Michelin starred chef Tom Shepherd tells us what he thinks is the best British biscuit and how this summer could see the tastiest strawberries in years

Interview with Nick Dee.

Transcript

00:00Absolutely. Shortbread, I'm a big fan of shortbread. The wafer, I don't want to sound rude, but

00:06that is a pathetic excuse as a biscuit. I think that is why it's near the bottom, unfortunately.

00:10I think the syntheticness of those biscuits, yeah, I think they're probably the worst part

00:14of it. They are cheap. They do offer a sweet value, don't they? But yeah, as a biscuit,

00:20I think just to spend a little more on something a bit better, basically. But I'm actually

00:25a chocolate hobnob fan. Robust biscuit that can dip really well into tea and it's got

00:32that chocolate sort of sweetness on top. So yeah, I'm a chocolate hobnob fan, but equally

00:37I would agree that shortbread is also a pretty, pretty good biscuit.

00:40Tom also told me about another British favourite and it's good news for berry lovers as a wetter

00:46than average winter has led to a slightly later harvest for strawberries, meaning the

00:52iconic British fruit will be in their juicy prime as the brighter summer weather finally arrives.

00:58Well, the timing is one thing. I think being a cool winter and a wet winter just produces

01:03a slower growth of strawberries essentially. But that also allows the sort of the process

01:08being a slow process allows them to get a lot juicier and more delicious and actually

01:13larger in growth as well. So the slower sort of growth of the strawberry just allows that

01:21to get more juicier and more flavoursome. That's what sort of a cooler, more sort of frosty winter provides.

01:27Our growing love of strawberries saw UK shoppers spend a record £847.5 million on the British

01:35summer staple last year alone. In fact, berries and that includes strawberries, raspberries,

01:40blueberries and blackberries continue to be the most popular fruit item in shoppers baskets.

01:46Picking it straight from the, you know, from the strawberry sort of vine and it's as delicious

01:50there as it is, you know, with a beautiful dessert. So yeah, they're super versatile

01:55and they're definitely something in Britain that should be and are celebrated actually.