Food and fruit juice matching

If you’re on the wagon this month, mealtimes can suddenly seem a bit drab and colourless. But if you’re missing the taste of your favourite wine try substituting a fruit juice that has similar flavours.

Obviously they tend to be sweeter than wine which may or may not be to your taste. They also, tend to be thicker in consistency, particularly if they’re home made, which can overwhelm a delicate dish. But you can deal with that either by adding a little still or sparkling mineral water, a dash of lemon, lime or grapefruit juice or by serving your juice in a jugful of ice.

If you want a lighter style of juice choose or make one that’s blended with apple, pear, grape or melon juice which will give you a softer, more rounded flavour.

Here’s what to try instead of your favourite sips:

Lighter styles of Chardonnay/Chenin Blanc: apple or pear juice, white cranberry juice

Richer styles of Chardonnay: peach, mango, passionfruit or tropical fruit juice

Semillon: pineapple juice, tropical fruit juice

Sauvignon Blanc: elderflower cordial, traditional lemonade

Riesling: white grape juice, lime cordial, sparkling apple juice

Rosé and light reds such as Beaujolais: cranberry juice, red grape juice, strawberry cordial, watermelon juice

Pinot Noir: pomegranate, raspberry or raspberry and cranberry juice

Merlot, Carmenère and Shiraz: forest fruits, plum juice

Cabernet Sauvignon: blackcurrant juice/cordial, blackberry, elderberry

Champagne/sparkling wine - elderflower spritzer, sparkling apple juice

6 of the best drink pairings for avocado toast

Judging by my Instagram feed practically everyone is eating avocado toast at least once a day but what do you drink with it?

If you’re not on Instagram - or one of the 10 million people who has apparently searched for avocado toast on Google* - you may even wonder what it is.

Smashed up avocado on toast - or bread. That’s it.

Well, more or less. There are all sorts of fancy variations but purists like to keep it simple

Fans are as likely to have it for breakfast as they are for lunch or supper so my six pairings include 3 non-alcoholic drinks:

Green tea
Not just a colour thing, the slight herbiness of green tea is great with avocado. Better than coffee IMHO. By the way don’t make it with boiling water - that’s why it tastes bitter.

Homemade lemonade or - if you haven’t got time to make it - lemon and lime Juicy Water. Citrus and avocado is a no-brainer

A Virgin Mary (in other words a Bloody Mary without booze)
Tomatoes and avo are also great. This looks a good recipe

Witbier
A well-chilled Belgian-style wheat beer served with a slice of lemon. Much more interesting than lager.

Sauvignon Blanc
Definitely the wine that comes to mind. Great with guac - equally good with avocado toast.

A classic margarita
If you want to pay tribute to avocado’s Mexican origins there can be no better cocktail. Do make it with fresh lime though rather than a Margarita mix

*twice as many as fried chicken, would you believe?

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Image by FoodieFactor from Pixabay

Some exciting drink pairings for cheese that aren’t wine

We automatically think of matching wine and cheese or beer and cheese but there are many drinks that work just as well and can give a real ‘wow factor’ to your cheeseboard.

Cider for example makes a very enjoyable lunchtime partner for a selection of cheese or a ploughmans while an elderberry wine or glass of sloe gin can make an unusual alternative to port for an after dinner cheeseboard. I also like soft drinks with cheese, which I often eat as a light lunch or snack, when I don’t particularly want to drink anything alcoholic.

Here are my suggestions for individual types of cheeses:

Goats’ cheeses
Apple, citrus and floral flavours work well with goats cheese so I often turn to soft drinks such as apple juice, elderflower cordial or traditional lemonade with young fresh cheeses, particularly in a salad. With more mature cheeses try an apple-flavoured eau-de-vie.

White-rinded cheeses such as Camembert and Brie
Milder versions work particularly well with red berry-flavoured drinks. (I know I said I wouldn’t talk about beer but a Belgian raspberry or cherry beer is a great partner for a Brie.) Guignolet, an inexpensive French cherry-flavoured aperitif, is a intriguing pairing for a slightly riper cheese though if it’s got to the state where it’s oozing over the board you may be better with a stronger drink like a Calvados or apple brandy. Apple flavoured drinks such as cider and Pommeau also go well with Camembert.

Hard and semi-hard cheeses such as cheddar and Gouda
Again cider will work well with these cheeses if they’re not too mature but aged cheddars and Goudas need something more intense, rich and nutty. Dry amontillado, palo cortado and dry oloroso sherries (though these strictly count as wines they’re an unusual pairing), malt whiskies that are aged in sherry casks, armagnacs and artisanal dark rums are all interesting matches. You might also try sake of which I understand the author Max McCalman, affineur of Artisanal in New York is a great champion. I haven’t given it a run through but imagine it would go particularly well with slightly waxy cheeses such as Beaufort and Comté.

Semi-soft/washed rind cheeses
E.g. Epoisses, Langres, Munster and Pont L’Evêque when allowed to mature to the limit, i.e. the proverbial ‘stinky’ cheese. These are real red wine - and even white wine-killers so it makes sense to look for alternatives. The pairings I find work best (apart from strong Belgian beers) are French ‘marcs’ such as marc de Champagne and marc de Bourgogne and - believe it or not - Dutch genever!

Sheep’s cheeses
The most wine-friendly of cheeses so what other options might tempt you? Poire William, I once discovered, was a fantastic match for Pecorino and I’m sure would go with other sheeps’ cheeses too. You might also try quince-flavoured liqueurs on the Manchego principle. Bramley and Gage makes one and Emporia Brands imports one from Gabriel Boudier. I also like dry, nutty sherries and Madeiras with sheep’s cheese but again that’s straying into wine territory.

Blue cheeses
As I’m sure you well know salty, pungent blue cheeses need a contrasting note of sweetness to balance them so any port drinkalike will fare well. Elderberry wine, sloe or damson gin are real champions. Going in a totally different direction, peaty whiskies such as Lagavulin and Talisker are also fantastic with strong blue cheeses, especially Roquefort.

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