Heston's Feasts Everything you always wanted to know about rice pudding

Date Published:

16/03/2009

Debra Crome, technical manager at the Ambrosia Creamery, took Heston down food memory lane on his hunt for the perfect Tudor rice pudding. Hungry for more, 4Food delved deeper into the history of the classic good pud

How long has the factory been open?

The current Ambrosia factory has been making rice pudding here in Lifton, Devon since 1957 but Ambrosia has been made in Devon since 1917. We are surrounded by lush green grazing and, as there are plenty of dairy herds here in Devon, it makes for the perfect location.

What does it take to be a rice pudding expert?

A love of rice pudding and a passion to be the best at what you do helps in the first instance! It is vital to have an understanding of how things can make a difference, such as the seasonal changes on milk quality and natural variances in rice. Using the right quality ingredients and packaging materials and having an eye for detail for consistent quality is a must. It also helps when you work with a team of people who love the place, the job and rice pudding as much as our consumers do.

What did you expect when you heard Heston was coming to visit?

Film crews and cameras and lots of people to be honest, but it was just a cameraman, a sound engineer and a producer who accompanied Heston. I am sure this has been said before but he was just like he comes across on his programmes. He was really down to earth and made everyone relax around the camera. He wanted to know all about what made Ambrosia so good and was fascinated with the technical and food chemistry side of how we manufacture rice pudding.

Was Heston a rice pudding fan?

Yes and when he tasted it, he said it reminded him of his happy childhood.

How much rice pudding does Britain eat?

There are 274 million rice pudding occasions a year (source TNS Worldpanel 52 w/e Nov 2008).

What was Heston's rice pudding like? How did it differ from the rice pudding we're used to?

The rice pudding created by Heston was certainly different from the creamed rice we know today. It was prepared and cooked in a sausage skin and had much more of a savoury taste and contained some very different ingredients, one of which was bone marrow.

Will you be adding a touch of bone marrow to your rice pudding now?

We constantly monitor with our consumers that Ambrosia is the best tasting rice pudding on the market so no improvements are required at this time - and I am not sure whether our loyal Ambrosia fans would be partial to bone marrow in their creamed rice.

How do you eat your rice pudding?

I am partial to eating mine cold, straight from the pot or the can on a winter's evening. With a spoonful of strawberry jam is scrummy. Rice pudding is a great energy boost before or after I go for a run.

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