The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
I’ve tried a lot of fruit and vegetable box schemes but the challenge of living on a main road and working full time means it’s difficult to always be around for delivery or feel confident my box won’t be stolen by the time I get home. So I’ve resorted to growing my own and using […]
It’s great finding brands that remain true to their foundlings. Roddas is one such example. In 1890 Eliza Jane Rodda started making clotted cream in her farmhouse kitchen in Cornwall. It started to sell well locally and made it’s way to shops all over England in no time. Over 120 on, the Rodda family are […]
One of the reasons I started growing strawberries was because over the last few years, strawberries no longer taste like strawberries. They look like strawberries. They smell like strawberries but they don’t taste of anything. Bland watery popsicles. Often not even juicy and indeed sometimes crunchy. Worst of all, they’re not grown in the UK […]
My jasmine flowers have all but gone this week. I miss their sweet scent wafting through the window in the evenings. Of course the scent is no where close to the intensity of the bushes in my grandmother’s gardens in India or East Africa. There the blooms are so much bigger and used for adorning […]
I’m not a fan of mixes. Really I’m not. Especially Indian spices mixes. Everytime I see one on the shelf I can hear the voice of Nina Wadia’s Goodness Gracious Me character shouting “Naheee, I can make it at home for nothing“. But ….and I’m finding it difficult not to wave my forefinger at you here […]
If, like me, you rarely buy popcorn in retail outlets because it is so ridiculously expensive then this is the popcorn that will change your mind. Joseph Sopher – The Popcorn Alchemist The company was started by Joseph Sopher. On regular trips to America he would bring back gourmet popcorn for friends and family. He […]
All the elderflowers around at the moment have me in the mood for cordial. Elderflower cordial is a staple on my kitchen shelf – I don’t have cupboards lest I forget what’s in them. My brand of choice has always been Belvoir. It’s just lusciously syrupy and perfect for baking with. I used it on […]
I love honey. It’s my go to food to feel better when I am feeling stressed. I tend to buy ‘proper honey’. By this I mean honey from my local Greek or Turkish shop that doesn’t have any rubbish thrown in, or honeycomb that just melts in your mouth. But for baking that can get […]
I had my very first Gin and Tonic at The Lake Palace Hotel which is in Udaipur in Rajasthan and most well known as the location for the James Bond Film Octopussy. I cannot imagine there are many Indian girls who haven’t dreamed of staying there in one of the regal suites looking out across […]
Decadence is such a beautiful feeling yet the dictionary defines is as ‘the act of falling into decay or deterioration – especially of the moral kind’ I think that’s just so sad. It’s a wonderful feeling. Complete and utter indulgence every now and then never did any of us any harm. And this is exactly […]
Sugar. Such a lovely word. Such a lovely taste. There is nothing better than a hot, buttery crumpet with a sprinkling of brown sugar. A teaspoonful is only 15 calories vs 22 in the same of honey. Bet you didn’t think that would be the case eh? Sugar is a carbohydrate that’s naturally in most […]
Baobab. Ever heard of it? I vaguely remembered that it was something that looked like a coconut and came from the ‘upside down tree’. I had no idea it was edible until I met the lovely people at Phytotrade Africa. They are a not for profit organisation who represent the natural products industry in Southern […]