The nation’s favourite spread, Marmite, has been given a makeover to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The new look Marmite makes it the most appropriate kitchen table condiment for people wanting to toast the Queen’s 60th year on Tuesday 5th June.

“We wanted to pay a fitting tribute to the Queen – from one British institution to another. We just hope Ma’am loves it!” comments Nicola Waymark, marketing manager at Unilever.

Ma’amite, Marmite Jubilee Limited Edition, is available at all good high street retailers, nationwide – including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Morrisons and Co-op – as well as online at http://www.marmiteshop.co.uk from Monday 30th April. Ma’amite has an RRP of £2.72 – so grab it while stocks last!

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The Foodie List - Foodie stuff from around the UK

Michel Roux Snr, forever immortalised as the Godfather of the UK’s culinary revolution and founder of the Waterside Inn, the only restaurant outside of France to be honoured with three Michelin Stars consecutively for 25 years, has created an innovative range of fresh, delicious, wholesome and affordable meal-kits ready to be cooked from scratch in under ten minutes.

Designed for people who value the virtues of good cooking but are squeezed on time and refuse to succumb to the ‘ping’ of a microwave, the genius of Scratch lies in its simplicity. One box, containing premium pre chopped, washed and weighed fresh ingredients, no additives or preservatives and a simple set of instructions requiring nothing more than a wooden spoon and no more than two pots or pans.

Created to readdress the balance between our growing desire to cook and our ever-increasingly hectic and time-strapped lives, Scratch serves up healthy, hearty and balanced meals in minutes, the kind that makes your soul and your tastebuds sing, with zero stress, fuss or preparation combined with a sprinkle of Michelin Stardust, for that extra dash of je ne sais quoi.

From April 25th the range, comprising of Chicken Thai Green Curry with Bamboo Shoots (£3.95), King Prawn and Chorizo Paella (£3.95), Makhani Chicken Tikka Masala (£3.95) and Tagliatelle Pistachio Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes (£3.95) will be stocked in 60 Sainsbury’s Local stores across London, with a view to rolling out nationally across the UK later in the year.

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Finally, healthy snacking that tastes great! Made from real fruit and completely guilt-free, the Yu! range uses only the best natural ingredients without compromising on taste, offering the perfect solution to snacking on the go.

Whether you are out and about, stuck in the office or a busy mum packing the kid’s lunchboxes for school, Yu! is the most convenient, nutritious choice for everyone everywhere. Yu! products are made from real fruit and completely free from added nasties.

Sweet and tasty, Yu! offers a unique selection of products which include:
• 100% Jus Fruit – delicious bite-sized pieces of dried fruit, one of your 5-a-day and less than 90 calories
• Yogurt-Coated Fruit Pieces – tasty fruit bites covered in a creamy yogurt coating, containing real fruit and real yogurt
• Yu! Bars – 40% fruit combined with cereal in a gorgeously healthy yogurt-coating

Find the perfect healthy snack for Yu! with the dried fruit snacks in the home baking sections of Tesco and Sainsbury’s stores nationwide now.
For more information, visit www.yuhealthysnacks.co.uk

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Maple syrup boasts a whole range of health benefits which actually make it the perfect year-round sweet treat and not just for Pancake Day.

According to Bob Clark, founder of the UK’s leading maple syrup producer Clarks, the pure product which is made from the boiled sap of the Canadian maple tree, truly justifies its ‘super food’ status, ranking it right alongside the more traditionally listed foods which have massively increased in profile as a result – broccoli and blueberries being just two well-known examples.

All this goodness but far fewer of the calories associated with similar products as maple syrup contains just 52 calories per tablespoon – a lot less than the equivalent amount of honey or sugar!

For all its clear health benefits, maple syrup is also a very versatile ingredient.

There are numerous ways to incorporate it into a whole host of recipes – poured over roasting vegetables – particularly good for parsnips and carrots – over crispy cured bacon to really bring out the flavour, as a dressing for salmon or simply as a sugar replacement over breakfast cereal.

Clarke’s produce two versions – Clarks Pure Maple Syrup (100% Maple Syrup) and Clarks Original Maple Syrup (35% Maple Syrup blended with Carob Fruit Syrup). Clarks is the biggest producer and supplier of maple syrup in the UK, capturing 60 per cent of the market in just three years. The Wales-based firm supplies all the big four supermarket groups of Tesco (on the ‘Ambient dessert’ fixture), Asda (on the the ‘Jam and marmalade’ fixture), Sainsbury’s (on the ‘Ice cream accompaniment’ fixture) and Morrisons (on the ‘Ambient dessert’ fixture).

