The Soil Association Organic Fortnight, is the UK’s biggest celebration of all things organic. This year the Soil Association are encouraging us all to try something organic everyday.

Here’s a few ideas to get you started:

1. Sign-up to an organic box scheme. Get local, seasonal and organic fruit and veg delivered straight to your doorstep, many are greatt value for money too.
2. Cook fresh fruit and veg from scratch. Avoiding over packaged convenience foods is usually both healthier and cheaper. Have a scout round this (and other) blogs for some inspiration.
3. Eat less meat, and when you do try lower cost cuts such as belly of pork or neck of lamb. Offal too can provide tasty nutritious meals. Get friendly with your local butcher for advice on cuts.
4. Cook in bulk. Make meals in larger batches, use herbs and spices, and cheaper ingredients like tinned tomatoes or beans and pulses to bulk things out, and then freeze left over portions. This is a great way making less into more.
5. Join or create an organic buying group. Bulk-buy your store cupboard staples with a group of friends at wholesale prices.
6. Join or start your own local Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) scheme in partnership with a local farmer. CSA is a partnership between farmers and the public where you make an annual investment for a share of the harvest and can prove great value for money 
7. Grow your own, for the freshest, most local food you can get, right on your doorstep.
8. Keep your own chickens and enjoy a great house pet and super fresh eggs every day.
9. Write a shopping list. As a nation we we throw away 6.7 million tonnes of food every year. By planning meals in advance, buying what you need and not what you ‘fancy’, and using left-overs you should be able avoid the need to throw away any food at all, and save up to £50 a month
10. Take a walk on the wild side. There’s plenty of free wild food available, and identifying and picking it is a great way of having fun outdoors so get foraging.

I buy organic as much as I can, believing it to be better for us in terms of the lack of chemicals even if the nutritional value isn’t all that much different.

What about you? Do you go for the organic option and why?

Congratulations!!

A winner of the Tate & Lyle competition was picked this morning using an online random selector.

Congratulations to Wendy, I do hope you’ll get plenty of baking joy from this parcel of goods. Please email me your details and I’ll pass them on to Tate & Lyle who will dispatch the sugars direct.

Cooking From The Hart

I must admit I have never been a big fan of nuts in brownies. They’re usually included to provide a crunchy contrast to the brownies fudgy underbelly. But, a really good brownie is nice when it’s fudgy through and through and doesn’t need a contrast besides a glass of cold milk.

The history of this favourite treat isn’t clear. The recipe first appeared in print in the early 20th century; the first mention was in Fannie Farmer’s 1906 Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. The following year Farmer’s protegée Maria Howard modified the recipe for Lowney’s Cookbook, adding an extra egg and more chocolate, taking the recipe a step closer to the richer, chocolate brownies society seems to love today.

Why then did I get a huge craving for brownies studded with slivers of pistachio nuts? Perhaps it was because I’d just been reading an article about the health benefits of pistachio nuts?

Of course the addition of lots of chocolate and butter wouldn’t render the nuts unhealthy would it? No? That’s alright then.

My personal view is that you can never have enough brownie recipes – sure you’ve only got to do a search on here for brownie related posts to see that. But if you only want to use the one recipe, I’d highly recommend it is Alice Hart’s “Best Brownies” from her lovely book Alice’s Cook Book, which I reviewed a little while ago.

Alice’s recipe yields incredibly squidgy little brownie bites with that perfect, almost papery, crisp top. That papery top? Well according to Martha Stewart the key to a cracking brownie crust is to beat the eggs and sugar for several minutes, until pale, pale, pale and fluffy. Basically, you’re creating a meringue, and the more you beat, the crustier your brownies will be.

