28:04
Today, can two normal home cooks identify the impostor? Two dishes created identically with one exception. One of the ingredients been subbed out for a fake version of it. Blindfolded. Can they tell? First one is in front of you, boys. A and B. Maybe both start with A. They're on separate plates. Instantly put my finger in something. Have it. Oh, what is that? Ready? What is that? Oh. M. Definitely feel like Jamie's been short changed. Oh, wow. It's a scone with cream and jam.
Oh, for I've just got a scon. That's better. Is it supposed to be butter? What you have is homemade scones with butter and jam. So, yes. traditionally would have a clotted cream, but what we're looking at here is butter. I'm getting butter icing kind of vibes from it. Do you know what? Yeah, I know what you mean in texture. It's very thick. Um, yeah, it's almost like a buttercream. Not as airy. I can't remember the last time I ate butter like that because I use a lurp spread, which I know someone over there will be probably bleeding out of his eyes. Treat yourself to be and see if you can
identify the impostor. I think there's a big difference between the two and it completely lies with the butter or the faux butter. This one I feel is creamier. Okay. So, and creamier in a texture or creamier in a taste or both? Both. This is a weird thing. They're both the same temperature, but this one when it hits your tongue almost feels cooler. And I think that's actually down to the fact that you salivate more when you instantly eat it or it takes longer to melt. Yeah. Lock in an answer A or B.
Remember, we want you to scribble down which one you think is the fake the imposter. I can't believe this one isn't butter. You've both committed. take off a blindfold and see what's left. Is there any visual difference? Now, obviously, you're eating the scone itself. Scone or scone, you decide. But you can also flip over the bakes. There's a slight difference in coloration as they baked. We used the butter in the scone as well. Oh, I didn't realize that. Slightly more coloration in one. First of all, let's see what you scribbled down cuz you're not allowed to change your mind now. You've taken your
blindfold off. B A Oh, you've both gone in a different direction. What was your thinking and logic, Mike? Why did you think B was the imposter? Now, I think I might be wrong. Oh, no. So do I. I felt this tasted more, but it felt that maybe it could be a premium butter in that there might have been some additional flavors like, you know, you can sometimes taste the grass. Yeah. That the cattle have consumed. And therefore I thought B was the fake because kind of tasted just like normal butter and not of much.
Whereas I think I had the same reasoning but the other way round of going A there was more flavor attached to it but was it synthetic or was it realizing it's been baked into the scones as well. I think B has a bigger bake. Yeah. I'm I'm still not convinced. And now I can see the butter. I think this is real butter. I think this might be stalk or baking butter. I can reveal in this first round, one of you is going to be wrong. The impostor is a Oh, yay. What was it? Mike, you got it wrong. But you couldn't got it more right.
AH, YES. SO, the real butter is sent me from Normandy. So, it is a quite a premium uh French butter made entirely from grass-fed cows and exclusively made with milk from cattle just 20 miles around the dairy. You've got enough. Whereas the imposter, which Jamie you spotted, is stalk butter alternative. So, it's a baking spread alternative to butter. It's 100% plant-based and 70% of that is vegetable oil fats. It basically is softer, which is why it beats better into baking mixes and why certainly when we were growing up, it was very common place in baking and cupcakes and sponges and the alike. Now being able to taste them side by side,
there is a staggering difference. That is insanely delicious. One of the best butters that doesn't taste like butter really. It's super smooth. It's fatty spread. Stalk has been around for ages. It's like I said, since 1920. So, it's been around for over 100 years. There must be a reason that it's been around for so long. Is it because it's dairyf free and was that important 100 years ago? Or is it because it was that much cheaper than butter? The latter. So, the real butter uh in UK standards needs to be 80% milk fat, which is more expensive to keep cows and to milk cows and to use the milk or turn it into butter before it goes rancid. Whereas oils, vegetable
oils are much cheaper by the liter and have a longer shelf life. Regions that have a lot of sunlight but quite mild climates and a lot of wetland, so the west country in the UK, but also places like Normandy and France, excellent for growing grass and therefore brilliant for cattle uh and dairy. Whereas the likes of stalk pretty much made anywhere because you can travel the oils much further. The stalk block butter alternative £125 and whilst it is a premium butter and you can get real butter cheaper at £3.90 per block. The supermarket own brand real butter I think that's probably about £2 from memory a block at the moment. Yeah.
