Artisan: Pride of Place

for producers of speciality food and drink

Pride of place

The EU Protected Food Names scheme: Making the most of Europe’s local food culture

l What Protected Food Names can do for your business

l From Gloucestershire perry to Arbroath smokies

– every British PDO, PGI and TSG listed and described

l Food and wine matches to tempt your customers

l Applications in the pipeline: Goosnargh duck, anyone?

In the new world of booming farmers’ markets, supermarket ‘local sourcing’ and a burgeoning Slow Food movement, the EU’s Protected Food Names scheme has been sorely under-played here in the UK.

As we report in this special edition of Artisan – which is being widely distributed among retailers as well as our usual small producer audience – when the PFN scheme was launched 16 years ago it was pounced upon by the food industries in France, Italy and Spain. They were eager to play up the special nature of their indigenous food products – products they had been boasting about and carefully guarding for many a long year. Britain, by contrast, could only scrape together 10 foods it deemed worthy of special protection.

Consumers have never been so receptive to the idea of ‘real’, local and traditional foods

Surely if the idea of protecting and promoting regional specialities had been mooted today, not in 1992, it would have been a different story, because the British market has been transformed. Consumers have never been so receptive to the idea of ‘real’, local and traditional foods and, capturing this mood, more producers are getting together to apply for PDO, PGI and TSG status for their products. Over the next year or so, more than 40 British specialities are set to join the 35-odd current UK PFN products. That’s why we’ve got together with Irene Bocchetta, who has been responsible for promoting the EU scheme for the last couple of years, to get its message to a wider audience. As the scheme gathers momentum, now’s the time to be talking Protected Food Names with producers, trade buyers and, most importantly, consumers.

e: mick.whitworth@finefoodworld.co.uk

for

EDITORIAL

Editor: Mick Whitworth

Assistant editor: Heidi Ruge

Project consultant: Dom Lane (Bray Leino)

Art director: Mark Windsor

Contributors: Patrick McGuigan, Charles Campion, Menna Davies, Lynda Searby

ADVERTISING

Group sales manager: Sallie James

Advertisement sales: Becky Stacey, Laura Cook, Sally Coley

Production manager: Patrick McCarthy

Circulation manager: Kate Robinson

Publisher & managing director: Bob Farrand

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Best of British Every UK PFN product listed and described

Rooted in tradition

Four heritage-packed foods in close-up

29›

GUILD OF FINE FOOD

Membership secretary & director: Linda Farrand

Director: John Farrand

Administrator: Charlie Westcar

Accounts: Darron Johnson, Julie Coates

Published by: The Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, Station Road, Wincanton, Somerset BA9 9FE

Cover photography: Kiran Ridley Kiran Ridley is a multi-award-winning photographer whose work has been published in The Sunday Times Magazine, The Times and the Financial Times, The Washington Post, Observer and Guardian newspapers, and in The Economist w: www.kiranridley.com

t: 01963 824464 Fax: 01963 824651

e: firstname.lastname@finefoodworld.co.uk w: www.finefoodworld.co.uk

Reproduction of whole or part of this magazine without the publisher’s prior permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher. The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, recipes, photographs or illustrations.

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all about PFNs

What is the protected food name scheme?

The Protected Food Name (PFN) scheme was established by the European Union to maintain and enhance one of Europe’s great cultural assets: the diversity of its traditional food and drink products. By doing so it aimed to protect employment in farming and related industries.

While Britain has only recently caught on to the value of its own local and regional foods, many regional specialities from Continental Europe – from cheeses to nougats, from air-dried hams to ciders – have for decades enjoyed a valuable cachet in global markets worldwide. One result of this is that other producers both in Europe and further afield have been able to exploit that reputation with similar, often cheaper copycat products. This creates two problems for producers of the ‘real thing’: it damages their sales and, in the case of inferior copies, can also undermine the standing of the true product.

So in 1992, the EU established the PFN scheme, which it loosely modelled on existing national systems such as the French AOC (Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée) and the Italian DOC (Denominazione d’Origine Controllata).

The PFN system created levels of legal protection for which individual producers, or groups of producers, could apply:

• Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)

• Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)

• Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG).

These are explained in more detail below, but broadly speaking, PDO and PGI apply to products whose special qualities relate to terroir – that is, where they are made. TSG status relates more closely to particular production methods.

