Food Factory - TV review

Ever wondered how they make orange squash or tomato soup in a packet?

No. Nor me, but it didn't stop me becoming glued to Food Factory as presenter and foodie expert Stefan Gates took us through the process of how some of our stock cupboard essentials are made.

Last night's was the first episode in the latest series, but the first with Stefan presenting taking over from Jimmy Doherty.

The enthusiastic new face of what must be a fairly popular programme – now in its third series – was joined by Anton du Beke of Strictly Come Dancing fame and actress/singer Jodie Prenger from Hustle and Waterloo Road.

The two celebs were pitted against each other to see who could best reproduce the results of big factories in making concentrated orange squash, using only improvised methods with the help of two 'scientists' in Stefan's barn.

The jolly half-hour programme bounced along to an Austin Powers style 60s soundtrack as the two set up contraptions incorporating the likes of an upturned lawn mower and a cement mixer whilst striving to come up with the best tasting squash and having a good old laugh at themselves as they tried.

As they busied themselves with their tasks the camera constantly cut away to Stefan who explained the science behind other forms of instant food like packet tomato soup.

He cleverly did this by heating up a drum to above 160 degrees before squirting tomato juice into it using a paint sprayer. What was left at the bottom of the drum at the end of the process was the dust we find in packet soup – mixed in with a few herbs and spices of course.

It was all very children's TV, but interesting all the same.

After the secret of soup was exploded Stefan was onto the mystery of salt.

In a flash he was on the Cornish coast busily boiling some sea water claiming it couldn't be simpler. But when he found all he was left with was some bitter tasting salt crystals he was invited in to a local firm's factory to see there is a bit more to the process of coming up with that tasty sea salt you enjoy on your fish and chips. In fact the water isn't completely evaporated but instead the experts stop the boiling process at a crucial moment to produce a highly concentrated brine before carefully separating the perfectly formed crystals later on.

With his own investigations over Stefan was back to the barn to catch up with Anton and Jodie battling to come up with the perfect orange squash.

A bit like Ready, Steady, Cook! and other such shows the celebs in this case were left standing around like spare parts helplessly watching as the men in the lab coats did most of the work. As the squash was bottled up at the end Jodie bantered with Anton: "Yours looks like it's out of date" and that was about all the interaction we got from the z-list competitors – Anton simply wearing his famous grin throughout.

Their final bottles of squash were taken outside and tested by the general public with Jodie winning the day and that was that.

I don't think I'll be setting a reminder for this series but there are worse things on TV and in just half-an-hour you do learn something interesting about the stuff in your cupboards at least.

The soundtrack which hardly every fades out is annoying after a while and the celebs are just spare parts there to try and add another element to what would otherwise just be a lecture.

For those interested Stefan promises to reveal more secrets of the supermarket such as how to make cheesy puffs and chocolate bars with other minor celebrities like Esther Rantzen and Jon Torode over the coming weeks.

Ben Lammas