Food Unwrapped (2012) s06e06 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 - Woo-hoo-hoo! - Look how high up we are.
.
.
to reveal the truth about the food we eat.
Oh, my word! Whoa! Coming up, the supermarkets demand perfect veg.
- It is a little bit too big.
- Too big.
- What about that one? - Too small.
And a global race is on to crack the technology which can provide the perfect vegetable every time.
That is incredible! I'm in California, where the hottest summers on record are forcing some winemakers to use surprising methods to extract alcohol from their wine.
What is the spinning cone? What is this magic spinning cone? And I'm taking on one of our hardest-hitting investigations ever.
There's more to biscuit dunking than meets the eye, you'd be surprised.
Oh! First up, perfect veg.
And I'm off to my greenhouse.
Now, I love growing my veg, and it comes in all shapes and sizes.
What I want to find out is how the supermarkets make their vegetables perfect every time.
I mean, look at this.
You're never going to see something like this in the supermarket.
I notice all your veg is perfectly shaped.
How do you get it so perfect? I'm measuring them, pretty much every one is 8cm long.
- 'OK.
' - Would you prefer that in inches? Is it like a special breed or something? 'I honestly don't know.
'It could have an awful lot to do with the ground they're grown in.
' 'I think you would need really to speak to the growers.
' Growers it is, then.
I'm off to Norfolk to meet one of the biggest onion producers in the country.
- Hi there, you must be Andrew.
- Hello, Jim.
- Good to see you.
Now, you're a man who knows his onions.
- Yep.
I want the secret of perfect veg, so can I see them? OK, yeah, come this way.
290 million onions a year are grown on this farm.
I feel like I'm on top of the onion world.
And they all have to come through here, quality control.
How do you decide what's the right size onion, then? We have specifications from our customers that we have to refer to.
So this is for your customers, this is from the supermarket, then? From the supermarket.
This will tell us what size they want.
Also the specification around the skin quality.
Here's something we don't normally see.
The strict rules set by the supermarkets.
So the supermarkets actually say, "This is what we want, "this is what we believe beautiful veg should look like"? Yeah, that's correct.
The onions have to be about 8cm in size, a particular colour, even the roots can't be too hairy.
And the farmers want as many as possible to pass the supermarkets' test, to fetch the maximum price.
Can I have a look at your rings? So, this one whoop - Yeah, that's a little bit too big.
- Too big, no good.
- This one? - Ideal.
- Perfect.
What about that one? - Too small.
- I mean, that is pretty specific, isn't it? - Very much so.
- It's a 10mm size band.
- Can you just squeeze them through? - No.
What percentage wouldn't make the grade? Well, that premium grade that we're after, we would probably get around 50% of our onions in that premium grade.
So 50% are premium grade and will make the farmer the most money.
About 35% are too small.
They get sold loose or in value packs.
And about 12% are too big.
They are processed into things like ready meals.
The rest end up as cattle feed, worth a pittance.
Sorry, little fella.
Now, I know the biggest battle us farmers face is the British weather.
So how on earth does this farm produce half their onions, that's 145 million of them, exactly the same size? So, what will the distance and the depth be for the seeds here, then? We're looking to plant them 20mm deep, and we're looking for 27 seeds per metre run.
It's taken Andy years of trial and error to work out that the onion seeds should be planted precisely 37mm apart for the best yield.
- So, in here should be the seed, then? - That's correct, yeah.
Ah, look at that! An amazing colour, isn't it? They look like magic beans.
We don't make them, we buy them from a specialist seed supplier.
So, why are they shiny and blue, while normal onion seeds are black? I'm off to Lincolnshire to see the people who make these special seeds.
And I'm meeting the aptly named Chris Marrow.
This is our pelleting room where the onion pelleting takes place.
- Oh, right.
So that's the seed there? - Yeah, indeed.
So we will build up that seed with powder and water - into a complete sphere.
- Great.
Can I put the seeds in? - Yeah.
The seeds are put through a tumbling machine which brings them to the brink of germination.
Right, there we go.
And this is where they get coated with powerful insecticides and fungicides.
Wow, look at that! They look like sweets, don't they? These, I've got to say, are a different colour to the ones I've seen on the farm.
They were blue.
Why are these green? These are fungicide only, the blue ones are actually insecticide treated as well.
So these have got fungicide, so it stops the fungus attacking - the young plant once it's germinated? - Exactly.
- It's not because it's mint-flavoured? - No! - Right, OK.
So, into the dryer? Yes, indeed.
I had no idea so much effort could go into one little seed to give us perfect veg.
