(guests chattering) (upbeat music)
- All right Baz gift number one, this is from me to you.
Please lift the cloche.
- Okay Michael.
Aceite de Las Valdesas ?
Is this one of those trick boxes?
(group laughing)
I can't! - Take a moment, man.
- Oh, I got it!
It's like the top slides.
Oh, ooh!
So it looks like we have a selection of olive oils.
- Correct.
Wouldn't it be amazing to get to a point
where you could identify which olives
made the olive oil that you best liked,
and then you'd be able to use that information
in the same way that you do grapes and wine?
- Yeah, I love the idea of that!
- So yes, this is an olive oil tasting set.
So you have five bottles there.
This is from Sibarita, who are a Spanish organic larder.
Who distribute products
from family-owned producers in Spain.
- Bold portions for tasting tests.
- Well, I think they're good samples, aren't they?
You've got ample there to use.
- Yeah, I'm sure there's a subtle difference
between all of these,
but does it say like what is best to serve it with
or how to apply it?
- Well, there are tasting notes, so let's do some tasting.
So the origin of these olives
are from the Las Valdesas Estate.
First one, Arber-keen-nah?
- Arbequina.
- Light, subtle, tiny tickle they're back of the throat.
So the tasting notes we have for the Arbequina,
sweet without any bitter notes.
(upbeat music continues)
- Fresher, more fruity.
Well, what are you laughing at?
- I'm just laughing because look at you.
- Picual. - I mean, look at you!
- I'm living the flipping dream!
Oh, more, this would be better with a meat.
- This is the Manzanilla.
Peculiar, complete and with high levels of polyphenols.
- That's what I thought.
- So we can establish there are differences
between all of them, right?
- This helps you give a guide on how to apply it.
I really like tasting side by side to see the differences.
But once I taste them,
I'd probably cork them all back again
and use them like I do bags of coffee.
I would use one bag of coffee until I used it up,
and I go, you know what, I fancy change, next one.
This gives you variety over a period of time.
- I 100% agree with you.
- Let's talk about price.
- 35 to 40 pounds, I think it'd be a fair gift set.
- Cock on, 40 pounds!
For a gift, for the experience, do you think it's worth it?
- It's definitely a lot of money,
but for the experience you get?
Kind of like it, I would never thought about it otherwise.
- Well then the question is,
is it a great gift or is it a re-gift?
- Well, I'm taking this home, so it's a great gift.
- You're welcome.
(funky music)
- Spafford you're in mate. - Lovely.
The hydro herb kit?
Contains everything you need to get started.
Featuring recycled parts and organic nutrient solution,
you can expect to have fresh organic herbs
for years to come.
- [Barry] This is the Hydro-Herb kit
that offers you the opportunity
to grow your own choice of 12 herbs hydroponically.
Each cases comes in hand-cut recycled glass wine bottle,
and includes both organic seeds and hydroponic solution.
- How do I? - Dismantle the broken glass.
- It's like, broken? - Oh yeah.
Jamie does it in his way. (laughs)
- [Mike] Jamie's jazzing.
- So this company was founded by a guy called Julian
who, when at university, was getting a bit tired
of the walk of shame as he took his wine bottles
to the recycling plant,
and went I've got too many bottles here.
So his solution was let's see if we can use
some of those wire bottles. - Oh, not drink less?
- No, no, no.
- Put the bottles elsewhere?
- [Ben] Just upcycle, right.
- Someone show me how this works, I'm baffled.
(record scratching) - Oh no!
- I mean that was proof, we saw him do that,
and we knew that was coming.
If I'm honest, I didn't think
it was gonna come quite so soon in the process.
- Setting up the hydro herb kit.
Step one, don't do that.
First job is to hydrate one of the jiffy tabs.
Fill a bowl of water and place the tab in the water,
dimple side up.
Leave for six to eight minutes
or until it stops swelling.
While the tab soaks,
take the capillary matting wick
and fold in half as it appears in the picture
for the parts list.
- So that's going like that? - Yep.
Cut away some of the material from the top of the jiffy tab,
revealing more soil, than gently place the hydrated tab
onto the wick in the centre of the bottle top.
- This is a proper activity, isn't it?
I quite like it, it's a DIY kit.
How do you usually buy your herbs?
- The really lazy way, which is buy a bag of herbs,
or the slightly less lazy way,
which is to buy a pot of herbs
and then throw it out three weeks later when it dies
and then have to buy a bag of herbs
because I will use that. - Yep, yep.
You can also fill the bottom reservoir with some water
and some of your hydroponic solution.
So this solution basically has all the nutrients
that the mint needs to grow. (laughs)
- I'm gonna be honest with you guys,
I'm picking up on some issues. - Right.
You are the issue. - Six to eight drops.
- Germination takes between about 10 days
and then to actually grow something you can start to enjoy
you're looking around about a couple of months.
