- Hello, and welcome back to sorted food.
Today, we are discussing a whole bunch more food trends
- And as with all trends
- Some may be brand new to parts of the world while others
maybe as old as Ebbers.
- And we'll ask ourselves why they exist
and whether they are here to stay
or whether they're just going to fade away.
- Oh, started early
- May have peaked too soon mate there.
- Ample rhymes throughout
- We're each going to take it in turns to sit
in the hot seat and, Baz, you're first.
- Bring it on.
- Lift the closh.
- Oh, okay.
- This is my pick of a trend for you.
- Straight away I can tell its got.
It's got some legs,
which would like insinuate it's boozy. Sorry.
Wait a minute. It's from, Ebbers
so it's going to be boozy.
- Have a sip.
- Mm, okay. What is that?
- It's one of my favourites.
- I've had this before.
This is sloe gin.
- This is from Sloemotion.
So the sloemotion distillery is an artisan business,
creating great tasting spirits and liquors.
And I love the story behind it.
And I'm going to use it as an excuse to talk about
hedgerows.
- Like, bushes?
- Bushes, trimming your Bush.
- Trimming your bush, and basically since the war,
we've all been trimming our bushes in the UK too much.
And we've lost half of the UK's hedgerows
because of towns expanding,
motorways being built, farming machinery getting bigger,
having to take hedgerows down to be more efficient,
to create more produce.
And by losing half the hedgerows,
we've also lost an awful lot of wildlife from within them.
The beauty behind this particular product and the sloe
motion distillery is they started doing responsible,
sustainable farming long before it was cool.
Like 20 years ago as farmers,
they started to grow back the hedgerows and let them grow
out. And as a result,
they accidentally ended up with a hell of a lot of Sloe's
and damson and all sorts of wild botanicals and flowers
in the hedgerows. And they thought,
what on earth can we do with this?
That's where they started the distillery.
- Interesting.
It doesn't taste like gin. I'm not a massive gin,
Gin fan, but Sloe gin has a completely different flavour
profile. And one I actually really enjoy.
- Much more fruity, obviously from the sloes,
but also added sugar. And it's not as high ABV.
So it's not like you're 40% spirit of gin.
- 26?
- 26.
So technically you take a base gin,
and then you macerate sugar and berries in it.
And typically you pick the sloes after the first frost,
et cetera, et cetera, and slowly you get a wonderful,
wonderful product.
Now, because this is just a drink,
the food team were upset they couldn't prepare anything.
So they've created you a little dish to go on the side.
So what we have prepared for you is a black pudding sausage
roll with hedgerow chutney.
Dig in and pair it with your sloe gin.
- Oh.
- The very first time I had this sloe gin was long
before I actually knew anything about the story behind the business
or the sustainability.
I just found these little wonderful miniatures.
And basically we bought them and stuck them in our pockets
for a long walk, some friends and I.
Because you're out walking and just have a little,
like a little hip flask with you.
And it's absolute delicious,
just swig straight from there because of the fruitiness.
But you can also turn it to a lovely longer drink with stuff
like a ginger ale or ginger beer, over ice.
Wonderful.
- When people talk about the food and drink pairings.
I'm always like, yeah, sure.
You're clutching at straws, but when you get it right,
this makes this tastier and that makes that tastier.
They're generally, they sing together.
- The last thing is they don't just do the fruity ones.
They also just do a very clear Hedgerow gin.
And if you look on the back,
it'll tell you all the botanicals they pick from a hedgerow,
that go into their gin.
- I liked that. That's cool.
- How much do you reckon?
- Ooh, for this one?
- A little gift box of four fruity one.
So a Bramble whiskey, a slow Ruby, a damson gin.
And the one you've got there, the sloe gin.
- 12, 12 pounds.
- 18.95.
- Yeah, that feels of value. And they're delicious.
- Okay, Baz, question for you.
- Whoa, he started strong in the intro, remember?
- Is this something that's going to continue to hedge
grow and grow?
Or will it be sloe to take off.
