Food Unwrapped (2012) s06e05 Episode Script

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-hoo-hoo! Look at how high up we are! A-agh! .
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to reveal the truth about the food we eat.
That is not as I would expect at all! Coming up -- I explore the epic world of pistachios and meet the industry's nemesis.
Oh, my word, look at that wriggler! If it gets inside a pistachio nut, obviously that's a problem.
I look at Britain's new favourite fizz, prosecco, and make an unlawful discovery.
Is that right? And 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.
First up, pistachios.
I bought some pistachios the other day and there was a whole load in my bag that don't open, and they're really hard to get into.
If I leave them, will they just open themselves as they ripen? 'Er, do you know what? I do not know.
' Of 263 nuts in the bag, - seven of them are closed.
- 'OK.
' - So that's seven wasted nuts.
- 'Nuts, yeah.
' Yeah, I'm just wondering why they're in there.
'Well, to be fair, 'they shouldn't have been in there in the first place.
' And it happens every time! It's a little bit of a nuisance.
So why are the producers putting nuts I can't eat into the packets? I'm off to Terra Bella in the heart of California, home to 99% of the nation's pistachio orchards and the UK's biggest supplier.
I'm in California to meet a chap called Rusty who is going to help me get to the bottom of why some of my pistachio shells are closed.
In the west, we used to get our pistachios from Iran, but after the Iranian hostage crisis in 1979, the fledgling American industry rocketed.
And business is now booming.
Oh, my goodness, the scale is just overwhelming.
There are hundreds of thousands of these trees.
I'm visiting Rusty Schott's pistachio farm, but I've got to find him first.
Rusty? - How you doing? Rusty Schott.
- How are you? - Good.
So why, when I buy a bag of pistachios, are some of the pistachios closed? Well, do you want to look at a tree and maybe I can explain it to you? Lovely.
You've got plenty to choose from! Rusty's family first capitalised on this emerging industry 15 years ago, with a modest farm of 60 acres.
Now they're one of the biggest players in California.
Look at that! You have the skin on the outside of it, and this is what you normally get when you buy a bag of pistachios, something that's split.
Unlike most nuts, a pistachio grows its shell first, then the nut develops inside.
As the nut grows bigger it will finally split itself.
- So it's a little bit like a chick in an egg.
- There you go.
And there's an art to knowing when to get these nuts off the trees.
Get one that looks mature, and - .
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it comes off - Ooh! - It comes off pretty easy.
- It just slips off the tree, doesn't it? - Mm-hm.
- So that nut is ready to harvest? - That's right.
But not all of Rusty's pistachios have split open.
- There's one that's not split open.
- No-o-o! Hopefully that nut that's not split doesn't fall off the tree, and you may come back in a couple of weeks and maybe that nut will be split.
You'll give it some more time.
- OK, so - You don't really want that nut to come off the tree when you shake it the first time.
I want to know a little bit more about this shaking.
RUSTY CHUCKLES And with the majority of the nuts now ripe and ready, Rusty's crew can start shaking.
I can't see anything yet, but I sure as heck can hear it! ENGINES RUMBLE What is this, Rusty? Oh, my word! Who-o-oa! - You're shaking your nuts! - That's right, they're getting shook.
This monster machine can shed a tree of most of its 10,000 nuts in under three seconds and, inevitably, some closed nuts are jiggled off too.
These machines have to work fast.
They've got over 110 football pitches' worth of trees to shake.
- And here you have your harvested nuts? - Yeah.
- What percentage of these are split? - Well, I'm hoping 75%.
75%, is that all? Why don't you wait until you can get 100% split pistachios before you harvest them? Well, if you wait to try and get 100%, you'll have a lot of crop deterioration on the stuff that's ready to come off the tree and, er, then you'll also have the risk of maybe the navel orangeworm colony getting into your orchard.
- The naval orangeworm? - Mm-hm.
- What on earth is the navel orangeworm? Coming up -- as if pistachio farming wasn't tricky enough already, I come face-to-face with Rusty's worst nightmare.
Look, look, look, it's in there! You would not want to open a pistachio up and find that! Next up, prosecco.
