Food Unwrapped (2012) s06e04 Episode Script
Vodka, Instant Coffee, Wensleydale Cheese
1 Let's go.
'Us Brits love our grub.
'And our shops and supermarkets are stacked high 'with food from all over the world.
' Whoa! 'But how do we really know about where our food comes from?' I've come to ask you how dangerous my nuts are.
'We'll be travelling far and wide' Whoo-hoo-hoo! Look at how high up we are.
'.
.
to reveal the truth about the food we eat.
' That is not as I would expect at all.
'Coming up 'I'm in Peru to find out how they turn coffee beans 'into the instant granules in our jars.
' ARGH! Oh, my God! It's like Narnia! 'I ask, is it really worth splashing out on expensive vodka?' This looks like the beginning of one of Matt Tebbutt's parties.
'And I find myself at the business end of Wensleydale cheese.
' - I don't know why it's funny, but it is quite funny.
- Yeah, I know.
First, instant coffee.
'Good afternoon.
' Sorry, you just caught me dunking a biscuit.
I just thought that instant coffee's instant coffee.
Know what I mean? Why is there such a difference in price? 'Good question.
' I can buy a jar from you for 50p or, you know, at the other end of the scale, it's four quid.
The beans come from everywhere.
Do you reckon the further they come, the more expensive it is? 'Possibly, cos most of it's like your air mile distance, 'I'd have thought.
' I wonder if the expensive ones, they put them on aeroplanes.
I'm not saying each bean has its own seat, but do you know what I mean? So why does one jar of instant coffee cost so much more than another? It can't just be down to posh packaging.
To find out, I'm travelling to Peru, home to some of the finest coffee beans in the world.
We've just arrived in Cusco and we're 12,000 feet above sea level, and you can feel it already.
I'm pushing the luggage trolley, and I'm feeling a little bit out of puff.
Our coffee convoy has now got a five-hour drive up into the mountains of Quillabamba.
We're on our way to the village where they grow the coffee, and we keep going up and up and up.
I would say it's probably nothing short of a of a bit of a death drive, really.
This is the sheer drop.
I hope there's nothing coming the other way.
- Lucardo? - Hola.
Si.
Ah! Kate.
Hola.
Como estas? 'My guide for the day takes the view 'that if I'm going to pick coffee like a local, 'I need to dress like a local.
' Gracias.
'There are two main types of coffee beans -- 'robusta, and the bean this remote area is famous for, arabica.
'Unfortunately, they can only be reached by foot.
' We are very high up.
Lucardo.
Ah! 'And, at long last' This is the coffee! Si? These little red berries.
Wow.
'We find what are known as coffee cherries.
' It's like biting into an apple pip.
No taste of coffee whatsoever.
'The arabica coffee plant is a delicate species 'which only grows at high altitude.
' So, Lucardo, is this the only spot that you can grow this? 'These cold nights slow down the arabica beans' growth cycle, 'allowing deeper, more pronounced flavours to develop.
' And so is every single coffee bean hand-picked like this? 'So, unlike robusta beans, arabica is extensive to harvest.
'What's more, the arabica bush is sensitive 'and susceptible to a deadly fungal disease.
' Gosh, that is a lot of coffee! 'Once the beans have been picked, 'the first step is to separate them from their shell.
' This way? Oh, look at those.
Beautiful! 'At this stage, the beans still have excess pulp clinging to them.
'This is removed by fermenting them for 12-16 hours.
' So, right now, these beans, they've finished fermenting and now you're rinsing them through with water? 'These precious beans 'are then carefully dried in the sun for up to four days.
' So this is how you dry it? When do you roast these beans once they're dry? And how do you make your instant coffee? I want to follow your beans to their next destination.
- OK.
- Let's go.
Come on.
- I'll come too.
'Later, I found out how coffee beans become instant coffee granules.
' Very strong coffee! Ha-ho! Next, vodka .
.
the nation's favourite spirit.
But the price of a bottle can vary massively -- Vladivar comes in around £13, Belvedere will set you back around £36, while the rich and famous are happy to pay over 10.
5 grand for Kors Gold.
But what's the difference? Do you know why they vary in price so much? 'No idea.
' I don't really know what the difference is.
'Most vodkas do taste exactly the same.
' Basically, I think it's the same stuff in different bottles.
What about the ingredients? Are the ingredients more expensive? 'I'm not too sure about ingredients now.
' Bye-bye.
So, what is the difference? This company in Herefordshire produces one of the UK's pricier brands.
