Paula Goddard

Matching wine to a lettuce and herb salad, whose only coating is a grind of salt and pepper, is easy - almost any white or light red wine will go. Finding a wine for a salad dressed in oil or vinegar is a little more difficult.

This is an icecream that needs to be eaten naked – wafers or maple syrup toppings would be an unwelcome distraction when savouring this dish. After three generous spoonfuls of Criterion Ices Stem Ginger icecream my throat felt pleasingly on fire. Every mouthful of smooth vanilla icecream came laced with several ha’penny-sized chunks of preserved ginger. Initially creamy with just a hint of sweetness, a layer of peppery hotness is added after biting into the inevitable chunk of green ginger. 

Geo Organics has launched its own organic and vegetarian Worcestershire Sauce made to a ‘new recipe’ that doesn’t include the traditional ingredient anchovy. Can a Worcestershire Sauce be called Worcestershire Sauce without containing anchovy – fermented flesh, bones and all?

Lovers of ‘the Original’ and ‘the Genuine’ sauce may be surprised to learn that the term Worcestershire Sauce is not limited to Mr Lea and Perrins anchovy concoction. Legal action against the Birmingham sauce manufacturer Holbrooks in 1906 concluded the name ‘Worcestershire Sauce’ could be applied to any sauce but only Lea and Perrins had the right to call theirs 'Original and Genuine'.

Australian and New Zealand bread-flour will be fortified with folic acid within two years it was announced today. Adding 200-300 micrograms of folic acid per 100g of flour is expected to prevent between 14 and 49 neural tube defects in Australian unborn babies each year. American, Canadian and Chilean women are already being helped through their pregnancies with folic acid food protection, but British women aren’t as yet. By law our white and brown flour is fortified with calcium, iron, thiamin and niacin but not folic acid. The British Food Standards Agency has been urging the government to order the mandatory fortification of food with folic acid since 2006.