In the first programme Jimmy makes breakfast from scratch. Why is the most nutritious part of the corn removed from cornflakes? Why do some cereal manufacturers add iron and other vitamins? If instant coffee isn't made by grinding up coffee beans, how is it made? To find out Jimmy uses a floor sander, tumble dryer, laundry mangle and kitchen bins to copy the industrial grinders, dryers, rollers and vats used inside the real factory. To complete his breakfast menu, Jimmy heads away from the barn to discover that some cows at a farm in Devon are being milked by robots and how a muddy root vegetable is turned into pure white sugar.
In this programme Jimmy tries to copy some of the methods food companies use to preserve food to make it safe to eat weeks, months or even years after it is produced. Why do peas have to be frozen within hours of picking and why is factory freezing quicker than home freezing? Jimmy also attempts to suck all the water out of strawberries so they can be added to a box of breakfast cereal. Jimmy copies the factory preserving processes using a leaf blower, a vacuum cleaner, two dog bowls, and the flexible hose from an extractor fan. Jimmy also investigates what is done to chilled ready meals to make them safe to eat after a week, and is surprised to discover that the answer is not artificial preservatives but clever use of heat. He also goes inside the world's biggest baked beans factory to discover how they make canned food safe to store in our cupboards for months and even years.
In this programme Jimmy investigates the science behind our favourite snack foods. Can you describe the flavour of fizzy cola? Experts say cola's flavour includes lavender and coriander as well as orange, lime and lemon. After a supermarket taste test, Jimmy attempts to mix his own cola syrup and inject some fizz. He also tries to work out how to make potato into hoops, twirls and other shaped snacks. Jimmy's snack food production line consists of drainpipe, a hand-mincer and a water cooler bottle. How will they help him reveal the secrets behind our favourite snack foods? Jimmy visits the biggest ice cream factory in the world in his quest to discover the secret ingredient that makes ice cream the only food we can eat straight from the freezer. He also visits one of the world's biggest crisp factories to discover why the perfect crunch makes eating crisps so enjoyable.
Jimmy uncovers the tricks and techniques that food producers use to ensure we can enjoy favourite foods whenever we want. In the barn, Jimmy makes a first attempt at turning some of his own farmed pork into square sandwich ham. He also tries to copy the trick that banana suppliers use to artificially ripen green imported bananas so they are ready for the supermarket. Jimmy copies the square ham factory production processes using 100 hypodermic needles, a bicycle pump, a cement mixer, a tin bath and a length of square drainpipe. He completes his investigation into science trickery by discovering how fish farmers fool their fish into believing it's summer when it's winter, so that farmed salmon is available all year round. He also uncovers the trick farmers use to produce mushrooms out of season.
In this first programme Jimmy makes some pub grub classics. Using a high-powered spud gun, Jimmy gets explosive results when he tries to make oven chips. Creating chicken kievs proves messy when he makes a home-made meat processing machine from an old car tyre. To complete his pub menu Jimmy discovers how a farm boss, who produces 480,000 sirloin steaks every year, makes sure every steak is tender and juicy. And Jimmy turns detective to find out how they stop imposters ending up in our packets of peanuts.
In this episode, Jimmy tries out some of the technological tricks the food factories use to make food that's quick and easy to prepare. Turning a fire extinguisher into a squirty cream canister, Jimmy squeezes out the secrets of the cream you don't need to whip. A mangle and an office shredder come in handy when he tries to work out what makes instant noodles 'instant', and in a microwave-rice factory, Jimmy discovers how they can guarantee their pre-cooked rice is safe to eat. He also joins a lettuce grower to see how technology protects his fragile crop from the extremes of the British weather.
In this episode, Jimmy makes breakfast with a bang when he uses a specially built cannon to create puffed rice cereal. And he finds out that pedal power is essential when you're trying to make peanut butter on an industrial scale. At a yogurt factory, there's an invisible, unpaid workforce of billions to help Jimmy make his own strawberry yogurt. And tea is Jimmy's favourite drink - he has fifteen cups a day! So he's in heaven when he visits a tea factory to find out how the chief tea taster makes sure every cuppa tastes as good as the last.
The farmer focuses his efforts on goods that provoke polarised opinions, beginning with yeast extract. He then sets out to create his own chewing gum, finds out how the glossy exterior of chocolate is achieved, and meets a fellow farmer who is harvesting onions that do not make cooks cry when chopped.
Jimmy Doherty investigates the typical contents of lunchboxes and begins by spotting the difference between fresh and made-from-concentrate fruit juice. He then examines light mayonnaise, visits a greenhouse to learn how cucumbers are grown straight, and calls in the UK's biggest custard cream factory to reveal how biscuits get their crunch
Jimmy Doherty prepares a Sunday lunch from scratch using a drum dryer and a flame-thrower to make mashed potato flakes. He also makes his own decaf coffee with a fish tank, and discovers how a farmer is employing high-tech hospital equipment to choose his best rams for breeding, before visiting a Yorkshire pudding factory.
Jimmy Doherty examines the use of extreme temperatures in food manufacture. He learns about the process involved in ice-cream making, and uses a high-pressure crusher to create prawn crackers, before meeting a broccoli farmer who reveals how thermal conditions affect his produce.
It is Christmas time, but Jimmy's Food Factory never closes when it comes to revealing the secrets of supermarket food. Farmer Jimmy Doherty has set up his own food factory in a barn. Using farmyard and household junk, he is creating his own festive supermarket production line, and he has invited his family and friends round to test out his Christmas creations. Chocolate and Christmas are perfect together. And Jimmy reckons a record player and a cement mixer are essential when it comes to making chocolate Brazil nuts, but will he be able to coat the nuts as smoothly as the factory does? And you may like smoky bacon on your turkey, but how do the supermarkets smoke foods without fire? Jimmy brings his barbecue out of storage to find out. Every Christmas we eat 10 million turkeys, so Jimmy visits Britain's biggest turkey producer to find out how they get enough ready for the big day. And no festive season would be complete without a mince pie - and the filling can be made months in advance, so Jimmy's off to discover if it's a magic potion that keeps them fresh for so long.
Jimmy creates his own kids' party menu. When it comes to making fish fingers, a power saw is Jimmy's choice as he works out how the food factories try to make frozen fish taste as good as fresh. Jimmy also makes pink, fluffy marshmallows. But there's nothing very pink or fluffy about the ingredients which include pig skin and trotters. He also visits a factory where they produce fifteen thousand mini rolls an hour to discover how they roll them all without cracks. Jimmy meets a raspberry grower who wants to reduce the amount of pesticide he uses to protect his delicate crop from bugs. So what's a huge hair dryer got to do with it?