Coming up, how a multinational corporation which normally makes light bulbs aims to revolutionise farming as we know it in the pursuit of perfect veg.
It's a beautiful garden, in a fridge.
Next, Californian wines.
They're famous for their blockbuster flavours and strong alcohol, and we are the biggest importers in the world -- over 144 million bottles a year.
But did you know that California has been rocked by their three hottest years since records began? Boy, does it look dry down there.
That is one arid landscape.
I'm heading to a vineyard north of San Francisco to find out how the growers of some of our favourite wines are coping with these extreme temperatures.
- Hello, Nick.
- Morning.
- Morning.
- Kate.
- Nice to see you.
'Nick Fry heads the Sonoma County Grape Growers Association.
' Now, Nick, what about the climate? Is that having an impact? The grapes are certainly getting ripe now sooner.
We're about two to three weeks earlier than last.
- So you're harvesting a fortnight before you did last year? - Yes.
We have a lot of sunshine, where you can produce more sugar, more sugar, more alcohol.
'So, hotter temperatures mean sweeter grapes.
'And the sweeter the grape, the stronger the wine.
' - Those are very sweet grapes.
- Yes.
We can see what the sugar content is with a refractometer.
And what does this do, Nick? As light passes through the juice and the grape, it bends, and the amount of bend correlates with the amount of sugar.
23.
6.
Is that a sweet spot for you? Yes, that's what our winemaker's going to want.
We tend to be 13, 14% alcohol in most of our wines, versus 12.
5 in most of Europe.
Higher temperatures are affecting wine everywhere.
But the trouble is most Californian wines are already at the boozier end of the market.
So the increasingly hot climate could push their alcohol levels even higher.
But consumers tend not to want wine that's so strong that if you had it with dinner, you'd be absolutely bongoed.
Can you do anything to control the level of alcohol in wine? You can do a few things in the vineyard to try and slow the accumulation of sugar.
But then the real control is the decision when to pick.
- Do you think we could have a quick go? - Yeah.
- Snap them off.
- Just snap them off.
Put them in their bin.
So, the unprecedented heat is presenting tough challenges for Californian winemakers.
Luckily, over the years, they've developed a number of different techniques for lowering the alcohol content in their wine.
- Hi, Anthony.
- Nice to see you.
- You look busy.
We're just lining it up -- if you miss it, it all goes on the floor.
Oh, OK.
Winemaker Anthony Beckman uses a natural technique where the grapes ferment in these open vats.
Alcohol will evaporate quicker than water.
It's one of the properties of alcohol.
So this is sitting at about 84 degrees Fahrenheit, and if you scoop it out, - you can smell - It smells boozy.
You can smell alcohol.
- You can.
But leaving the vats open to the air to get rid of some of the alcohol is risky.
If alcohol can evaporate, so can some flavour molecules.
It's a little bit scary to do this, because obviously you're making wine and not vinegar.
But by leaving the covers off, I'm losing about a third to - half a percent of alcohol content.
- Really, that much? - Yeah.
So, are there any other ways out there to adjust the alcohol content in wine? Sure, there's a handful of ways that you can, what I consider, unnaturally remove alcohol from your wine.
Unnatural methods to remove alcohol from wine? This I've got to see.
Later, I'm granted a peek at the wine industry's weapon of mass extraction.
- This is where all the magic happens.
- Look at this! What a bit of kit.
Next, biscuit dunking.
It might sound crackers, but I want to know which biscuit is best to dunk in our cuppas.
- Have you got any top tips on dunking biscuits? - Not to dip for too long.
I think the dunking biscuit in Australia is the ginger nut.
- Really? - Your hard biscuit.
- Do you have a favourite? - Hobnob.
It's an instinctive thing, you have to hold it in, and judge.
- And you just know.
- Yeah.
After the break, it's oat versus wheat in the ultimate biscuit dunk-off.
It's gone -- complete dunking disaster.
'I want to know which biscuit is the best to dunk in our cuppas? 'So I've come to a traditional biscuit factory near Edinburgh.
' - Alan.
- Very good to see you.
- Nice to meet you.
- Yeah.
'This firm has been making biscuits for 120 years, 'and Alan Hardie is head honcho.
' How many biscuits do you make a day, then? - We make one million biscuit a day here.
- Really? - Yeah.
That's a lot of biscuits.
'To get that many out of the door, I'd better lend a hand.
' Get off! Oh! I've messed up! Sorry! 'So is there anything in the biscuits that makes one a better dunker?' - Is this the recipe? - That's the recipe there, so - Is it secret? Top secret, but you can see it.
'Most of the biscuits we buy are made with either wheat flour' It's very, very fine.
