Food Factory USA

Jerky, Brownies and Sugar Cubes is a one‑off episode of the BBC’s food‑factory strand, fronted by charismatic food historian Dr Megan Hartley. Think of it as a bite‑size “Inside the Factory” for the sweet‑tooth crowd, filmed on location at a massive sugar‑cube plant in St Helens and a brownie‑making line in Manchester. The episode runs just under half an hour, so it’s a quick dip rather than a full‑blown documentary marathon. The narrative walks you from the humble beetroot field all the way to the glossy, individually wrapped cubes you pop into your tea. Hartley follows the grain‑by‑grain journey: crushing, purifying, crystallising, then the surprisingly industrial “puff‑and‑press” that gives cubes their perfect shape. The brownie segment flips the script, showing how a bakery scales up a classic recipe with giant mixers, conveyor‑belt ovens and a robotic frosting arm. There’s a neat side‑story about how wartime rationing forced the first mass‑produced brownie, which feels a bit like a culinary version of “The Crown” meeting “How It's Made”. Honestly, it’s not a groundbreaking series, but it’s surprisingly good at making the mundane feel mental. The pacing does drift a touch when they linger on the sugar‑cane transport, and the graphics look a tad dated compared with the slickness of “Chef’s Table”. Still, the hands‑on footage and Hartley’s witty asides keep it engaging, especially if you’ve ever wondered why your brownies never look quite like the ones in the shop. Rated U, with a mild warning for a few fast‑moving conveyor‑belt shots that might be a bit intense for very young viewers. This is the programme’s first terrestrial broadcast, a fresh spin on a 2008 original that originally aired on a niche cable channel. If you’re after a proper, bite‑size peek behind the pantry doors, give it a go.