- Wow, that's quite a long time, isn't it?
- Today is mid July.
On the 1st of June,
I went through that whole process with some thyme.
So I've been looking after this for six or seven weeks
and deliberately haven't been cutting it back,
just let it grow.
I've replaced the water in it, three or four times?
Sat in a sunny window, it's done that.
- I would trust myself to grow this
far more than a pot that I bought
because it's low maintenance
and requires watering like once a week,
as opposed to once a day.
And also having gone through that process,
so I'm invested in it now, I want that to work.
- So you can get these individually,
or you can buy them as a set of three.
How much you think that would cost?
- I'm gonna say 21 pounds,
which would put it at seven pounds per pot.
- So for a set of three, you're looking at 44 pounds.
Individually, you can buy 'em for 20.
- So I was wrong.
- You're paying a premium for the fact that someone's done
and sourced everything that you need.
and made it as easy as possible
yet made you feel a sense of achievement.
The fact that you've done it.
- If you can get results easily out of it.
I think the concept is therefore really, really good.
I just dunno about the price.
- Okay, then Jamie, so is it a great gift
or would you re-gift it?
- My worry is that if you bought this for someone,
they wouldn't realise how much you'd spent on them.
- Great gift or re-gift, that's what we want.
- Re-gift.
- You're gonna have to take it home again Ebbers.
- Oh, happy to look after it, it's great!
- Probably clear this up as well.
-If you are enjoying this,
there are some small things you can do
that make a big difference to us.
Like the video.
Subscribe, if you aren't.
Click the notification bell and select all.
Thanks!
- [Jamie] Okey dokey, Ebbers, lift the pointless clutch.
- [Ben] Canned cocktails?
- [Jamie] So this is from the WhiteBox Cocktail company.
They're fairly new business,
have been around for the last year or so.
Based in Edinburgh.
And the team is full of incredible mixologists
who have specifically designed cocktails to be canned,
sent out in the post and then poured into glasses and drunk.
- I want you to substantiate that claim,
or are you speaking from the website?
- What, best mixologists in the world?
- Yeah. - Former head bartender
from the Dandelyan Cocktail bar in London,
which is (pops mouth).
- Substantiated.
- Now, Ebbers, whilst I'd love to see
you open one of those cans,
they have been in a box and not chilling.
So what we've done is actually get another box
and put that fridge. - Oh, well done.
- [Jamie] So that we have some chilled cocktails.
- That's almost like me growing herbs for you. (laughs)
All right, boys.
What do we want?
Actually, I know what we want.
You're gonna have the old fashioned, aren't you, Jay?
- The old fashioned uses cherry wood infused whiskey,
and (laughs) to reflect that,
they've made a label out of wood, as they say.
But you can see how much thought
has gone into every one of the cocktails
and the branding that goes along with them as well,
I think is really cool. - Nice!
- [Ben] I'm gonna go negroni,
'cause that is genuinely one of my faves.
- [Barry] Drink it and tell me.
- So that, like a good negroni, is a sipper.
35%. - Who-ho!
I like a martini. - Be honest with you,
I prefer them dirty.
- What's wrong with him?
- Oh, well, damn! (group laughing)
That is crystal!
You will love that.
- Martini falls into the category of...
(Barry coughing)
- You stick to your happy fizz.
Baz, you stick to your disco baby. (laughs)
- When you start to get an old fashioned,
a negroni, or a martini in a can.
- But bar standard.
- That's when it becomes interesting.
How much do you think that box was?
- Less than 30 pound.
They've gotta be less than five pound each.
If it's 25 quid for the box, there we go!
25 quid for the box.
- It is 29 pounds for the box of six.
- It's the kind of gift that I might take to a dinner party.
Rather than rocking up with a bottle of fizz,
or a bunch of flowers, rock up with that as a gift,
and I think it's just a nice thing,
especially if there's a group of you,
there'll be something in there for everyone.
- Well Ebbers, is it a great gift or is it a re-gift?
- It a great gift.
But one that you will probably want to share.
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(quirky music continues)
(music turns upbeat)
- Mike, I've precariously popped a cloche
on top of this one.
- It's a giant pot?
And it's really, it's nice.
- A bit like all of them today, it's a DIY project.
This is a vinaigrier from Sous Chef.
And it is the way that you can make your own vinegar
in a matter of weeks and or months,
depending on the conditions and the ingredients you put in.
- I've got a really stupid question.
How do you make vinegar?
- Vinegar is alcohol that has been turned into acid.
- Are we gonna make some? - Would you like
to make some? - Yeah!
- Might take six weeks. - Oh.
- Oh, don't worry, the herbs took six weeks
and he made some, so this is gonna be great.
- This is a genuine experiment.
We're going to start it off today,
and we'll come back to it in 5, 6, 7 weeks.
