Food & Ingredients

It is possible to heat milk using a conventional electric kettle. However, your health (and kettle) may be at risk of damage if you use a kettle to heat milk or liquids other than water. Generally, milk needs to be heated slowly at a low temperature. This prevents it from scalding and ensures the flavor […]

Oatmeal can refer to either raw, dry oats or dishes prepared by boiling oats. When Americans talk about oatmeal, they are usually talking about the same thing that British people call porridge. Technically, porridge can refer to any grain or cereal that is boiled in water or milk. However, in the UK, porridge almost always

Most people know that 0°C is the freezing point of water and that 100°C is the boiling point. But within these state-changing temperatures there are a range of other temperatures that are referred to in recipes and in general everyday life. When it comes to cooking, it is important to understand what these mean as

The translation of the French crème fraiche is “fresh cream”. It is traditionally made using a 30% fat content cream which is then soured by the addition of bacteria in a starter culture. The starter culture causes the cream to thicken and develop and results in a cream that is thick, creamy and with a

Camembert is a popular cheese that gets its name from the town of Camembert in Normandy, France, where it originated in the 18th century. It is a mild soft cheese that was traditionally “surface ripened” and made with unpasteurised milk. Nowadays it is mostly made with pasteurised milk for safety reasons, with only 10% of

Tea is a very popular drink in the UK that has become strongly associated with British customs. It is estimated that more than 7 million people in the UK drink four or more cups of tea a day. Usually when we refer to tea, we mean tea made with a traditional English breakfast teabag. The

Jelly is a popular food with both adults and children. As children, we are often given a bowl of jelly and ice-cream at parties. As adults we might find it at the bottom of a delicious festive sherry trifle where it would be topped with custard and cream. Jelly is also now a common snack

Since the UK was introduced to pasta by Italy in the 13th century it has become one of the nation’s favourite foods. 68% of British people say that they eat pasta at least once a week and 42% of pasta eaters consume it several times a week. The wide range of varieties, shapes and sizes

We all have those days where we have our heart set on baking a particular recipe. We suddenly have deep desire to make chocolate cakes or whip up a batch of delicious brownies. Often these delectable chocolate-based recipes have cocoa powder as a key ingredient. So, what do you do if you head to your

Sugar is a common recipe ingredient, but there are many different types of sugar and many different uses for them. The typical white sugar, like the one we might add to our coffee, is refined, and made from the sugar beet plant. White sugar can be ground to make finer varieties such as icing sugar