Alice’s Best Brownies

• 300g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
• 250g unsalted butter
• 4 eggs
• 200g caster sugar
• 150g light brown soft sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 120g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 20g cocoa powder
• 50g pistachio nuts, roughly chopped (not in the original recipe)

1. Line a 23x32cm brownie (or 5cm+ deep baking) tin with baking parchment.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C or the equivalent.
3. Melt 200g of the chocolate with the butter in a small saucepan (or in a bowl over simmering water, or in the microwave), stirring occasionally until smooth. Set aside to cool.
4. Beat the eggs, sugars and vanilla together until thickened and velvety – the easiest way is to use an electric whisk/freestanding mixer.
5. Sift in the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt and stir in gently.
6. Pour in the melted chocolate and beat briefly to combine before stirring in the remaining chopped chocolate.
7. Scrape into the tin and bake for 35-40 minutes, until almost firm in the middle. Leave for at least 15 minutes before turning out and cutting into squares.

NB: Apparently these will last for up to four days in an airtight tin … but they certainly wouldn’t here, too greedy

Large square of brownie + glass of ice cold milk + a few great magazines = a heavenly afternoon (or anytime come to that) treat.

A couple of weeks back I was contacted by a local PR company who arranged for me to trial some products from Cooking Made Simple, a Loughborough based eatery and now (almost) nationwide delivery business.

Everything arrived really well packaged and well insulated to keep the items cold. As someone who has studied food hygiene I found the additional safety precaution of a temperature tracking sticker really a really good sign – a great way of making sure the food reaches the client in tip-top condition.

I received the following products:

• Della Casa
• Deluxe Ciabatta
• Cannelloni Con Carne
• Funghi all’aglio
• Moroccan Lamb
• A small bottle of olive oil & packet of basil seeds.

With the exception of the Della Casa all the meals were delicious. They tasted and looked ‘home made’, obviously put together with care and attention.

I was a little disappointed by the inclusion of cheddar cheese in several of the dishes though, surely an Italian alternative could be used? With such a wide range of cheeses available nowadays the inclusion of Italian produce really shouldn’t be an issue.

I found the Della Casa overly creamy and boardering on sickly. The onions were quite overpowering and harsh on the palate too. Such a shame considering how good the other products were. More rocket and a lighter sauce would have been advantageous.

The Moroccan Lamb was outstanding. Rich, fruity and gently spiced sauce encompassing large chunks of lean, tender lamb and large pieces of apricot.

One bug bear though – the meals (with the exception of the al forno range) come in microwaveable trays, not good if like me you don’t own a microwave. It meant I had to decant the meat into an ovenproof dish to reheat it, no major problem though and that I was a bit weary of reheating the rice. Instead of risking the rice I cooked a little ptitim with saffron butter to accompany the lamb instead and it worked really well.

I suppose the key question is would I order from this company again, and the answer is most probably no as I have the luxury to be able to cook from fresh almost everyday due to working from home five days a week, most of the time.

Saying that I do recognise that there is a huge market out their for Cooking Made Simple: people who don’t like to cook, people who want a supply of meals available for quick & easy after work cooking and those who are unable to cook very much due to health issues.

These meals are a 100% improvement on anything you can buy at the supermarket, both in taste and in ingredient quality – they really aren’t a guilty pleasure, just a handy solution to those times when you know you won’t have the time to cook.

I would possibly turn to a company like this if I had a huge party to organise, as a top up service to compliment my home cooked ensemble of goods. This obviously isn’t Cooking Made Simple’s key target audience though as they also run Parties Made Simple.

On top of these ventures a school meals service is also available.

It’s competition time again folks. This time it’s courtesy of Tate & Lyle, probably the UK’s most famous sugar company.

Tate  & Lyle has committed to making its entire retail range 100% Fairtrade and  you can get most of their sugars in Waitrose and The Co-op and they are just  starting to sell their Fairtrade granulated sugar in Tesco.

To celebrate the launch of their new Facebook Page We Love Baking, they are offering one lucky reader a selection of their sugars.

All you need to do is leave a comment here telling me your fondest baking memory. The competition will close Wednesday 25th August at midnight (GMT). I will announce the winner the following day.

Please note the competition is open to UK residents only.