In each case, to gain PFN protection the producer(s) must go through a rigorous and time-consuming application process. The key element is drawing up a product specification spelling out the detail of how and where the product must be produced. This has to be vetted by national and EU authorities, but once approved it provides the basis for legal protection under the scheme. Elements included in the specification include:

• The name of the product and its description (including raw materials and its physical, chemical, microbiological or taste characteristics.

• Evidence that the product originates in a particular geographical area and, crucially, details of how the product and its terroir are linked.

• Details of any special local or regional production methods.

THE THREE SYMBOLS

The Protected Food Names scheme recognises three different levels of regional or national provenance. Two of these are based on territory – that is, the source of ingredients or the region in which the product is made. The other is based on methods of production – techniques that are rooted in tradition within a particular region or country.

Here are the three logos to look out for:

Protected Designation of Origin (PDO)

The product must have been produced and processed and prepared in the designated geographical area. The quality or characteristics of the product are essentially due to the terrain of the area in which it is produced and the abilities of producers in that area.

One example is Shetland Lamb: only lamb born, raised and slaughtered in the Shetlands and meeting specific quality requirements can carry the Shetland Lamb name and the PDO logo. Similarly, only cheese from the designated area of Serra da Estrella in Portugal can carry the name Queijo Serra da Estrella and the PDO logo.

Protected Geographical Indication (PGI)

The product must be produced or processed or prepared in the designated geographical area. It will have specific characteristics or a special reputation linking it to the given area, and at least one stage of production must be carried out in that area. Unlike PDO products, however, raw materials may come from another region.

Examples range from Arancia Rossa di Sicilia (Sicilian blood oranges) to Dortmunder Bier (beer from the Dortmund area of Germany).

Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG)

Only a genuinely traditional product can apply for TSG status.

The product will have distinctive features linked to the use of traditional raw materials or stemming from traditional methods or production or processing.

Examples include Traditional Farmfresh Turkey from the UK – birds raised slowly using a specific feed and housing regime and slaughtered and hung to a particular specification. Others include Kalakukko bread from Finland and Jamón Serrano from Spain.

A new red and yellow PDO logo replaces the blue and yellow version from May 2010

BENEFITS TO PRODUCERS

For producers of traditional local foods, the PFN scheme offers substantial protection. It gives exclusive rights to use the registered name and prevents others from misusing or otherwise exploiting the protected name by, for example, using the expressions ‘style’, ‘type’ or ‘method’ to suggest similarity.

According to the European Commission, the marketing benefits of PFN status can directly improve profits. There’s a shortage of current research, but data from 2002 suggested that cheese with PFN status could claim a 30% price premium over competitors. Perhaps this is why Waitrose has chosen to highlight PFN products so clearly on its deli counters.

BENEFITS TO RETAILERS AND CATERERS

At a time when interest in ‘real’ and regionallyproduced foods is booming, the PDO, PGI and TSG logos have huge potential in specialist stores and restaurants. They provide a guarantee of the very thing that many consumers now seek – provenance – and in doing so provide an instant talking point for both retailer and chef.

With the number of UK PFN products alone set to double within the next year or so, and with bodies such as the Guild of Fine Food and the Craft Guild of Chefs helping to raise awareness, consumer recognition of the logo can only increase.

And if PFN status means a premium price for producers, then retailers and restaurants too can benefit from a higher margin on these products.

HOW MANY PFNs ARE THERE?

There are now over 700 products with PFN protection Europe-wide. And, in a move to overcome objections of ‘protectionism’ lodged with the World Trade Organisation, products from outside the EU are also being permitted to apply for PFN status.

Britain has been slow to adopt the scheme, and there are fewer than 40 products with PFN status so far, all of which are listed and described in this Artisan Special Report. However, around 40 more are currently grinding through the application process, which means that the number of producers promoting their PDO, PGI or TSG status is set to rise rapidly.

The waiting game: how PFN status is achieved

Defra’s guidance document on applying for PFN status says applications can take up to two years to be processed, writes Patrick

McGuigan

Try telling that to the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association, which first lodged its application for Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) designation in 1998. At the time of writing – a decade later – the application has still not been approved by the EC, although it is expected to be rubber-stamped later this year.

