6 Local Lekkers

● Rooibos Tea
Rooibos is grown only in a small area of the Cederberg, 250 km north of Cape Town. Initially used by the Khosan, in 1904 a Russian immigrant named Benjamin Ginsberg turned it into a business. Today the tea is enjoyed all over the world. Rooibos has no additives or caffeine and is great for allergies and digestion. Oh, and it tastes great too!
● Dried Fish
Dried fish is the biltong of the West Coast with dried snoek and Bokkoms particular favorites. Bokkoms are mullet gutted and soaked in salt water then dried for a few weeks. Perhaps because of it’s appearance, it may be one of the more difficult of delicacies to learn to love—all the more reason to try it.
● Appeltiser
Launched in 1966, this healthy, lightly carbonated apple juice grew rapidly in popularity and is now exported all over the world. In 1981 the success of Appeltiser led to Grapetiser, both white and red. Peartiser was then launched in 2005 but don't hold your breath for Bananatiser or Watermelontiser...
● Biltong
Biltong is South Africa’s national snack. Try it the traditional way, air-cured beef laced with coriander and sliced into thin pieces, then move onto fancier stuff - game, ostrich or even shark, in peri-peri or garlic. Some like it dry and chewy, others moist and tender. Once you’ve mastered the ‘tong you have to try it’s cousin, droewors.
● Mrs Ball’s Chutney
Amelia Ball was born in 1865 in East London, where her Canadian parents had years earlier been stranded on their way to Australia when their boat sank. When she died in 1962, aged 97, Mrs Ball’s recipe was known only to her son and grandson. And to think the secret recipe could have been buried at sea, or even worse, used by Australians.
● Koeksusters
A koeksuster is a piece of plaited dough, deep-fried in oil, then dipped in cold syrup. Hot oil and icy-cold syrup will give you the perfect koeksuster - crunchy on the outside and soft, moist and syrupy on the inside. Koeksusters are very rich (unhealthy) and usually kept for festive occasions. Cape Malay in origin, experts will claim a slight difference between the Malay and Afrikaner versions.