Runner bean
Runner bean Pronounce it: Run-ner beens Runner beans have been growing in South America for over 2,000 years, and are a popular garden vegetable in Britain too. Stronger in flavour and coarser in texture than…
Glossary
Potato
Potato Pronounce it: po-tate-oh The world’s favourite root vegetable, the potato comes in innumerable varieties. A member of the nightshade family, like tomatoes and aubergines, it originated in South America and has been grown in…
Sugar
Sugar Pronounce it: shuh-ga Honey and syrups made from concentrated fruit juice were the earliest known sweeteners. Today, refined sugar is the most popular type of sweetener and it is made from sugar cane or…
Celeriac
Celeriac Pronounce it: sell-air-e-ak The unsung hero of the vegetable world, knobbly, odd-shaped celeriac has a subtle, celery-like flavour, with nutty overtones. Try it as mash, in big-flavoured, slow-cook dishes, or in its classic form,…
Lettuce
Lettuce Pronounce it: lett-iss Lettuce are available in a vast number of varieties, and are either crisp or floppy, growing from a central stalk to form a spherical or lozenge-like head. Most of them have…
Clove
Clove Pronounce it: klo-ve The dry, unopened flower bud of the tropical myrtle tree family used to flavour a wide variety of sweet and savoury dishes. Cloves can be used whole or ground to impart…
Blackberry
Blackberry Pronounce it: blak-bear-ee A purply black-coloured berry comprising many individual seed-containing fruits surrounding a cone-shaped core. Wonderfully juicy, they’re good raw (straight from the hedge!) or cooked and are bursting with vitamin C. Wild,…
Albariño
Albariño Pronounce it: al-bar-een-yoh Spain’s seafood white In Spain, Albariño is one of wine’s new kids on the block. Twenty years ago it was little known – it was only in 1986 that the Rias…
Maple syrup
Maple syrup Pronounce it: may-pul sir-rup The rising spring sap of a number of varieties of maple tree native to northeast America, mainly in Canada but also in such US states as Vermont. The syrup…
Pear
Pear Pronounce it: pair Like apples, to which they are related, pears come in thousands of varieties, of which only a small fraction are sold in the UK. Their fine, slightly granular flesh is much…