How old is your oldest spice? Steenbergs wants to know!

Our friends at Steenbergs have launched a brand new competition to find the oldest spice in our store cupboards.  Running for the month of March, the oldest jar of spice will win the lucky owner £50 worth of fragrant, aromatic spices from Steenbergs, the artisan spice expert.

March traditionally the month when we do our spring cleaning.

So, where better to begin than with your pantry or store cupboard?

What Steenbergs wants to learn is who owns the oldest spice in the UK?

Locate that elderly jar of allspice or that vintage vanilla, photograph it for posterity and then email or post it on social media to be in with a chance of winning a whole new range of spices (#oldestspice).

“Here at Steenbergs we pack our herbs and spices into glass jars with tight fitting lids to keep the flavour in and maximise the shelf life,” says Axel Steenberg, who founded Steenbergs with his wife Sophie in 2003.  “Storing the jars in a cupboard away from light and heat is the perfect environment but we know they can sometimes get forgotten!”

“We recommend an optimal shelf life of between 2 - 3 years for herbs and spices, so that the delicate flavours don't have a chance to fade,” says Sophie.  “If you’re unsure what to do with any spice, before it gathers dust - glean some inspiration from our recipe library which is full of tasty ideas.” www.steenbergs.co.uk/recipes

Already proving popular on social media, Steenbergs is hoping to make this store cupboard clearout an annual event every March, giving everyone a chance to revitalise their spice collection.  So dust off that dill seed and get posting!

Puka Womankind Tea

Puka Womankind Tea was tested out by women members of the That's Food and Drink taste test team.

It is described as: "A delicate dance of organic cranberry, rose and sweet vanilla."

Well. that's the description on the packet that the tea bag came in. But what is the reality? What did the ladies from the That's Food and drink taste test team think of it? How does that description match with the reality of the situation?

This was what they reported. One who was admittedly not the world's greatest fan of fruit teas was not keen on it.

But other team members were able to report that they had enjoyed it very much.

It was very pleasing to the senses of both scent and taste, they could definitely identify the various flavours, some more so than others. Rose and orange being predominant, they reported.

Bring a Puka tea it's a given that the ingredients are ethically sourced and that all of the ingredients are organic in origin and certified in the UK by the Soil Association.

The ingredients are chamomile flower, shatavari root, licorice root, hibiscus flower, marigold flower, beetroot, orange peel, orange essential oil flavour, vanilla pod (4%) rose flower (4%) and, finally, cranberry 4%.

Lalani & Co., Teas of excellence

My wife and I were recently introduced to the high quality teas of Lalani & Co of London.

My wife is something of an aficionado of high quality teas, but even she has had to admit that the quality of the teas that are purveyed by Lalani & Co are the best teas that she has ever drunk.

"It's clear that they love teas, themselves," she pointed out. "They have got everything exactly correct. These teas would be viewed as perfectly acceptable for the tea drinkers of the country of origin, which isn't always the case."

She has raved for days about their Okumidori Sencha Green Tea. "It's one of the best green teas I have ever tasted. It's perfection in a cup!"

She was particularly pleased that the tea is accompanied by such important details as to the region of Japan where it was sourced, which season and also the exact tea garden where it was grown, and if it is organic or not. In this case the tea in question was organic and the garden was the Wazuka Garden.

However, she reserves her special praise for their Matcha Gold tea, which is finely milled as only a proper Matcha tea should be.

She said: "Matcha Gold. I have had Matcha tes in the past and, to be fair, thoroughly enjoyed them.

But that was before I tried Lalani & Co. Matcha Gold. This is truly the Matcha experience to beat all Matcha experiences

"Apparently they pick it in Kyoto from only real, family owned farms, it's shaded from the sun for 21 days, then they mill it using the ancient method involving granite stones.

"It takes time to prepare it properly, which is the only way, as this tea deserves to be prepared and drunk with real respect."

It is sold in 30 gramme jars at a cost of £29.00.

Visit http://www.lalaniandco.com/the-collection.