Food From The Rye

I’m going to make an upfront confession, although I’m not sure how wise it really is to do so. Right, so, I got the craving for jerk chicken not from research or distant memories but, wait for it, from watching Peckham Finishing School for Girls. Now before you ask, that isn’t the kind of show I’d usually watch but it made for entertaining viewing while I recuperated from recent surgery.

Luckily Peckham dwelling Helen over at Food Stories had a superb recipe. It is pretty obvious from Helen’s superb blog that she loves Jerk.

“You could say I’m fond of jerk, but you’d be making one hell of an understatement.” Helen (Food Stories)

Hardly surprising then that her recipe worked a treat. So much better than the Momma Cherrie recipe I blogged about a couple of years ago. Helen’s recipe created, without doubt, the best jerk chicken I have ever tasted, well, ok then second best. The first? Freshly barbecued jerk chicken sat outside Mango Mamma’s (Sugarloaf Key, Florida) far too many years ago.

The term jerk is said to come from the word charqui, a Spanish term for jerked or dried meat, which eventually became jerky in English. Another origin is linked to the jerking or poking of the meat with a sharp object, producing holes which were then filled with the spice mixture. Like most Caribbean islands, Jamaican foods are derivative of many different settlement cultures, including British, Dutch, French, Spanish, East Indian, West African, Portuguese, and Chinese. The origins of jerk pork can be traced back to the pre-slavery days of the Cormantee hunters of West Africa through the Maroons, who were Jamaican slaves that escaped from the British during the invasion of 1655.

Taking heed of Helen’s most recent blog post about the Jerk Cook Off, I decided to make some ‘special sauce’ to serve alongside the blackened, sweet, hot, chicken pieces. All I did was reduce the leftover marinade (watered down a little bit) until it became thick and glossy. Unlike the saccharine gloop that Helen was subjected to, this sauce really did have kick to rival a donkey – as is only right for a dish like this.

I also served crispy sweet potato fries and, unconventionally, cooling sour cream, oh and lots of salad too.

While you’re at it do have a read of Helen’s top Jerk tips – there are some great ideas there.

Jerk Chicken

• 1.5 tablespoons allspice
• 100g dark packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 4 garlic cloves
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 5 large spring onions
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 3 scotch bonnet chillies, deseeded
• Juice of 2 large limes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Black pepper
• Chicken pieces (I used chicken breast but choose whatever you prefer)

1. Blend all the marinade ingredients together and smother over the chicken rubbing well in. (I use gloves for this, as I do when I chop the scotch bonnets.) Refrigerate overnight.
2. Allow to come to room temperature and brush off most of the excess marinade before placing in a baking tray and cooking at 190C for 30-40 minutes, or until the skin is crisp and the juices run clear. Alternatively (even better option really) barbecue the chicken.

Image Courtesy of Google Images

Oven Baked Sweet Potato Fries

• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and cut into fries
• 2 teaspoons sunflower oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat the oven to 22oC or the equivalent.
2. Toss the sweet potatoes in the oil and spread out onto a baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through, or until golden, tender and crisp.
3. Scatter with salt before serving.

If Life Gives You Lemons …

If life gives you lemons … make old fashioned lemon bars from Jim Fobel’s Old Fashioned Baking Book.

Jim refers to these bars as a real taste of childhood. Well they weren’t a taste of mine, maybe that would have been different had I grown up across the pond – after all Jim Fobel’s book is sub-headed “Recipes from an American Childhood”.

This is a recipe I’ve skipped past many times, thinking it looked a little dull and drab. What a shame. They are a treat indeed.

The only reason I decided to give them a go was the fact that I’d two eggs and some lemons that needed using up that day. My actual intention was to find a blondie recipe or chewy cookie recipe but every time I opened the recipe book it fell to this recipe. It must have been fate.

Having now made and eaten them I don’t think I’d ever  be able to tire of them. It is the combination of buttery shortbread and tangy lemon filling that makes them so irresistible. I love how the shortbread crust is all crisp and crumbly and how the lemon filling separates as it bakes. The top has a thin cake-like crust and underneath the lemon filling is all soft and yummy.

