Mince pies to the USA

Probably not. And things can get held up for ages on their way to the US by post.

Send her a recipe. It's dead easy to make mince from scratch.

Failing that, you could search for expat stores who will no doubt do online deliveries. That way they have all the hassle with customs etc.

Usually cooked and finished food such as that would be OK. Look on the US Embassy website it may give you the information. Bright mince pies last a long time - look at the use by dates.

Bought mince pies!

That's what I was thinking Welshwife, I've already given her my recipe but I think she thought it was too much of a faff. I'll take a look at expat stores too.

The postage would probably be three times the price of the mince pies though.
Apparently Walkers will post mince pies to several countries, and some places overseas have 'British' shops.

Send her a recipe - it would be much easier!

I wonder what condition they would be in after the deliver services had finished throwing them around.

I hope your friend gets to try mince pies, tanith. We were stationed in a large NATO HQ and had a lot of American friends who didn’t “get” mince pies. They all initially thought that the ‘mincemeat’ was just that! Once they could be persuaded to try them, they were usually sold, although the inclusion of suet in the mincemeat did entrench the view that Brit food was to be viewed with the utmost suspicion!

Yes we offered them to our French neighbours who didn't take to them at all. Strange British custom ?

The French around us like Christmas cake, pudding and mince pies! The one thing I gave neighbour's one time they could not eat was a jelly!
When we first came here it was impossible to buy parsnips as they were considered animal food - now you can buy lovely ones.

Thanks everyone I think maybe I'll just tell her find some herself in the US . They are pretty fragile to post on reflection.

My mother in law, a postal innocent, bless her, sent my son an Easter egg when we were living in the Far East. With no extra packaging it arrived in roughly the same sized pieces as chocolate buttons, and melting rapidly!

I introduced an American friend to crumpets and she developed a taste for them - buys them and other goodies from

British Food

(Welshwife) >>When we first came here it was impossible to buy parsnips as they were considered animal food - now you can buy lovely ones.<<

Same here in Germany with Swedes, WW - my favourite vegetable and I can get them about 1 weekend a year here. My mother in law would turn up her nose and say it was cattle fodder.

Would the USA allow even dried fruit and pastry posted?
Many countries will not allow fruit and veg imports which may be harmful to local produce.

Largely because they are worried about potentially harmful organisms which may contain bug, viruses and fungi etc which might spread plant disease.
Not unreasonable really.

We used to send typical English biscuits to an American relative, but the cost of postage always very much out weighed to cost of the biscuits. We then found a company that is based in the US that imports English/British products that you can buy to be delivered in the US. The company we used was set up by a British couple who saw the need for this. It worked very well.

Maybe send a bought or homemade jar of mincemeat and let her make/buy the pastry herself.

Ime of sending food goods to the US, commercial is ok but they're very suspicious of home made. Also, I think mince pies sent through a postal service are likely to end up as...er...mince!

Using a British food provider in the US or making her own is a better option.

There is a company that sends British food/items (+ a selection of Waitrose groceries) around the world to (mostly) expat customers. They deal with all of the paperwork and customs etc.

www.britishcornershop.co.uk/

We have this in the stores. I think the problem is it isn’t a tradition here. I’ve had mince in cookies and pies.

The web site that Riverwalk linked to actually has mince pies right at the top of the main page. Except they aren't calling them mince pies, they are "mince tarts".

But they're not tarts because they have a lid on. Oh dear, how are we going to teach these Americans about British food?

Tanith This thread might be of interest
britishexpats.com/forum/usa-57/mince-pies-645493/

I wouldn't risk sending food to the States yourself. I once tried to take some posh, dry-cured, vacuum-packed bacon in for my son and it was confiscated & tossed into a big bin

I used to have an American friend who made mince pies from an old recipe which included real meat. I can't remember which state she was from but she assured me it was common practice there.

I know my cousin usually takes a few bits back with her when she visits but every now and then she crosses the border into Canada where they can buy some English foods. She stocks up and sometimes just hopes she manages to get it all back into the States lol. She gets 'proper' Somerset cheddar cheese, baked beans, crumpets, crisps, chocolate etc.

Surely baked beans is an American invention?