Field Day

We've all heard the expression 'watching paint dry' but maybe a new one is about to be added to the lexicon: watching cheese ripen.

West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers has set up a webcam giving punters the chance to watch a block of cheddar ripen. It's not sped up - it's in real time.

So for the next year you'll be able to watch, if you're so inclined, the process at any time of the day or night (it could well be a hit, I'd say, with insomniacs, the clinically insane and anyone looking for a new activity after finishing archiving their navel fluff collection).

A visit to the site www.cheddarvision.tv shows a tv screen with the lump of cheddar in the centre of it. When I checked it out, the 'ripening counter' read 14 days, 14 hours and 44 minutes. And, guess what - not much was happening!

This is the era of reality tv - the new series of Celebrity Big Brother kicked off this week and already I'm hooked - but this really is taking the idea too far!

We've all heard the expression 'watching paint dry' but maybe a new one is about to be added to the lexicon: watching cheese ripen.

West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers has set up a webcam giving punters the chance to watch a block of cheddar ripen. It's not sped up - it's in real time.

So for the next year you'll be able to watch, if you're so inclined, the process at any time of the day or night (it could well be a hit, I'd say, with insomniacs, the clinically insane and anyone looking for a new activity after finishing archiving their navel fluff collection).

A visit to the site www.cheddarvision.tv shows a tv screen with the lump of cheddar in the centre of it. When I checked it out, the 'ripening counter' read 14 days, 14 hours and 44 minutes. And, guess what - not much was happening!

This is the era of reality tv - the new series of Celebrity Big Brother kicked off this week and already I'm hooked - but this really is taking the idea too far!

The farming industry runs on tea.

A cuppa before going out in the morning, one with breakfast at 8ish, one mid-morning, two with lunch, one in the afternoon, two with your evening meal and any number in the evening depending on how long you can stay awake in front of the telly.

It's one habit - and heaven knows they're few and far between - that actually isn't bad for us, with scientists agreeing it can help prevent heart disease.

Not any more, though, if German boffins are to be believed.

Research out of Berlin suggests that putting milk in it blocks the beneficial effect the drink can have on arteries.

Such a suggestion will worry tea drinkers who enjoy a splash of the white stuff, not to mention the dairy industry.

The British Tea Council is already contesting the findings, claiming the survey was far too small to be conclusive.

It'll take more than this to break one of my favourite habits. Tea without milk? It's like gin without tonic.

I'm off for a cup of (very milky) tea...

The farming industry runs on tea.

A cuppa before going out in the morning, one with breakfast at 8ish, one mid-morning, two with lunch, one in the afternoon, two with your evening meal and any number in the evening depending on how long you can stay awake in front of the telly.

It's one habit - and heaven knows they're few and far between - that actually isn't bad for us, with scientists agreeing it can help prevent heart disease.

Not any more, though, if German boffins are to be believed.

Research out of Berlin suggests that putting milk in it blocks the beneficial effect the drink can have on arteries.

Such a suggestion will worry tea drinkers who enjoy a splash of the white stuff, not to mention the dairy industry.

The British Tea Council is already contesting the findings, claiming the survey was far too small to be conclusive.

It'll take more than this to break one of my favourite habits. Tea without milk? It's like gin without tonic.

I'm off for a cup of (very milky) tea...

Maybe British farmers should take a leaf out of their American counterparts' book.

They don't mess around when it comes to advertising. While farmers here been arguing for decades about who pays for what - and whether it's worth advertising farm products full stop - the Yanks just get on and do it.

They enlist the help of some pretty serious A-listers, too. Footballer David Beckham - all over the papers today for deciding to leave Real Madrid for Los Angeles Galaxy - is one of a host of celebs to have got involved with the Got Milk campaign, taking part in its Milk Mustache (yes, that's how they spell it over there) initiative.

Others include Naomi Campbell, Larry King and Elton John - and the work of Got Milk is credited with giving a much-needed fillip to milk sales after a long decline.

