Rahel Stephanie’s secret ingredient: pandan

Pandan, thought to originate from Indonesia’s Maluku Islands, is used across south-east Asia. It has a vanilla-esque aroma, notes of rose or coconut, and fresh leaves have that grassiness you get with matcha. You can get it fresh from south-east Asian grocers, and it freezes well.It’s a trending ingredient in desserts and drinks. But in Indonesian cuisine, and others, it’s used a lot in savouries

Artisans turn to ancient recipes for UK cheese revival

From Wensleydale to north Wales, small-scale producers get a local flavour from pasture and techniquesThe hidden irony of A Grand Day Out, the animation that launched Wallace and Gromit, is that a 1950s Yorkshireman in search of a cracking wensleydale might just as well have looked for it on the moon.Wensleydale, like most British cheeses other than cheddar and stilton, was almost destroyed in the postwar drive towards mass production. Fortunately, some of the centuries-old recipes for those lost cheeses were preserved, and a growing number of artisans are starting to make them again, from Wensleydale to Lancashire and Bangor to Ceredigion.Carrie Rimes’s Caws Chwaral, or quarry cheese, is based on cheeses made in north Wales farmhouses – a Caerphilly recipe that is nothing like the crumbly white cheese normally associated with the name.“Nobody was making anything like this,” said Rimes, who set up Cosyn Cymru after learning cheesemaking in France

Notes on chocolate: bars with their origins in darkest Peru

It’s enough to make you wax lyrical…This last week I’ve settled myself into my garden swingseat, making the most of these days where summer hands the baton over to autumn. Sometimes I take a book out there, or a screen to watch something not too taxing. But always some chocolate, too.A bar that I’ve developed a deep, deep love for has been Heist’s 59% Milk with Peruvian cocoa, £6.95/80g (it’s worth every penny)

Tharavadu, Leeds: ‘It’ll make you profoundly happy’ – restaurant review

With real friendly warmth and great cooking, this Keralan place in Leeds is putting itself on the mapTharavadu, 7-8 Mill Hill, Leeds LS1 5DQ (0113 244 0500). Starters £6.95-£13.95, mains £9.95-£21

More than malbec: the diverse wines of Argentina

From more unknown red-wine grapes to great bottles of white wine, there’s interest to be found in Argentine wineThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Altos Las Hormigas Colonia Las Liebres Mendoza Bonarda Clasica Mendoza 2023 (from £12.49, Shelved, Hay Wines, Fenwick) For food and drink producers, there are certain benefits to working in a region world-renowned for doing one thing very well

Anna Jones: ‘Giving up meat and fish was the opposite of hard. You can be more creative’

The cook and author recalls the huge family gatherings at her nan’s and the meals for her own family that informed her own recipes and cookingI think I was born with a food brain. Just like someone like Jamie Oliver, someone likeNigel Slater, someone likeNigella. I’m not putting myself in the same company as them – they just popped into my head – but when I see a plate of food, when I take that first taste, there are thoughts and things happening because I’ve got this brain that is wired for food. But I’ve also honed that skill over years and years and years.When I wrote my first cookbook, I’d just finished being a restaurant chef and I used to think: “How difficult can it be to make a bechamel on a Wednesday night?” So my books become simpler