Clemente Jacques

Clemente Jacques is a Mexican food brand, well known at home for tinned chillies, vegetables and sauces that turn up in markets and restaurant kitchens across the country. Its tins are made for cooks who get through vegetables in quantity, and that catering mindset is what earns the brand a place on a shelf in Ilford.

We carry Clemente Jacques in our sweetcorn, peas and mushrooms collection, within tinned vegetables. The format is the large catering tin, sized for restaurants, takeaways, community kitchens and households that cook for a crowd at weddings, Eid or a family puja.

A big tin of vegetables earns its place when the cooking scales up. Tip it into a vast pan of vegetable biryani or pulao, a tray of Indo-Chinese fried rice, a chaat counter, a pizza topping station or a Mexican-style bean and corn salad with lime, chilli and coriander. Because the vegetables are cooked in the can, they need only heating through, so stir them in towards the end of the dish and season after tasting.

Once opened, a catering tin should be emptied straight away into clean, lidded containers and kept in the fridge, where the contents last a few days. Portion anything you will not use soon into freezer bags and label them. For smaller households, compare our tinned beans and the Batchelors shelf.