Borella - Porcini Mushroom Sauce (200g)

Porcini mushrooms carry a flavour that is difficult to replicate with anything else. Deeply savoury, earthy, rich with natural umami compounds that come from slow growth in woodland conditions rather than commercial cultivation at scale. A small amount of porcini does an enormous amount of work in a dish - which is why dried porcini have been a staple of northern Italian cooking for centuries, and why a sauce built around them at high concentration is such a useful thing to have on the shelf.

Borella's Porcini Mushroom Sauce is unusual among jarred pasta sauces in one key respect: it is 86% mushrooms. This is not a tomato base with some mushroom flavouring stirred through. It is a mushroom preparation - dense, intensely flavoured, and concentrated in a way that means a relatively small amount goes a long way. The colour is deep, the aroma is immediate and real, and the first taste makes clear that this is a different kind of product from the standard supermarket shelf.

Founded in 1935 in the Venetian countryside, Borella has applied a short-ingredient philosophy to its sauce range: no preservatives, no artificial colours, nothing added that isn't pulling its weight. With a sauce this concentrated, that restraint is the right call. The porcini are allowed to be the whole point.

Preparation is simple. Cook pasta to al dente, reserve a cup of pasta water, toss the pasta with the sauce and use a splash of the starchy water to adjust consistency. The sauce needs no additional cooking - just heat through. A finish of good extra virgin olive oil lifts the earthiness and adds gloss.

One jar feeds three to four people. It also works as a base for risotto, a flavour builder in a braise, or a sauce for polenta.

Best for: Tagliatelle, pappardelle, rigatoni, risotto, polenta, and any dish where deep, concentrated mushroom flavour is the main event.