Hardy's has a wine for that! Stamp of Australia Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir

Stamp of Australia Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir is a wine that is in a class all of its own.

It is a bright and as sparking as the best Champagnes,true, but Stamp of Australia Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir is so much more than a fizzy white wine.

It is an eminently drinkable wine. Although it is a white wine, the flavour is an intensely rich and fruity flavour, but with a buttery undertone and a finish that is redolent of meadow flower honey.

It is from South Eastern Australia and is obviously that the Thomas Hardy and Sons company are well and truly at the top of their game, which appears to be to give French wine makers a damn good run for their money!

It's 12% vol and is an ideal accompaniment with food or if you have something that you want to celebrate, then Stamp of Australia Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir is the wine you'll want to try.

Once you do try it, you will be hooked, for sure!

Patchwork Pate so good that your taste buds will sing!

My wife and I have tried some Pates made by the Patchwork Pate Company, recently.

The flavours we tried were Free Range Chicken Liver Pate with Chase Extra Dry Gin, Free Range Chicken Liver Pate with Chase Smoked Vodka and Free Range Pheasant Liver Pate with Chase Sloe Mulberry Gin.

My wife is an expert on making pates, herself. Her late mother was a cordon bleu chef who ran her own catering business. One of the products she made was pates and my wife helped her to make them.

When my wife was tasting the Patchwork Pates she said: "This is really, really good. Excellent, in fact!

"It's interesting," she continued to say: "But unlike lots of firms that make pates, Patchwork haven't just produced a base pate and then changed it a little bit by adding flavourings. Patchwork make each one of their pates from scratch and you can tell this from the really good depth of flavour. I have to say that these are so good I will have to give them 11 out of 10. They are really that good!"

The flavours of each pate are a delicious sum of their individual parts. Yet each one is well balanced. My favourite was the Chicken Liver Pate with Chase Smoked Vodka, because there is an authentic and divine undertone of smokiness that really lifts the pate to unheard of heights.

My wife, who is an ardent aficionado of gin especially liked the Extra Dry Gin Chicken Liver Pate. The only potential problem is that we will now have to locate a supplier of Chase Extra Dry Gin in our area!

We both adored the Pheasant Liver Pate with the Sloe Mulberry Gin, a perfect combination.

The Free Range Duck Liver Pate with Orange Marmalade Vodka was a true revelation!

We ate the pates with Patchwork Pate Organic Spelt Oat Fingers with seaweed and also Patchwork Pate Organic Spelt Oat Fingers with Black Pepper and a simple salad that my wife put together.

The oat fingers are delicious in their own right and worked very well with the pates and the salad, plus the Patchwork's Apple Chutney with Hobgoblin Ale (another weakness of both my wife and I!) and a pinch of ginger. The pleasantly warming bite of ginger told us that it was a fairly generous pinch of ginger, but it worked so well that it was obvious the pinch was added with skill and love.

Each jar of pate costs a remarkably reasonable £3.95, and a Delight Hamper Chase which is a "Handy wooden crate with a selection of Chase jarred pâté, two of our Chutneys with Ale, and one pack of our Spelt Oat Fingers" costs a superb £20.30p.

Visit their online shop at https://www.patchwork-pate.co.uk and amuse yourself by turning the lights on and the off again!

There's so much more, too! Vegetarian options, hummus,  ice cream fro grown-ups, too, to name only a few items from the range of one of the best exports from God's Country (Wales, for any Saesneg out there!) that is known to man.

Lake District Dairy's Quark. All the taste, none of the guilt!

It's smooth, it's creamy and it tastes absolutely delicious, but it is really and truly fat free and low in both sugar and salt!

It comes in three flavours, Original, Lemon and Vanilla and is great for cooking, mixing and baking. (It's also good for just eating with a spoon, so long as nobody is looking!)

It makes a healthy and delicious replacement for cream cheese, creme fraiche, mascarpone, ricotta, Greek yoghurt, fromage frais, double cream and even soured cream.