- It's been sloe to take off, but I think it's
going to hedge grow and grow and it's here to stay.
Cause it's delicious.
Try my sausage it's good.
- I don't have to be asked twice.
- Ebbers in the hot seat, lift the closh.
- Oh.
- It's a boozy episode.
- The Ebber-sode, that's why.
- The Ebber-sode.
I don't mind this reputation I'm getting for myself.
- We'll stop drinking then!
- Tastes lovely.
Not as fizzy as I thought it was going to be
based on bubbles.
- Oh
- But nice, tasty, kind of hoppy bitter, got bittery.
It's smells more APA,
or IPA.
- Are you getting any mushroom?
- What? That's a strange question to ask.
- No mushroom.
- Ebbers, this is fungtn, adaptogenic,
Alcohol-free beer made from mushrooms.
- Interesting.
- Fungtn is the first adaptogenic alcohol free
beer range, premium craft beer,
traditionally brewed with functional mushrooms.
Your beer doesn't taste like mushrooms,
but they can help keep your mind and body in good form.
So the trend that we're talking about here is adaptogenic or
functional mushrooms.
- Sorry.
- Interesting.
- What is adaptogenic?
- Well, I'm so glad you asked.
- So functional or adaptogenic
mushrooms have been used medicinally for centuries.
They claim to have physical and psychological restorative
properties whilst also supporting the immune system.
Supposedly, they adapt
to what is causing the issues and work
to fix them within your body.
- Oh.
So they're very smart mushrooms.
- Smart mushrooms. Yeah.
- Interesting what trend we're looking at here.
I feel like there's two trends crossing over.
You've got functional mushrooms and you've got
no or low alcohol beers.
And I feel like both of those,
well actually and craft ale.
- That craft ale trend. It's three.
This is like a trio of stuff merging with one glass in the
middle and it's very tasty.
- So that's the bottle. I've given you the IPA,
which is brewed with lion's mane mushrooms.
There's also a citra beer
brewed with reishi mushrooms and
a lager fruit with chaga mushroom.
- Can we try some?
- Cheers.
- So fungtn was launched during lockdown,
by mindful drinking consultant, Zoe Henderson.
She discovered medicinal mushrooms on a trip to California,
brought them back and thought
I could do something with this.
So what better bar snack to enjoy your mushroom beer with
then a toasted chorizo sandwich.
- Epic.
- And some flowers, I don't know where they came from but.
- Bottom of the allotment left side.
- I've got an allotment.
- Straight off interesting
that most definitely a vegan beer.
Most definitely not a vegan sandwich,
but I think the trend is more to kind of like it doesn't
have to be just a niche of low alcohol
and or vegan and, or gluten-free,
it's just a really tasty beer
that happens to be no low alcohol.
- I love my mushrooms.
I love them on toast.
I love them throughout my diet,
but I never thought about having them in a beer.
And if this is better for me in a normal beer,
it's probably a beer I should be drinking more of.
- If you were to see fungtn beer in a bar,
would you order it?
- Because of habit and routine, I don't think I would.
I walk into a bar and you know what I fancy
an ice cold cider on a hot day,
or I want an IPA and you just go to what is
already familiar and comfortable. I'd want to try it,
but maybe it's a lunchtime beer.
I'd have this for a pub lunch on a Workday when you're not.
- Why's in a pub on a workday?
- No idea?
- Once again, just playing to the stereotype.
If I go to a pub or a bar and I'm not drinking,
I've gone from ordering, you know,
a lemonade or something like that to a kombucha.
I'll have that because that's more interesting.
I feel for me that this falls into that category of,
I want a more interesting soft drink.
- Yep.
- So how much do you think we paid for a bottle of
fungtn mushroom beer.
- Well I wouldn't question paying 4.50 - 5 pounds in a Bar,
but obviously there is a mark up there.
So I reckon if you're buying it direct 2.50 a bottle?
Maybe 3 quid.
- Three pound 20 bought individually,
or you buy case works out at three pounds each.