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Coldpress fruit juice is a new drink from Closed Loop Foods made from 100% fruit juice with four times the shelf life of conventional chilled fruit juices.

Having launched successfully and being stocked immediately by in excess of 200 Waitrose outlets and being positioned competitively as a credible alternative to the ordinary range of juices Coldpress is fast expanding across the United Kingdom.

Coldpress provides a more thirst quenching, better tasting juice that is much high nutrition value than it’s competitors. By using a cold pressure as opposed to boiling the juices the brand retains a lot of its existing aromas and textures that the heated juices do not hold. Its unique bottle design sees it being an exciting and breath of fresh air in what is a fairly crowded market in the UK.

Coldpress is available in 250ml and 750ml bottles designed for the consumer market and retail routes as well as the new ‘Bag in a Box’ product that is far more cost effective to the restaurant, bars, clubs and other outlets.

Coldpress Fruit Juice is available in seven flavours that include – Pink Lady, Golden Delicious, Valencia Orange, Apple & Lemon, Apple & Passionfruit, Apple & Raspberry, Apple & Strawberry.

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If you are trying to make your diet a little lighter in 2012 then look no further than Tate and Lyle Light at Heart. It’s an all-natural cane sugar and Stevia blend that has twice the great sweetness of sugar but with only half the calories when you use it. All you need to do when adding to drinks, sprinkling on cereal, or even baking your favourite desserts is simply halve what you normally use. It couldn’t be simpler! Light at Heart even offers a choice of white or brown varieties, so is versatile enough for every recipe.

Light at Heart is an all-natural blend of pure cane sugar and extract from the Stevia plant leaf. Cooking with Light at Heart is simple and gives you the same volume, texture and taste you get when using regular sugar. All you need to remember is to just use half as much!

The natural sugar and Stevia blend is stable at cooking temperatures and so quite simply it works the same way as sugar when you cook with it.

Stevia is an amazing natural ingredient. It is a herb that grows wild as a small shrub in parts of Para-guay and Brazil. Its leaves contain naturally occurring substances called glycosides. These are incred-ibly sweet and when we refine the extracts of Stevia – which are called steviosides – the result has two remarkable attributes: it is 200-300 times sweeter than sugar, yet it contains virtually no calo-ries. You can use the Stevia and natural cane sugar combination just like regular sugar simply by re-ducing the amount you would normally use by half.

Available nationwide in all major supermarkets.

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Gourmet Garden, the experts in fresh herbs and flavours, can now be found in one of the world’s largest retailers in an all new 75kg size. Tesco will be stocking six of the fresh herb and spice range – Basil, Chilli, Coriander, Garlic, Ginger and Thai Spices – all of which can be found in store in the chilled section or online.

To celebrate these latest products Gourmet Garden is giving one lucky winner the chance to win a gourmet adventure holiday to Noosa, Australia. Not only will the winner win two return flights to Brisbane and seven nights’ accommodation on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast, they will also get the chance to visit the Audi 2012 Noosa Food and Wine Festival and the Australia Zoo, owned by the family of the late Steve Irwin.

If that wasn’t enough, the winner will get the chance to tour the Gourmet Garden factory and receive a ‘Cooking with Herbs’ master class with some of Australia’s favourite chefs.

Gourmet Garden offers a totally unique and ultimate solution for cooking with fresh flavours – fresh herbs and spices in a tube that are bursting with just-picked flavour for creating mouth-watering fresh meals in minutes.

The perfect alternative to using dried herbs and spices, the herbs are simply picked, washed, chopped, blended and packed into tubes to maintain all their fresh taste and nutrition.

There are nine individual herb and spice blends available in the core range – Basil, Hot Chilli, Coriander, Chives, Garlic, Ginger, Italian Herbs, Lemon Grass, and Parsley – with no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. Use them to flavour sauces, soups and dressings, for seasoning meat, seafood and stir fries, and to add a kick to curries, stews, noodle and pasta dishes.

Ideal for busy cooks who don’t want to lose out on flavour, these handy tubes are stored in the fridge and keep their fresh taste for 3 months, and can also be used straight from the freezer.

Priced at RRP £2.19 per tube, Gourmet Garden products are now stored in Tesco nationwide. For more information and to enter the competition, please visit www.gourmetgarden.com or www.facebook.com/Gourmet-Garden-UK.

