Day 76 - British candles good enough to eat
I came across these candles being sold in a shop in Kent. The smell was so intoxicating that I had to buy one. When I looked up the company at home I found out that they're hand made in Cornwall (St Eval candle company) using British produce in scents like apple & elderflower and thyme & mint. The only problem is that when it's burning, I want to eat it!! Check them out they're great and not very expensive, I paid £5.50 for a decent sized rustic looking pot holder and moulded candle. www.stevalcandlecompany.co.uk/
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Day 74 - The British Newspaper Archive
Click on the image to see a full size 'readable' version
How amazing is THIS?! And why had nobody told me about it? I've visited the British Library for seminars so many times, didn't realise this had now been put online - a rather expensive resource, but nonetheless great for research, and my Challenge. When you register you're given 15 credits, which enabled me to download this great piece from The Wester Gazette, published on Friday 10th Jan 1930. I find it incredible that we're still having the same issues 82 years on and are still yet to find a solution. The final line "the country that foresakes the land is doomed to die" should be posted up in big letters in the house of commons until more support is given to farmers in order to put pressure on the supermarket giants to pay fairly and help with development.
Day 73 - What's in season now?...
So we're halfway through March and as things are starting to get a little warmer, we're seeing plenty more ingredients to play with. Wild garlic (which I've never found! any tips on where to source in the Kent around would be good please!), purple-sprouting broccoli (which doesn't just look pretty on the plate, it also tastes extremely good just simply steamed), wild salmon, sea trout, elvers (although our eel supplies are slowly diminishing so ensure you get these from a good, sustainable source), razor clams - my absolute favourite with a little garlic and butter, you can view my recipe here for pan fried razor clams. Also in season is watercress (the good stuff's from Hampshire), beetroot (great served with a little creamed horseradish, fresh anchovies and boiled potatoes), of course spring lamb.
Day 72 - "I'll have a quarter of 'those' please"
Anyone who knows me will know that I didn't happen to just stumble across this for the first time today. I am a sweet fiend. I'm actually amazed that my teeth didn't fall out as soon as I hit twenty to be honest. I 'like' chocolate, but have to be in the mood... then I can eat a lot of it. But boiled/fruity sweets, any time day or night, yes please. I remember the local sweet shop to me secondary school in Eltham had a raised platform where the walls were covered ceiling to floor with jars of rhubarb and custard, sweet tobacco, lemon bon bons, lemon sherbets, tom thumb drops.. the flavours were endless. And now, in London (thank the Lord!) there seems to have been a resurgence of old fashioned sweet shops, changing with the times of course to selling 100 grams rather than a 'quarter' and bringing back all the favourites - at 10 times the original price. So today, I got myself a Highland toffee bar (how good were they?!), 100g of blackcurrant and liquorice comforts, some milk teeth (purely for the enjoyment of pretending to be Janet Street Porter) and some rhubarb and custards (because it's compulsory - just the same as buying a bag of tea lights and a 50p hot dog when you go to Ikea).
Day 69 - Apple pie with Cheddar crust
Flicking through my recipe books for some 'pie' inspiration, I came across a recipe in The Great British Book of Baking' for Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust. Apparently it's been a winner in Yorkshire for at least 300 years, and for me it sort of sounds so wrong, but yet so right on so many levels. I've marked this one as a must try recipe for a Sunday afternoon when I have the time. Will keep you posted on how it goes!
Day 66 - British Pie Week!
It's British pie week (running from 5-11 March) - and so it looks like I'm going to have to endure the chore of eating pies for a whole seven days... oh dear, sorry belly.
Starting today with a shop bought 'Walkers' steak and stilton pie, I thought I'd see how it compares to my homemade variations over the rest of the week. So far, Walkers is doing well... a nice crispy pastry with a lot of chunky filling and good flavour. Oh dear... better buy myself a pie dish!
Starting today with a shop bought 'Walkers' steak and stilton pie, I thought I'd see how it compares to my homemade variations over the rest of the week. So far, Walkers is doing well... a nice crispy pastry with a lot of chunky filling and good flavour. Oh dear... better buy myself a pie dish!
Day 62 - Kings Ginger
I've been noticing adverts for 'King's Ginger' around Islington, and have to admit that I've never heard of it before. It was created in 1903 for King Edward VII by the request of the Royal Physician in order to help 'stimulate and revivify his Majesty' whilst exposed to the elements on his morning rides in his new horseless carriage. It certainly packs a ginger punch, and whilst I doubt I'll be knocking back a shot in the mornings to 'revivify' myself before work, it's something that I might keep for an after dinner party drink to help aid our digestion :)
I couldn't find it in my local supermarkets so had to get it from Wine Rack. If you fancy a try yourself, they have a store locator on their site.