Whenever we think it's ready.
- That is quite the cliff hanger, Ebbers.
(group laughing)
- So I figured we'd make cider vinegar
and we've bought, not the cheapest,
but a very affordable cider.
Crack four or five into your vinaigrier.
- A vinager-vinaigrier? - Vinaigrier?
I'm a vinegar-ista. - You're a vinegar-ista!
(group laughs) - I'm the vinegar-ista.
- So, we should stress, when it arrived
you actually have to fill it with water.
Put the cork in, the tap in, and then fill it with water.
Because the cork needs to hydrate and swell to fill the gap.
To make sure it's tight. - Gotcha, okay.
- That takes a day or two.
At which point you can empty it of water
and make sure it's nice and clean,
and then add in your alcohol.
Now this can be at this stage any alcohol you want.
Don't mix them, but it could be cider, it could be wine,
it could be sake, it could be beer.
This will only work with oxygen.
So what you wanna do is to fill it
to the widest part of that vinaigrier.
So it has the largest surface area of oxygen.
We've got some cider vinegar, raw, so unpasteurized.
So it's got the living bacteria and yeast still in it.
Really good for gut health.
In order to start it, like sourdough, you need a starter.
- Right. - Okay.
- Now, once you've done this one,
you'll tap off three quarters of it into bottles
and you'll leave what's left and top it back up again.
So you only need to start it once.
But this is like the mother, the SCOBY,
the symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast.
We did the same for kombucha. - Gotcha.
- As it happens, this is the hottest day of the year,
or actually of ever. - So far.
- So far.
So in here, we'll try and keep the temperature
at about 20, 25 degrees Celsius,
for four to six weeks, it's going to fluctuate.
We'll see how we end up.
The beauty of making your own vinegars
is you can infuse it and flavour it with anything you want.
So in the fridge, we've got some raspberries,
some basil, and some rosemary.
You can infuse it with whatever.
The live cultures in the vinegar
will feed off the sugars and the alcohol.
And hopefully in four to six weeks time,
we'll have a really delicious vinegar.
Which mixed with really delicious oils
will give you all sorts of opportunities
for dressing salads, dips and that vinaigrier
will never, unless you break it, tyre.
Rinse out and go again, that is a gift for life.
Okay, so it has been. - Gingham.
- A matter of weeks. (group chuckling)
And we now have our very own vinegar.
- Oh, what a lovely colour.
Oh! (group laughing)
Whoa, that is pungent.
Well, am I just? - Well, I figure,
just thought a little bit in your bowl
so you can just try some on a spoon.
Because it is beautifully, I think, floral and fruity.
- It smells so fruity!
It's not like any vinegar I've ever smelt before.
- Ooh-whee, that is lovely. - I can smell the berries.
- It's good, isn't it? - Great.
I'm actually looking forward to trying this now.
- [Ben] So yeah, you wouldn't typically
try it off a spoon, but have a little taste
and then we'll do a better thing with it
and make a dressing.
(group laughing)
- It's definitely vinegar.
You can definitely taste the basil as well.
It's delicious.
Give some foods to try with it though.
- On its own it's a bit pungent,
but just put three to one ratio of oil to vinegar in,
and you get a wonderful fruity vinegarette.
That would be absolutely delicious
over any number of salads.
And I quite deliberately put it
in those small little bottles
'cause I think they make wonderful gifts.
And I think if this as a vinaigrier is a gift for a foodie,
I think you then make vinegar,
which becomes gifts for foodies.
- Mm-hmm.
- Oh, look at that.
Oh, delicious!
Absolutely stonking, hey, that is great.
- That feels like a great result,
for actually very little effort.
Quite a lot of time, but no effort.
- So back to our vinaigrier, what do you think of it?
And how much do you think it is?
- Before, weeks ago, I did not know how to make vinegar.
I didn't know how it was made.
Now I know, and I know that I can affect the flavour.
Is really cool and it's quite easy to do.
So, I like it.
- And what price would you put on it?
- So it's for the enthusiast, I'mma say 50 pounds.
- It is a little more than that at 79 pounds.
But at 79 pounds, are you keeping or re-gifting?
- I mean, I'll definitely keep it
because you giving it to me.
I think if I knew it would hit the mark
with a very specific person,
I think it's worth the 80 pounds.
But that is a lot of money,
so you'd have to know it's gonna land well as a gift.
- What are your thoughts on those gifts?
Comment down below, let us know your thoughts.
- And we'll also put links to those gifts
in the description box below,
along with another gifted subscription.
- See ya in the next one.
- That's lovely.
Oh, yeah!
(group groaning)
- He just put it on as well. - I did just put this on.
- As it goes, it's been like four weeks
and he was wearing the same t-shirt.
So it looked like he hadn't changed all those weeks.
- But I had changed!
- It's really funny. - Right.
(group laughing)