Stokes Brown Sauce 505g

A brown sauce built on date purée and black treacle, cooked in small batches by Stokes at the Old Stables kitchens of Rendlesham Hall at Rendlesham in Suffolk, where the firm has made its sauces since 2004.

Malt vinegar leads the recipe, followed by unrefined raw cane sugar, tomato purée, 9% date purée and 8% black treacle, seasoned with coriander, ginger, clove, cinnamon, pepper and a little cayenne, a blend the producer describes as its own. Great Taste judges found a good level of vinegar acidity and punch, with the date notes clearly discernible, and called it a good, complex brown sauce. In practice that means sharpness first, fruit and treacle underneath, and a gentle warmth from the cayenne rather than heat.

The producer suggests it with sausages and bacon, in a sandwich, or beside a full English breakfast, and it earns its place in the pan too: brush it over meat as a glaze, stir a spoonful into a stew or a Bolognese for depth, or drizzle it over grilled vegetables. At lunch it sits well next to a pork pie and a wedge of Quicke's Mature Clothbound Cheddar, with their Real Tomato Ketchup alongside for anyone in the ketchup camp.

A 505g squeezy bottle. Suitable for vegetarians and vegans according to the producer. The malt vinegar is made from barley, which is declared as an allergen.

• Cereals containing gluten (Barley)

Delivery

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Cheese is cut fresh to order and sent chilled, dispatched every Monday and Wednesday. Everything in your order ships together in one insulated box, arriving the next day.

Delivery £4.95, free on orders over £50. Chilled delivery £5.95.

Returns

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