- Hi there, you must be Jamie.
- Hi, Jimmy.
Now, I'm here to find out how you make your premium vodka.
OK, well, it all starts with the humble potato.
- With a spud? - With a spud.
Do you make vodka just with potatoes, or can you make it with anything? You can really make it with any agricultural source that's got a starch content.
'Most vodkas are made from barley, rye or wheat.
'These base ingredients are said to add subtly different flavours.
' So as long as your vegetable product or whatever you're going to use - contains starch, sugars - Yeah.
- .
.
then you can make vodka? You can convert it into alcohol, yeah.
'Every week, 160 tonnes of prime King Edwards 'are cooked in these massive vats.
' At this stage, it's just pure mashed potato.
So I should have brought a few sausages for that? - You could have done, yeah.
- We could have had sausage and mash.
'Next, yeast is added to kick-start the process 'of converting naturally-occurring sugar into alcohol.
' What we get at the end of around a five-day period is what we call a low wine of around 10%.
So, essentially, it's a potato wine but probably the world's worst potato wine.
- Oh, my Lord.
- Now we get some nice, brown wine.
You weren't joking.
Look at that.
- It's not that appealing, is it? - No.
Bleaurgh! - That's horrible! - But we are going to refine this even further.
Thank the Lord! - Can I have a little taste? - I will get you a little taste.
Look at that! That's a piece of magic.
- So down in one? - No! Take it easy.
Maybe just have a little dip first.
Ah-ha-ha! It's like someone's punched me in the chest! What's wrong with you?! 'No wonder he wasn't keen for me to knock it back! 'This solution is dangerous stuff.
'At this stage, it contains high amounts 'of the alcohol compound methanol, which can kill.
'And the way they remove it is to distil it.
'Distillation is when this crude alcohol 'is heated in a tall copper column.
'As the liquid evaporates, the various alcohol molecules rise.
'The smaller molecules, like methanol, rise to the top first, 'followed by the good stuff, ethanol, in the middle, 'leaving just the heavy impurities at the bottom.
'This middle portion, containing most of the ethanol, 'is siphoned off, and goes through the whole process repeatedly 'until it becomes the base ingredient of vodka.
' What we've got coming through at the moment is absolutely pure ethanol.
That will actually be sitting around 96.
7% alcohol.
96.
7% alcohol? - It's as pure as you can get by single batch distillation.
- Right.
Most people triple distil, which is the minimum you have to do to get it to 96%, which makes it legally vodka.
But Jamie's premium product goes through 47 different distillations.
By doing it so many times, doesn't that make it more expensive? It does.
We can't just buy in spirit from a big spirit producer, which so many other people do.
We make the whole lot from scratch.
- So you get the purest alcohol you can? - Yeah.
'However, it's not just this posh stuff 'that is distilled multiple times.
'Many other brands boast similar techniques.
' Right, I want to get to the stage where I can sit and have a drink - where it's not going to blow my head off! - We're nearly there.
'To make this potent liquid fit for consumption, 'it's diluted with purified water, each bottle containing approximately 'four parts alcohol and six parts water.
' - I'm finally going to taste the vodka.
- You will do.
Look at that.
Oh, that's great! So essentially vodka is just pure ethanol and water.
That's it, yeah.
'Later, it's the top shelf stuff versus bargain basement booze 'in a blind taste test.
'Oh, I love my job.
' I like A.
And then I like B.
- And maybe C as well.
- C's all right.
Next up, Wensleydale cheese.
I've noticed it comes in two forms -- cows' milk, and you can get sheep's milk.
Do you know why the sheep's milk Wensleydale would be that much more expensive? Their sheep's milk costs £21.
45 per kilo and their cow's milk Wensleydale costs just £9.
50 per kilo.
- Have the sheep got, like, tiny little udders? - 'Probably.
' And the farmers have got big fingers.
- 'Yes, probably.
' - Hard to get hold of them.
I mean, I can creep up on a cow! I can't creep up on a sheep.
Right, where are my wellies? I'm off to West Sussex.
I meeting Matt Vandenberg, a farmer who knows a thing or two about sheep.
- G'day, mate.
- Nice to meet you.
First things first, how do you even go about milking a skittish sheep? They're quite flighty.
I mean, how do you round these? Stealthy.
Like a fox.
And, without a sheepdog in sight, here I go.
Oh, God! OK, so that's harder than it looks.
It looked quite hard, actually.
I have to say.