Maybe Posh's better half has decided to relocate because he likes the milk so much in the States. That, and the prospect of a five-year deal worth £128m, of course.

If you weren’t digging out your car from under the snow, doing battle with public transport or struggling to get round the farm, maybe you caught BBC Breakfast news this morning?

There was a Sussex farming family on it called the Hooks who have started their own milk delivery round, selling the white stuff from their organic herd as unpasteurised ‘raw’ milk.

Not every day you find yourself having a conversation about Ian Botham’s bottom.

The cricketer has been a long-time supporter of British meat, working with the English Beef and Lamb Executive alongside fellow cricketer Allan Lamb. Their nicknames – Beefy and Lamby – obviously have lots of potential for the meat marketing guys.

Nothing unusual, then, when I heard EBLEX was involving Beefy in a new campaign promoting its ‘Quality Standard Mark’. Then I saw this picture.

It’s part of a tv advert which goes out from next Thursday (Feb 15).

Obviously I inquired if it's actually the cricketer’s backside featured in the campaign. An insider at EBLEX told me: “It’s a secret, you’ll have to ask Mr Botham himself!”

If you’ve been to church today, you’re probably well aware of the dire state of some rural churches’ finances.

Some could soon be making a few extra quid, though, thanks to a brainwave by one farmer-cum-churchwarden in Somerset.

It’s National Chip Week so, go on, treat yourself.

There are events across the country this week celebrating the humble chip - but perhaps the bizarrest is a bid to set a new world record for "the most portions of chips eaten simultaneously”.

This is happening tomorrow in London’s Leicester Square when the British Potato Council will try and orchestrate a syncronized scoff by 1000 people.

It's not the first time Field Day has followed record-breaking bids involving food. Wasn't that long ago we were at an attempt to make the world's biggest bowl of porridge.

Pancake Day – so I’m heading home now to flip a few.

Talk has been heavily pancake-orientated today. It's a contentious issue, what constitutes the best one.

Farmers with Jersey and Guernsey cows obviously reckon a pancake’s not a pancake unless it uses milk from their cows.

On the Black Sheep Blog, however, there are some alternative - OK, positively weird - suggestions for what should go into one.

There’s also a great source of recipes here.

The latest fad taking the food world by storm is the exotic Australian fish, the barramudi.

It's not cheap (it can carry a price tag of £11/kg) but sales are shooting up.

Foodies rave about its "sweet buttery" taste. You don't need to go all the way to Oz to try it, though, as this carnivorous fish is now being raised by a firm called New Forest Barrumundi. Their website details stockists and provides some yummy recipe ideas.

Let's be honest - some things are just out and out peculiar.

Becoming fascinated by carrots, for example.

There was a guy on Radio 4 at the weekend who has, in his own, words a "passion" for carrots.

He's got an alarm clock made from them, he reckons you can make beautiful jewellery from them and even told listeners that this humble vegetable helped to win the Second World War.

You can listen again at Saturday Live's website. Or you can find out about the World Carrot Museum which this chap's busy setting up.

Why was it, I wonder, when his wife said his interest in carrots "helped take him off to do nice things", that I heard the words: Helps get him out the house!

When you read a review of a book that describes it as "so red bloodied, so gloriously politically incorrect and so unfashionable informative that it slices through the genre like a meat cleaver", you just know you've got to get hold of a copy.

One of the nicest meals I've ever had was pheasant with a cobnut stuffing.

And I'm not the only one with a taste for game, as new stats show sales of meats such as venison, pheasant and grouse soared 46% between 2004 and 2006.

I've been lucky enough to judge a few food competitions over the years.

They're great fun and the chance to try some great new food, even if by the end of the day you're a little weary of whatever it is you're judging (it's not like wine tasting, you can't spit it out).

What are you like at cooking? Bit of a novice who wants to know more? Or maybe you're already an expert? Maybe you could be the next Gordon Ramsay or Nigella Lawson?

Well if you've got a question on food or cookery, Field Day is giving you the chance to have it answered by one-time Masterchef contestant Philippa Vine.

