A Brief History of Rhubarb in the UK
After 6 years of campaigning, forced Yorkshire rhubarb has finally been given the EU’s Protected Designation of Origin classification. This means that only forced rhubarb grown within the area between Bradford, Leeds and Wakefield, known as the ‘Rhubarb Triangle’, can legally be called Yorkshire rhubarb. Although rhubarb has been used as a medicine for centuries it wasn’t until the late 18th century that it was used in cooking. Read More
Cadbury - The End of an Era
In January 2010, despite having spent the previous few months resolutely refusing to sell, Cadbury accepted Kraft's hostile offer to purchase the company, ending a British ownership of over 180 years. Read More
Chocolate
As a nation we consume huge amounts of chocolate every year but many people have no idea that chocolate is grown on a tree. Obviously not chocolate as we know it, you don't see trees filled with masses of chocolate bars! It's from the cacao tree, known botanically as Theobroma which means ‘food of the gods’, which produces melon like pods containing the seeds which are the key ingredient in chocolate. Read More
Pancakes
Thousands of years ago an inventive cook mixed together a thin batter made from flour, eggs, milk and water, cooked the resulting mixture in a shallow pan and created the first cake in a pan or ‘pancake’ as they became known. A recipe in ‘Apicius’ a Roman cookery book which was compiled around the 4th or 5th century AD, shows that the basic recipe has remained relatively unchanged over the centuries. Read More
It's Strawberry Season
Strawberry season is here again with reports from the West Country that the strawberries will taste better than ever this year thanks to the icy winter weather and a sunny april. The strawberries that we enjoy today though are a far cry from the tiny wild berries that were prized in Roman times. Read More
The History of Ice Cream
Recipes for ice cream were first recorded in the 17th century and they are thought to have originated from Italy and then France before becoming popular in the UK. However, ice has been produced for thousands of years and there are records of the ancient Greeks eating ‘snow cones’ mixed with honey and fruit. Read More
Why Don't We Source More Of Our Salt From The Sea?
As an island totally surrounded by salty sea water you would assume that the most obvious source of salt in the UK would be the sea. Yet nowadays most of the salt consumed in the UK is refined table or cooking salt which comes from salt mines in Cheshire. Read More