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Ocado, the online supermarket, are proud to announce that they now stock the delicious Reflets de France range from Carrefour, offering over 100 items from a huge selection of delicious French favourites, from cured meats and tasty cheeses to fruity jams and rich pates, to UK shoppers.

The Reflets de France range includes baked goods such as brioche, galettes and cakes, biscuits, butter and cheeses, tinned goods, pastas, preserves, cured meats and patés, sausages and so on. Price-wise the Reflets de France Orange & Clementine Jam, great for making a Wallingford Tart, is £2.99 for example, a jar of Reflets de France Campagne Rough Pate is £2.25 and a Reflets de France Plated Brioche Loaf is £3.29.

The full range of products can be viewed/purchased from a dedicated Ocado Reflets de France page.

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Giovanni Rana – Italy’s number one fresh pasta brand, famed for its delicious tortellini, is launching a new range of fresh unfilled pastas this month. It will also be bringing to the shelves a selection of delectable fresh sauces to accompany them perfectly.

Launched in selected ASDA stores nationwide from this month, as well as at convenience stores throughout the country, the new unfilled range comprises Spaghetti, Tagliatelle, Penne and Fusilli – all of which use specially selected flour and a minimum of 20% fresh eggs. Authentically Italian and high quality, the pasta features a unique rough texture (called sfogliagrezza) which makes it better for picking up more sauce adding to the flavour in every mouthful. Ready in just five minutes, the pastas make a simple, quick and tasty meal.

Giovanni Rana will also be introducing, for the first time, a new range of fresh pasta sauces that encompass the authentic taste of Italy. The intensely flavoured range in distinctive, eye-catching packaging includes: creamy Parmigiano Reggiano sauce, developed specifically to accompany filled pasta; distinctive and robust Porcini Mushroom with a rich, nutty flavour; fragrant Genovese Basil Pesto; and Italian Bolognese Sauce, sweetened with ripe cherry tomatoes and complemented by freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Giovanni Rana’s new range of fresh unfilled pasta and sauces are easy to prepare – simply place the pasta in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes until al dente (there is a time guide on each of the packets) and drain. The sauces can be heated in the microwave or on the hob and stirred into the pasta; both are perfectly portioned for two people.

A Giovanni Rana spokesperson comments: “We’re really excited and passionate about the launch of these new products. This is the first time that Giovanni Rana – a true innovator of pasta – has created a range of deliciously different sauces that complement our new line of fresh unfilled pastas as well as our existing range of tortellini. In terms of a taste experience, these new offerings are designed to go together for a complete, authentic Italian meal.”

The launch of Giovanni Rana’s fresh pasta sauces and unfilled fresh pasta follows the recent launch of its new Fresh Filled Pasta Creations range – a delicious selection of filled pasta ready meals with fresh sauces and garnishes designed to be cooked to al dente perfection in the microwave.

Giovanni Rana’s Fresh Pasta (RRP from £0.98) Penne, Spaghetti, Tagliatelle and Fusilli and Giovanni Rana’s Fresh Pasta Sauces (RRP from £1.98) available in Parmigiano Reggiano, Porcini Mushroom, Basil Pesto and Bolognese Sauce are available in selected ASDA and convenience stores nationwide from May 2011. For more information on the Giovanni Rana range, as well as recipes ideas, visit www.giovannirana.co.uk.

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Just launched is everyday easy, a free 52-page instore magazine from Sainsbury’s offering affordable inspiration to all customers, available in store now.

Combining the best elements from Sainsbury’s earlier free publications, Try Something New and Fresh ideas, everyday easy is Sainsbury’s biggest free instore publication to date, with a circulation of 1 million.

Available to customers for up to 6 weeks, the new magazine is packed with new launches, features and easy recipes, that highlight the great range of products available at Sainsbury’s. With strong value messages, the publication appeals to all Sainsbury’s customers and provides inspiration, guiding readers step-by-step through easy, low-cost recipes, whilst offering hints and tips for shopping, meaning everyone can eat on a budget.

Dorcas Jamieson of Seven says: ‘Everyday Easy supports Sainsbury’s across the entire business, including food, non-food, and on-line services, by creating a friend-to- friend conversation between Sainsbury’s and its customers, to effectively engage and retain them.‘

Seven also produces Sainsbury’s Magazine, now the UK’s most widely read, paid-for title. With just under 4 million readers every month (NRS), Sainsbury’s Magazine is the only title to be a three time winner of the covetable PPA Customer Magazine Award at the annual Periodical Publishers’ Association (PPA) Awards.

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