Um so there is still quite a big price difference between that. So you're talking price and you're talking dairyfree and vegan. So, there are definitely uses for that. And there's not a huge amount of difference in the baking. No, there is a difference, but it's not huge. If you're using it as butter spread, there is a big difference. Yeah. Jamie, you're leading by a point as we move into round two. Woo! Okie dokie. Glad you've got the blindfolds on. Quite a visual difference, but taste and texture. Try A and B. So, I've got B in my hand.
Jamie's got B. You've got A. Mike's got A. You both got a teaspoon. Well, I've got something. So, a creme brulee. It is a creme brulee. That sugar has a browning on it. What on earth is that? That is minging. I imagine we're talking about sugar evers. I think it's sugar versus sweetener. M the sugar top alone. Yeah. It's bringing out far more flavor. Whereas B is very one-dimensional. Yeah. There's no crack to the top. There's zero bitterness because it doesn't feel like there's enough of there's nothing substantial to carry the bitterness. One of the widest chasms
we've ever experienced in a blindfold taste test, I would say. But can you identify the imposter? Yeah, I think so. Do it. You both scribbled in an answer. Take your blindfolds off and you can see the difference in color. Oh my goodness, that is anemic. That looks like a pancake. What did you write down? It was pretty obvious. 3 2 1 B. Correct. B is the impostor. And these are the differing products. So A interesting is titan fair trade caster sugar made from the juice of sugarcane plant nothing else. B is Pure Villa Baker
Secret Caster Sugar Alternative and it's made from stevia. Oh, is it? However, stevia is a product that is a sweetener. It's made from the acacia tree and it is so much more sweet than sugar that you only use a fraction of it. So, what that product has done is added a whole bunch of bulking ingredients so that you can use it gram for gram in your recipes. They're actually bigger crystals, aren't they? It's like granulated versus caster kind of. And part of me has been tempted to be like, "Oh, could I make some lower sugar sweet things like pancakes?" Yeah. However, what I can tell you is it doesn't work with a creme brulee. The reason we did it, it's actually very difficult, we think, to tell the difference in taste between A and B. B,
the fake one, because of the bulking agents kind of goes, it separates a little bit. You get more of a foamy on top, but actually they are incredibly similar in sweetness levels and in texture. I think there is a better flavor in the custard of the sugar. You said more rounded and I do agree with that. It's more It feels more natural. It's like chewing on cane sugar. You have that real sweetness, but it's still a relatively neutral sweetness. I agree that one does taste better. But if you had that and told me it was a creme late without the top, wouldn't even come close to questioning it.
No, at all. Where and how would you use caster sugar? The reason it's it's it's a fine like um texture, so it dissolves quicker. It's great for all baked goods. It's great for things like mouses. It's great for meringues because it folds into the egg whites nice and easily, custards. Whereas the caster sugar alternative in mousse meringue where you don't want the color, you don't want the torch, but you just want like a white crisp pavlova meringue doesn't affect the flavor that much. We found anything that needs a caramel top. Vast difference. Even the photo on the front, you can see it's not great, but I think
it's possibly already been cheated. The coloring will come from the flowers. It's not as natural as a cane sugar. The caster sugar alternative is gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan friendly, and keto, and teeth friendly. It does say it's Gluten-free, vegetarian, vegan friendly, as is caster sugar. So, but it's just caster sugar doesn't claim it. Price-wise, Caster Sugar and Tan L have been producing sugar pretty cheaply for years. £320 per kilo. How much for the alternative? I'm going to round it up to £5. Yeah, I was thinking £5. £1324. So it is £10 per kilo more. If you're going to do something like this, you're not having every day. So therefore, do it properly. It's going to taste better.
