The Botanical Kitchen
Recipes, travel and the occasional rant
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 […]
Strawberries are one of those fruits which work exceptionally well in savoury dishes. This flavour combination is one I first came across at The East India Company. I’ve gone for a very peppery finish but you can play around with the right balance for you by simply grinding a little pepper and then adding more […]
Jam. Such a simple word. Why then does it instil so much fear when paired with the word ‘making’? I made jam once. Poured it into a jar and it went solid. Rock solid. Even placing the jar in boiling water didn’t loosen the contents even slightly. The expensive Kilner jar went in the bin […]
Vivien has been making and demonstrating preserves for 25 years. She has won numerous awards and has 18 years of judging preserves at competitions on her CV too. I recently met Vivien at a special jam making evening in London. She’s incredibly down to earth and not as scary as you would imagine WI judges […]
I’ve been really fortunate over the last few months to have met so many amazing foodies who have shared not only their wonderful ingredients but also their passions for helping and supporting others to (re)discover the great produce we have in this country. I’d like to introduce you to two who inspired today’s recipes of Sourdough […]