This evening we spread it on freshly baked bread rolls hot from the oven and on fruited scones.

As we are -for a variety of rather tedious reasons- a day late with our Shrove Tuesday celebrations, we intend to serve Quark on our pancakes, tomorrow.

When you use Quark your usual naughty but nice desert suddenly becomes substantially less naughty.

For example should you replace cream cheese in your cheesecake with Lakeland Dairy Quark, the fat and calorie contents takes a bit of a nosedive, yet the flavour is every bit as scrummy!

It's reported that a strawberry cheesecake using Quark rather than cream cheese will have 292 calories per 339 gramme serving, as against 180 calories more for4 the cream cheese version.

So using Quark has got to make sense, hasn't it?

Tomorrow evening we intend to make some pancakes to a delicious recipe passed down through generations of my wife's Indian family and rather than using dollops of cream on them, we will, instead, use dollops of Quark.

Where can you get Lake District Dairy Quark? Most major supermarkets including morrisons should have it in their chiller cabinets.

Independent Nutritionist Fiona Hunter said: "Using Quark in everyday cooking or baking is a simple way to help make family meals more nutritious and healthier without having to sacrifice on flavour."

For recipes and further details please visit www.LakeDistrictQuark.co.uk.

By the way, a 250 gramme pot costs a remarkably reasonable £1.25.

Golden Syrup Days are here again on Shrove Tuesday

Usually we would have pancakes at home served with freshly squeezed orange juice and some sugar.

But for a special treat we would sometimes be allowed to use Lyle's Golden Syrup on our pancakes. 

But now such decadent luxury is available to all, especially with the cunning advent of the Lyle's Golden Syrup squeezy bottles of Lyle's Golden Syrup special pancake syrup!

Now, my wife and I thought long and hard about this fantastic innovation, available in golden syrup flavour and also in new maple syrup flavour. 

Should we keep this news to ourselves? Or should we spread the magic and tell you, our readers, about this fantastic duo of top tasting sauces?

We have decided on the latter, more honourable, course of action.

They are both equally delicious, though if you hanker after the taste of maple syrup, I know which one I would prefer. 

So, make the pancakes, perhaps even put lemon juice or orange juice onto your pancake and instead of reaching for a spoon filled with sugar, why not reach for the Lyle's Golden Syrup bottle and squeeze it a little or perhaps a lottle?

PLJ can help you get perfect pancakes

With Shrove Tuesday (17th February) here, our thoughts turn to creating that perfect pancake to help celebrate Pancake Day the traditional way.

So to help you make this year’s batch the tastiest yet, classic British drinks brand PLj Lemon Juice has created a few tips to help you make this year’s event the tastiest yet:

PLj’s Perfect Pancake Tips:

Cast it with iron - Using a shallow cast iron frying pan is traditionally the best method for achieving a perfectly round, flat pancake.  While they are heavier than modern non-stick pans – you’ll need to use two hands to toss – cast iron pans distribute heat more evenly to create a better pancake.

Whisk, whisk and whisk the pancake mixture – doing so will add air to the batter, creating a lighter and fluffier consistency.

Butter up - Always use butter rather than oil in the pan, as it gives a better, creamier flavour.

Keep it hot – heat your chosen pan for two to three minutes before adding the butter to the pan.  Once the butter has melted, you can then add your batter mix.

Thin and crispy - For a thin, crepe-style pancake, pop two tablespoons of batter mix into the pan and swirl with a spatula to spread evenly around the pan.

Time out - Cook for about 30 seconds on each side of the pancake.  Flip at least once, but twice or more will give a better result if you are feeling extra enthusiastic and confident!

Enjoy! Drizzle each pancake with PLj Lemon Juice (an easy and convenient alternative to squeezing lemons) and dust with sugar for a traditional favourite.

Ingredients for the perfect pancake (makes 6-8 pancakes in an 18cm pan)

110g sifted flour

1 egg

100ml milk and 50ml water

50g butter, for frying

To serve: PLj Lemon Juice and a sprinkling of sugar

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the centre of the mixture and break the egg into it.  Whisk the egg together with the flour, and while continuing to whisk gradually add the milk and water until you have created a smooth batter.