Despite being baked in two sections the recipe isn’t complex, labour intensive or time consuming. The ‘eggy’ topping can be made while the base cooks. I was lazy and used a hand held electric whisk to beat the egg and sugar mixture but it would be no hardship to do it by hand really.

I added a dash of lemon oil to the mix as my microplane grater snapped (no blood spilt) when I began to zest the lemons; hence I had very little zest and the tangy oils that would be released are essential to this bake – adding a tidge of oil made sure I didn’t loose out.

When choosing lemons make sure to look for ones that are fragrant with bright yellow skins. They should be firm, plump, and heavy for their size. Try to avoid lemons that have blemishes, soft spots, green spots, or are hard and wrinkled. Lemons consist of a yellow outer rind (zest) that contains the fruit’s oils and perfumes. This outer rind, of varying thickness and graininess, can have either a bumpy or smooth glossy texture, either way this is where most of the zesty flavour is trapped.

Lemon Bars

• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, sliced
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• Drop lemon oil (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• Pinch of salt

1. Postion a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 180C or the equivalent.
2. In a medium bowl stir together 1 cup of flour and 1/4 cup icing sugar. Cut in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal and work it with your fingertips till it holds together. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 8 inch (square or round)  pan.
3. Bake about 15 minutes, until light golden brown. remove, but leave the oven on.
4. Meanwhile, in a meduim bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the eggs until frothy. Gradually beat in the granulated sugar. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice, beat at a high speed for 10 minutes, until smooth and slightly thickened.
5. On a sheet of waxed paper combine the remaining 2 tablespoons flour with the baking powder and salt, gradually beat into the egg mixture, beating just until smooth.
6. Pour over the baked layer and bake about 20 minutes longer, until set and lightly browned. Cool in the pan on a rack. Sift the remaining icing sugar over the top and cut into bars or in pie shaped pieces

“The Only Thing to do with Good Advice is Pass it On”

Oscar Wilde

Clodagh McKenna’s Cork Beef Stew from The Irish Farmer’s Market Cookbook is a real favourite of mine and is a frequently made winter warmer of a dish. Generally I’d served a big bowl of it alongside some fluffy mashed potatoes or colcannon and that itself is heaven on a plate. How could it not be? Succulent, tender beef in a thick stout (Guinness) based gravy is a fabulous food, if I had to pick a last meal it would be this – you can keep all the fancy delights for another time, thank you very much. Guinness is a stout beer and not only adds a delicious malty flavour to the stew but helps tenderise the meat too.  I used chuck steak but shin beef would also be perfect here and although the recipe said to cook for a couple of hours I left it in the slow oven compartment of my range for around seven hours and it was pure gorgeousness on a plate.

This weekend though, I fancied a change. Instead of a stew, I went for pie! A subtle change I’m sure you’ll agree, but a change all the same.

I served the pie with roast potatoes and carrots. There’s something wonderful about the combination of crunchy spud with succulent gravy, I’m sure you’d agree. Carrots? Well don’t a few carrots enhance any pie or stew with their delicate sweetness?

I used a very rich and ‘short’ shortcrust pastry here, but puff pastry would work well also. I’ve gained somewhat of a reputation for this pastry, and until now had guarded the recipe closely, listen carefully now – the secret is extra butter and double cream. Yes really, double cream. The result is melt in the mouth, tender pastry. Go on, give it a try.

Another trick to having really crisp pastry with your pie is to cook it separately. Genius, no?

My favourite way to cook roasties is the ‘Nigella Way’. By that I mean I follow here three crucial steps, I think they make the difference: the first is the heat of the fat (and it’s got to be goose fat)- if it’s not searingly hot, you don’t stand a chance; the second is the size of the potatoes – they need to be relatively small, so that the ratio of crunchy outside to fluffy interior is optimised; and, finally, maybe the most important, dredging the potatoes in semolina after parboiling, then really rattling the pan around to make the potatoes a bit mashed on the surface so they catch more in the hot fat, aiding in that most satisfying crunch.