Some sheep are good for meat and some sheep are good for milk.
Just like with cows.
Good.
So I've needlessly been chasing the wrong ones.
That's brilliant(!) This is the Friesland breed, which is the milking breed.
Like a Friesian cow.
They're taller, bonier.
Everything is in the udder.
And friendly like a cow.
They are, aren't they? They're almost like pets.
Yeah, no, they are.
'These girls have got work to do, 'so I hope they're a bit easier to deal with.
' - Come on, girls.
- Right, you lot.
Come on.
Like the Pied Piper! 'It's as easy as that.
' In we go.
Ready, girls? 'Now, coming from Wales, obviously I know a thing or two about sheep, 'but this is a first for me.
' A wipe each.
And in we go.
We get them nice and clean That's it.
And then the next job is grab your clusters - Yeah.
- .
.
pop that on.
Blimey O'Reilly! Sounds like you're trying to change gear.
- Oh, my word.
- And there we go.
You can actually see the milk pouring down, and that's literally being massaged out of the udder.
- I don't know why it's funny, but it is quite funny.
- Yeah, I know.
'And after all that effort, how much milk 'do these sheep actually produce compared with a cow?' So that's what a cow will give you every day.
- And then that's what a sheep will give you.
- Wow, really? - You'd need about 18 sheep - To match a cow? .
.
to produce what a cow has given.
So that, essentially, is why it's so pricey.
It's like liquid gold.
Coming up, I discover how producers spin this liquid gold into a cheese that won't break the bank.
That doesn't make sense.
Why is that? That's all down to the compositional quality of the milk.
Earlier, I found out sheep produce a tiny fraction of milk compared with cows.
You'd need about 18 sheep to produce what a cow is giving you.
So, how do you make enough sheep's milk cheese to supply the supermarkets with such a small yield? I've come to -- yep! -- Wensleydale in the hope that Sandra Bell can tell me.
- Hi, morning.
- Sandra? - Yes.
- Matt.
- Pleased to meet you.
'This creamery is part of a long tradition.
'Their sheep's milk cheese has been made in Wensleydale 'for over 800 years.
' What's going on in there, then? We're filling this vat with sheep's milk.
'But they're not all about sheep's milk here.
'They make it with cow's milk, too.
'Sheep's curd is white, cows' is yellow.
' Other than the obvious difference, which is the colour between these two cheeses, what other differences are there? What it has taken is a lot more milk to make the cow's milk cheese, so we needed about 10,000 litres to make that tonne of cheese - we see there on the table there.
- Right.
Whereas over here, we only needed around 6,000 litres.
'Sheep's milk goes further.
'That's because it contains more fat and protein than cow's milk.
'Now, I'll stop BLEATING on about this and taste some.
'First, the cow's milk cheese.
' It's got that crumbly texture that you expect.
- Yes, it's got the texture.
- Yeah, it's nice.
It's quite, sort of, fresh.
'And now for the sheep's cheese.
' Totally different.
- Very, very creamy.
- I much prefer the sheep's.
'One of these bad boys costs nearly 90 quid! 'Fingers crossed they won't miss this one.
' 'Earlier, I found out what heights coffee farmers go to 'to grow premium arabica coffee beans.
' This is the coffee.
Si? 'I can understand why a hand-picked coffee bean at the top of a mountain 'can cost a lot, but what's in my cheaper instant coffee? 'This Staffordshire factory 'produces over 40 million cups of instant a day.
' - Hi, Gavin? - Hi, Kate.
- Right, I recognise those.
I want to know the difference.
OK, let's go and find out.
- Brilliant, through here? - Yeah, sure.
'First, factory manager Gavin Burton wants to show me 'where the raw beans for the instant coffee arrive.
' So, this is where it all starts? Yeah, so this is where we receive the green coffee.
- I recognise these.
- So what do you think they are? Um Are they arabica beans? Unfortunately, they're not.
- They're robusta beans, actually.
- Robusta? You can see they're slightly less uniform.
Now, arabica beans, I've picked them, and they're really, really scarce.
They're hard to grow for lots of different reasons.
So I'm guessing that robusta are cheaper? Yeah, they are about half the price of the arabica beans because they're much more plentiful, globally.
So, you make your coffee from robusta beans.
And arabica.
It's a blend of robusta and arabica.
'There are more arabica coffee beans in Gavin's premium instant coffee, 'while the standard instant is mostly robusta.
' Is that what explains the price difference between your premium products and your other ones? It's partly that, and it's partly the technology we employ.
