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Pirate drinks
An Indian summer of quaffing mojitos has made rum a runaway favourite in top-shelf tipples. According to Tesco spirits category manager, Mark Suddaby, golden rum is flying off the shelves. Diageo’s Morgan’s spiced run saw a 25% leap in sales, and that’s before hot toddy season.

Plunder the liquor cabinet for these classy cocktails

Very retro fruit
Get out your runcible spoons – quince is sexy again. The 17th century favourite is back on the menu in cocktail form at Harvey Nichols Fourth Floor bar and London’s Bond’s bar and as a fruity ganache in Metropolitan, Thornton’s chic comeback range, aimed at stylish young chocoholics.

A very ’now’ roast pork with quince

 
Sea greens
The continuing financial gloom means manufacturers are looking for affordable superfoods for health conscious consumers and seaweed is their wunderkind. The protein rich plant has already made it into designer smoothies by the Naked Juice Company and Porter Foods are launching seaweed caviar, ready for Christmas. 2010 promises the launch of seaweed cheese.

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s seaweed stirfry

Going Down

Beer in pubs
More bad news for the British boozer. The amount of ale drunk in pubs is down 4.9 per cent this quarter, according to the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA). Supermarket and off-licence sales have gone up 4.4 per cent. On average, 52 pubs close every week in Britain.

Top 10 things that make a great pub

 
Fatty ice cream
Say goodbye to lardy bums! The folk at Häagen-Dazs have come up with a very clever scoop; healthy ice cream – well, almost healthy. The new Five range, just launched in the US, boasts only five ingredients (see?) and is lower fat than the classic range, with all the creamy loveliness HD fans know and love. Expect skinny sundaes in the UK soon.

Watch the 4Food video guide to making your own, lower fat ice cream

 
Caffeine fixes
Sales of coffee have dropped as consumers are more conscious about how they spend a penny, according to a report in the Grocer. Figures released by market research company Deloitte, show 59 per cent of shoppers have cut back on coffee and snacks, though 78 per cent of people are spending the same amount of money on groceries as they did before the economy went kaput.

Buying Fairtrade coffee? What you’re really paying for

The study, carried out by analysts, Mintel, found Britain was chomping its way through £3.5 millon worth of chocolate every year – a belly busting bill working out at more than £50 each.

Historically, chocolate sales have flouted the market trend during a recession, as people take solace in a little sweet treat.

And it seems cocoa now has even more reasons to make you feel good as Montagne Jeunesse launch a range of chocolate inspired beauty products.

Chocolate hair cream anybody?

Treat yourself the traditional way with 4Food’s chocolate recipes.

The FSA reassured fowl fans that cooking chicken thoroughly was a sure fire way of killing the bug. But should we still be worried?

The agency is holding a campylobacter conference in 2010 to hatch out a plan but how do you feel about food bacteria? Are we all too nervous about our nosh or is this a sign that more care is need in the coop and the kitchen?

Let us know your thoughts below but in the meantime swat up your skills on cooking chicken.

4Food’s top 10 scary foods

Making the most of your freezer

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Jamming in the kitchen
Either the Women’s Institute has discovered Red Bull or preserves have got sexy. Either way you’re making jam by the vat-load; and not just any old jam – plum jam. “Sales of English plums are up by 140% year on year with sales of preserving sugar and jam sugar up by 181% and 70% respectively,” says an insider at Waitrose.

How to make jam

Squid and chips
As the struggle to save our sole gathers momentum and fish sustainability becomes the watchword for discerning foodies, it’s time to find something a little more exciting to partner your portion (of chips). According to Marks and Spencer, the solution is squid. Two British cephalopods (lolingindae forbesii and loliginidae vulgaris) will hit their shelves in October.

How to prepare squid and cuttlefish

Eating your pinks
Breast Cancer Awareness Month marks 30 days of guilt-free face stuffing in the name of a very worthy cause. Food favourites including Cadbury’s Flake and Gü’s hot chocolate soufflés are donning pink packaging for the duration of the campaign, with proceeds from their sale going to Breast Cancer Care. Check your supermarket for more pink products.

Improve your food karma by eating ethically

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Hangovers
Yep. Eat your greens and morning-after misery could be a thing of the past. Results just published in the Journal of Food Science claim an extract taken from asparagus boosts liver function and the metabolism of alcohol. Asparagus season might be a way off but at least now you can toast it with bucket loads of Champers.

Your hangover remedies put to the test

British food
Traditional British dishes have been abandoned in favour of fancy-pants foreign food, according to a survey by tourism website www.iknow-uk.com. Their research found 50 per cent of Brits have never even tried toad in the hole, Welsh rarebit or bubble and squeak. Instead, the treacherous households admitted to serving pasta or pizza up to three times per week.

Master these classic British recipes

Baobab
Hailed as this year’s hot new superfruit, baobab has failed to conquer the food-world like fellow exotic imports goji berries and quinoa. Market research giants Mintel had backed a boom of the sustainable, anti-oxidant rich fruit but it is thought baobab’s dry powdery pulp is holding up research and development but manufacturers are optimistic it will soon hit European shores in products such as smoothies and cereal bars.

Top 10 superfoods

Don’t worry if you missed out on the ethical action you can make up for it over dinner with these scrumptious sustainable fish recipes from a trio of celebrity chefs:
Tom Aitken’s tuna and orange salad
Raymond Blanc’s salad niçoise
Paul Rankin’s tuna salad

Find out more about sustainable fishing.

