Is Marmite halal? It depends on the jar
There is more than one Marmite, and more than one certifier. The answer depends on which jar is in your hand.
Limau kasturi, or calamansi: the lime that is not quite a lime
It comes halved on the side of the mee goreng, and most people call it lime. The difference is most of the reason it is there.
Marmite chicken: how the glaze works, and why it burns
The glaze is the whole dish. It takes two minutes to make, rather less to burn, and the jar it is named after is now harder to find.
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Working out shelf life before you sell anything
Not a number you decide. A number you establish, and the order you do it in decides what it costs.
How to get a glossy glaze, and why yours goes dull
Shine is a physical property, not a recipe. Four things destroy it and one move creates it.
The reunion dinner: what is on the table and why
Dishes chosen for meaning as much as taste, which is why the menu barely changes and substitution is not really an option.
Pandan: fresh, frozen, paste or essence
Four forms of wildly differing quality, and the gap between best and worst is larger than for almost anything else.
Halal ingredient or halal facility? Not the same thing
Three claims that sound alike, and only one of them is a certification you can rely on.
Start here
The pieces we send people to most often. One about cooking, one about buying, one about the paperwork nobody explains properly.
See every sectionOne piece a week, nothing else
New writing on Malaysian ingredients, technique and the business of food. No recipes you did not ask for, and anything commercial is labelled as such.
Your address is used to send this and nothing else.
If you make food for a living
All food business →
MESTI, GMP and HACCP in plain language
Three things that get used interchangeably, mean different things, and are none of them a halal certificate.
The licences you actually need to sell food in Malaysia
Most people discover the requirements in the wrong order: they sign a tenancy first, then find out the unit will not pass inspection.
The grey areas: emulsifiers, enzymes and alcohol in flavourings
Some ingredients genuinely cannot be judged from the label. Not because the label is hiding something, but because the same name covers materials from completely different sources.