Flattering though it might be to be mentioned in the same breath as Bono, Nick Hornby and Wayne Rooney's fiancée Coleen McLoughlin, it goes without saying that any comparison is thoroughly undeserved.

Together, however, these people might make interesting guests at a dinner party. And in the unlikely event that such a meal is ever hosted, may I suggest that lamb from Romney Marsh forms an integral part of the menu.

Supermarkets often get a bad press over the way they treat farmers - and sometimes for the way they treat shoppers too.

The retail giants' reputation for playing hard and fast with the food we eat is frequently well-deserved. But not always, it seems.

I've just discovered a Farm to Fork project run by The Co-operative Group - Britain's biggest farmer and community-based retailer.

The project makes it possible for school children to experience a real farm at work, so they can see where their food comes from and how it is produced.

Bacon is bad for you, I am reliably informed by an esteemed group of American scientists.

It gets worse. Not content with trying to ruin our appetite for a bacon butty, researchers from Columbia University Medical Centre in New York believe all sorts of cured meat are bad.

Their reasoning behind this claim is revealed in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Cured meats - including bacon, sausage, luncheon meats and hams - contain nitrites added as a preservative, anti-microbial and colour fixative. And nitrites may cause lung damage.

Summer is here - it's official.

How do I know? Because the first BBC reporters of the year have been spotted scrambling around the countryside marvelling at the hawthorn bursting into flower.

The next few months are likely to be warmer than normal, according to the latest seasonal forecasts.

Ever thought you'd be able to enhance the beauty of the countryside by doing nothing more than drinking beer?

Well, now it's possible - thanks to the Hook Norton brewery in Oxfordshire.

Brewery bosses are donating 5p from every pint sold of their Cotswold Lion beer to a charity that conserves the Cotswolds Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

There are celebrations of everything these days. Even watercress gets it own day.

The Hampshire town of Alresford will be hosting a watercress festival on Sunday May 13th.

A day of watercress-themed events will celebrate these peppery little salad leaves.

I can't help but feeling celery might be feeling a bit left out...

Did anyone watch The Apprentice last night?

Under the watchful (terryfying) eye of Sir Alan Sugar, the contestants were charged with taking a load of British food to France and selling it at a French market. The theory was that if they could shift the stuff there, they must have fabulous sales skills.

Shakespeare's birthday to Midsummer's Day.

That's the old way of remembering the asparagus season, so I'm told. April 23 to June 21, it means in terms of actual dates.

I've just had a bacon sandwich - and jolly nice it was, too.

Eating it reminded me of this little gem of a story which has been circulating about how to make the perfect bacon butty. Apparently, scientists have researched it.

Whatever next - how to make the perfect cup of tea? Well, funnily enough, boffins do give guidance on that as well...

Raise a glass to English and Welsh wine producers: new figures show that 2006 was a bumper year for them.

Production stats from the Food Standards Agency show one of the highest volumes on record, with 3,369,000 million bottles set to be produced.

Talking of cheese, here's another piece of cheese-related news.

Cheddar cheese has come second in a poll which asked 3,500 foodies to list "the uniquely British ingredients that have had the most impact on world cuisine".

Worcestershire Sauce topped the list - I love it although only seem to have it these days in Bloody Marys.

Jellied eels also made it into the Top 10. Yuk!

Remember the piece of cheese that's got its own website so you can watch it ripen in real time?

Its makers have now run a competition for fans of the website to name it. The name they eventually went for? Wedginald!

One Field Day reader, John Snuggs, tells me he's disappointed that his suggestion wasn't picked - The Cheesemeister.

So, the new DEFRA minister Hilary Benn is a vegetarian. I’m all for freedom of choice – and we should, after all, judge him on his actions not on his eating habits - but I still reckon the guy’s missing out big-time.