The process has taken so long because of well-publicised objections from Northern Foods – a large manufacturer of Melton Mowbray pork pies whose factories fell outside the proposed production zone. The company fought the application all the way to the High Court and Court of Appeal, before withdrawing its objections in 2006 after being granted a five-year transition period to transfer

production. Despite the drawn-out process Matthew O’Callaghan, a Melton Mowbray councillor who heads up the Association, says the experience has been positive. “We began with five members and have since taken on two more, who we’ve helped with recipes and production techniques. There’s been a real sense of co-operation between producers,” he says, adding that publicity from the case has pushed up sales of Melton Mowbray pork pies across the board. The application process has also seen members win new contracts with M&S and Asda.

The initial steps of any application involve submitting a 12-page document that specifies details such as the appearance, flavour and history of the product. This is examined by Defra and is then opened up to a National Objection period, which gives other interested parties time to lodge queries and objections. After this, Defra

John Knox (pictured, centre) fought singlehanded to secure PDO status for Staffordshire Cheese

THE APPLICATION PROCESS

makes a final decision on the eligibility of the application. If favourable, the decision is publicised, offering a last opportunity for comments. Once any issues have been resolved the application is submitted to the EC, where it can take over 18 months to be examined and put out to consultation.

In Cumbria, the Cumberland Sausage Association, which comprises around 20 members, is currently at the National Objection stage in its application for PGI status for the name Traditional Cumberland Sausage.

John Anderson, of county councilbased Made In Cumbria, who has led the application, estimates he has put about six weeks of work into the scheme over the past three years, while costs have been limited to postage and petrol.

With small producers, industrial processors and butchers all members of the association he says agreeing the terms of the PGI was a little tricky. Stumbling blocks included the minimum meat content and whether to apply for the term ‘Cumberland Sausage’ or ‘Traditional Cumberland Sausage’. “Food From Britain and Trading Standards steered us away from ‘Cumberland Sausage’ because

for protected status come from associations of producers, there are exceptions. John Knox of the Staffordshire Cheese Company recently managed to gain PDO status for Staffordshire Cheese all by himself. In fact, Knox is the only person currently making the cheese in the world after reviving its production several years ago. Staffordshire Cheese used to be hugely popular in the 18th and 19th century, but production died out after the Second World War because farmers could get a better price for their milk.

Knox single-handedly researched the history and traditions of the cheese, even unearthing recipes in people’s wills, in an effort to bring it back from extinction.

Gaining approval for his application wasn’t easy, he says, because the EU

was suspicious that there wasn’t a genuine tradition for the cheese. “I had to do a lot of work. The EU said, ‘If the recipe is so good, why isn’t it still being made?’ So I had to go into a lot of detail and provide a lot of evidence of its history.”

Despite the hard work there were also benefits to being a lone applicant. “It meant I didn’t have to discuss each stage of the process with lots of other producers,” he says.

Knox is now using the PDO to encourage farmers in the area to start producing Staffordshire Cheese.

“When artisanal cheese-makers meet up at farmers markets we’re all great pals, but if you ask to look round someone’s dairy the shutters come down. To me that’s wrong. I want to be open and co-operate with people.”

it is too generic and we would have received objections,” he says.

Was there also a danger that, with industrial producers involved in the application, the definitions would become watered down?

“To a degree we had to please everyone,” he answers. “Bigger manufacturers have more to lose if the rules are too stringent, but we never got into heated arguments. We agreed we had to meet somewhere in the middle. For example, some producers wanted 95% meat content, others wanted 70%. We agreed on 80%, which is a hell of a benchmark when there are sausages with meat content as low as 40%.”

Decisions are made via meetings every few months which last for several hours. Representatives from Trading Standards also attend as they will inspect members if the application is approved.

While nearly all applications

CumberlandSausage Association

Matthew O’Callaghan of the Melton Mowbray Pork Pie Association: ‘There’s been a real sense of co-operation between producers’

The 20 members of the Cumberland Sausage Association faced stumbling blocks over both the recipe and the product’s name in their PGI application

❝The initial steps of any application involve submitting a 12-page document, which specifies details such as the appearance, flavour and history of the product❞

The name game

interview

Over the past year the Guild of Fine Food has worked with Irene Bocchetta to get the Protected Food Names message out to the speciality food trade. Here, she talks to Guild director John Farrand about how the PFN scheme is evolving.

