| Dessert Sponge pudding containing self-raising flour, sugar, eggs, margarine and milk with summer fruits and vanilla ice cream Self-raising flour
In 1845, Alexander McDougall, previously a struggling Scottish shoe merchant from Dumfries and a Manchester schoolmaster, finally achieved his ambition of setting up as a manufacturing chemist. He recruited his sons into the business and in 1864, the McDougall brothers developed and produced a patent substitute for yeast. This was the starting point which was not only to revolutionise home baking, but firmly position McDougall's as a household name. Sugar
Today, Tate and Lyle is the only cane sugar refiner in the UK and its brand name is one of the best known. However, a century ago it was a very different picture. In 1864 there were seventy-four refineries in the country with many families, such as the MacFies, Martineaus, Fairries, Walkers and Kerrs, involved in the sugar refining process. It was against this background of competition that Henry Tate and Abram Lyle began their respective sugar businesses. Margarine
Following a competition promoted by Napoleon III to find a cheap substitute for Butter, margarine was invented in France in 1869. The winner of the award was food technologist Hippolyte Mege-Mouries. The process he used was to separate the solid fat of a cow from the oily fat. This oily fat formed the basis of his margarine. He analysed the fatty acids, which are the building blocks of fats, and chose one which looked like shiny pearly droplets. He called it margaric acid after the Greek word for pearls (margarites) and used this for his butter substitute. The patent of this invention was bought not by the French but by the Dutch who dominated the production of margarine for several decades. The use of vegetable fats in margarine was introduced at the beginning of the 20th century much closer to the products that we consume today.Under the Margarine Regulations Act of 1967 margarine sold by retail is required to be fortified with vitamins A and D to levels comparable with or higher than those found in butter. Irradiation of summer fruits
Foods are irradiated to eliminate germs which cause food-borne diseases, such as salmonella, e-coli and campylobacter, and also to prolong shelf life. Favourite foods to go through the irradiation process are raw meat and poultry, fruit and vegetables and dried spices and grains. Soft fruit such as strawberries and raspberries which have a short shelf life are ideal foods for irradiation. The nutritional value of irradiated foods is essentially unchanged, but the taste can be slightly different. Ice cream production
In the world's largest ice cream factory Walls produce 150 million tons each year. The method of production isn't far removed from Mrs Marshall's ice cream machine of 1888. The ice cream freezer contains a hollow barrel with a rotator inside spinning at 240 rpm. The ice cream mixture is mixed and frozen here. It's then moved to the hardening tunnel for 45 minutes, where the ice cream becomes solid. Vanilla flavouring
Vanilla was a flavouring found by Europeans after the discovery of America. Vanilla ice cream is the top choice for 90 per cent of us in the UK, and it's also the world's favourite flavour. Kitchen technology
The invention of the Kenwood ChefThe Kenwood Chef food mixer was made and launched in Britain in 1950. It was the brainchild of RAF Engineer Kenneth Wood, who got his idea for the Chef and other kitchen gadgets from his world travels. Home baking became a much easier task. Coffee
Freeze-drying
Freeze-drying removes the solvent, which is usually water, from the dispersed or dissolved solids. It can also be used to separate volatile substances and purify materials. Instant coffee is the most well-known freeze-dried product.In 1938 Brazil had a coffee surplus. Nestle's solution to this was to devise a system for freeze-drying coffee. Nestle's freeze-dried coffee was called Nescafe and first introduced in Switzerland. It became a popular drink in the UK after 1956 when commercial television was introduced. The commercial breaks were too short to make a cup of tea, but just long enough to make a cup of instant coffee. Chocolate
We eat more chocolate in the UK per head than any other country. Chocolate goes through various processing stages before it becomes chocolate as we know it. Chocolate starts with the crumb which has a sandy, gritty taste. Milling creates the right chocolate particle size, which is important - too large then the chocolate is gritty, too small and it's too greasy and slimy. It's then mixed in with the cocoa butter and poured into chocolate moulds with other ingredients such as fruit and nuts, to create chocolate bars.The chocolate is cooled down over a period of about 30 to 40 minutes, very gently. If done too quickly bloom (a white discoloration) appears on the top. Finally, the chocolate is passed through and wrapped.
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