It's going to behave the way that you expect with no risks. If you're trying to get a sense of that style of food, if you've got a sweet craving, Yeah. whilst following certain diets. Yeah. Or just trying to cut down on certain things. I think that has a role to play. I think what you're saying is correct. I think there are people whether you're diabetic or desperately trying to reduce your sugar calorie intake where that alternative will get you incredibly close for 50% of the sweet things. But the other stuff, it's just not going to behave the same way.
However, it is going to be four times the price to get there. So again, personally, I wouldn't put it into baked goods where you need 150 g of it. I might put it into a homemade lemonade where you need a couple of tablespoons. You both spotted it though, so Jamie is still one point ahead in total as we move into round three. Okay, a plate of A and a plate of B. Cheers. Oh. Oh, wow. Got caviar on bread. Okay. You both took a nibble from the opposite end. So, one of you got just the egg yolk.
Yeah. So much cream cheese and one of you got just the caviar. So, we're doing caviar, right? Sorry, I got so much of it. It's delicious. So fishy. So, what this is little crruits of baguette uh with a soft fried quail's egg. So much better. And then some caviar. Right. Is this is all caviar. Well, the balls aren't bobbling in the way that they did on the A. A was like proper pops. Ever. They're completely different experiences.
Yep. I disagree. Do you? Texturally perhaps, but for me only slightly. Flavor-wise, I think they taste really similar. Oh, I could tell a big taste difference. A was so much more fishy than B. Which do you think is the impostor? Which would you scribble down A or B as being the fake? The impostor caviar. I don't know if I have caviar enough to be able to distinguish what it should taste. I think that's the problem. Yeah. The problem is we don't go to parties like Ben where you do little bump off your fist.
Well, you don't know cuz you're blindfolded. That's how I just tasted it. Really? Yes. You've both scribbled something down. Take your blindfolds off and have a little look. Oh, there's more. completely different color. They look, apart from color, they look they're the same size. I only think 10% fisher. I think a little bit more. I'll push it up to 20. Oh, I wouldn't meet you at 20. Let's look at what you scribbled down. I actually prefer I prefer B.
You prefer B. So, you both prefer B. Yeah. The question is, we asked you to identify the impostor. Turn it around in 3 2 1. B. You both think that B, the one you prefer, is actually the imposter. The imposter in this round is a Here are the differences. It's in a bigger jar. It must be cheaper. No, but that's crazy because I thought that was definitely the caviar because of pop.
Yeah. More intense flavor. So, surely that's a fish egg from a different fish. The real caviar, which is B, is Kings Oitra caviar. Uh so you can see they're larger, they're firmer, but they're not got the same pop. And color-wise, they can range from sort of a dark gray to olive and golden. So whilst they're quite firm, they don't pop. Whereas a the impostor is caviar made from herring and smoked herring plus cuttlefish ink. Oh, that's where you get the color. Then a whole bunch of stabilizers like zantham gum emulsifiers modified corn starch uh lemon juice to acidulate. But essentially it's 40% smoked herring whereas the real deal is sturgeon eggs about 96% and the
rest is salt to preserve. Knowing that's smoked herring makes a lot of sense now in my head cuz that was why I think I had the initial they are so different. So, so a the cheap alternative is the one that you will see on a lot of popular restaurants. They're serving steak and then caviar and fish and you get a little point on every um starter and a tasting menu. And it has to your point Jay that smoked salty kind of briny but also kind of citric because of the lemon. Whereas B is the real caviar described as subtle but complex, a creamy taste and a pronounced nutty note with a buttery finish and a slight briney aroma. So it's not going to smack you around the face. Like you said, it
was more subtle but more complex. Takes a lot longer, 7 to n years for Sturgeon to mature. So it's a British familyrun business. They hold a royal warrant for his majesty the king. They've been doing it, you know, the same way for an awful long time. And there's lots of history in that caviar production. Do you like these? I like them both. I think they're very different products. If you want that smoke and the acidity, I think I prefer a in a lot of applications. Should we talk price? Yes. So, the impostor for that pot there, £19. It's 158 pounds per kilo. You're not gonna buy a kilo of it, but as a round comparable metric.