- So it's not just the bean, it's also the tech? - It's also the tech.
- Brilliant, let's go and have a look.
- OK.
'Both types of beans are roasted in the same way.
'And it's here the flavours are developed.
'Then the roasted beans begin their journey to become 'the instant coffee that we buy in the supermarkets.
' So what we're doing at this point is we're putting in this roast and ground coffee, we're just adding very hot water into the coffee grounds, basically creating the coffee you'd normally create in your cafetiere at home but on a much more industrial scale.
- Purely coffee and water? - Exactly.
And then you get this? - And then we get that.
- So, you're telling me that, so far, apart from the starting point of the beans, if you were to compare the process for your standard and your premium coffees, they're exactly the same? The basic fundamentals are the same.
But the next bit is the drying technologies, - and they're significantly different.
- Right.
Let's go and see.
'It's heated to 185 degrees centigrade, 'dehydrating the coffee and creating granules.
' 'The freeze-drying process, as the name suggests, 'happens at sub-zero temperatures, 'so Gavin's making me put on my winter woollies.
' All this for a cup of coffee? Actually, we're doing a bank robbery, yeah? 'This conveyor belt of coffee liquid is about to hit -45 degrees, 'colder than the Arctic Circle.
'And exactly what goes on in this room is a closely-guarded secret.
' Oh, my God, it's like Narnia! It's snowing in here! So, in here, we're producing the litter, and we're creating this solid cake.
Frozen solid cake.
- Right, shall we get back out? - Yes, let's go outside.
So, this is like a coffee iced lolly, effectively.
Very strong coffee.
Ha-ho! So, why do you go to all this trouble? Because when you freeze it, you've locked in all that aroma and taste.
Then we dry it, but we dry it very gently.
So, you end up with the perfect granules that you see in your jar.
So, looking at price, what's the difference between this process, and the spray dryer? You've got to keep our cold room at -45 degrees.
The amount of energy required to keep that room at that temperature is immense.
So the price difference is down to the beans, and it's down to that? Yeah, two key elements, I would say.
'Earlier, I found out how premium vodka is made.
' - Essentially, vodka is just pure ethanol and water.
- That's it, yeah.
'So, if the recipe is that simple, 'is it worth splashing out for the posh stuff? 'To help me is spirits expert Ian Wisniewski.
' Hi, Ian.
Nice to see you.
Now, I want to find out about vodka.
Is there any difference in taste, though? Definitely.
Yeah, there is.
I mean, brands at various price points will have, perhaps, a more mellow side to them or be much bolder, more characterful.
And you get that throughout the range.
'Ian has selected three vodkas to put to a blind taste test.
'Glen's vodka that retails at around £13 a bottle, 'a mid-range Absolut at about 20 quid, 'and, at the premium end, Grey Goose, which is around £38 a pop.
' Wow, this looks like the beginning of one of Matt Tebbut's parties, this does.
- OK, so, let's start with A.
- Yeah.
Are you spitting yours out? I've swallowed mine.
Let's move on to B.
Let's see whether C exceeds those two.
'But which is my favourite?' I like A.
And then I like B.
- And maybe C as well.
- C's all right.
Ha! OK.
I think I'm going to go for A.
Do you think that represents what most people go for? It'll be interesting to find out.
'I've rounded up a few volunteers.
'I'll be honest, it wasn't hard.
' So hands up if you like C.
So two.
Hands up for B.
One.
Hands up for A.
'So, that's two volunteers and myself who chose A.
'Two preferred C, while only one preferred B.
' So let's start off with third place, which was B.
- B is the most expensive.
- I said that was my least, didn't I? - Your least favourite.
- Wow.
OK, what's next? C - is the medium expensive one.
- Wow! So guess what you like best? - I am cheap and cheerful.
- That's what we said! - High five.
'In our unscientific test, most of us chose the cheapest, 'and, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry, 'when it comes to any discernible variation in flavour 'between vodkas, even the science is inconclusive.
'So, for the time being, 'it looks like it all comes down to personal taste.
' If that's your favourite, that's absolutely fine.
- You know, you won't have a big vodka bill.
- That's perfect.
That is perfect.
Next time, I explore the epic world of pistachios and reveal why some of their shells are always closed.
Oh, my word! Whoa! I ask can instant porridge be as good for you as Goldilocks' favourite.
It's not too hot, it's not too cold, that is just right.
And I'm in Italy looking at Britain's new favourite fizz, Prosecco.