Here is my list of "10 dishes that might tempt the Minister back to meat". Things, in other words, that I reckon could “cure” him:

* A bacon bap with lots of tomato ketchup (particularly when hungover)
* Roast beef with horseradish sauce (followed by a nap in front of the telly)
* Steak and kidney pudding with puff pastry
* New-season lamb chops with mint sauce - perfect with boiled potatoes and fresh veg from the garden
* A 16oz fillet steak with chips, mushrooms and tomatoes (lots of mustard, essential)
* Lancashire hotpot (unbeatable on a cold winter's day)
* Pork, leek and apple sausages with mash and beans
* Roast pork with crackling, sage and apple sauce
* Barbecue spare ribs
* Spicy meatballs with tomato and basil sauce

What are your suggestions for dishes that you think might tempt Hilary Benn to eat meat again? Post your comments here, or join the debate at our forums.

Think of tearooms in rural Britain and what do you think of? Elderly ladies? China cups? Scones with butter jam? Geishas don’t immediately spring to mind.

But a group of farm teashops in the Lake District has launched the search for a Geisha because they're expecting an influx of Japanese visitors.

The Countryside Alliance’s Game-to-Eat campaign, now in its sixth year, has published a new game recipe booklet.

You can get hold of a copy (or a pdf of it) by emailing info@gametoeat.co.uk but here to whet your appetite is one of the recipes from the 12-page booklet. Venison stir fry. Yummy - I'm going to try it this weekend.

Another week, another advert pops up in a field.

After the lap-dancing club and the giant Homer Simpson, now it's a giant sheep.

About 1.7 million vehicles are expected to pass this giant sheep near the M62 at Bradford this week, marking the launch of the latest phase of a campaign by the English Beef and Lamb Executive to promote Quality Standard Mark lamb. It's 1000 square metres in size.

It's not the first time EBLEX has come up with a wacky idea to promote British meat - one of their previous initiatives involved Ian Botham's bottom!

If you, like me, often bemoan the demise of the once-unmissable ritual of Sunday lunch, don’t despair.

New research reveals that while the number of people who regularly sit down to a Sunday family lunch has halved compared to 45 years ago, the custom has been reinvented.

Friday evenings are now the time when families get-together over a meal.

I've got nothing against vegetarians (much).

After suggesting some 'meals to tempt the Minister back to meat', this post on the caterer blog about things not to say to a vegetarian made me chuckle.

I forget how many times I've seen surveys about children not knowing where there food comes from.

One in three young children think oranges grow in Britain, according to one NFU survey published a few years ago.

Another survey showed that many people thought margarine comes from cows.

Now another survey delves deeper into children's farm yard fantasies.

Hedgehogs seem to provoke different responses in different people.

There's the "aarrgh, they're so cute" brigade and there's the "they're flea-ridden vermin" camp.

Not many of us see these prickly creatures and think: "Yum, looks tasty."

This wasn't always the case though. Roasted hedgehogs - along with a host of other odd selections - featured on stone-age menus, according to new reseach.

Never mind our ancestors' peculiar eating habits, this guy could have taught them a thing or two - the roadkill chef.

He's not even averse to munching on a slug or two - which is one way of dealing with these little swines we haven't yet discussed, I suppose!

We all know it's a big challenge to get kids to eat more healthy food.

Sources tell me the fast-food chain Burger King is developing 'BK Fresh Apple Fries' - red apples shaped like fries and served in the same containers, but not fried and served skinless and cold.

This news cheers me and makes me depressed. It’s great that the multinational is thinking about healthy eating. Depressing, though, that the only way it seems we can get some kids to eat fruit is by tricking them into thinking it’s chips!

Old cookery books are a joy.

I’m lucky enough to have ended up with a few editions of a book called Farmhouse Fare, which was first published in 1940 and reprinted many times over the decades that followed.

Don't forget, tomorrow will be the first of the Saturday recipes on Field Day, taken from the Farmhouse Fare books.

One of my favourite places in the country is Aldeburgh in Suffolk and one of the things I like most doing is eating.

I was disappointed, therefore, not to be able to make it to the recent Aldeburgh Food and Drink Festival.