Browse all 4Food’s fish recipes

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Healthy kiddies
Back to school means its time to think lunchboxes, but what to pack to keep the little darlings happy and healthy? Hovis says the sarnie for savvy mums combines peanut butter with apple. According to nutritionist, Fiona Hunter, who developed the health-boosting butty, it’s a winning combo: “It is cost-effective, very simple to make and has all the nutrients children need – but doesn’t compromise on taste.”

Need more inspiration? Check out these lifestyle lunchboxes

Cheese bomb
Turophiles take note – this season’s hottest cheese is the Lancashire Bomb, a 24 month matured creamy Lancashire coated in black wax. It might look like something from a Road Runner cartoon but the fromage is a favourite with serious cheese lovers. “The Lancashire Bomb is flying at the moment,” says Andrew Harper of BritishFineFoods, who rates the Bomb as his cheese of choice.

Build your own Great British Cheeseboard

Skinny latte lovers
Just a year since its launch, 1 per cent fat milk has become a shopping basket staple for health conscious consumers. Sainsbury’s, who launched the lower-fat milk, says 1 per cent fat milk accounts for 10 per cent of their total milk sales. “It tastes like, and has the same amount of calcium and vitamin B as semi-skimmed milk, but with half the fat content,” explains the supermarket.

Find the hidden fat in your food

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Shop-bought cakes
Have you been baking? There must be some reason why gateaux gurus Sara Lee have announced a 22 per cent drop in their international bakery sales. The company attributes the slump, in part, to customers switching to own-label products to save pennies in the miserable financial climate.

Flour your surfaces and try these baking recipes

Organic food (again)
It has been another challenging month for team organic as a new survey reports shoppers are spending their money elsewhere. The research, carried out by market research company IGD, revealed 10 per cent of UK shoppers opted for cheaper products they perceived to have the same benefits as organic, while eight per cent said they are no longer sure what ‘organic’ stands for.

Find out what organic is all about

Bog off, BOGOF
Buy one, get one free deals (or BOGOFs) could be out the door since the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) decided they contribute to the food waste problem. It believes switching to half-price offers will help reduce the 4.1m tonnes of edible food that is binned in the UK each year.

Tips for fighting food waste

Heston’s Fat Duck and Gordon’s Royal Hospital Road were voted the best restaurants in Britain by the Good Food Guide 2009 with Heston’s Bray bistro receiving a full 10 out of 10.

Editor of The Good Food Guide, Elizabeth Carter, said: “It’s been a tough year for all chefs, but these super chefs are at the top of their game and producing superlative food. It’s difficult to fault the Fat Duck’s impeccable standards and Gordon Ramsay’s modern French cooking is perfectly executed too.”

Discover more from the world of Heston

Give Gordon’s recipes a whirl for yourself

Alan Shearer helped sell us burgers while Gary Lineker encouraged us to ‘insist on Walker’s crisps’. There’s nothing like a sporting legend to add some glamour to a fast food snack and commercially speaking, it’s marketing gold.

Celebrities were endorsing or creating food products when the Milkybar Kid was just a twinkle in his mother’s cowgirl eye. And McDonald’s has had Olympic involvement since way back in 1968.

So is this a healthy partnership we should all just learn to love? Or should we be questioning the ethics behind food branding and calling on the team behind the Olympics to rethink its recognition of locally produced food?

Check out more curious celebrity endorsements

Find out what happens when rock stars turn foodie

In celebration of National Allotment Week, 4Food is celebrating the cream of the crop of UK allotments. But what about the would-be veggie growers denied their patch of land? Hugh suggests Landshare, while others are taking to the streets guerilla style. Is this the best way to rationalise food consumption?

Should we all be growing strawberries in our old Wellingtons? What if we don’t have the time or the inclination? Maybe we should all just dig deeper and pay that bit more. Let us know what you think…

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Pies
Who ate all the pies? Looks like you did. “The weather has been so awful that people are tucking into them,” said a Waitrose spokesperson. “Pie sales are up 34 per cent compared to this time last year.” Other cold weather warmers enjoying a summer run-out include Yorkshire puddings (up 40 per cent) and fresh soup (up 56 per cent).
Tuck into these pie recipes

Premium products
Is the recession over? The answer could be in your shopping basket. Despite a market report suggesting consumers are ditching organic food to save pennies, Tesco report a 52 per cent boom in its high-end and ethical food ranges, which it is calling ‘optimistic signs’ of a recovery from recession. Hurrah.
Find tips on eating ethically

Frozen food
Captain Bird’s Eye must be grinning all over his beard as figures show the frozen food market has grown into a £5 billion industry. According to Brian Young, Director General of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF): “Locked in goodness, minimal wastage and terrific value are just a few of the massive advantages of frozen food.”
Cut down on waste with these freezing tips

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Lettuce
Remember the promise of a scorching summer? Ha. Salad is the latest victim of another wash-out July. “We have to monitor the weather 24/7 to make sure the correct fresh products are always available,” said a Sainsbury’s insider. “Salad and lettuce sales dropped by 12 per cent, and all because of a little rain.”
Buck the trend with these salad recipes

Organic’s halo
A review commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) claims organic food offers no important differences in nutrition content or any additional health benefits. But Peter Melchett, Policy Director at the Soil Association, believes the report has ignored key research on the benefits of organic eating. “The review rejected almost all of the existing studies of comparisons between organic and non-organic nutritional differences,” he commented.

Man-sized Mars Bars
The FSA is so keen to help us battle the bulge, it’s urging producers to make single portion sizes of snacks including biscuits, chocolate and soft drinks – you know, the fun stuff. But treat makers aren’t convinced smaller bars will stop us scoffing, and reckon we’ll just buy two.
Go on, treat yourself to a little cake