- Are you brothers, or is this a popular look? - Yes, popular look!
'Us Brits love our grub.
'And our shops and supermarkets are stacked high 'with food from all over the world.
' Whoa! 'But how do we really know about where our food comes from?' I've come to ask you how dangerous my nuts are.
'We'll be travelling far and wide' Whoo-hoo-hoo! Look at how high up we are.
'.
.
to reveal the truth about the food we eat.
' That is not as I would expect at all.
'Coming up 'I'm in Peru to find out how they turn coffee beans 'into the instant granules in our jars.
' ARGH! Oh, my God! It's like Narnia! 'I ask, is it really worth splashing out on expensive vodka?' This looks like the beginning of one of Matt Tebbutt's parties.
'And I find myself at the business end of Wensleydale cheese.
' - I don't know why it's funny, but it is quite funny.
- Yeah, I know.
First, instant coffee.
'Good afternoon.
' Sorry, you just caught me dunking a biscuit.
I just thought that instant coffee's instant coffee.
Know what I mean? Why is there such a difference in price? 'Good question.
' I can buy a jar from you for 50p or, you know, at the other end of the scale, it's four quid.
The beans come from everywhere.
Do you reckon the further they come, the more expensive it is? 'Possibly, cos most of it's like your air mile distance, 'I'd have thought.
' I wonder if the expensive ones, they put them on aeroplanes.
I'm not saying each bean has its own seat, but do you know what I mean? So why does one jar of instant coffee cost so much more than another? It can't just be down to posh packaging.
To find out, I'm travelling to Peru, home to some of the finest coffee beans in the world.
We've just arrived in Cusco and we're 12,000 feet above sea level, and you can feel it already.
I'm pushing the luggage trolley, and I'm feeling a little bit out of puff.
Our coffee convoy has now got a five-hour drive up into the mountains of Quillabamba.
We're on our way to the village where they grow the coffee, and we keep going up and up and up.
I would say it's probably nothing short of a of a bit of a death drive, really.
This is the sheer drop.
I hope there's nothing coming the other way.
- Lucardo? - Hola.
Si.
Ah! Kate.
Hola.
Como estas? 'My guide for the day takes the view 'that if I'm going to pick coffee like a local, 'I need to dress like a local.
' Gracias.
'There are two main types of coffee beans -- 'robusta, and the bean this remote area is famous for, arabica.
'Unfortunately, they can only be reached by foot.
' We are very high up.
Lucardo.
Ah! 'And, at long last' This is the coffee! Si? These little red berries.
Wow.
'We find what are known as coffee cherries.
' It's like biting into an apple pip.
No taste of coffee whatsoever.
'The arabica coffee plant is a delicate species 'which only grows at high altitude.
' So, Lucardo, is this the only spot that you can grow this? 'These cold nights slow down the arabica beans' growth cycle, 'allowing deeper, more pronounced flavours to develop.
' And so is every single coffee bean hand-picked like this? 'So, unlike robusta beans, arabica is extensive to harvest.
'What's more, the arabica bush is sensitive 'and susceptible to a deadly fungal disease.
' Gosh, that is a lot of coffee! 'Once the beans have been picked, 'the first step is to separate them from their shell.
' This way? Oh, look at those.
Beautiful! 'At this stage, the beans still have excess pulp clinging to them.
'This is removed by fermenting them for 12-16 hours.
' So, right now, these beans, they've finished fermenting and now you're rinsing them through with water? 'These precious beans 'are then carefully dried in the sun for up to four days.
' So this is how you dry it? When do you roast these beans once they're dry? And how do you make your instant coffee? I want to follow your beans to their next destination.
- OK.
- Let's go.
Come on.
- I'll come too.
'Later, I found out how coffee beans become instant coffee granules.
' Very strong coffee! Ha-ho! Next, vodka .
.
the nation's favourite spirit.
But the price of a bottle can vary massively -- Vladivar comes in around £13, Belvedere will set you back around £36, while the rich and famous are happy to pay over 10.
5 grand for Kors Gold.
But what's the difference? Do you know why they vary in price so much? 'No idea.
' I don't really know what the difference is.
'Most vodkas do taste exactly the same.
' Basically, I think it's the same stuff in different bottles.
What about the ingredients? Are the ingredients more expensive? 'I'm not too sure about ingredients now.
' Bye-bye.
So, what is the difference? This company in Herefordshire produces one of the UK's pricier brands.
- Hi there, you must be Jamie.
- Hi, Jimmy.
