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Gregg Wallace is in Essex at an enormous cereal bar factory, which produces 400,000 fruit- and nut-packed treats a day.

Gregg Wallace is in Essex at an enormous cereal bar factory, which produces 400,000 fruit- and nut-packed treats a day. Gregg follows production from the arrival of two tonnes of macadamia nuts all the way through to dispatch. Along the way, he gets hands on with all the ingredients, from nuts to cranberries and sultanas to puffed rice. He learns that it takes a carefully balanced blend of honey and glucose to bind the ingredients together. Too much honey and the bar would be too chewy. Too much glucose and it would set rock solid. A mix of both produces the ideal texture.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is helping out with the macadamia harvest in South Africa. The country is the world鈥檚 largest producer of these nuts, responsible for a quarter of the global harvest. She learns that the trees they grow on can take seven years before they produce their first crop, partly explaining why these nuts are so costly. She also discovers that their super tough shells require pressure equivalent to being sat on by a baby elephant to break them open. In the UK, Cherry visits the Eden Project in Cornwall and learns that nuts aren鈥檛 all they seem - only a small percentage of what we commonly refer to as nuts are actually botanical nuts. Peanuts are legumes and cashews are drupes. However, everything we refer to as a nut is the reproductive part of the plant and packed full of nutritional goodness.

Historian Ruth Goodman climbs a mountain in the Lake District to meet an explorer who tells her all about one of Britain鈥檚 original snack bars, Kendal Mint Cake. Its popularity grew after famous explorers Ernest Shackleton and Sir Edmund Hillary took it on their expeditions to Antarctica and Everest respectively. Ruth also visits the home of Britain鈥檚 very first cereal bar to learn how it went from simple hippy food to shifting three million bars a week.

58 minutes

Last on

Sun 1 Oct 2023 18:30
主播大秀 Two

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Timings (where shown) are from the start of the programme in hours and minutes

  • 00:01

    Lily Allen

    The Fear

  • 00:01

    Eliza and the Bear

    It Gets Cold

  • 00:04

    Craig David

    Ain鈥檛 Giving Up (feat. Sigala)

  • 00:10

    Nicki Minaj

    Starships

  • 00:10

    Nicki Minaj

    Starships

  • 00:11

    The Drums

    Let's Go Surfing

  • 00:14

    Jess Glynne

    Don't Be So Hard On Yourself

  • 00:15

    Chromeo

    Come Alive (feat. Toro y Moi)

  • 00:16

    The Jimi Hendrix Experience

    Purple Haze

  • 00:19

    Depeche Mode

    Just Can't Get Enough

  • 00:19

    Depeche Mode

    Just Can't Get Enough

  • 00:21

    The Spencer Davis Group

    Living In A Backstreet

  • 00:21

    Blonde

    Just For One Night (feat. Astrid S)

  • 00:21

    Meghan Trainor

    Lips Are Movin

  • 00:24

    Clean Bandit

    Symphony (feat. Zara Larsson)

  • 00:28

    Hot Butter

    Popcorn

  • 00:30

    Hot Butter

    Popcorn

  • 00:31

    P!nk

    Raise Your Glass

  • 00:35

    Years & Years

    Don't Panic

  • 00:36

    Sigala

    Brighter Days

  • 00:37

    Rene Rodrigezz, Dipl.Inch, Rene Rodrigezz & Dipl.Inch

    Only One (New Edit)

  • 00:45

    The xx

    Islands

  • 00:48

    One Direction

    Best Song Ever

  • 00:49

    Birdy

    Keeping Your Head Up

  • 00:50

    Louis Jordan and His Tympany Five

    Two Little Squirrels

  • 00:52

    Ten F茅

    Not Tonight

  • 00:54

    The Cats and the Fiddle

    Nuts To You

  • 00:54

    The Vaccines

    A Lack Of Understanding

  • 00:55

    Sia

    Move Your Body

  • 00:58

    Sigala

    Came Here For Love (feat. Ella Eyre)

Credits

Presenter Gregg Wallace
Presenter Cherry Healey
Presenter Ruth Goodman
Executive Producer Amanda Lyon
Executive Producer Sanjay Singhal
Producer Sam Bailey
Director Sam Bailey
Series Producer Michael Rees
Director Steve Bonser

Broadcasts

Learn more about the history of the factory and how it has evolved with an interactive from The Open University.

The fascinating stories behind the production of some of our favourite products.