I couldn't find it in my local supermarkets so had to get it from Wine Rack. If you fancy a try yourself, they have a store locator on their site.
Day 56 - Foraging for food
I've had this book for a while now, and dismissed it when it arrived because I felt a little unmotivated to read it when it first arrived due to all of the warnings at the front of the book. I was hoping that it would have a simple selection of images that I could use to identify things that I could pick and eat from the trees and bushes in my local area... but then that would be all too easy for everyone to do, and I suppose we'd have nothing left to forage! I'm going to give it another go, and will report back once there's more in season for us to go collect and eat :)
Day 54 - Cook Britain
A great find to help with the Challenge in Sainsbury's today - and on offer for just £6! It contains a great double page potted history of British food. For 2012, it states 'Today, Britain has a well-deserved reputation for some of the finest foods, best chefs and most renowned restaurants in the world. There has been a huge resurge of traditional foods and recipes, using locally produced, seasonal foods, so why not tuck in' ...why not indeed?!
Day 52 - What defines whether something is 'British'?
I'm very excited to have been asked along to the next Slide Luck Pot Show event (run by a non-profit organisation dedicated to building and strengthening community through food and art) taking place in London to judge for a winner of the best dish - the theme of the evening is 'Identity' and it got me thinking about what it actually means to be British - or rather what 'identifies' whether something is British or not. It's simple to say that if something is grown or born here, then it's British - but what if you apply the same rules to food as we do to humans. Example - I have a Father who was born to an Irish family, but in London Enland. He had me, and I too was born in England. My nationality is British, and I have lived in England all my life, and I am married to an English man... so our baby will be born and classed as 'British'... but half of the origin of its genes are Irish and if we weren't around to let it know that, it would consider itself British through and through, and that would be the end of it. So if you apply that thinking to food - and if we'd have lost all knowledge of where a seed was first planted, or a recipe first invented, how would we even know where something truely comes from? Recipes are the same - constantly being adapted from an original creation, and transforming in to something that's then categorised and given a national identity. Today it may be an 'Italian' Bolognese but tomorrow it could be a Mexican 'Chilli'...I'll stop now before my head explodes!
Click here you find out more about Slide Luck Pot Show and their events
Click here you find out more about Slide Luck Pot Show and their events
Day 50 - what IS the difference between jam & marmalade?!
A couple of years ago my best friend and I started our own little preserves company The Great British Pantry. We made and sold our own jams, marmalades and chutneys from a stall in Greenwich market and had great fun doing it (my husband called it our expensive hobby). We still sell from our website and attend the odd school summer fair, and I'm always asked the same question "What IS the difference between jam and marmalade?" So - here's the answer...
Marmalade: Often defined as being made from citrus fruits, it was originally made from quince. The word 'marmalade' comes from 'mamelo' which is Portuguese for quince. It's often made by boiling the juice, pulp and peel of the citrus fruit with water and sugar - although I like Delia's simple version of throwing the whole orange in to a blender and blitzing it to a pulp.
Jam: Made from simply boiling any fruit with sugar (and sometimes vegetables - one of our best sellers was our 'Tomato chilli jam'). Certain fruits - such as strawberries require added pectin in order to help it set, but a little trick to being able to do without the pectin, is to soak the strawberries in half of the sugar over night to help release its natural setting agents before boiling the next day with the additional sugar.
Marmalade: Often defined as being made from citrus fruits, it was originally made from quince. The word 'marmalade' comes from 'mamelo' which is Portuguese for quince. It's often made by boiling the juice, pulp and peel of the citrus fruit with water and sugar - although I like Delia's simple version of throwing the whole orange in to a blender and blitzing it to a pulp.
Jam: Made from simply boiling any fruit with sugar (and sometimes vegetables - one of our best sellers was our 'Tomato chilli jam'). Certain fruits - such as strawberries require added pectin in order to help it set, but a little trick to being able to do without the pectin, is to soak the strawberries in half of the sugar over night to help release its natural setting agents before boiling the next day with the additional sugar.
Day 47 - Great British Fizz...
A recent trip to Chapel Down vineyard in Tenterden, Kent confirmed to me that as Brits we are indeed giving the rest of the world a run for its money when it comes to producing our own great tasting wine - and in particular, our sparkling. Compared to a very expensive French Champagne, I think I'd now choose a bottle of Chapel Downs English Fizz and day. Personally I think there's still a way to go with the rose and the reds, but the whites are crisp, full of flavour and absolutely a pleasure to drink.