Now, I'm here to find out how you make your premium vodka.
OK, well, it all starts with the humble potato.
- With a spud? - With a spud.
Do you make vodka just with potatoes, or can you make it with anything? You can really make it with any agricultural source that's got a starch content.
'Most vodkas are made from barley, rye or wheat.
'These base ingredients are said to add subtly different flavours.
' So as long as your vegetable product or whatever you're going to use - contains starch, sugars - Yeah.
- .
.
then you can make vodka? You can convert it into alcohol, yeah.
'Every week, 160 tonnes of prime King Edwards 'are cooked in these massive vats.
' At this stage, it's just pure mashed potato.
So I should have brought a few sausages for that? - You could have done, yeah.
- We could have had sausage and mash.
'Next, yeast is added to kick-start the process 'of converting naturally-occurring sugar into alcohol.
' What we get at the end of around a five-day period is what we call a low wine of around 10%.
So, essentially, it's a potato wine but probably the world's worst potato wine.
- Oh, my Lord.
- Now we get some nice, brown wine.
You weren't joking.
Look at that.
- It's not that appealing, is it? - No.
Bleaurgh! - That's horrible! - But we are going to refine this even further.
Thank the Lord! - Can I have a little taste? - I will get you a little taste.
Look at that! That's a piece of magic.
- So down in one? - No! Take it easy.
Maybe just have a little dip first.
Ah-ha-ha! It's like someone's punched me in the chest! What's wrong with you?! 'No wonder he wasn't keen for me to knock it back! 'This solution is dangerous stuff.
'At this stage, it contains high amounts 'of the alcohol compound methanol, which can kill.
'And the way they remove it is to distil it.
'Distillation is when this crude alcohol 'is heated in a tall copper column.
'As the liquid evaporates, the various alcohol molecules rise.
'The smaller molecules, like methanol, rise to the top first, 'followed by the good stuff, ethanol, in the middle, 'leaving just the heavy impurities at the bottom.
'This middle portion, containing most of the ethanol, 'is siphoned off, and goes through the whole process repeatedly 'until it becomes the base ingredient of vodka.
' What we've got coming through at the moment is absolutely pure ethanol.
That will actually be sitting around 96.
7% alcohol.
96.
7% alcohol? - It's as pure as you can get by single batch distillation.
- Right.
Most people triple distil, which is the minimum you have to do to get it to 96%, which makes it legally vodka.
But Jamie's premium product goes through 47 different distillations.
By doing it so many times, doesn't that make it more expensive? It does.
We can't just buy in spirit from a big spirit producer, which so many other people do.
We make the whole lot from scratch.
- So you get the purest alcohol you can? - Yeah.
'However, it's not just this posh stuff 'that is distilled multiple times.
'Many other brands boast similar techniques.
' Right, I want to get to the stage where I can sit and have a drink - where it's not going to blow my head off! - We're nearly there.
'To make this potent liquid fit for consumption, 'it's diluted with purified water, each bottle containing approximately 'four parts alcohol and six parts water.
' - I'm finally going to taste the vodka.
- You will do.
Look at that.
Oh, that's great! So essentially vodka is just pure ethanol and water.
That's it, yeah.
'Later, it's the top shelf stuff versus bargain basement booze 'in a blind taste test.
'Oh, I love my job.
' I like A.
And then I like B.
- And maybe C as well.
- C's all right.
Next up, Wensleydale cheese.
I've noticed it comes in two forms -- cows' milk, and you can get sheep's milk.
Do you know why the sheep's milk Wensleydale would be that much more expensive? Their sheep's milk costs £21.
45 per kilo and their cow's milk Wensleydale costs just £9.
50 per kilo.
- Have the sheep got, like, tiny little udders? - 'Probably.
' And the farmers have got big fingers.
- 'Yes, probably.
' - Hard to get hold of them.
I mean, I can creep up on a cow! I can't creep up on a sheep.
Right, where are my wellies? I'm off to West Sussex.
I meeting Matt Vandenberg, a farmer who knows a thing or two about sheep.
- G'day, mate.
- Nice to meet you.
First things first, how do you even go about milking a skittish sheep? They're quite flighty.
I mean, how do you round these? Stealthy.
Like a fox.
And, without a sheepdog in sight, here I go.
Oh, God! OK, so that's harder than it looks.
It looked quite hard, actually.
I have to say.
Some sheep are good for meat and some sheep are good for milk.
Just like with cows.
Good.