So only one question left to ask Barry
I know everyone at home here is thinking it as well,
Are you up for functional fungi or
will you let this one slide you by?
- The more functional fun guy I can get the better!
- Mr. Taylor, you are a lucky sausage.
I think you're gonna like this one too.
- I am a lucky sausage!
Oh! This recipe looks familiar.
- This is from meal packs, an awesome midweek meal.
It's pork meatballs with a creamy fennel sauce.
- Fantastic, but not with pasta?
- Well it's the pasta that we're kind of focusing on.
Dig in and let's have a chat.
- Oh, that's not normal pasta. In my house,
we've tried lots of alternative pastas.
And the one thing that let's sit down every time is a
structural integrity. They fall apart really quickly.
This is good though. It is good.
- So a hundred percent, it is not made from wheat.
So it is not going to behave the same way as wheat pasta.
So what we're talking about here is green pea flour and/or
pasta. So yes, it is a gluten-free alternative.
This particular one you're eating is from Sainsbury's.
It is they're sort of run of the mill green pea fusilli.
- Trend?
- I'm glad you said that
because I think we fall into the habit of
confusing trends with something that's brand new is just
popped up and never been seen before.
That's potentially a fad or an original idea.
A trend is something that gains momentum over a long period
of time amongst a mass population.
And that's why we've chosen
the supermarket mid range option
because now you can get that very affordably.
It's not the Wholefoods, Planet,
Organic sort of farmer's market option.
This is now very much mainstream and therefore the trend
has taken hold.
- It's fantastic for mid week cooking.
- So yeah, it's a trend we're kind of looking at broadly
about sort of legume flours as an alternative.
And the reason being recent Mintel report suggesting that
the free from market has grown to
£652 million in the UK.
- So interestingly.
If this forms part of like the free-from range,
is this available in its own free-from aisle?
Or is this now next to the pastas in the normal pasta aisle?
- It's beginning to make that transition.
So before you'd have to go into, exactly that, a very special aisle
because you are actively seeking out perhaps on medical
advice to omit something from your diet.
That's where you'd find it. Now,
this is much more mainstream. One in four,
people are choosing to be free from certain ingredients,
not just gluten, but dairy or vegan, whatever,
but only one in five of those
based on actual medical advice.
- And as a vehicle for flavour.
It's fantastic.
I'm guessing a lot highest source of fibre as well.
- Good for fibre.
Good for protein.
Pea is excellent for protein and low in carb.
And on top of that,
it's good for our UK farms because rather than growing
just wheat, which we do an awful lot of in this country,
we can now put pea and field peas into some of these crop
rotations. They're nitrogen fixers... it's kind of good.
So if you've got field peas,
they essentially roast them to dry them out.
And that also makes some of the nutrients more bioavailable
and then they grind them into a flour and that's called peasmeal
a bit like cornmeal.
Do you want to see some other ones.
- Yes.
- A bit like traditional pasta.
there's lots of different, like, varieties and price
brackets as well I guess.
- How much you reckon that bag of Sainsbury's
green pea fusilli is?
Literally one ingredient in it. 100% green peas.
- A normal pack of pasta similar to that 50p, that's cock on.
It's the same.
- We have to remember it's not yet produced
in the same volume and in the same
kind of mass production as regular pasta.
So it is definitely more than that.
One pound 25 for that bag.
- Okay.
I think it's important that it's affordable
because it's doing something good.
I Really like it. Well, you know what ask me the question.
- Does this apPEAl to you
or merely apPEAse you.
- It's honestly really appealing to me. Excellent.
You feeling good about yourself?
- Well I was.
- Get ready to feel better.
- Oh.
- Lift the closh.
- I know what that is.
Barry, because I used to have a cat.
(Barry laughing)
- It doesn't smell of anything.
- Nothing at all.
Don't stick it up there. Blimey.
- It's very sweet.
- Oh yeah.
- It's really chewy.
- Yup
- Oh, I know exactly what that is.
- I'm going to count down from hive.
And if you can't get it,
we'll give you a clue.