CORK POPS Bottles are flying off the shelves in supermarkets and bars.
Globally, prosecco is now even outselling champagne and Britain is the number one export market.
Can I ask you a quick question about prosecco and champagne? - Do you know what the difference is? - Where does prosecco come from? 'Prosecco is Spanish champagne.
' 'You get some prosecco which is, erm, produced in France' - Why? - '.
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and some of it is produced in Italy.
' What is it about prosecco that makes it cheaper than champagne? 'Well, er, I don't think I can really answer.
' I'm a bit bamboozled.
Considering it's Britain's favourite fizz, no-one seems to know much about it.
So, I've got about three hours before I need to fly to Italy.
I've got no family with me and I've got nothing to do, so in these situations, the only thing you can do is start drinking.
- What's this? 100% prosecco on draught? - Very nice, yeah.
- Really? - Yeah, you want to try it? - On draught? - Yeah.
- I would.
That's novel -- I thought you only got this stuff in bottles! Still, better press on, I've got a plane to catch, for once! My destination is Valdobbiadene in north-east Italy, to visit one of the top prosecco producers in the country.
It is very, very beautiful.
There's vines absolutely everywhere.
Looks amazing, can't wait to try it.
This winery now exports three times more prosecco to the UK than it did five years ago.
- Hi, Desiderio.
- Hi.
Welcome.
Welcome, Matt.
Thank you very much.
What's the difference between champagne and prosecco? Champagne is a French product from, er, the Champagne region.
Prosecco is, er, protected in this region.
It is very different because, in Champagne, - you have the Pinot, black, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.
- Yeah.
In this region we have Glera grapes.
The majority grape is this? - Is this, yes.
- OK.
The Bisol family began cultivating the grapes in this region 21 generations ago, way back in 1542.
So, I've seen the grapes.
Now to show me what they do with them, Desiderio has called in Gianluca.
- Hello.
- How are you? - Very well.
Matt.
- Nice to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
- I'm Gianluca.
- Are you brothers or is this a popular look? THEY LAUGH Turns out this look does run in the family.
Desiderio's brother and I head to the winery.
In this machine, we have two pillow that, er, press the grape, - like the hands.
- So then the juice is separated? - Separated and go inside the tank.
- And what happens then? - Into the tank? - The tank, for the first fermentation.
This first fermentation breaks down the sugars in the grapes and turns them to alcohol.
- In this tank, we have the result of the first fermentation.
- OK.
It is very interesting to taste because it's like a still wine.
That's lovely.
So, when do the bubbles get put in, then? You have a second fermentation.
- So, now we can go to see it.
- OK.
To trigger this second fermentation, Gianluca adds a natural yeast.
Strong! It's like a huge beer! HE BREATHES IN THEN LAUGHS Right! Onward! So, what's happening here? - Here, we use the wine that we taste before - Mm-hm.
.
.
with the yeast for the second fermentation, for a short time.
So, this is where it differs again from champagne, is because this Or the second fermentation takes place in the bottle in champagne? - Is that right? - In the bottle.
Champagne's second fermentation always takes place in the bottle for a period of at least 15 months.
Unlike prosecco, which is fermented in these large stainless steel tanks for only a few weeks, and it's in here that the yeast creates that famous fizz.
Although it's only spending 45 days in here, as opposed to, what, a couple of years for champagne, it's not about the speed, it's more about the flavour? Yeah, exactly.
The whole process, from picking to bottling, is done in a matter of months rather than years, which means a more affordable fizz.
- So this is the final stage, then? - Final stage, exactly.
- And so it's ready to drink.
- OK.
We take one bottle and we go to try.
- Brilliant.
- OK.
- Just the one? - Just one.
- Really? - Coming up - CORK POPS .
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could the Italians be about to call time on draught prosecco by the glass? Is that right? Next up, porridge.
Sales have doubled in the UK since 2008.
Quick cook porridge is the new kid on the block, but do they keep you as full as the oats you cook on the stove? How come you only have to cook those quick cook ones for, like, two minutes, and yet the other oats can take five, six, seven minutes? Do they do something weird to it that I should know about? 'That might be one that I don't have an answer for directly.