Add 2tbsp of the batter to your hot pan, evenly spread and cook for 30 seconds on each side.  For a traditional taste, add a splash of PLj Lemon Juice, a sprinkle of sugar and enjoy!

An invigorating support to calorie-controlled diets, PLj is a blend of lemon juice and is rich in vitamin C – a 25ml serving contains at least 75% of the recommended daily intake and just 9 kcals – yet is free from all artificial colours, flavours and sweeteners.

With approximately 20 servings per bottle, PLj is the easy way to enjoy real lemon juice, but without the mess or hassle of chopping and squeezing. PLj is available from Tesco priced £2.49 RRP for 500ml.

A few facts about Pancake Day

·         Pancake Day is known as ‘Shrove Tuesday’ in the UK, and falls on the day before Ash Wednesday, or the first day of Lent

·         The day is known as Pancake Day because pancake recipes were traditionally made to use up stocks of flour, milk and eggs, which were forbidden during the abstinence of Lent

·         The word ‘Shrove’ is derived from the Old English ‘shrive’, meaning to ‘confess all sins’.  On Shrove Tuesday, people would go to church and be ‘shriven’ ahead of the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday

·         In the UK, the term ‘shroving’ was a custom in which children sang or recited poetry in exchange for food or money

·         Meanwhile, ‘Lent Crocking’ was a term used to describe a custom whereby children would knock on doors asking for pancakes – and throw broken crockery at the doors of those who declined their requests!

·         Pancake races are held around the UK on Pancake Day.  One of the most famous takes place in Olney, where according to local folklore, in 1445 a woman of Olney heard the shriving bell while she was making pancakes and rushed to the church, frying pan in hand.  Participants of the now world-famous Olney Pancake Race must be local housewives and wear an apron and hat or scarf when taking part!

·         Pancake Day is celebrated differently around the world. In Brazil, Pancake Day is known as Terca-feira gorda and is the final day of the carnival in Rio De Janeiro while in New Orleans the day is marked by the Mardi Gras carnival

Will they apologise for their bogus "dangerous" fat advice?

Well, the cat is well and truly out of the bag. That advice they gave us, 30 years ago? You know, when they told us to give up real foods like butter and cheese and directed us to eat "healthy margarines and low fat spreads," instead?

It turns out that advice was not only wrong, but potentially unhealthy, too.

Here's what Xynergy Superfoodist Rick Hay has to say on this hot topic: You may have seen news on a report this week regarding past 'fat guidelines' issued in the 1980s that are now being called into question.

"The report released stated that the dietary advice warning people to avoid eating fatty foods such as butter and cheese "should never have been introduced," (according to new research).

February is National Heart Month so the timing is apt for such news, when it appeared on the online journal 'Open Heart'.

Figures show that 1 person dies every 7 minutes from pulmonary heart disease, thats 200 a day, or 73,000 p.a. (this is down from 178,000 in the 1980s though). "

Xynergy Superfoodist Rick Hay appeared on Sky News recently to discuss just this, saying that we shouldn't make a simplistic analysis, as people have now turned to a higher card diet, resulting in the crisis we see today.

He recommends that we simply eat sensibly, that we do not disregard any food group, (though we should avoid transfat).

He went on to say: "Eating a healthy diet that is as close to nature as possible should really help us on our way, and it is this philosophy that brought about Rick writing the Anti Ageing Food & Fitness Plan. Featuring easy to follow healthy recipes, choosing organic where possible, the right mix of protein, carbs & good fats plus including the right supplements to assist you in your health goals. The plan features such products from Xynergy Health Products."

Nutrient density is the key he says, and always include super foods in your daily diet regime.

So, what do we do? My wife and I no longer eat margarines. Incidentally this coincided with a decrease in eczema for my wife, so there already seems to be a health boost as far as we can determine.

So, will they apologise for their bogus "dangerous" fat advice? Probably not.

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