'.
.
or oats.
'Each of these main ingredients are mixed with fat and sugar.
'Once the mixture's ready, the biscuits are shaped and baked.
' What would you say is kind of the overriding factor in one holding its shape better than the other one? The high sugar may dissolve quicker in the hot liquid.
So it could be the sugar? 'So if the basic ingredients of most biscuits are pretty similar, 'and even Alan isn't sure, 'what is it that could make one more dunkable than another? 'I'm off to meet a man who knows a lot about biscuits who's been 'researching this very question.
' - Stuart - Hey, nice to see you.
- Nice to meet you.
'Dr Stuart Farrimond has tested hundreds of biscuits 'from our supermarket shelves 'and claims to have discovered the ultimate dunker.
' There is more to biscuit-dunking than meets the eye.
You would be surprised.
A lot of it has to do with the actual ingredients.
You know that a biscuit has fat and sugar, and flour or oats in it.
- Mm-hm.
- It's the amount of fat and sugar in a biscuit that makes the difference as to how long it lasts for.
We know they're different but they're different on the inside, as well.
'Oat biscuits are crumblier than wheat, and need more fat 'and sugar to bind them together.
'But that's not the only difference between oat and wheat.
'Using a microscope, we first magnify an oat biscuit by 25 times.
' This image that we're looking at here, you can see there are large holes.
And because the oat-based biscuit has large holes, - the liquid goes in very quickly.
- Yeah.
So we look at the wheat-based one - and you can see already the holes are actually smaller.
- OK.
Because they're smaller, when we dunk the biscuit, we'll see the liquid goes up more slowly.
So how soggy it gets depends on the size of the holes.
'That's enough biscuit theory.
'It's time for them to go head to head in a duel to the death.
' So what we've got here, - we have a scientific simulation of a biscuit dunk.
- OK.
'Now instead of tea, we're using heated water 'so that we can actually see what's going on.
'On the left is an oat-based biscuit, 'and on the right is wheat.
' One, two, three.
Go.
We're in.
You'll see that the water tracks up very quickly on the Hobnob because that's got the bigger-size holes, because of this phenomenon called capillary action.
'Capillary action is when liquid flows through narrow areas 'working against gravity.
'Crumbs.
' You can also see it tracking up the wheat-based biscuit.
There is enough of the wheat in there that holds it together for a very, very long time.
'So as the water gets into the holes, 'it melts the fat and dissolves the sugar.
'The bigger the holes, the quicker it will fall apart.
' Oh! It's gone.
Complete dunking disaster.
'It's only 56 seconds before the big holes plunge the oat biscuit 'into a soggy grave.
' - This one has fallen apart.
- Mmm.
Because the sugar has dissolved and the fat has melted.
That's the glue that holds it together.
'Amazingly, after another six minutes, 'the wheat biscuit, with the smaller holes, 'is still holding its own.
' In your expert biscuit opinion, what would you say the ultimate dunking biscuits would be? The ultimate dunking biscuit, rich tea will last the longest by a long, long way.
If you left that in there, I reckon that would last for at least 20 minutes.
But if you're prepared to risk it, with a higher-fat biscuit, it's up to you! 'Earlier, I discovered supermarkets have really strict 'rules about the size of their veg.
' - Can you just squeeze them through? - No.
'And that perfect veg begins with the seed.
'Look at that, they are bizarre.
'I'm off to the Netherlands, where technology giant Philips 'have invested a fortune in a radical new method of farming.
'If it goes to plan, 'it could change the way food is grown across the world.
' - I'm Jimmy.
- Hi, Jimmy, good to meet you.
- Nice to meet you.
Hi, Gus.
You don't look like a farmer to me.
So, listen, where is your farm? Actually, the farm is up there on the third floor.
'Gus van der Feltz and his team have come up with a way of growing 'lettuce in a state-of-the-art climate chamber' Wow, look at that! '.
.
totally removing sunlight from the growing process.
' It's a beautiful garden in a fridge.
'Plants need certain wavelengths of light for photosynthesis, 'particularly red and blue, which are key to growing food indoors.
'They're using LED technology to create 'perfect combinations of light to get the perfect crop.
'Plants are sensitive to the different colours of light 'and react in many ways.
'Roots, branches, flowers 'and leaves could all grow differently 'depending on the light recipe.
' So you can have a light recipe for growth, for nutritional content or a light recipe for texture? That is incredible! 'Of course, this is just the tip of the iceberg.
'Being able to control plants like this, 'who knows what perfection is possible?' So you could live in perpetual spring or perpetual summer, - if you want to.
- Yes, indeed.
