I'm a Lancashire lad and I'm spicing up Nigella Lawson's life - this is what she has to say

Michael Winters, from Marton in Blackpool, who was a student at St Mary’s RC High, the only UK supplier of Cambodian pepper, which until a few years ago, was one of the best kept secrets of the French.

It’s so good, infact, that two years ago, Michael’s company Kadode Kampot Pepper UK, took the title of Supreme Champion at the Great Taste Awards - the highest honour for taste. Described as “an extremely interesting product with a delicate scent of salt on the nose”, the judges enjoyed the “soft crunch of the peppercorns and the layers of flavour that started salty, then fruity then a kick of heat”.

And it seems that they’re not alone - last week, Nigella made sure to tell her 3.1 million Instagram followers it would be the ‘perfect present’.

She wrote: “I’m here now to tell you about one of my most beloved ingredients: black Kampot pepper, and more specifically @kadodepepperuk black Kampot pepper. I couldn’t happily cook or eat without it. It’s deeply aromatic, and with a warm spiciness that enriches anything you add it to. You can get it direct from @kadodepepperuk, though it’s also on @amazonuk (yes, I know).”

Michael, who has worked in sales and marketing in London, but whose family live in Lomond Avenue, discovered the pepper on a career break in South East Asia. He described how at first you get the heat then comes an almost floral aroma. He said: “The red has a smoky sweet flavour and the white is almost zesty.”

He said the flavours are all to do with the area’s location between the sea and the mountains. The soil has a high quartz content and is very rich.