Cork Beef Stew/Pie Filling:

• 2 tablespoons dripping
• 150g bacon, rind removed, cut into thick strips
• 300g shallots
• 1kg stewing beef steaks, cut into 4cm pieces
• 1 litre stout
• 1 pinch salt and black pepper
• 1 bouquet garni, made up of 1 bay leaf, 3-4 parsley stalks, and a sprig of thyme
• 1 tsp butter
• 400g mushrooms

1. Preheat the oven to 110C or the equivalent.
2. Place the dripping in a hot frying pan and add the bacon. Stir and fry for a minute before tipping in the shallots. Cook for a further 5 minutes, until the onions have browned.
3. Transfer the bacon and onions to a large ovenproof casserole dish, but leave the dripping in the pan.
4. Add the beef to the same frying pan and sear until coloured. Transfer to the casserole dish.
5. Pour the stout into the frying pan, while still on the heat, and scrape the sediment from the bottom of the pan. Bring to a boil and pour the stout into the casserole dish, over the other ingredients.
6. Put the frying pan back on the hob, over a high heat. Melt the butter and toss in the wild mushrooms. Season, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until the mushrooms have softened. Tip them into the casserole dish, season with salt and pepper, and add the bouquet garni.
7. Cover the casserole pot and cook the stew in the oven for at least 5 hours or until the beef is very tender.

The ‘Shortest’ Shortcrust Pastry

• 225g plain flour
• 160 butter, cut into small cubes
• Double cream or gold top milk

1. Begin by sifting the flour into a large bowl.
2. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips only and being as light as possible. As you gently rub the fat into the flour, lift it up high and let it fall back into the bowl, which helps incorporate more air, but do this just long enough to make the mixture crumbly with a few odd lumps here and there.
3. Now sprinkle 1 tablespoon of cream in, then, with a knife, start bringing the dough together, using the knife to make it cling, adding more cream as needed. Then discard the knife and, finally, bring it together with your fingertips. When enough liquid is added, the pastry should leave the bowl fairly clean.
4. Now place the pastry in a polythene bag and leave it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to rest.
5. Use the pastry as directed in your recipe. To cook ‘plain’ roll to about 1cm thickness and cut into sheets, bake at 200C or the equivalent for about 20 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Roast Potatoes the Nigella Way

• 100g goose fat
• 500g potatoes, such as King Edward’s
• 1 tablespoon semolina

1. Preheat the oven to 250C or the equivalent.
2. Put the fat into a large roasting tin and then into the oven to heat up, and get it incredibly hot: 20-30 minutes should do it.
3. Meanwhile peel the potatoes, and cut each one into 3 by cutting off each end at a slant so that you are left with a wedge or triangle in the middle.
4. Put the potatoes into salted, cold water in a saucepan, and bring to a boil, letting them cook for 4 minutes.
5. Drain the potatoes in a colander, then tip them back into the empty, dry saucepan, and sprinkle the semolina over.
6. Shake the potatoes around in the saucepan to coat them well and, with the lid clamped on, give the pan a good rotate and the potatoes a proper bashing so that their edges fuzz and blur a little: this facilitates the crunch effect later.
7. When the fat is as hot as it can be, tip the semolina-coated potatoes carefully into it (they splutter terrifically) and roast in the oven for an hour or until they are darkly golden and crispy, turning them over halfway through cooking.

Working the Plate

As food bloggers we have to take on the role of chef, writer, food photographer, food stylist and on top of that kitchen cleaner and pot washer. Quite a busy lot aren’t we?

Food styling is a form of artwork in its own right. The job of a food stylist is to arrange and using various techniques make food look perfectly presentable, delicious and tempting prior to its photography. This requires artistic vision and the ability to convey the impression of aromas, tastes and textures through to the person viewing the photograph.

Food stylists often use specialist equipment in order to successfully create the perfect piece of food art as do many food photographers. This would include, a studio or workshop with controlled lighting; backgrounds of different colours and textures, and various props in order to compliment the food without distracting away from it.

