Hurray, it’s Shrove Tuesday tomorrow and a great excuse to eat pancakes. Although I love them – savoury or sweet – I never think to make them at any other time of year.

My love affair with the humble pancake began on a French exchange holiday when I was fourteen. The family I stayed with were extremely eccentric (half of their home was a ‘Havishamesque’ abandoned theatre/shop, covered in cobwebs and unchanged for decades) but fantastic cooks; making the most amazing crepes.

Although I have never been able to replicate such pancake excellence, I have a go at making a new savoury version each year, finished off with a classic sugar and lemon. I may defy convention tomorrow with these Fruity Coffee Pancakes from Year Round Dairy Cookbook. Incidentally, a contestant on Come Dine with Me will soon be cooking from this book on TV, so let’s hope they do it justice!

As you know the majority of our Dairy Diaries are still sold by the milkmen, so we are firm supporters of this valuable British Institution. Pancake Day has always been a great reason to buy extra ‘pintas’.

For Mark Smith’s (the Guardian) intriguing foray into the world of the milkman see ‘Deliverance: out on a milk round’.