Sultanas and Raisens, whats the difference between the supermarket ones ?

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

Can anyone tell me whats the difference between sultanas and raisens that you buy from a pet shop or bird food supplier and the ones you buy in a supermarket ?

As an example, ive been paying around £2 a kilo for sultanas from a pet food supplier but after going to 2 supermarkets i found them a lot cheaper, at Asda they are 65p per 500g which works out at £1.30p per kilo, at Somerfield they are 68p per 500g which works out at £1.36p per kilo.

Is their any difference between the supermaket bought sultanas and the ones you buy from a pet shop or bird food supllier as the price difference is immense ?

Also while i`m here, what are better quality, raisens or sultanas and whats the difference ?

[valleyforge]

Hi Steve ... interesting question.

My understanding has always been that raisins are dried black/red grapes whilst sultanas are dried green grapes.

Those sold in pet stores are generally marked 'unfit for human consumption' because of the standard of handling, packing/storage environment, etc.

They should therefore be cheaper, but I'd guess the bulk buying power of the supermarkets allows them to sell the better quality fruit at a bargain price.

No contest really as to which I'm sure your birds would prefer!

(remember to be careful with these when dogs are present ... they can cause acute kidney failure in canines.)

[Jim Ford]

Originally Posted by Steve_In_Cheshire

Also while i`m here, what are better quality, raisens or sultanas and whats the difference ?

Let me google that for you

;^)

Jim

[shenk1]

I don't really know if there is any difference but a rspb manager once told us to get supermarket ones so they should be fine and save some money. He said to soak them for a while to soften them .We always found the birds didn't like pet shop ones as they were to hard(fussy our birds !) and wouldn't touch them without them being rained on. All the above doesn't apply to starlings as they don't touch the sides when they get in there!

[LynM]

Tesco's Value Sultanas, soaked overnight are very well received here by every visiting bird, perhaps with the exception of the Woodies! They are now 65p per 500g, but they have gone up dramatically in recent months by around 20p per 500g. Still cheaper than the pet shop or the market stall.

[Nickynockynoonoo]

You can thank Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs for 15% of the retail cost when it is packaged and sold as bird food. Most human food, including dried fruit, is zero rated.

Excepted items: Pet food and wild bird food: Wild bird food

[Nickynockynoonoo]

I thought I'd delve a little bit further. HMRC will never use a sentence when a paragraph will do.

8.4 Wild birds, other than poultry or game

Any food which is both packaged and held out for sale for feeding to wild birds is standard-rated. As well as ordinary retail packages – see paragraph 7.2, special packs, for example, ‘bird nets’ of foods such as peanuts designed for hanging from a tree or bird table, are standard-rated.

Special mixes of foods for wild birds are zero-rated provided they are not packaged for retail sale – see paragraph 7.2.

7.2 What do ‘canned’ and ‘packaged’ mean?

Canned or packaged means pre-packed for retail sale in any can, sealed bag, carton or other container of 12.5 kilograms or less.

If you simply put loose produce in a plain paper or polythene bag at the point of sale, it is not ‘packaged’. This applies whether the bag is filled after your customer has bought it, or ahead of time in anticipation of sale.



So basically, if you buy food in bulk, ie more than 12.5Kg, it should be zero rated. Also, if you know any shops that sell it loose and weigh at the point of sale it should be zero rated.

If you simply put loose produce in a plain paper or polythene bag at the point of sale, it is not ‘packaged’. This applies whether the bag is filled after your customer has bought it, or ahead of time in anticipation of sale.

This bit is interesting. Many shops and markets sell bird food in polythene bags, filled "in anticipation of sale". I have always noticed the huge price difference when I buy from the market. It also explains how the local £1 shop can sell bagged up sunflower hearts cheaper than the bulk 12.5Kg sealed bag the garden centre sells.

We have always fed our dogs on working dog food, which is VAT free. Wondering if pigeons were classified as working birds, made me look this up. LOL, interesting huh?

[tcvarlh]

(remember to be careful with these when dogs are present ... they can cause acute kidney failure in canines.) [/quote]

As can undried grapes in human livers, especially in femented bottled form. Cheers!

[tcvarlh]

The sultana (also called the sultanina or sultaninini) is a type of white, seedless grape of Turkish, Greek or Iranian origin. These are typically larger than the currants made from Zante grapes, but smaller than "normal" raisins. In some countries, especially Commonwealth countries, it is also the name given to the raisin made from it; such sultana raisins are often called simply sultanas or sultanis.

Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world, such as Armenia, the United States, Australia, Chile, Argentina, Macedonia, Mexico, Greece, Syria, Turkey, India, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, China, Afghanistan, Togo, and Jamaica, as well as South Africa and Southern and Eastern Europe

The word raisin dates back to Middle English and is a loanword from Old French; in Old French and French, raisin means "grape," while, in French, a dried grape is referred to as a raisin sec, or "dry grape." The Old French word in turn developed from the Latin word racemus, "a bunch of grapes."

In the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, the word raisin is reserved for the dried large dark grape, with sultana being a dried large white grape, and currant being a dried small Black Corinth grape.

So now we know! No real difference!
h

[Steve_In_Cheshire]

So whats the conclusion then ? Are sultanas full of more goodness than raisens or is it the other way round.

Are supermarket sultanas and raisens just as good for the birds as the ones you would by from a bird food supplier or pet food store ?