Nordic crockery
Sensuous organic shapes in a pleasing pale colour-palette mixed with dark browns and slate blues and greys, make these Skandi ceramics very modern kitchen-friendly . The gravy boat is terrific (£15.27), as are the over-sized tea and coffee cups
Black garlic ketchup
The award-winning ketchup made with whole garlic bulbs cooked slowly over 50 days has bagged another gong. It’s the winner of the best Condiment/Marinade category in the 2018 World Food Innovation Awards
Black Garlic Ketchup, £4.99/230g, available from Booths stores or hawksheadrelish.com
Quicke’s new cheese
Quicke’s Farm, famous for their cheddar, have launched a new mixed milk cheese, a combination of goats and cows milk resulting in a pale clothbound cheese with a subtle hint of goat. It’s named Lady Prue after dairy-owner, Mary Quicke’s mother
Lady Prue available from the Heritage Cheese stall at Borough Market, Wed-Sat, £4/100g or visit quickes.co.uk
Six of this spring’s best vegan or healthy-eating cookbooks
15 Minute Vegan by Katy Beskow, Quadrille £15
Recipes (100) for vegan comfort food (food ‘that makes you feel better’ as KB explains in her Intro) executed with speed and simplicity – that’s the premise anyway. Beskow is a cook, writer and cookery tutor. http://littlemissmeatfree.com/
Well Seasoned by Russell Brown and Jonathan Haley, Anima £20
Classy production featuring monthly recipes for seasonal cooking by a chef-proprietor (of Michelin-starred Sienna in Dorset) and a fisherman, forager and blogger
The Wellness Rebel by Pixie Turner Head of Zeus £20
Science-based exploration of nutrition (eg, what does a ‘detox’ actually mean…), with 70 recipes, written by a food blogger and biochemist. plantbased-pixie.com
Bosh! by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, Harper Collins £20 (19 April)
Facebook channel Bosh, was founded by two pals Henry Firth and Ian Easby who have combined talents for cooking and remixing (that’s digital DJ rather than culinary, mixing…) to produce one of the largest and fastest-growing vegan cookery channels in the world. Bosh! is their first book – 140 plant-based recipes. Meat, dairy and egg-free. bosh.tv
Detox Kitchen Vegetables by Lily Simpson, Bloomsbury £26 (3 May)
‘Queen of Healthy Eating’, Lily Simpson dispenses healthy, plant-based menus to the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Elle Macpherson through her Detox Kitchen delis. Her latest book aims to remove the fear of veg cooking – over-cooked, bland – and inspire with recipes for dishes such as Spiced aubergine fritters with coconut tzatziki, Roast butternut squash with tahini dressing and tamari seeds, and Cauliflower pizza with lemon infused tomatoes. All wheat-, dairy- and refined-sugar-free. detoxkitchen.co.uk
Planted by Chantelle Nicholson, Kyle Books, £25 (19 April)
First solo book by Chef-patron at Marcus Wareing’s Tredwells restaurant features a sophisticated collection of plant-based recipes (kohlrabi ravioli, apple tarte tatin with bay leaf ice cream)
and one to look forward to…
The Fruit Foragers Companion by Sara Bir, Chelsea Green Publishing, £22.50 (June)
Where, when and how to find and gather wild fruit, plus recipes for cooking the results. Eg Caramel Apple Clafoutis or Pontack, an elderberry-based condiment. Bir is a chef, gardener and forager
