The Potting Shed

Guides, gift ideas and honest answers from the people who hand-pack every kit.

All articles Kintsugi Cheese making Gin making Meat Chilli sauce Wine making Kimchi Gift guides
A ball of white stretchy cheese being unwound into strands on a wooden board in a farmhouse kitchen.
Oaxaca cheese: Mexico's stretchy string cheese and how to make it
What Oaxaca cheese is, how it differs from mozzarella, and how the pasta filata stretch you learn making mozzarella gets you an Oaxaca-style ribbon.
Bright red chillies fermenting in a brine-filled glass jar next to bottles of finished hot sauce on a rustic wooden table.
Fermented hot sauce explained: why fermenting changes the flavour
What fermenting does to chillies, why lactic acid tastes so different from vinegar, and how fermented sauces compare with quick blended ones.
A slab of pork belly coated in dry curing salt and spices resting in a dish on a rustic wooden kitchen table.
How long to cure bacon: a day-by-day guide to dry curing
Dry curing bacon takes about a week. Here is what happens on each day, why the joint changes the timing, and how to tell when the cure is done.
Thin strips of seasoned beef resting in a marinade dish beside bowls of spices on a rustic wooden table.
Jerky marinades: five flavour directions and how to build your own
Wet marinade or dry rub, what a marinade really does to beef, five flavour directions to try and a simple five-slot formula for building your own.
A pressed block of homemade paneer on a cheesecloth beside cubes frying golden in a pan.
Paneer at home: the cheese you can make before dinner
Why acid-set paneer is the most forgiving cheese to start with, where it sits in the Cheese of the World kit, and the milk rule that decides everything.
A jar of freshly made kimchi with chilli paste and cabbage on a rustic kitchen worktop.
Kimchi not fermenting? Temperature, salt and time explained
How to tell whether kimchi is actually fermenting, what temperature and salt each do, the small things that stall a batch, and how sour to let it get.
A piece of pork belly being rubbed with dry cure and spices on a wooden board in a farmhouse kitchen.
Curing salt explained: what it does and why bacon needs it
What is actually in a bacon cure, what the salt and the nitrites each do, the two rules you should never bend, and how the cure works step by step at home.
Freshly picked red and green chillies beside bottles of homemade hot sauce on a rustic wooden table.
From plant to bottle: turning your chilli harvest into hot sauce
When to pick chillies, how to dry or freeze a glut, the simple structure behind every hot sauce, and how to control the heat and bottle it properly.
Learning how to make kimchi at home with napa cabbage, gochugaru chilli paste and a fermentation bag
How to Make Kimchi at Home: A Beginner's Guide
What kimchi is, how lactic fermentation works, the step-by-step method from cabbage to fermentation bag, what can go wrong and how to know your batch is safe.
Biltong vs jerky comparison with homemade biltong and beef jerky strips side by side
Biltong vs Jerky: What's Actually the Difference?
The real difference between biltong and jerky: origin, cut, marinade, drying and texture compared fairly, plus which one you should make at home first.
The Scoville scale from mild to superhot, ranking how hot chilli peppers are
The Scoville Scale Explained: How Chilli Heat Is Measured
What the Scoville scale is, where it came from, how chilli heat is measured in Scoville units, and a mild to superhot ladder of the peppers you know.
Home cured bacon on a board, showing how to cure bacon at home with a dry cure
How to Cure Bacon at Home: A Simple Dry-Cure Guide
How to cure bacon at home with a simple dry cure: what curing is, dry cure vs brine, the honest nitrite answer, a step-by-step method and fixes.
Bottle of whole supermarket milk beside fresh homemade cheese, the best milk for cheese making at home
What Milk for Cheese Making? The Truth About Homogenised, UHT and Raw
What milk for cheese making you actually need: whole pasteurised supermarket milk works, why you do not need non homogenised milk, and never using UHT.
Homemade biltong strips made without a biltong box using the Sandy Leaf Farm Biltong Making Kit
Do You Need a Biltong Box? An Honest Answer for Home Biltong Makers
What a biltong box does, when one is worth buying or building, and how to make proper biltong at home in a couple of hours with no box at all.
Beginner's cheese making kit ingredients for making fresh cheeses without cheese cultures
Cheese Cultures Explained: What They Are and When You Actually Need Them
What cheese cultures are, mesophilic versus thermophilic in plain English, which cheeses need them and which don't, and why beginners start culture-free.
Cheese making equipment for beginners laid out in a home kitchen with pan, cheesecloth and colander
Cheese Making Equipment: What You Actually Need to Start
The honest guide to cheese making equipment: what is already in your kitchen, what a kit supplies, and why you do not need a press or a cheese cave.
Homemade biltong strips seasoned with coriander and black pepper from a biltong making kit
What Is Biltong? South Africa's Great Dried Beef, Explained
What biltong is, where it comes from, how vinegar and coriander make it unique, how it differs from jerky and how to make your own batch at home.
Cheeses of the world making kit with homemade mozzarella, paneer and halloumi
The Cheeses of the World Kit: Ten Cheeses from Your Own Kitchen
A tour of all ten cheeses in the Cheeses of the World Kit: where each one calls home, the difficulty ladder from ricotta to chevre and who the kit suits.
Halloumi making kit with slices of homemade halloumi ready for the grill
Halloumi Making Kits: Make Your Own Squeaky Cheese at Home
Why halloumi squeaks, how the kit method works from curds to press to brine, and the mistakes to avoid when you make your own squeaky cheese at home.
Learning how to make hot sauce at home with dried chillies, bottles and the Chilli Sauce Making Kit
How to Make Hot Sauce at Home: A Beginner's Guide
What hot sauce is made of, the step-by-step method from dried chillies to bottled sauce, how to control the heat, common mistakes and how to store a batch.
Food gifts for couples: a couple making fresh mozzarella together with a cheese making kit
Food Gifts for Couples: Kits They Can Actually Make Together
The best food gifts for couples give two people an evening to share. Eight make-your-own kits organised by the kind of date night each one makes.

Shop the kits

Chilli sauce making kit with two bottles of homemade sauceFood Kits Hedgerow wine making kit with three bottles of homemade wineDrink Kits Kintsugi repair kit box with gold-repaired bowlsCraft Kits Ultimate gin making kit with two homemade pink ginsGift Kits