who might NEVER have heard you say it

[twoopsie]

Haha mimsy that's given me a laugh today! Your wasted here.

I bet farage loves mg acrually

[wowfudge]

There was a time when Woolies used to sell them individually wrapped in the pick and mix around Christmas. Seriously, they did! I bought some Turkish ones in Homesense this year so worth having a look there or in TK Maxx. I have made my own using defrosted frozen chestnuts before now. They worked quite well but the chestnuts they use for proper marron glaces are much bigger.

Yes, that was a serious answer OP!

[WutheringFrights]

I sell them in my farm shop in rural Somerset...so it isn't just Harvey nicks and posh shops!
Opens at 8.30 this morning....it's only a 4 hour round trip for you and you'll be back in time for dinner. They're 70p each :-)