In today’s Paul Hollywood Pies and Puds, Paul wanted to know, which was the best type of strawberry to use to make strawberry jam?

Why did he want to know that? I hear you ask. Well, as a master maker he would of course only ever consider using the best ingredients, but also he wanted to bake a very special cake, a strawberry love cake.

To help him in his search for the best jam, Paul enlisted the help of three women from East Malling Woman Institute in Kent. The have years of extensive jam making experiences between them, and could not come more qualified for the role.

After searching high and low for the best strawberries, the ladies made jars of strawberry jams to the same recipe with three different types of strawberries and brought them to Paul’s kitchen for the master baker to try.

After a very sweet taste test, Paul decided to use a jam that was made with the latest type of strawberry. It is so new it is not yet available in the shops, and neither has it got a name. So Paul is possibly on to a first. When the strawberry Variety is named, he may well have a claim to fame.

Paul went on to make his very special love cake and shaped it in the form of a heart. This was the result: