Red Stag from Jim Beam

Jim Beam's Red Stag Black Cherry flavour is Jim Beam's finest whiskey but infused (and also perhaps enthused?) with natural flavourings.

When you open the bottle you know that it is going to be somewhat different. For there is an earnest aroma of fruits, which comes, naturally enough, from the cherries that are used to create this somewhat unique American bourbon whiskey.

There's actually a hint of the scent of a good old fashioned Bakewell Tart coming through on the nose, as they say.

Wow! Talk about sweet! it is as sweet as a bowl of very pleasent sun ripened cherries.

If ever a bourbon deserved to be described as a sipping whiskey, then this, surely, must be it?

There are a number of complexities in the flavour, there's the good, standard Jim Beam flavour, but the rich flavours of the cherries take it to a whole new level of taste excellence.

Good by itself, over ice or as part of any cocktail that you care to mention, though do be aware that if you use this in place of Jim Beam in a recipe do, please, be ready for a taste of something out of the ordinary.

I now find myself wanting a bowl of ripe cherries or a slice of Bakewell Tart, so alluring was the taste of this whiskey.

Soupologie. It's dairy and gluten free

Soupologie. It's dairy and gluten free. So, one might say it is "dairy and gluten negative" but it's also highly "taste positive."

In the 600 gramme range there is Broccoli and Matcha Green tea soup, Adzuki Bean Soup, Beetroot and Pomegranate, Roasted butternut and red pepper, Curried sweet potato, Three mushroom broth, Ancient grains, Amaranth, flaxseed and millet,  Celery apple and ginger, Cauliflower and kale with black garlic, Wartercress, courgettes and quinoa, Spirulina greens, Pea and leek, plus Spinach and kale with garlic.

They were exactly like the soups that our ancestors used to make on the range many years ago.

Well, except for the fact that many of the above highly health-giving and nutritious ingredients were, sadly, unknown to our ancestors.

But each soup tastes like a little visit to Soup Heaven as they all taste so utterly deliciously divine!

But there's much more to the great tastes. Each soup recipe is entirely plant-based, there is on added sugar (incidentally, the lack of sugar made no difference to the taste, so other soup producers could take note of how Soupologie makes their soups!) and each 600 gramme serving is two of your five a day, so what could be wrong there? Not a blessed thing!

Soupologie describes their soups as: "Soups with benefits" and it would be very difficult to argue with that, packed as they are with a variety of supergreens (Shouldn't that be soupergreens? Sorry!) and highly important and highly nutritious vitamins and minerals.

They have also recently introduced a range of Raw Soups, a first for the UK. They are designed to be eaten without cooking and are chock full of  important enzymes, vitamins and minerals.

These are available as Beetroot and mint, Strawberry, tarragon and lucuma, Watermelon and chilli, Spinach, mango, lime and baobab, plus Cucumber, avocado and kale.

 You can buy the soups online (the 600 gramme tubs cost £2.99) other sizes are available.

For details email info@soupologie.com, visit www.soupologie.com or call 020 7435 2245.

Super Greens From Heck

Super Greens are vegetarian meat(less) balls from North Yorkshire's very own Heck Foods.

They are made from a range of superfood green vegetables, Quinoa, Spinach, Kale and to add some spicing up to the whole recipe, some tasty ginger, too.

And they are guaranteed to be gluten free, too.

They cook within 20 to 25 minutes, but if you have a microwave you need to use the combination oven setting -if it has one- as Heck tells us that the Heck Super Green Veggie meatballs are not suitable for microwave cooking. (So, no ping cuisine for them!)

When you have cooked them you will be just bowled over by the taste.

The taste is hard to describe. It's 'meaty', yes, but there's no meat and all of the different vegetables crowd together on your tongue, to dance a dance of savoury goodness!

You can serve them with fried eggs, with poached eggs, or maybe an omelet. Or how about a nice, fresh salad?

Heck recommends a crisp beansprout and cashew nut salad, and I do not think I could argue with that idea, to be honest.

Though a large plate of nicely buttered mashed potatoes very liberally seasoned with freshly ground black pepper and a light sprinkling of Pink Himalayan Sea Salt or Welsh sea salt, plus a good portion of baked beans would also be an ideal way to serve these Heck Super Greens.

They should cost £3.00 from all good stores and from https://www.heckfood.co.uk.

Fava Beans. Finland's Nordic Superfood

Fava Beans. Finland's Nordic Superfood?

You could have heard it here on That's Food and Drink, first. The Fava bean from Finland is reputedly the new Nordic superfood.

Why and how? Because it's low in salt and low in sugar and high in fibre, but it has more protein than an egg.

The Fava Mill has a range of very tasty and very filling granolas based on the Fava bean in the following flavours:


Fava Mill Crunchy Granola

Fava Mill Cranberry Granola

Fava Mill Apple and Cinnamon Granola

Fava Mill Apricot and Papaya Granola

and

Fava Mill Berries and Beets Granola.

All of the above are utterly delicious and if you enjoy a bowl at breakfast time, you'll remain fuelled and focused for a long time thereafter!

But breakfast meals made with wholesome and sustaining  Fava Mill Fava Bean Granolas are not the only use that you can put Fava beans to.

For also in the range are Fava Mill Ground Fava Beans, which can be used as a substitute in vegetarian or vegan recipes which normally use soya beans. A boon for those vegetarians who are allergic to soya products.

You can find out about a whole host of recipes (soups and starters, desserts and savoury meals, snacks, smoothies and more) at http://favamill.com/recipes.

J. J. Whitley Elderflower Gin

J. J. Whitley Elderflower Gin is what a good gin should be.

No distilling in giant vats for J. J. Whitley Elderflower Gin! Indeed not!

For J. J. Whitley Elderflower Gin is batch distilled in a proper and very traditional copper pot still.

It is the type of gin my wife prefers and recommends to people who ask her the best gins to try.

There's a reassuring sound as the cork is pulled from the bottle and then there's the heavenly scent that wafts from the contents of the bottle.

There are floral scents -is that a hint of an English hedgerow, there? I rather think there is!

But the difference is the first taste. Oh, my word, that first taste!

It's a gin, so yes, there is juniper... but there's a depth of character, too. There's the taste of the elderflowers, plus the added spiciness of the coriander and cinnamon. But not too much, and other  there's just the right amount to take this gin out of the ordinary and to elevate it to the sublime gin drinking experience.

It's smooth and sweet. In fact the smooth easy drinking of this gin belies the fact that it is 38.6% volume of alcohol!

Drink it neat with some ice, or drink it with a nice tonic (Fevertree is a good one to match this gin)  or use it to make some exquisite cocktails. The choice is yours.

The J. J. Whitley family have been distilling gin for eight generations, and there experience shows in this most excellent gin, which contains 8 distinct botanicals.

It should cost around the £25 mark for a 70cl bottle.

If you can't find it in a local shop, you can find it at https://www.masterofmalt.com/gin/halewood-international/j-j-whitley-elderflower-gin and other online retailers.

Liqueur de Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream

Liqueur de Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream is a truly amazing drink.

It is a strawberry cream liqueur with just a hint of Tequila.

You can serve it at room temperature, or chilled, which is probably the best way, to be honest.

My wife is not a particular fan of either strawberries or Tequila for that matter, so her liking for Liqueur de Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream is a matter of some wonder.

Basically, it is a strawberry based cream drink with just enough Tequila to make things a little bit more interesting.

You can use it to make cocktails (we'll include some recipes) but many people just prefer to chill it and sip it. Sat outside on a hot, summer's day, there's nothing like a chilled  bottle of Liqueur de Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream to help the day pass more smoothly.

And at only15% alcohol by volume, it's lighter on the alcohol than you might think.

So, what about these recipes, then?

Mix it with Irish cream, or coconut flavoured rum, or vanilla or toffee flavoured vodka, serve with ice, crushed or chunked, add some real dairy cream and you have a wide and perhaps wild range of cocktails.

And here's an off the wall idea, when you are making a strawberry cheesecake, add some Liqueur de Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream into the mix and chill well before serving. Obviously you'll need some glasses of chilled Liqueur de Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream to help it go down!

It's distilled in Missouri and is imported exclusively into the UK by those very nice folks at Halewood International in Liverpool.

It should be available in all good stores throughout the UK.

For details of Liqueur de Tequila Rose Strawberry Cream and other products please visit http://mccormickdistilling.com/tr/

Heck! If you like cheese, you'll go Nuts about these!

Yes, indeed! Heck! If you like cheese, you'll go Nuts about these!

There are a number of different types of vegetarian sausages that are available.  But there is only one Heck Nuts About Cheese!

These sausages are made by Yorkshire's Heck Foods and they are made from cashew nuts, two types of cheese, some flax and chia and a tiny bit of chilli to add a bit of zip and zing to the proceedings.

You can taste the cashew nuts, there's a hint of the flax, plus the chia comes through with a little hint of chilli (but not too much, thankfully!)  but the predominant flavour is that of the cheeses.

The cheeses are Mozzarella and Cheddar and the taste combination is utterly sublime!

You can have them as sausage sandwiches or served in the traditional way, as bangers and mash (perhaps with fresh green beans or baked beans, with a fried egg or two?)  or you can use these as the vegetarian option next time you do a BBQ, perhaps with seeded baps?

