May Food and Drink News – With summer days ahead (🤞), it’s good to have a selection of appropriate snacks to hand, and this new range is fabulous. The new unearthed® Mission Olives range includes olives Perfect with Drinks (Nocellara & Kalamata), Perfect with Friends (mix of pitted Gordal, Nocellara, Kalamata and Edremit olives), Perfect for Tapas (Gordal olives known as the “Queen” olive) RRP £4.00 a pack, alongside two new ready-to-serve Italian Style Sharing Platters (RRP £5.00 each) available in Sainsbury’s. Whether hosting a tapas evening, picking up nibbles for pre-dinner drinks or building a relaxed grazing board. As with the entire range, 1p per pack sold will be donated to Action Against Hunger. Since 2010, unearthed®, which is part of The Compleat Food Group, has donated more than £1m, from the sales of products to this international charity, helping to save 23,000 lives globally from life-threatening hunger.
Fiorella®, is a luxurious floral-shaped triple crème brie, and it’s recently been launched by leading cheesemaker Tom Walker and Sons. Crafted in Germany from refined cow’s milk, Fiorella is a soft speciality cheese characterised by its soft creaminess and buttery melting texture, offering a mild flavour with a delicate fresh cream note. Its distinctive flower shape is more than decorative: Fiorella matures slowly from the outside in, creating a beautifully balanced texture and flavour development. It’s naturally lactose and gluten-free. What’s more, it’s really delicious! Look out for it in cheese shops and deli counters.
Few flavours are as instantly recognisable in Britain as Marmite and Colman’s Mustard, and now the iconic condiments have found a new home in the sausage aisle. British meat brand The Jolly Hog has teamed up with the two household names to launch a new range of sausages that celebrate what the brand calls “a banger of a British pairing.” The Colman’s are, in my opinion, the tastier option, as I found the Marmite ones rather too salty for my taste. But they are both good, meaty bangers and ideal for a barbecue. Available from Ocado, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose at an RRP of £4.50 per 400g pack.
BOSH! has extended its plant-based product range with three new seasonings: BOSH! Sweet & Smoky BBQ Seasoning; BOSH! Citrus & Spice Zesty Seasoning and BOSH! Rich & Savoury Umami Seasoning. All packed in 120g tubs and available from Ocado at £4. The seasonings range can be cooked with, adding real depth to a dish, or sprinkled over at the end of cooking to give a burst of fresh flavour. Great on proteins, veg, soups, stews or scrambles, whether or not plant- based of course!
Perfect for drinking on one of the forthcoming summer days, is this delicious Tesco Finest Greek Assyrtiko. From grapes grown in northern Greece, grown at high altitudes for extra freshness and exquisite flavour, this vibrant and crisp wine has fresh aromas of lemon zest, green apple and white peach, with refreshing minerality which gives a mouth watering finish. Pairs with seafood, grilled vegetables, and goat’s cheese. What’s more, it’s one of the oldest grape varieties in cultivation today. £11a bottle, but on offer at the moment for Clubcard holders, so worth stocking up.
When I visited Teddiington’s lovely Baccaro restaurant recently, I was treated to a tasting of some delicious Italian drinks produced by the company run by Giuseppe Gallo, the owner of Bacarro:
Savoia Rosso Americano is a darker, richer aperitivo character. Made in Turin, it combines Trebbiano wine with 14 month oak aged DOC Marsala Fine and a complex botanical blend of more than 20 ingredients, including artemisia, bitter orange and gentian root. The result is a style that sits elegantly between red bitter and vermouth, with herbal bitterness, warm spice and wine led depth. It lends itself naturally to classic serves, particularly the Savoia Spritz with 2 parts Savoia Rosso and 2 parts Prosecco, and the Savoia Negroni with 2 parts Savoia Rosso and 1 part London Dry Gin.
Savoia Orancio is the more luminous and contemporary counterpart, shaped by the wine based aperitivo tradition but with a citrus brightness and aromatic spice. Italian white wines alongside sweet and bitter orange, lime and bergamot, layered with warming spice notes inspired by the Silk Road. At 17.2% ABV it makes fabulous cocktails, including an Orancio Spritz, with 2 parts Savoia Orancio and 3 parts Prosecco or rosé sparkling wine,
Both are vegan, in very elegant 50cl bottles (inspired by the Mole Antonelliana in Turin) and available from Amazon at around £23 a bottle. Or better still, if in Teddington, pop into Baccaro for cicchetti and enjoy a glass or two in a cocktail.
The Seasoned Gastronome