- That is incredible.
When you're feeling a bit down, in the middle of winter, do you come in here in your Speedos with your sunglasses on? We do that, yes.
'Farming indoors without the sun is only part of it.
'They can also control the weather.
' - In here, you've got the temperature set.
- Right.
- You've got the humidity.
- Yeah.
- What else is on here? - The CO2 level.
How much waste do you produce, producing your lettuces? Very, very little.
Potentially, every plant that we plant here is successful.
Whatever we grow you can eat.
- So nearly every lettuce that's grown makes the grade? - Yes.
I'm a little bit jealous, to be honest.
You're so lucky because, in a way, you've got the perfect farm.
'In the on-site kitchen, they're laying on lunch.
'This method of growing is still being researched 'and the long-term costs are not yet clear 'but perfect veg grown under LEDs, without the weather, 'may one day be part of all of our lives.
' Wow! 'So how does a futuristic lettuce compare with a normal one 'grown in a field?' The one on the left -- - lovely, crisp lettuce.
- OK.
The one on the right -- not as crisp and bouncy as the first one.
Which is which? The one on the left came from our facility, and the one on the right is grown conventionally.
So the one on the left, the really crisp one, that's your lettuce? - That's our lettuce, yes.
- Wow! You can produce the perfect vegetable every time with zero waste.
Zero waste, year round with the same quality.
Plus, any pests like sheep or rabbits have got to go three storeys up - and have the keys to your building to get in.
- They will not get in! 'Earlier, I discovered that three years of record temperatures 'could be causing Californian wine 'to get too strong for consumer taste.
' It smells boozy.
'One method winemakers use to combat this is to let 'the alcohol evaporate, but this risks affecting the flavour.
' There's a handful of waste what I consider unnaturally remove alcohol from your wine.
'I'm heading to sun-baked Santa Rosa to see this apparently 'unnatural method myself.
' I've heard about this company here in California.
They've apparently got some very special techniques for removing some of the alcohol.
I don't quite know how they do it, but I'm on my way there now.
'I'm meeting production oenologist Jessica Smith.
' - Hi, Kate.
- Hi.
Jessica.
- Nice to meet you.
'Before I get to see their intriguing technology, 'I'm having a taste of what it can do.
'This Zinfandel has had its alcohol level 'lowered from 15% to 10%.
' That is a good wine and I would never, ever suspect that it's been through a process to remove the alcohol.
'I could stay tasting wine all day, but I want to know, how do they 'get rid of so much alcohol without losing any flavour molecules?' This is where all the magic happens.
- Look at this! What a bit of kit! - This is our spinning cone room.
What is the spinning cone? What is this magic spinning cone? So, the spinning cone column is a piece of technology that uses high vacuum and low temperature to actually remove alcohol from wine.
Inside the column are 40 spinning cones.
They spin the wine out into very thin liquid films, vaporising the lightest molecules.
First, the aromas are extracted, these are the lightest, then the flavour molecules and then the alcohol.
They can then ditch the excess alcohol before mixing the rest back together.
Hey presto! Lower-strength wine without any loss of aroma or flavour.
Whatever essence or aroma I take out of your product has to go back in.
I don't mitigate anything with the exception of lower alcohol.
It's claimed that this method provides less risk of losing flavour than leaving vats of wine open to evaporate, so how much of California's wine goes through this process? We usually see typically one third of California Chardonnays and California Pinot Noirs being processed through our machinery.
- A third? - One third, yeah.
This technology was first used 25 years ago and with the weather getting hotter over the last three years, winemakers have been using it even more.
Why don't we know about it? I mean, that's what I'm surprised about.
I just think that there are different things that a lot of consumers would think of as taboo, so I think it's just getting more of a knowledge of different processes that can be used.
I've probably drunk wine that's been through your plant.
- I can guarantee that you have.
- Really? - Yes.
This technology has turned a guessing game into an exact science.
Despite the climate, they can make wine with as much or as little alcohol as we want.
So, how would you know if your plonk has been through a spinning cone? It's not like they declare it on the label.
Well, we asked 12 of the bigger winemakers in California if they use the spinning cone technology and so far, none have got back to us.
Next time -- I try to find out how they get the bubbles inside our chocolate bars.
How do you get it in there, then? I'm not allowed to tell you that.
It's a trade secret.
Really? What if I gave you a Chinese burn if you didn't tell me? In Ghana, I find out why pineapple can turn a bit fizzy and discover its magical healing properties.
You're never going to look at a piece of pineapple in the same way again.
And I go mussel farming to find out about a problematic plankton.
Look at that, it's like a sea monster.