I mean, it's a lot for a pot like that, but also you're buying caviar. Whereas that pot just 50 g is £60, making it £1,200 per kilo. So, it's about 7 12 times more expensive. Wow. But yeah, you would drop 60 quid on that small pot. And you have to use it in a few days. Oh, it doesn't go very far if you got friends over, does it? Ever different lives, remember? Very different friends. Just make sure the champagne matches. Jamie is still one point ahead as we move into the final round.
Final round. A and B. Off you go. Oh, we got the same thing. Okay. Oh, what's that? Soft pastry. It's a quason. Quas. Yeah. So, shall we just pull from each end? I think I have done. I was expecting it to be mega sweet, but it's actually quite savory. It's like a nutty like pistachio paste. M. Very good. Pistachio paste in a buttery crisp quissant. And then on top, which is what you put your fingers in, is the same paste, but with added cream cheese and cream and to soften it as well. And then try B.
Oh, that's so much sweeter. It's looser. It's less cloying. I know it's looser cuz it fell off the quason onto the work surface. It doesn't taste as nutty as the first. So, now I'm in a quandry. Is it a fake nut? Is it a fake delicious? Oh, this goes to my dopamine center. So, it is pistachio paste we're looking at. In both instances, on top you've got the cream cheese version and inside you've got the kind of pure version. Remember, it's the impostor we want you to find.
Both screw something down so you can now have a look. I knew that wasn't bright green. And now I'm properly having a wasabi moment. This is like dried as well. It's so much f firmer. It's so much thicker. It is cloying which makes me think it's a proper nut butter. It's actually delicious. I just don't think it works as well in a quason. What have you scribbled down? Turn around the boards. B A Oh, you've split opinion again. You were looking to find the impostor. That tasted to me like the one that we had in the potentially pretentious ingredients video. It was like a Dolce
and Gabana pistachio paste. That was made with real pistachios, though. That's why I think A's the fake. I can reveal in the final round that the impostor is B. NO. D takes a point and puts you level pegging. Let's have a look at the product. It's pistachio butter and pistachio cream. So A is the real one. It is Ber Smooth 100% pistachio butter. So some of the highest quality pistachios certified farms and there's nothing else in it. It is just 100% pistachios. Whereas B, the impostor is black milk pistachio cream. just 20% pistachio. Ingredient number one is sugar followed by vegetable oil.
Uh pistachio nuts at 20% and then other ingredients like milk powder, whey powder, lactose, emulsifiers, natural colorings like E141 which comes from nettles and grass. It's so delicious. I'm not even sure it tastes pistachios. It is so delicious that it has a twostar great taste award rating versus the one star for the real thing. Oh my gosh, that's mad. And I should stress the great taste award judging is done completely blindfolded and by a huge panel of judges. So, you looking for judges?
No, I'm doing it this year. He's doing it this year. Are you really? Yeah. That's how low the bar is. Oh, right. Perfect for baked goods, cakes, pastries, and very much spreadable. Whereas the nut butter, an incredible ingredient, but different application. Are we comparing pistachios with pistachios? A butter and a cream. I think we're actually comparing pistachios to the perceived version of pistachios that the trend has created. It's almost its own separate thing. It's become worth pointing out that the imposter in their words pistachio taste
inspired by Sicily whereas the other one tells you the certified farms and where the pistachios actually come from. Costwise uh the black milk pistachio cream if we do it per kilo just cuz the jars are different sizes 20 nearly £26 for a kilo. Just under £6 for the jar. So how much do you think for the real thing? Okay, let's go. 40 a kilo. I had 40 in my head. 50. So that jar there is £850. But £50 a kilo. It does mean that you both scored exactly the same in today's identify the imposter.
We're going to have to fight to the death after this video's finished. Great. Watch that over on our set now. Over to you guys. In the world of identifying imposter ingredients, what other things should we be looking at? Comment down below. Put them up.