So I've needlessly been chasing the wrong ones.
That's brilliant(!) This is the Friesland breed, which is the milking breed.
Like a Friesian cow.
They're taller, bonier.
Everything is in the udder.
And friendly like a cow.
They are, aren't they? They're almost like pets.
Yeah, no, they are.
'These girls have got work to do, 'so I hope they're a bit easier to deal with.
' - Come on, girls.
- Right, you lot.
Come on.
Like the Pied Piper! 'It's as easy as that.
' In we go.
Ready, girls? 'Now, coming from Wales, obviously I know a thing or two about sheep, 'but this is a first for me.
' A wipe each.
And in we go.
We get them nice and clean That's it.
And then the next job is grab your clusters - Yeah.
- .
.
pop that on.
Blimey O'Reilly! Sounds like you're trying to change gear.
- Oh, my word.
- And there we go.
You can actually see the milk pouring down, and that's literally being massaged out of the udder.
- I don't know why it's funny, but it is quite funny.
- Yeah, I know.
'And after all that effort, how much milk 'do these sheep actually produce compared with a cow?' So that's what a cow will give you every day.
- And then that's what a sheep will give you.
- Wow, really? - You'd need about 18 sheep - To match a cow? .
.
to produce what a cow has given.
So that, essentially, is why it's so pricey.
It's like liquid gold.
Coming up, I discover how producers spin this liquid gold into a cheese that won't break the bank.
That doesn't make sense.
Why is that? That's all down to the compositional quality of the milk.
Earlier, I found out sheep produce a tiny fraction of milk compared with cows.
You'd need about 18 sheep to produce what a cow is giving you.
So, how do you make enough sheep's milk cheese to supply the supermarkets with such a small yield? I've come to -- yep! -- Wensleydale in the hope that Sandra Bell can tell me.
- Hi, morning.
- Sandra? - Yes.
- Matt.
- Pleased to meet you.
'This creamery is part of a long tradition.
'Their sheep's milk cheese has been made in Wensleydale 'for over 800 years.
' What's going on in there, then? We're filling this vat with sheep's milk.
'But they're not all about sheep's milk here.
'They make it with cow's milk, too.
'Sheep's curd is white, cows' is yellow.
' Other than the obvious difference, which is the colour between these two cheeses, what other differences are there? What it has taken is a lot more milk to make the cow's milk cheese, so we needed about 10,000 litres to make that tonne of cheese - we see there on the table there.
- Right.
Whereas over here, we only needed around 6,000 litres.
'Sheep's milk goes further.
'That's because it contains more fat and protein than cow's milk.
'Now, I'll stop BLEATING on about this and taste some.
'First, the cow's milk cheese.
' It's got that crumbly texture that you expect.
- Yes, it's got the texture.
- Yeah, it's nice.
It's quite, sort of, fresh.
'And now for the sheep's cheese.
' Totally different.
- Very, very creamy.
- I much prefer the sheep's.
'One of these bad boys costs nearly 90 quid! 'Fingers crossed they won't miss this one.
' 'Earlier, I found out what heights coffee farmers go to 'to grow premium arabica coffee beans.
' This is the coffee.
Si? 'I can understand why a hand-picked coffee bean at the top of a mountain 'can cost a lot, but what's in my cheaper instant coffee? 'This Staffordshire factory 'produces over 40 million cups of instant a day.
' - Hi, Gavin? - Hi, Kate.
- Right, I recognise those.
I want to know the difference.
OK, let's go and find out.
- Brilliant, through here? - Yeah, sure.
'First, factory manager Gavin Burton wants to show me 'where the raw beans for the instant coffee arrive.
' So, this is where it all starts? Yeah, so this is where we receive the green coffee.
- I recognise these.
- So what do you think they are? Um Are they arabica beans? Unfortunately, they're not.
- They're robusta beans, actually.
- Robusta? You can see they're slightly less uniform.
Now, arabica beans, I've picked them, and they're really, really scarce.
They're hard to grow for lots of different reasons.
So I'm guessing that robusta are cheaper? Yeah, they are about half the price of the arabica beans because they're much more plentiful, globally.
So, you make your coffee from robusta beans.
And arabica.
It's a blend of robusta and arabica.
'There are more arabica coffee beans in Gavin's premium instant coffee, 'while the standard instant is mostly robusta.
' Is that what explains the price difference between your premium products and your other ones? It's partly that, and it's partly the technology we employ.
- So it's not just the bean, it's also the tech? - It's also the tech.