' How do they do it? Are they different types of oats they use, then? 'I'm guessing so, yeah.
' Both types will keep me equally as full? - 'Any, any porridge.
' - Any porridge? - 'Either porridge.
' Coming up, I go to Ireland to meet a miller and find out which porridge can help you lose weight, with the help of a mechanical gut.
I was expecting a great big robot with a fat belly.
Us Brits love a bit of porridge of a morning and with busy lives, we often opt for the instant sachets.
But what's in them that makes them cook so much faster? To shed some light, I've come to County Waterford in Ireland to meet John Flahavan.
Hi there, you must be John.
How are you? John's family have been producing porridge oats for over 200 years.
Look, I really want to find out what the difference is between these oats and the quick cooked oats.
Well, for that, you'll have to come down to the mill and I'll show you there.
John only grows one type of oat and they all begin their porridge pilgrimage here.
First, the shell is separated from the grain and then they're chopped up.
And then all the grains are flattened.
The roller? The oats are steamed to extend the shelf life and reduce the cooking time at home.
But how do they make the quick oats even quicker? The difference is, with quick oats, it's cooked for much longer So the quick cooked oats, are exactly the same as the traditional, but they're cooked longer.
Cooked longer in our process.
They're steamed for 30% longer, but that's not the only difference.
When we're producing the quick oats, we flake it more thinly.
There's the standard oats.
- And this is the quick cook.
It's much thinner.
- It is, yeah.
- And that's it? - That's it, yes.
- No additives, no extras, nothing.
- Don't need it.
So, there you have it.
Instant porridge is simply cooked longer and rolled thinner, but which one will keep me fuller for longer? I'm headed to the Institute of Food Research in Norwich with my porridge.
- Hi, you must be Dr Mackie.
- Hi.
- How are you doing? I've brought along both types of porridge oats.
I've got the quick cook oats and I've got the big rolled oats.
Are we going to digest them differently and which type of oats are going to keep me fullest for longest? The nutritional value is essentially the same in both cases, so they both have the same starting ingredient, but the difference is how fast those are released and that is what can have an effect on the health impact of the two different systems.
First, we cook up the traditional rolled oats.
It's not too hot, it's not too cold.
That's just right.
- What do we do next? - Next, we put it in our simulation of the stomach.
- This is it.
- I was expecting a great big robot with a fat belly.
I bet this machine is starving.
So, this should mimic what you would see if you actually ate the porridge, so, in the upper part, we can see a cone here and the cone is being gradually massaged in and out.
So, the upper part of your stomach is moving like that and that's manipulating the food we put in it - and that machine is doing exactly the same.
- Doing it exactly the same.
Ah, I bet it feels so good when it does that.
So, what's left in the stomach after half an hour.
So, the quick cook, there was nothing left.
The rolled oats, still plenty of material in the stomach.
Look at that, and that's the reason you'll feel fuller for longer.
Because it stays in there for longer.
Digestive acid and enzymes break down the starch and protein in the porridge.
The smaller flakes break down quickly and the stomach acts like a sieve pushing these into the small intestine.
The larger oat flakes take longer.
After half an hour, they were still unbroken in the stomach.
So while the quick oats and the big rolled oats are nutritionally the same, according to Dr Mackie's findings, if you're on a diet, the rolled oats will keep you fuller for longer.
Back to pistachios.
I want to know why the producers put those frustrating closed nuts in my packet.
Why don't you wait until you can get 100% split pistachios? If you wait to try to get 100%, you'll have a lot of crop deterioration, then you also have the risk of maybe the navel orangeworm colony getting into your orchard.
Navel orangeworm? What on earth is the navel orange worm? - Hi.
- How you doing? - Hello.
- Good to see you, Kate.
David Haviland of the University of California, is an expert on the navel orangeworm.
Oh, my word, look at that wriggler.
If it gets inside a pistachio nut, obviously, that's a problem.
How does this worm get into your nuts? So, these moths will fly around the orchard and they'll find a nut and if that nut is split open, they'll be able to lay an egg there.