Most food bloggers however don’t have their own studios, or professional lighting equipment, or access to pro food stylists.

Here’s a few hints on how you can style your food effectively at home no matter what equipment you have.

1. In order to style food for photography successfully, the food should first of all be of exceptional quality – it really does show up in the finished photo.
2. If the food is of a particularly vibrant colour, try using a white plate and a background that will complement that colour.
3. If the food is smooth surfaced, such as a tomato for instance, introduce texture into the background, if the food is textured go for a smoother background. This will ensure the food is enhanced in appearance but not dominated.
4. Balance your colours – two or three colours are often better than one, saying that black & white or highlighting one photographic element can be breathtaking.



5. Spritzing fruit and vegetables with water can introduce a fresher, dewy look.



6. Square dishes always look classy.
7. Smaller is better — small dishes are easier to fill up with food, which prevents your plate from looking bare, but, remember scale down the cutlery size to match.



8. Plan for a variety of shapes and forms, also think about height variations.
9. Rims on plates can be used to frame your food.
10. A large rimless dish or bowl can be used for a multitude of serving opportunities, however a rimmed bowl generally doesn’t look so good against noodle or rice dishes.
11. Serving in the pan can create a rustic look, enamel works perticularly well.
12. Banana leaves look stylish and exotic for (example) serving ‘dry’ curries.
13. Glasses or tumblers can be very effective for presenting layered foods, desserts or preserves.
14. Cups are great for presenting soups and some puddings.
15. The more wooden boards you have the better – aim for a variety of sizes and colours. They work well for everything from steaks, to breads, to becoming a base for plated foods (of course if you have a wooden dining table this last use is negated).

Do as much as you possibly can ahead of time. Food should be photographed as soon as possible after preparing, which means you’ll need a space for photographing ready to go, an uncluttered kitchen, etc. Here’s what I do before I start cooking:

1. Clean up, do all the dishes, clear worktops
2. Pick out dishes
3. Set camera up on tripod, pick out background
4. Clear your photography space
5. Think about the dish: do you need a garnish? Special utensils?

With time and patience and an artistic eye, a great photograph can be achieved. One thing is for sure is that after the amount of preparation that will have gone into the end product it will be essential to create the perfect photograph.

When I first started doing my blog, I had a point & shoot digital camera, no tripod, and I got on just fine.

In fact I still own a point & shoot camera for those times when I’m out and about and want to be able to take photographs without having to carry a large SLR or when time is of the essence. The camera in question? Leica V-Lux 20. This Leica was billed as an effective digital compact camera with a powerful 12x optical zoom lens and built-in GPS tagging, making it ideal for recording special memories when travelling, wherever you are in the world, and that is exactly how I plan to use it.

The V-Lux 20 offers fully automatic functions and specific ‘screen’ options from sports, to food, to night shots and many, many more. It also provides a complete range of manual shutter speed and aperture settings for more creative freedom and image control. In addition, the integrated image stabilisation assists the photographer by reducing the chance of blurred pictures, whether due to camera shake or difficult lighting conditions.

If you are interested in investing a little money in your photography, I’d highly recommend getting a digital SLR (single-lens reflex) camera and a trusty lens or two. There are a lot of cameras on the market, but most people find themselves deciding between Canon and Nikon. I happen to shoot Canon (50D), so my recommendations will be for Canon products, since that’s what I know.

With an SLR you’ll be able to use different lenses, change your aperture and shutter speed, set your white balance, shoot RAW–pretty much everything you’ll want to do to take your photography to the next level.

There are a lot of lenses you can get that will work for food photography and that choice is often daunting. These are the ones I use most frequently for food shots:

• Canon 50mm 1.8 If you’re on a budget and can only buy one lens, I’d recommend this one. It’s cheap compared to other lenses, and is a very “fast” lens. A fast lens is one that has a very wide aperture that creates nice depth of field and can be used in low-light situations (more on that a little later). The downsides – slow, loud auto-focus, a cheaply built plastic body, and cannot focus very close to your subject.