Chapel Down
The Tenterden Vineyard is a great place to visit, with its herb garden and vineyard as well as restaurant and shop with wine tasting by arrangement. We took our Chocolate Labrador, Jack with us and sat in the garden eating cream teas with a glass of cold Fizz - perfect on an unexpectedly warm and sunny day!
Chapel Down
The Tenterden Vineyard is a great place to visit, with its herb garden and vineyard as well as restaurant and shop with wine tasting by arrangement. We took our Chocolate Labrador, Jack with us and sat in the garden eating cream teas with a glass of cold Fizz - perfect on an unexpectedly warm and sunny day!
Day 43 - Welsh salt
I found Halen Môn on the shelf in Waitrose - it's not cheap! (over £4.49 for a pot) and thought I'd give it a go. When I got home, I made some salted caramels with it (I thought it too good to just pop on m chips!) and I was pleasantly surprised - it's got a strong salty taste (as you would expect!) but without being bitter, it's actually quite a fresh flavour. Had a look on their website, and found out how Halen Môn make their salt - quite an interesting process, and other than seeing salt lakes on holiday in Spain before, I'd never really given a thought to how salt is made. I might get byself a a bottle full of sea water the next time I'm by the coast and boil up a pan to see what happens!
How Halen Môn make their salt
We use pure charcoal-filtered seawater, drawn from the Menai Strait around Anglesey
How Halen Môn make their salt
We use pure charcoal-filtered seawater, drawn from the Menai Strait around Anglesey
- The water is gently heated in a vacuum so it boils at a low temperature
- Gradually, the water releases steam and turns into a very salty brine
- When the concentration of salt in the water is high enough we release it into shallow crystallisation tanks
- Later when the crystals have formed, we harvest the salt by hand
- Then we rinse the flakes in brine until they shine
Day 40 - over 700 named cheeses in the UK!
I've been looking forward to the point in my Challenge where I get to try all of the British cheeses available, and today I found out that there are over 700 named cheeses just in the UK alone - oh dear! That's a challenge in itself... I think I'll have to make a start with Cornish Blue, from The Cornish Cheese Company that won the world cheese awards last year. Watch this space!
Day 39 - London Fashion week
My intention, when staring this challenge, was to write not just about food, but also about lots of other great British talent and products that are out there. I'm hoping that next weeks London Fashion week will help to inspire me, and I'm also counting on some contributions from my niece Kirsty, who's currently studying for a degree in Fashion Textiles/Knitwear. She has her own blog - KEA, and she's made some gorgeous stuff of her own. I think she's certainly in the running to be one of our future British designers - so watch out for this talented lady at London Fashion Week in a few years time! Click here to check out KEA!
Day 38 - A New Forest Recipe book
We popped in to a local Tourist Information office in Lyndhurst before heading home from the New Forest, and they had this cute little recipe book on sale. It's got some great dishes to help inspire my Challenge, and I didn't realise that the New Forest had so many traditional dishes. Here are a few of my favourites...
Hampshire Lardy cake - there are many variations of Lardy cake, but the book states that for a true 'Hampshire' version, there should be no fruit and it's always turned upside down broken in to pieces - never sliced.
Hampshire Herrings - oven baked herring fillets with a port wine, lemon and parsley sauce.
New Forest Venison - This sounds like a giant sausage shaped minced venison that's boiled, and served with mash potatoes, veg and cranberry jelly.
Hampshire Lardy cake - there are many variations of Lardy cake, but the book states that for a true 'Hampshire' version, there should be no fruit and it's always turned upside down broken in to pieces - never sliced.
Hampshire Herrings - oven baked herring fillets with a port wine, lemon and parsley sauce.
New Forest Venison - This sounds like a giant sausage shaped minced venison that's boiled, and served with mash potatoes, veg and cranberry jelly.
Day 35 - The New Forest Marque, what a BRRRRRRILLIANT idea!
I was lucky enough to have a weekend trip to the New Forest, and whilst there noticed this little badge/marque placed in shop windows, restaurant menu's and on products. It signifies that the product you're buying is authentic New Forest fare, containing at least 25% New Forest produce and made to a high standard of welfare. What an absolutely great idea, as it helps businesses to promote themselves, encourages shops to stock local produce, and means that local residents and visitors can identify products made in the area. I think every borough throughout London should have one of these!
To check out some of the great products bearing the marque, visit www.newforestproduce.co.uk
To check out some of the great products bearing the marque, visit www.newforestproduce.co.uk
Day 34 - British products in Cupboards around the world
Taking a quick look through my cupboards for 'British' inspiration today, I wondered how many of our British brands actually make it in to cupboards around the world. The 'Cooking friends' ladies jumped to the challenge of taking pics of their cupboards and sent them in to show their wares, and I was interested to see that Lea and Perrins and Oxo cubes have made it in to the cupboards of kitchens in New Zealand.