It'll turn into a worm and then that worm will eat the pistachios.
So, is it a race against time? Do you have to shake those nuts off the tree before this little guy has a chance to get in? The sooner you get the nuts off, the better.
With the pistachios harvested, the nuts are transferred to one of America's noticed pistachio processors.
- Hi, Joe.
- Hello, Kate.
- Kate.
- Nice to meet you.
Jeff Gibbons is the plant manager at Setton Farm.
He's got the herculean task of trying to remove up to 25% closed nuts from his daily delivery of over 1000 tonnes.
First stop, the sink or swim test.
If there's any defect in it at all, it'll float, because it's full of air.
A floating shell means either a worm has eaten the nut inside or the nut hasn't developed at all.
These sinkers are then dried before being transferred to a massive silo tower to be stored.
Oh, my word! It's raining pistachios.
This will hold about half a billion pistachios in one silo.
Half a billion pistachios in here? Do you still have closed nuts? We usually end up with about 10% closed shell in the silo.
From 25% down to 10%, these closed nuts are disappearing fast.
They're then transferred to a massive cylindrical drum where needles cleverly hook onto the open nuts and remove them, leaving the closed ones behind.
You need to get 98% open.
OK, so you deliver that to the UK? So, basically, it's a 2% margin.
- Yeah.
- So that is what I'm getting in my bag.
2%.
- 2%.
But they're not finished yet.
After the nuts have been through all these mega machines, it's time for the personal touch.
So, now, they are hand sorting every nut.
Every single nut gets checked by human beings for quality control? This is the last chance to remove any closed nuts and spot any lurking navel orange worms.
Right, I'm going to help these girls and try and find one.
- Pick the darkest one and pull it out.
- OK, the darkest nuts.
- Darkest nuts.
- Oh, I got one.
- You got one.
- Look, it's in there.
- That is a navel orangeworm.
You'd not want to open a pistachio up and find that.
It's 100% sanitary.
You can eat it but it doesn't taste great.
That's it, game over.
After the nuts have been sorted, they're roasted and ready to be sent all of the world.
The consumer is the last person that actually opens the nut and then they'll find the navel orangeworm, if there's any left.
When they find one, they usually give me a call.
- How many calls have you got? - A lot.
- Really? - So a lot of these worms get through.
- Yeah.
Despite everything they do, you'll always end up with a few closed nuts and as for the worm, out of billions of pistachios, you'd be extremely unlucky to find one.
Back to prosecco.
Vineyard owner, Gianluca Bisol, has shown me prosecco and champagne are very different drinks.
Now, my favourite part of the tour.
It's delicious and it's very, very easy to drink, isn't it? In terms of your new emerging market, you kind of want them to see it in its own right, not it's cheaper than champagne.
- Now, it's everywhere.
- Everywhere.
And even on tap.
I saw it on tap.
Is that right? So if it's called prosecco, it has to be in a bottle? Really? But back home I was definitely served draft prosecco.
So, are our British boozers breaking the law? Back at the hotel, I asked UK lawyer, Tom Lingard, who specialises in intellectual property law.
Tom, I heard that prosecco I can get hold of on draft, could be illegal.
Is that right? OK.
Can they be prosecuted for this? In terms of why the Italians are getting upset about this, is it because they want their product to be drunk as they see fit or is it the fact that they lose revenue by other sparkling wine manufacturers coming into the market and labelling it as prosecco? - OK, all right, good to know.
Tom, thanks very much.
- Pleasure, thanks.
So, even if draft prosecco is made from the same grapes in the same region, if it's served on tap legally, it ain't prosecco.
Next time I unearth the amazing tricks farmers use to provide supermarkets with picture perfect veg.
Look at that! They look like magic beans.
I continue my American odyssey to find out why some winemakers are removing the alcohol from their wine.
I've probably drunk wine that has been through your plant.
- I can guarantee that you have.
- Really? - Yes.
And I take on one of the hardest hitting investigations yet.
There's more to biscuit dunking than meets the eye.
- You would be surprised.
- Oh!