• Canon 60mm 2.8 Macro A macro lens allows you to really get in there and focus closely on your food (or whatever) and get details you’d be hard pressed to get with another lens. This is (like the 50mm 1.8) a fast lens.  I shoot the majority of my food photos with this lens, and I’d say if you only were to buy one lens for food photography, this lens (or another similar macro lens) would be your best investment.  If you ever plan to upgrade your camera to a pro camera like the 5D be aware that this lens won’t mount onto it.

My next lens purchase will be a tilt-shift, oh how I crave that moment, one day.

Lighting? I keep reading about light boxes and the like. Do you need one? No! You don’t need to invest in lots of studio equipment to get great images. The very best lighting you can get is free, and it’s coming through your windows every day. What you do need is to assess the lighting and work around it – this just means that you might have to change photographic locations at some points in the day, or if possible do your photography at specific times (hard I know). For example, most of my morning photography shots are taken in my lounge where as anything done after about 2pm (weather permitting) is done in the kitchen. Use whiteboards and possibly reflectors to bounce the light around as you require. That’s it! Well, almost.

Since I shoot with natural light only, a lot of times it’s slightly too dark to hand-hold my camera and get a clear image. Use a tripod and you’ll be amazed at how much better your photos get, even with point & shoot cameras. If you have yet to invest in a tripod, balancing your camera on a can of tomatoes or a pile of books can save the shot. Tripods very drastically in price, but you really don’t need to spend  fortune. I’d advise you get one with a ball head as it allows for more flexibility in movement.

Another trick to prevent movement/camera shake is to use the 2 second delay timer. This allows you to be able to step away from the camera before the shot is taken, reducing the risk of accidental movement. Oh and turn off image stabliisation if sing a tripod too.

Key lighting points:

• Using natural light is probably the number one thing you can do to improve your photos.
• Turn off the flash. Never use it! A flash will at best make your food look flat and at worst wash out all the details and create unappealing shadows.
• I find side-lighting to be the most dependable and easist to expose for. Back-lighting can be very nice, but is harder to manage the correct exposure. Full on front-lighting can work well, but is hard to get right. Experiment with everything – afterall you are working with digital and can just erase shots you don’t like – not like you have to buy the films now is it?.
• When using natural lighting, don’t place your food in a sunbeam. You want ambient, diffuse light. Things shot directly in the sun usually look too harsh, but again, it can sometimes work depending on the shot. In my opinion, the “safest” set up is diffuse side-lighting coming from nearby window.

Take lots and lots of photos. When you think you’ve taken enough, take a few more. Again remember you can whittle the number down in the editing process. I think I average around 50 photos taken per recipe, and then whittle them down drastically to just a handful for each post.

I always find it funny how one shot can be “meh”, while another shot take from a slightly different angle, or with a slightly different focus, can suddenly become “WOW!” The best way to ensure you get “the killer  shot” is to take lots and lots of them. Taking lots of photos allows you to be very, very picky when you’re editing, ensuring you never have to post a photo you dislike.

If you have a point & shoot camera, look for a setting that is marked with a little flower. This is your macro setting, and it will help your lens use the best of its close-focusing and detail capabilities.

If you are working with an SLR with more settings to choose from, here’s what I recommend:

