Condiments

Sunday

Olivia Potts

Gentleman’s Relish is no more

It is the early hours of the morning and an email drops into my inbox. Lacking any kind of willpower, I open it. Now I’m wide awake. Because this isn’t the usual PR slop that starts my days. It’s a tip-off. A big one. A reader has discovered something about a company and they are urging me – me! – to investigate. Adrenaline surges. This must be what it felt like to be Woodward. Or Bernstein. Only my informant is pointing me in a slightly different direction. Their intel is on Gentleman’s Relish: the incredibly niche spread is disappearing from our shelves. It has been available in the House of Lords dining rooms – but for how much longer? Online supermarkets and delis are showing it as out of stock. What is going on?

gentleman's relish

Thursday

Jane Stannus

The glorious versatility of Dijon mustard

Not just salami, air conditioning and dental fillings: among their many contributions to civilization, the Romans also gave us Dijon mustard. Somewhere about the 4th century, it seems, the vinegar makers of Dijon were granted the right to use the exclusive mustard recipe composed by Palladius, son of Exuperantius, Prefect of the Gauls (or so Samuel Chamberlain informs us in his Bouquet de France of 1952). Palladius was one of those fascinating Roman gentleman-farmers who are also poets and scientists. He owned farms in Italy and Sardinia and had a particular interest in fruit trees. He penned a popular treatise on agriculture that stayed on the best-seller (or at least most-read) list until well into the Middle Ages.

Tuesday

Lara Prendergast

With Claire Dinhut

From our UK edition

26 min listen

Claire Dinhut is known to thousands on social media as CondimentClaire. Raised in a European household in Los Angeles, her upbringing and her background studying history have influenced her other passion, for cooking. Her book The Condiment Book: a brilliantly flavourful guide to food's unsung heroes is out now. On the podcast, Claire tells hosts Lara Prendergast and Olivia Potts about how Anthony Bourdain was her inspiration, the impact of covid on her career, and her French and Greek culinary influences. She also answers important questions such as: should we pair branston pickle with avocado; is cereal a soup; and what's the deal with pumpkin spice? Produced by Oscar Edmondson and Patrick Gibbons.