Hive,
4,
3,
2,
1.
That wasn't even a little bit of subtle.
- He was too buzzy trying to work out what it was.
- Ebbers is dropping the clues,
- I've got it!
- He's got it! He's there!
- Honey!
- No!
- What?
- It is honey.
- Partly honey.
- This is wild bee bread.
- I have never heard of this before.
Is this like bee sandwiches?
- This is 100 percent natural. This is made by the bees.
So what the bees do is
they deposit some of the pollen they've been collecting,
put it into their little hexagons and then top it off
with have some honey,
leave it for three months to ferment
and then they can come back
and feast on it for themselves, and for their larva.
- So bees ferment,
- Natural enzymic action.
- The honey basically breaks down the pollen and releases so
much more of its nutrients. If you can have,
we've had bee pollen before, which is delicious,
but when we digest it,
you can only release 20% of its nutritional value.
As soon as you let it ferment into honey,
it can release up to 80 to 90%.
So suddenly this becomes one of the,
and I know you hate this.
One of the super-est of super foods.
So the reason this has come up as a trend recently is
according to the British beekeepers association,
many Olympic athletes at Tokyo eat bee bread.
As they believe a strengthens
their immune system increases oxygen intake,
boosts performance,
and it helps them recover quicker after training.
- Strong application,
do you want to try it in something?
- So you don't just? Yeah, sure, yeah.
- I mean, it's pretty simple.
Excellent on and in porridge, like many fermented foods,
it's a live living thing.
So you actually don't want to cook with it.
You just want to add it into things too, to seasonal and flavour.
So onto porridge, into smoothies, chia seed bowls,
that kind of thing.
You don't really want to cook it
because you'll cook out all of the living goodness.
- Is it similar to just drizzling a bit of honey on top.
- But with the texture, like the chewy, the chewy texture,
and then yeah, that higher flowery taste as well.
It's really nice.
- And this particular product
is from bees in Lithuania that
are literally miles and miles and miles
from any built up area or city.
So that the flowers that they are pollinating from are
completely untouched by pollutants.
- I'm amazed I've not heard of this before.
- So again, because these are completely natural
and they've been fermented
...they last pretty much forever,
two years.
- I mean, they say two years,
but I'd go with pretty much go with forever.
I mean, they literally found honey in Tutankhamun's tomb.
- Should we talk money?
- Yeah.
- How much do you reckon that bag there costs?
- I've absolutely no idea.
- Compare it to a jar of premium honey,
I think is a fair comparison.
- 10 pounds.
- 12 Pound, 99.
- Okay.
- They recommended a teaspoon a day
is a good kind of thing to give you all of that wonderful
stuff that it's got in there.
- And if you suffer from hay fever,
supposed to be pretty good for that
because it's full of pollen.
- Interesting.
- Is this the bee's knees or is it not for me or you?
(genuine laughter)
This is why I don't do the puns.
- Do you want to have another run of that?
- NO
- Or are you happy with that one?
- I'm fine.
That will be it.
- Is this a trend to bee?
Or a trend not to bee?
- Having never heard of it before I sat down here
and you're telling me about wild bee bread.
I would say this sounds like a fad.
And this sounds not to bee,
but I'd love to look into it more
and find out more about it and see whether
it should be something that should bee a trend,
- For mee.
- For me.
- As always over to you guys.
You've heard what we think about these conversations,
topics and trends, but comment down below.
What do you think?
- And if anything else you think that is trending,
that we should cover comment down below, as well.
- We have an app.
It's called meal packs and helps you plan and
then cook a week's worth of meals using one set of
ingredients, saving you money, cutting down on food waste
and answering the age old question.
What should we have for dinner?
It's free to try for a whole month.
The link is in the description box below.
- I'm going to have a bee hive one day.
- You can buy queens off the internet.
(uncontrollable laughter)
My auntie had hives. And the queen swarmed,
and she had to buy, she had to buy a new queen.
She had to buy a new queen bee, and it came in a little pot.
- Good.
- Oh my god.
- I can't.