Well a foreign shop is like an embassy - within the country but not really part of it. So, do make mention of it. But realise that patronising it is just a convenient trip to Portugal and not really shopping in Switzerland.

foreign as "owned by foreigner (define foreigners?)" or "that sells foreign goods"? 'cos if it's the second I may debate the "indigenous to Switzerland" box of brown sugar...

Actually, maybe they're making this:

Papaya Cookies

1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup (4 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 cup papaya puree
2 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)


Glaze:
1 1/4 C confectioner’s sugar
2 tbs milk
1 tbs papaya puree
1 tsp grated orange peel

Cream the butter, brown sugar, vanilla and eggs. Add the papaya puree, stirring until blended. Stir the dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add them to the papaya mixture, stirring until the flour is just mixed in. Add the nuts if you’re using them.

Lay out plastic wrap on a large, smooth surface. Place the cookie dough on the plastic wrap and form into a long cylindrical log, wrapping the dough completely with the plastic wrap. Place in the freezer, and chill at least a couple of hours, until frozen or almost frozen.

Preheat the oven to 375. When the dough is fairly solid, unwrap from the plastic wrap and slice with a sharp knife into 1/4 inch rounds. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies spring back when lightly touched. Let them cool completely before frosting.

When the cookies have cooled, lay them over a sheet of wax paper. Whisk the confectioners sugar with 2 tbs of milk until smooth. Add the papaya puree and the orange peel and mix until smooth. Dip the spoon into the glaze mixture and dribble over the cookies. Let them harden and serve!

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The Joys of Opticianry

wow, papayas have hijacked this thread!

Well, kinda... the recipe given also requires brown sugar.

Edit to add:
I may even actually make that recipe.
I don't usually eat papaya as it makes my mouth itch BUT most other things that do that (including bananas) are quite fine when cooked so maybe it's worth a try.

Papayas are for amateurs. Where can I find a Paw Paw?

This is also what South Africans (my parents) call papaya.

???

Then you should have the phrase 'piesang piesang paw-paw' branded into your memory.

pisang means banana in malay, wait for you it's a baw baw...

Afrikaans also contains a lot of kitchen Dutch which was learned by the Malay slaves of the Dutch East India Company. There is a large Cape Malay community. So, the Afrikaans word for banana is piesang which we get from the Malays. There are quite a few other words, mostly food related eg. blatjang = blachang = sambal or chutney.

Well, if you go to some of the Southern (US) States, you could find Pawpaw on just about any street corner or front porch as that's one of the terms used for "grandpa"



Meanwhile, back to the topic of brown sugar, here is another good use:

Vanishing Oatmeal Cookies




Using "real" brown sugar (or perhaps sugar + molasses) yields a better result than roh sugar as with the brown sugar they come out nice and chewy, otherwise they're quite crispy.

Meanwhile, the "local" haferflocken does work very well as the oats "vanish" a bit more than Quaker Old Fashioned ones. (These are really fantastic if you can get your hands on some butterscotch chips! )

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The Joys of Opticianry

Yep and the Afrikaans word for a hut or shack is pondoki which I saw (pondok I think) written in the jungle somewhere in Sarawak.

When we lived abroad papayas were always known as pawpaws (and we grew them in our garden). In fact, I didn't even hear of the name papaya until I returned to the UK.

I recall seeing self raising flour in a chinese toko on Schaffhauserstrasse in Oerlikon.......

If you are looking for the American brown sugar, the closest you will find in in France. It will still taste a bit different but packs together in a similar fashion. All big grocery stores there stock it from my experience. The brown sugar in Switzerland is a different grain, consistency and mix.

OK to end the guessing I looked at Brown_sugar.

The brown sugar typically available in Switzerland is called raw sugar. Which means that it gets its light brown color by virtue of the fact that it is not bleached. The point I am trying to make is that raw sugar is the "natural" product. White sugar is not natural but is processed raw sugar.

So if you have white sugar based brown sugar then beet sugar was used to produce it and if you have raw brown sugar then cane sugar was used as the base. Of course the molasses added is from cane sugar, in either case, but only the course brown sugar is a pure cane sugar product.

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Many men, of course, became extremely rich, but this was perfectly natural, and nothing to be ashamed of, because no one was really poor -- at least no one worth speaking of. - Douglas Adams

you can buy brown sugar at Globus!

Or at Müller (Claraplatz)!

Or at Müller in Basel! (Claraplatz)