- Brilliant, let's go and have a look.
- OK.
'Both types of beans are roasted in the same way.
'And it's here the flavours are developed.
'Then the roasted beans begin their journey to become 'the instant coffee that we buy in the supermarkets.
' So what we're doing at this point is we're putting in this roast and ground coffee, we're just adding very hot water into the coffee grounds, basically creating the coffee you'd normally create in your cafetiere at home but on a much more industrial scale.
- Purely coffee and water? - Exactly.
And then you get this? - And then we get that.
- So, you're telling me that, so far, apart from the starting point of the beans, if you were to compare the process for your standard and your premium coffees, they're exactly the same? The basic fundamentals are the same.
But the next bit is the drying technologies, - and they're significantly different.
- Right.
Let's go and see.
'It's heated to 185 degrees centigrade, 'dehydrating the coffee and creating granules.
' 'The freeze-drying process, as the name suggests, 'happens at sub-zero temperatures, 'so Gavin's making me put on my winter woollies.
' All this for a cup of coffee? Actually, we're doing a bank robbery, yeah? 'This conveyor belt of coffee liquid is about to hit -45 degrees, 'colder than the Arctic Circle.
'And exactly what goes on in this room is a closely-guarded secret.
' Oh, my God, it's like Narnia! It's snowing in here! So, in here, we're producing the litter, and we're creating this solid cake.
Frozen solid cake.
- Right, shall we get back out? - Yes, let's go outside.
So, this is like a coffee iced lolly, effectively.
Very strong coffee.
Ha-ho! So, why do you go to all this trouble? Because when you freeze it, you've locked in all that aroma and taste.
Then we dry it, but we dry it very gently.
So, you end up with the perfect granules that you see in your jar.
So, looking at price, what's the difference between this process, and the spray dryer? You've got to keep our cold room at -45 degrees.
The amount of energy required to keep that room at that temperature is immense.
So the price difference is down to the beans, and it's down to that? Yeah, two key elements, I would say.
'Earlier, I found out how premium vodka is made.
' - Essentially, vodka is just pure ethanol and water.
- That's it, yeah.
'So, if the recipe is that simple, 'is it worth splashing out for the posh stuff? 'To help me is spirits expert Ian Wisniewski.
' Hi, Ian.
Nice to see you.
Now, I want to find out about vodka.
Is there any difference in taste, though? Definitely.
Yeah, there is.
I mean, brands at various price points will have, perhaps, a more mellow side to them or be much bolder, more characterful.
And you get that throughout the range.
'Ian has selected three vodkas to put to a blind taste test.
'Glen's vodka that retails at around £13 a bottle, 'a mid-range Absolut at about 20 quid, 'and, at the premium end, Grey Goose, which is around £38 a pop.
' Wow, this looks like the beginning of one of Matt Tebbut's parties, this does.
- OK, so, let's start with A.
- Yeah.
Are you spitting yours out? I've swallowed mine.
Let's move on to B.
Let's see whether C exceeds those two.
'But which is my favourite?' I like A.
And then I like B.
- And maybe C as well.
- C's all right.
Ha! OK.
I think I'm going to go for A.
Do you think that represents what most people go for? It'll be interesting to find out.
'I've rounded up a few volunteers.
'I'll be honest, it wasn't hard.
' So hands up if you like C.
So two.
Hands up for B.
One.
Hands up for A.
'So, that's two volunteers and myself who chose A.
'Two preferred C, while only one preferred B.
' So let's start off with third place, which was B.
- B is the most expensive.
- I said that was my least, didn't I? - Your least favourite.
- Wow.
OK, what's next? C - is the medium expensive one.
- Wow! So guess what you like best? - I am cheap and cheerful.
- That's what we said! - High five.
'In our unscientific test, most of us chose the cheapest, 'and, according to the Royal Society of Chemistry, 'when it comes to any discernible variation in flavour 'between vodkas, even the science is inconclusive.
'So, for the time being, 'it looks like it all comes down to personal taste.
' If that's your favourite, that's absolutely fine.
- You know, you won't have a big vodka bill.
- That's perfect.
That is perfect.
Next time, I explore the epic world of pistachios and reveal why some of their shells are always closed.
Oh, my word! Whoa! I ask can instant porridge be as good for you as Goldilocks' favourite.
It's not too hot, it's not too cold, that is just right.
And I'm in Italy looking at Britain's new favourite fizz, Prosecco.
- Are you brothers, or is this a popular look? - Yes, popular look!