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Gregg Wallace is in Cornwall at an enormous bakery where they produce 180,000 pasties a day.

Gregg Wallace is in Cornwall at an enormous bakery where they produce 180,000 Cornish pasties a day. He follows the production of the pastry snacks from the arrival of two tonnes of swedes right through to dispatch. Gregg learns that there are very specific rules to creating a Cornish pasty. They must be made in Cornwall, the filling can only contain onion, potato, swede, beef and some seasoning - and each ingredient must be cooked from raw within the pastry parcel.

Meanwhile, Cherry Healey is delving into the wonderful world of the onion. She peels back the layers to discover the science that makes it such a versatile vegetable, and more importantly, why it makes us cry. It is all down to a chemical called lachrymatory factor, which is only created when an onion is cut into. Cherry visits an anaerobic digestion plant, where they turn waste from food factories into electricity. Micro-organisms feed on food waste, producing methane gas, which is used to power generators.

Historian Ruth Goodman is debunking some common Cornish pasty myths. It has been claimed that the county鈥檚 tin miners invented the pasty as a convenient snack to eat while they toiled at the rock face. She learns that miners may have eaten them, but they didn鈥檛 invent them. And it is unlikely that they used the pastry crimp as a handle. She also visits the Worshipful Company of Grocers in London, which was responsible for importing pepper into Britain. She learns how this ubiquitous seasoning transformed from a commodity so valuable it was known as black gold to a spice that everyone could afford.

58 minutes

Music Played

  • Afrojack & David Guetta

    Another Life (feat. Ester Dean)

  • P!nk

    I Am Here

  • Alfred Hall

    Pearl Diver

  • Spice Girls

    Spice Up Your Life

  • Spice Girls

    Spice Up Your Life

  • Kideko

    Good Thing

  • Jonas Blue

    Rise

  • Tom Grennan

    Sober - Instrumental

  • Dagny

    Wearing Nothing

  • George Benson

    Breezin'

  • Max George

    Barcelona

  • Muse

    Something Human

  • Bad Sounds

    Couldn't Give It Away

  • Marshmello

    Happier (feat. Bastille, Marshmello, Bastille)

  • Jamie N Commons

    Don't You Know

  • Kungs

    Don't You Know (feat. Jamie N Commons)

  • Martin Solveig

    Places (feat. Ina Wroldsen)

  • HAIM

    Want You Back

  • Haim and Bloodpop

    Little of Your Love

  • Snow Patrol

    Wild Horses

  • Solomon Grey

    Firechild

  • Emeli Sand茅

    Next To Me

  • Muse

    The Dark Side

  • Bishop Briggs

    The Fire

  • Gilligan Moss

    Ceremonial

  • James Bay

    Just For Tonight

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Gregg Wallace
Presenter Cherry Healey
Presenter Ruth Goodman
Executive Producer Amanda Lyon
Executive Producer Sanjay Singhal
Series Producer Michael Rees
Editor Tony Graynoth
Director Steve Bonser
Production Company Voltage TV

Broadcasts

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