However, you'd better get extra packs in as the meat eaters may well be tempted to start wolfing these down, too!

Learn more about them and the other sausages in the range by visiting www.heckfood.co.uk.

English Heaven in a can from Folkington's

Folkington's is a modestly sized and utterly independent drinks firm based in the English county of Suffolk.

They have launched a new range of effervescent (but not too gassy)  drinks.

They are charmingly called Folkington's Garden and are a range of four fruit pressés.

There's an utterly delicious and very traditional elderflower drink, with just enough Sicilian lemon juice to add a little bit of a zip to it. Works very nicely with the genuine wild hedgerow elderflowers.

There's a fiery ginger beer that uses some awesomely hot West African ginger root. Very refreshing! (That one was my wife's favorite.)

There's a very nicely created English Rhubarb and Apple drink. Often when drink firms make anything with rhubarb, they tend to overdo the rhubarb, which can create an over tart taste, that sets one's teeth on edge.

This is simply not the case with Folkington's English Rhubarb and Apple drink. The predominant flavour is that of real English apple juice with just the right amount of rhubarb juice to add a very pleasing tart zing to the drink.

Then there is the more than excellent Lemon and English Mint drink which has a perfect combination of  refreshing lemons and calming mint.

Each can is guaranteed free of things that many children can't have (artificial this, that and the other!) and as each can contains less than 100 calories, even those who are on a diet can sip their way through a can without any guilt.

They make ideal companions on a picnic or at a family garden party or BBQ and they make excellent mixers for artisan gins and the like. Or as part of a delicious range of mocktails for those who do not want any alcohol.

They also make a packed lunch in the office taste just a little bit more special.
 
You will find Folkington’s Garden range in independent shops, cafés and delis.

To learn more about the wide range of drinks that are available please do visit them at
http://www.folkingtons.com.

Wild West Deli Beef Jerky Thai Spice Flavour, Chilli and Lime Flavour

Wild West Deli Beef Jerky is a high protein snack range from the Meatsnacks Group of Buckinghamshire.

We were fortunate enough to try this product, recently.

It is described as a "softer beef jerky" and that is exactly what it is.

It is beef jerky, marinated in Thai spices and smoked over applewood.

The result is a softer and utterly delicious taste experience.

They make the point that they only use ingredients for their own marinade that you would be able to find in your own kitchen store cupboard.

Whilst that's true of some more advanced foodies, I think that Meatsnacks are being more than a little modest, here. For in the opinion  of my wife and myself, the herbs and spices used by Meatsnacks are probably of much higher quality than might be found in some family kitchens.

How so? Well, you can taste the sweetness of the real Demerara sugar, but there's a whole range of other flavours, there, too. Garlic, the tang of both the apple cyder vinegar and a hint of lime and the other spices and herbs that go together to make this jerky.

Apparently you van use the jerky in some recipes which you can find at www.meatsnacksgroup.com/wild-west-deli. But as my wife said: "Good luck to anyone who is trying to keep the family out of it long enough to cook with it!"

There is also the equally delicious Chilli and Lime Flavour softer beef jerky, also made in Scotland using select cuts of UK and EU brisket beef.

My wife is not a fan of chillies, but she made the point that Chilli and Lime flavour beef jerky from the Wild West Deli range has none of the harshness and over done heat of some shop bought products.

We noted that there was a well-balanced combination of flavours with a pleasant chilli kick and the sublime tartness of the limes.

These softer beef jerky snacks are idea for snacking, make an excellent and interesting course during a larger meal, are great to serve with a salad, perhaps out of doors, during a BBQ.

They go very well with a nice wine, maybe a Riesling or perhaps a bottle of something like Prosecco?  Or perhaps a nice red? The choice is yours!

Heck Chicken Italia Sauasages

Heck Chicken Italia Sausages are delightful sausages that are made with 100% British chicken meat.

Which is just like the other chicken meat sausages from Heck.

However! In the Chicken Italia sausages we see a special combination of herbs, spices and other ingredients that are mixed together to create a perfectly balanced, somewhat exotic sausage that does, indeed, have a  hint of Italy about them.

There's some basil, some garlic and a range of other spices that join together to create a fantastic taste sensation!

How to serve it? You can serve them as some of the most tasty sausage sandwiches that you can think of. Especially if you have some rustic Italian bread.

Or cook them, slice them up and mix in with Mediterranean style salad leaves and tomatoes to make a most excellent Italian salad, with lashings of olive oil dressing, of course!

Or what about slicing the cooked sausages up fairly thinly and spreading them over a pizza?

Or how about making some garlic and potato mash with olive oil and lots of freshly ground black pepper and making some bangers and mash the likes of which you have probably never tasted before?