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South African (Off-Topic) Quiz


DamhuisClan

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Sticking with the food theme - 'Aponogeton distachyos ' - what dish is this used for?

 

Aponogeton was one of the types of weeds that I used in my fish tanks if I remember correctly. Don't think it would be marine related - seaweed - so I will go for "Waterblommetjies uit die Boland - met lekker skaapnek". CnC in the WP is maybe a bit of a giveaway there! :anitongue:

 

Go for it cincol.

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Pinotage ?

 

Indeed it is - proudly South African. :anitongue:

 

"Pinotage is a grape variety that was created in South Africa in 1925 by Abraham Izak Perold, the first Professor of Viticulture at Stellenbosch University. Perold was attempting to combine the best qualities of the robust Hermitage with Pinot Noir, a grape that makes great wine but can be difficult to grow. Perold planted the four seeds from his cross in the garden of his official residence at Welgevallen Experimental Farm and then seems to have forgotten about them. In 1927 he left the university for a job with KWV co-operative and the garden became overgrown. The university sent in a team to tidy it up, just as Charlie Niehaus happened to pass by. He was a young lecturer who knew about the seedlings, and rescued them from the clean-up team. The young plants were moved to Elsenburg Agricultural College under Perold's successor, CJ Theron. In 1935 Theron grafted them onto newly established Richter 99 and Richter 57 rootstock at Welgevallen. Meanwhile Perold continued to visit his former colleagues. Theron showed him the newly grafted vines, and the one that was doing best was selected for propagation and was christened Pinotage. The first wine was made in 1941 at Elsenburg, with the first commercial plantings at Myrtle Grove near Sir Lowry's Pass.

 

The first recognition came when a Bellevue wine made from Pinotage became the champion wine at the Cape Wine Show of 1959. This wine would become the first wine to mention Pinotage on its label in 1961, when Stellenbosch Farmer's Winery (SFW) marketed it under their Lanzerac brand.

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Thanks for that cincol, that sticks in my mind because I prefer the softer Pinotage or Merlot as opposed to the harder Cabernets, but I digress.

 

Sticking with viniculture/viticulture. To get the bubbles in Champagne/ Method Cap Classique, the wine undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle, induced by adding yeast and maybe sugar.( As opposed to cheaper sparkling wines that are merely carbonated with CO2 like soda soft drinks) Once the fermentation has taken place the yeast is killed off because of the alcohol and leaves a sediment in the bottles which needs to be removed for aesthetic and taste reasons. How is this sediment removed without losing too much of the CO2 and wine?

Edited by malo mystery
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don't they freeze the neck of the bottle?

 

Correct

 

They slightly rotate the bottles daily, and increase the angle towards perpendicular until the sediment is lying against the cap. they then freeze the neck of the bottle by dipping it in brine at -25 to - 30 degrees C for a short time until the contents in the neck of the bottle are frozen, the bottle is then returned to upright, the temporary cap removed and the force of the gas ( about 4 Bar) shoots ( disgorges) the frozen sediment out of the bottle The contents are topped up with a dosage - a little champagne, wine, sugar or brandy, sealed with a cork and wire hood.

 

Not the most widely known trivia, but I thought it was quite interesting.

 

Tom over to you............

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Okay - here we go.....maybe one for Discombob?

 

.....what is pollarding?

 

I know what it is I hope I can explain it.

 

I always get it confused with coppicing. Pollarding is a severe pruning right back to the trunk. Plane trees are an example of trees that are often pollarded as are blue gums

 

COppicing is cutting the tree plant back to ground level.

 

I hope this explanaiton is right - off to google and see if I am right!

 

Trev

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Okay - here we go.....maybe one for Discombob?

 

.....what is pollarding?

 

I know what it is I hope I can explain it.

 

I always get it confused with coppicing. Pollarding is a severe pruning right back to the trunk. Plane trees are an example of trees that are often pollarded as are blue gums

 

COppicing is cutting the tree plant back to ground level.

 

I hope this explanaiton is right - off to google and see if I am right!

 

Trev

 

Well done Trev

 

Pollarding, a method of tree management, was used throughout the England's New Forest in ancient times.

 

A pollarded tree is one that has been cut a couple of metres above ground level, promoting outward growth of fresh branches rather than the single main trunk continuing upwards. This forced growth of numerous new branches obviously greatly increases the yield of timber from the tree.

 

The pollarding of oak trees in the New Forest was stopped when the Royal Navy started using the oak timber for shipbuilding at Bucklers Hard; pollarding prohibited the growth of tall, solid trunks ideal for cutting into long planks that were required for the ships of Nelson's fleet.