• ISO: Set to the lowest possible, probably 100. The lower the ISO, the “cleaner” your image will be. Photos shot at higher ISOs have a lot of digital “noise” in them that looks like colorful static. Higher ISOs are used to increase your camera’s sensitivity to light, allowing you to shoot in darker conditions and still maintain a shutter speed that is fast enough to prevent blurry images. But since you’re using a tripod, and your food isn’t moving, it’s best to keep this setting as low as possible for the best looking images.
• RAW or JPG: If you have a choice, shoot RAW. RAW files record lots and lots information about each photo, which allows you to bring the most out of the image in post-processing (editing color, contrast, white balance, etc.). Be aware that you may need special software to process RAW images. If RAW isn’t an option, make sure your camera is set to the highest resolution JPG option available.
• Shutter Speed and Aperture: In my opinion, shutter speed doesn’t matter so much in food photography; it’s your aperture, or f-stop, that’s most important. When shutter speed would matter is for “freezing” action, or purposeful motion blur. For example, if you were pouring maple syrup over a pancake and wanted to “freeze” the pouring syrup you would need a fast shutter speed. And lets say you wanted a shot that showed the motion of you tossing a stir-fry you’d require a slow shutter speed. But on the whole, you’ll be more interested in apertures than shutter speeds – you could easily set your camera to aperture priority rather than full manual to make life easier to begin with, without any detrimental effect. If you’ve ever wondered how photographers get that nice, blurry background with only one thing in focus, now you know. aperture! The aperture of the camera is the opening that lets the light in. Think of the aperture on your camera the same way as the pupil in your eye. When it’s dark out, your pupils expand to gather more light. If someone shines a light in your eye, they constrict and get very small to let less light in. Your camera’s aperture is the same. One of the side-effects is what’s called “depth of field.” When the aperture is very wide open, only a small amount of the image will be in focus. If the aperture is very small, much more of the photo will be in focus. By the way, the technical term for the pretty, smooth and silky blurry parts of an image like this is called “bokeh.”



• Angle of Shots: For food photography, a lot of times people stand above the dish, take a photo, and that is that. Overhead shots can work very well, but try taking photos from lower angles, even level with the food itself. Close up is great too, but be careful not to go too close! It’s always important to leave some frame of reference for the viewer so they know what they’re looking at, even if it’s just the edge of the plate, or the rim of a glass.

I use Photoshop to process my images, but, there are many other software options out there for you to choose from.

I hope you have found this post useful. If you have any questions please either leave me a comment below or feel free to email me.

Remember the focus should always be the food!

“Whilst August yet wears her golden crown,

Ripening fields lush- bright with promise;

Summer waxes long, then wanes, quietly passing

Her fading green glory on to riotous Autumn.”

Michelle L. Thieme, August’s Crown

Cherries are at their peek in July, but still a tremendous find in August. One of the delights of the summer, cherries are much loved for their succulent texture, flavour and gorgeous good looks. The juicy flesh can be sweet or sour, depending on which of the hundreds of varieties they are. Cherries are divided into three groups: sweet, sour and hybrids.

As a general rule, pale cherries are sweet and dark cherries more acidic. But, it is always a good idea to try before you buy to get the flavour that you prefer.

I adore cherries, I just can’t resist pinching a few from the fruit bowl each time I pass by, so they very rarely long enough to find their way into any cooking or baking, happen if I had a cherry tree I might manage to save a few for other things.

I either get cherries sent in my fruit & veg box, or I buy them at a local green grocer, or should I be lucky enough to find one, at a farmers market. I refuse to buy ones air-freighted half way around the world.

In the UK, during the last 50 years we’ve lost 90% of our Cherry orchards and now import around 95% of the cherries we eat. Shocking but true.

Keep traditional tastes alive. Buying locally supports regional food and wine culture, contributes towards maintaining traditional and sustainable growing methods, and reconnects you, the consumer, with its source! So, buying locally can also contribute towards saving our food heritage for future generations.
Shopping at a farm, local produce shop or Farmers’ Market means that you can talk to the producer and find out how the food is grown, raised or produced and when it was picked.

And another important point, buying fresh local produce is good for you! Food that hasn’t travelled for great distances will have retained more of its vitamins and minerals. Quality and availability varies throughout the year, so why not eat more locally and seasonally?

There are plenty of other reasons for buying fresh produce locally and to support local producers and businesses:

• Buying local produce cuts down on ‘food miles’ . That is the distance the food travels to get to you. The average item on the supermarket shelf travels over 1000 miles. This increases the use of fossil fuels and adds to global warning.
• Direct contact between you and the producer in many cases, allowing you to find out first hand how your goods have been produced.
• Farmers markets provide a regular and secure outlet for producers in and around your local area.
• Stimulation of local economic development by increasing employment and encouraging consumers to support local business.