The hottest product picks of September 2011

Another month, another load of new products flood onto the market. We sift through the lot and pick the most exciting for you to get your hands on.

KeepCups

These bright coloured beauties (see image above) called KeepCups are the world’s first barista standard reusable cups.  You can hand them straight over to your local coffee shop to have your favourite coffee made in them, and they’ll keep it piping hot whilst you’re on the go. You can design your own cup and feel smug whilst you sip because they are good for the environment. Plus they are now available in extra small (£6.20), perfect lovers of espresso, macchiato, piccolo or ristretto.

Candy floss flavoured grapes

Where else but America would they grow candy-floss flavoured grapes? But that’s not important – what matters is that thanks to Sainsbury’s we get to try this new super-sweet variety. Stemming from the Lambrusca variety, the ‘Cotton Candy’ variety of grapes from California has a surprising taste of candy floss. Get down to Sainsbury’s and see if you can tell the difference between those, and their Strawberry grapes, which are back for the fifth year running. In store now, £3.00 for a 400g punnet.

Indian wine at Waitrose

Known for varieties of tea rather than grand crus, this month, Waitrose becomes the first supermarket to start stocking wine made in India. Ritu Viognier (£6.99), a crisp, aromatic white made at the Four Seasons winery in the Baramati region (it’s modelled on a French chateau). Waitrose recommend you use it to cool off a hot curry, like this. The red, Zampa Syrah (£8.49), is a dark-fruited red made in the Sahyadri Valley. It’s great with lamb dishes. 

The Saucy Fish Co cod with piri piri sauce

We love The Saucy Fish Co’s gooey melt in the middle fish cakes, but this month they’ve upped their game with these fiery fresh cod fillets with piri piri sauce. The fish is lovely and fresh and the packet tells you how to cook the fillets perfectly (either bake, fry or grill) and then slather on the hot sauce to spice things up a bit. We want to eat it with wedges, but some roasty veg will go down a treat if you’re being healthy. In stores September 26, £4.

Food Doctor Wholesome Food Pots

Essentially posh pot noodles, the Food Doctor is now making these super healthy, just-add-boiling-water lunch pots. Instead of noodles, though, you get guilt-free bulgar wheat and quinoa or couscous and lentils. For flavours there’s asaparagus, leek and mint, tomatoes, red peppers and cumin, or tomato, black olive and basil. Designed to deliver a slower release of energy, you won’t need to scoff more than one. You can if you want to, though. Available now, £1.39 each.

Biswal Permier Marinades

How about a Michelin-star marinade to add some oomph to your dinner? Dev Biswal, the boss at the Michelin-starred Indian restaurant The Ambrette has put all his spicy secrets into these jars. There’s one marinade each for chicken, lamb and fish. They contain a unique blend of spices painstakingly researched by Biswal in Mumbai, Gukarat and Hyderbad. £3.95 each, available from theambrette.co.uk

WonderPour

The latest from the people that brought us the fantastic Garlic Twist, the WonderPour is a clip-on spout  designed to stop liquids sloshing everywhere when you’re spooning or ladling from, say, a mixing bowl, or a saucepan. Clip on the silicon spout and pour instead – no mess, no fuss. It also has a strainer, for pouring away excess water, or straining veg or pasta. Available now.

Michel Roux Jr teams up with global knives

Michel Roux Jr likes Global Knives so much, he’s decided to put his name to a range. The razor sharp blades come in three kits, but they don’t come cheap. The three piece starter set (£250) has three basic knives suitable for all kitchen tasks. In the six-piece intermediate set (£500) you get four blades plus a ceramic steel and some handy fish-bone tweezers. Or for true pros, there’s a nine piece professional set (£850) with seven blades, plus steel and tweezers. There are block sets too, but you’ll have to wait until October for them.  

Renshaw pre-filled piping bag

Keeping you calm in a cupcake emergency, Renshaw have released Snip & Swirl ready-filled icing bags. It takes mere seconds to snip off the corner and start piping on your icing, and you’ve got a choice of two difference piping styles and strawberry, chocolate or vanilla flavours to choose from. £2.49 for a 400g pack.

My Kind of Cooking by Mark Sargent

Finally, one to look forward to - Mark Sargent’s first book My Kind of Cooking is out on October 6. The Michelin-star chef concentrates on using cheaper cuts (lots of liver and kidneys) to show that seriously tasty plates don’t have to cost the earth. We love the British tapas recipes, like smoked haddock and curry scotch egg or broad beans on toast. Published by Quercus, £10.40.

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The hottest product picks for August