For a brief, glorious moment the sun was shining. And naturally swathes of Middle England bared far too much lily white flesh, hit the Pimms hard and toyed with three quarter length trousers paired with statement footwear.

I on the other hand, turned my thoughts to barbecue.

Those of you who know me in real life, know that I’m not a chest beating, knuckle dragging type, but even I succumb to the temptation of charcoal on a sunny day. Though a mere amateur, it is interesting to see how the UK’s interest in barbecue is catching up with America. It’s no longer about throwing steaks and burgers on to a raging grill to be burned to within an inch of their life: there is a whole universe of geekdom waiting! Indirect versus direct grilling, hot smoking, choice of wood chips…the list goes on, and much debate and sport is to be had. Indeed in America they hold the World Barbecue Championships – which funnily enough, like the baseball World Series, seems to be won by America every year.

Joking aside though, the Americans do take their barbecue very seriously, and styles and flavours vary from state to state, and even town to town, so it was with interest that I found S and S Brand, who offer a regional slant on barbecue sauces and rubs.

It all began when a San Francisco Chef, who had roots in the south decided to bring real BBQ to the city. Spencer O’Meara knows his way around a smoker and when he started cooking his meats low and slow he needed seasonings and sauces.

He created 3 regional BBQ sauces and a BBQ rub that packed a punch to make his BBQ truly original. Customers at his restaurant loved his BBQ so much he decided he wanted to have a piece of it available to everyone. So along with his other half, Sarah Burchard, also a San Francisco Chef they created S&S brand. The couple currently boasts 4 BBQ sauces (St Louis style, Carolina style, Hawaiian style and Tennessee) and 6 different spice rubs (including coffee cocoa, jerk, ranch and 4 peppercorn)

They have grown the product line to include seasonings not only for BBQ but for all cuisines and are experimenting with new flavours every chance they get.