 

I had also heard that the pollarding encouraged the outward and upward growth which would then be used for the shaped knees in wooden ship manufacture where the bottoms meet the sides.

 

Many years ago we had a guy in our office called Pollard and after a trip to the New Forest area could explain the derivation of his surname!

 

So over to you!

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Okay - here we go.....maybe one for Discombob?

 

.....what is pollarding?

 

I must have read this somewhere as before my time - I do remember going out with my dad to motor racing somewhere out on the Cape Flats maybe Faure area in the fifties.

 

Okay - What got pollarded and why was it done?

 

;)

 

EISH!!! :D malo mystery almost gonged you out on that one Tom - missed it by just over an hour!

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Discombob you're it

 

HAHA it seems I am the latin expert! Something seemed to wring true from my varsity days.

 

OK one of the most annoying things is a darn mosquito buzzing in your ear while you try to sleep. However, what should you be secretly releived about if you do hear a mozzie buzzing in your ear?

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Crabon Hunter, you are not exactly stating the corrrecting answer, but you are implying it, so your go.

Only the female of anopholes mosquitos can give you Malaria, and yes, this Mozzie does not buzz. So if you hear the buzzing, then you cannot catch malaria from it. (only female mosquitos ever actually bite - bloody bitches :) )

 

Of course that doesn't mean there is not a tag team of a buzzer and non buzzer, just to really get you!

And of course you can catch other just as nasty diseases from a buzzing mozzie, such as dengue fever and others . Bastards :laughing:

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Yesterday was a day in which a global campaign called 350 took place.

 

What is the 350 reffering to?

 

Did anyone else take part in it?

 

Te 350 refers to 350parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere which is the safe upper (or sustainable) limit. I think we are currently over that limit.

 

Something to that effect.

 

Trev

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Yesterday was a day in which a global campaign called 350 took place.

 

What is the 350 reffering to?

 

Did anyone else take part in it?

 

Te 350 refers to 350parts per million of CO2 in the atmosphere which is the safe upper (or sustainable) limit. I think we are currently over that limit.

 

Something to that effect.

 

Trev

29mshar.jpg

 

Yep - that's it Trevor - if the CO2 concentration can be maintained in ther atmosphere at 350 parts per million (or less) - then the global average temperature rise will be less than 2 Degrees celcius - which the earth could cope with.

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they were survivors of a shipwreck called the Doddington

 

CH - easier than expected? You've got it - I guess this is enough to give it to you (as no others attempted an answer) - I did want a wee bit more though... hehehe

 

Wikipedia:

"

The Doddington was an East Indiaman of the British East India Company that was wrecked at Bird Island in Algoa Bay near present day Port Elizabeth on 17 July 1755. The ship was carrying a hoard of gold belonging to Clive of India, that was controversially looted in modern times by treasure hunters, resulting in recent changes to international maritime treaties to better protect underwater cultural heritage.

 

Of the original crew and passengers of 270, only 23 initially survived. The castaways subsisted for seven months on fish, birds and eggs on a nearby island, which they named Bird Island. One of their number, a carpenter, was able to help them make them a sloop, the Happy Deliverance on which they were finally able to get off the island on 16 February 1756.

"

 

So these castaways effectively discovered/named Bird Island off the coast of PE. :angry: That's what I was looking for.

 

You're it CH! :(

Edited by Team Ginger
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they were survivors of a shipwreck called the Doddington

 

CH - easier than expected? You've got it - I guess this is enough to give it to you (as no others attempted an answer) - I did want a wee bit more though... hehehe

 

Wikipedia:

"

The Doddington was an East Indiaman of the British East India Company that was wrecked at Bird Island in Algoa Bay near present day Port Elizabeth on 17 July 1755. The ship was carrying a hoard of gold belonging to Clive of India, that was controversially looted in modern times by treasure hunters, resulting in recent changes to international maritime treaties to better protect underwater cultural heritage.

 

Of the original crew and passengers of 270, only 23 initially survived. The castaways subsisted for seven months on fish, birds and eggs on a nearby island, which they named Bird Island. One of their number, a carpenter, was able to help them make them a sloop, the Happy Deliverance on which they were finally able to get off the island on 16 February 1756.

"

 

So these castaways effectively discovered/named Bird Island off the coast of PE. :rolleyes: That's what I was looking for.

 

You're it CH! :)

OK - thanks - not quiet the shipwreck I was think of. The one i thought of was a wreck on the Wild Coast somewhere - and then they walked north to Delagoa Bay (Mozambique) through Zul;u territory.

 

Any way - let me think of a new question

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