Around the UK, a common theme tends to be Bird's custard, Bisto, HP and Heinz.
Around the UK, a common theme tends to be Bird's custard, Bisto, HP and Heinz.
Day 33 - Dawn Porter shares her favourite British dish for ‘The Great British Challenge!’
Thanks to Company Magazine, and their live Tweet video, I was able to pose the question to Dawn Porter today to find out what her Great British dish is. She says that it’s a twist on sausage and mash – it’s a Jamie Oliver recipe that she cooks all the time (in fact twice a week!) Watch the video below to hear her response, and to get the recipe. Thanks Dawn :)
Day twenty three - The Islington Barn Farm shop
I came across this VERY cool pop-up Farm shop in Islington today - selling local produce out of an old Citroen garage, it also has a pop up supper club in operation for the next few weeks on a Friday!
Day twenty - Chocolate caramel Digestives (100% British wheat!)
I absolutely love digestive biscuits - and was pleased to see that the nice people at McVities use 100% British wheat in their biccies. I've been reading a lot lately about the fact that we are paying ridiculous prices for wheat to be transported in to our country for use, when we used to have so many perfectly good fields growing crops of wheat every year. Unfortunately there wasn't enough money available for farmers to continue, and so now we are suffering by paying hefty prices to the likes of China to import our wheat. Thankfully more farmers and getting back in to production, and although our wheat prices continue to rise, at least we're producing again - we just need to support by buying British where possible, and hope that more and more follow suit.
Day Sixteen - Brit Quiz!
If you're a child born in the late 70s (like me!) then I'm sure you'll remember this game? I came across it in a second hand shop and it bought back lots of memories of the dares and challenges that you have to complete. Because it's an old version it was great fun remembering which celebs were married to who, and learning random facts such as 'what is a city gents hat called?'. A brilliantly perfect game for me to find considering my Challenge :)
Day eleven - The Farm shop, Westerham
I had seen this shop recommended in the local newspaper some time ago, and kept wanting to pop along to check it out. It's like a teeny tiny slice of British heaven at the end of a row of cottages, and it's run and owned by a lovely lady who bakes all of her own cakes, and sources every item from local farms and producers. It has everything from preserves and local meats, to homemade gifts and crafts. I know that I've pulled together the map (featured below) of local producers around the UK, but there's something special about this place and the hard work that's gone in to it from husband and wife, that I had to give it a special mention.
Day ten - The Great British calender
As I've been carrying out my 'British' research, I've 'found' some weird and wonderful festivals, and dedicated days for things like 'National cheese rolling', and so I thought that I would compile a calender for 2012 of all the great British sounding events and dates. Thanks to those of you who have already contributed to the list, and for those of you who want to get a date added to the calender, please get in touch with the name of the event, the date and ideally a website with further information. Click here to download the pdf calender
Day Six - The perfect 'British' book!
Whilst trawling the second hand shops for some British inspiration, I came across this absolutely amazing book. It was made and printed by Odhams, Watford in Great Britain, and re-printed in 1946. It holds information on everything you could imagine, with over 2 thousand recipes, a section on 'catering for 2', a First Aid section telling you why things in the kitchen might have gone wrong, and a seasonal menu section with suggestions for breakfast, dinner and supper for every day of the week. Interestingly, it shows how the Brits used to eat a much heftier meal at 'dinner' time and then a far lighter dish for 'supper'. This is going to be a great inspiration for the Challenge, and I can't wait to get reading :) Thank you - Modern Cooking Illustrated, by Lydia Chatterton.
Days Two & Six - The Great British Map
Day two - I've been overwhelmed by the amount of help and support that people have been offering to my challenge all over the UK, and so I have created a 'Great British Map' to help display all of the best of British 'finds' that I have come across, and that have been recommended to me. Simply hover over the pins and the relevant information will be displayed.
Day Six - Lots of great foodie finds added in the North of the country, thanks to all of you lovely people on Twitter and Facebook :)
If you have anything that you'd like to add, please get in touch and I'll add to the map.
Red marks - drinks
Blue marks - Food
Orange marks - restaurants/pubs/eateries
Brown marks - Fashion & crafts
Green mark - activites & events
Day Six - Lots of great foodie finds added in the North of the country, thanks to all of you lovely people on Twitter and Facebook :)
If you have anything that you'd like to add, please get in touch and I'll add to the map.
Red marks - drinks
Blue marks - Food
Orange marks - restaurants/pubs/eateries
Brown marks - Fashion & crafts
Green mark - activites & events