John Farrand: How did the PFN scheme come about? Did it follow on from systems like Appellation d’Origine Contrôllée?

Irene Bocchetta: The Commission was really looking for ways to support the rural economy across the EU. At first glance, the Protected Names Scheme might seem a long-winded way to go about that. But think about a rural area with a traditional product that not many people are making any more. If you start promoting that product, you create demand, and demand creates more jobs. So that was

the economic rationale behind it. And with AOC and DOC, there was already a method in place to create a regional identity for wines, so the Commission was able to pick up that model and develop it for food.

JF: Britain has 37 PFN products. France, Italy and Spain have hundreds. How did we end up so far behind?

IB: In Britain, we’d never really had a single, collective body looking after our indigenous foods and showing pride in them, saying “Look what we’ve got!” Also, a lot of our farming industry had been knocked out during World War II, and when we started producing food again our priorities had changed: we wanted everything to be bland and uniform. But on the Continent, the farming sector never really stopped during the war – there was more continuity.

So when PFN began in 1992-3 and the Commission said to every EU nation, “Give us your brightest and best and we will fasttrack them through the scheme”, countries like France were able to come up with those names straight away, because they had been

protecting their national foods for a century. When the Commission said to Britain, “Give us your brightest and best” we only came up with 10!

JF: Perhaps it’s also because the French, Spanish and Italians buy into the EU far more than we do?

IB: I believe that’s true. I also believe that, when the PFN scheme started, there were certain governments that went straight to the EU with a long list because it’s was already in their culture to protect their native foods. And perhaps, at that time, we had a government that saw that kind of thing as industry’s responsibility.

JF: Who is the PFN scheme really intended to help? Is it the producer? The retailer? The consumer?

IB: It’s intended to tick all of those boxes. It’s to protect products that have been made and enjoyed within a community of people for many years and to ensure they continue to be made into the future. Recipes get lost,

their

❝Recipes get lost, foods go out of fashion, and then the skills and the craftsmanship go with them. So [with PFNs] you are protecting people’s culture as well as

livelihoods.

foods go out of fashion, and then the skills and the craftsmanship go with them. So you are protecting people’s culture as well as their livelihoods. As a consumer, when you delve into these products you’re eating history and helping its continuation.

JF: You haven’t got big budgets to promote that heritage to consumers, so how are you getting the message out at the moment?

IB: Through media interviews like these, through working with chefs, through speaking to retailers and getting them on board. They’re selling these products already; they’re just not celebrating the fact that these are PFNs. This year we’ll be providing PFN signage and menu stickers to restaurants and, as you know, we’re working with the Guild of Fine Food to get point-of-sale material out to specialist retailers too.

JF: Consumers got rather wrapped up in the word ‘organic’, which became a byword for quality, which was probably wrong because some of it wasn’t good quality at all. With PFNs, you’re saying it’s less about quality and more about heritage – about consumers enjoying the story?

IB: The Commission produced a fact-sheet last year that talks a lot about PFNs and ‘quality’. But I don’t like to talk in those terms. Quality is such a loaded word. To me, this scheme is an opportunity to express each EU member’s culture through its food. It’s not dissimilar to the way we express our culture through art or buildings. It’s your story.

For some shoppers it’s like opting to buy Fairtrade. They might find it difficult to choose between, say, Lavazza and a Fairtrade coffee because they really love Lavazza. But when they read the Fairtrade pack and find out more about the growers and the origins of the product, they might feel they want to support them. And it’s the same if they want to support craftsmanship and heritage.

JF: With three different logos, it’s quite a complicated scheme. Will it be difficult getting consumers to understand it?

IB: I’m aware that we are suddenly all being bombarded with these messages: eat this, don’t eat that, think about food miles. It’s totally overwhelming. What happened to just eating food? My approach has always been incremental. It’s too much to take on board at once, so we are just chipping away at it. What I say is, this is a scheme that will enable us to enjoy this food in the future. It’s protecting the future by protecting the past.

JF: Getting the message out through delis should be relatively straightforward – independent retailers are used to communicating the story behind their products. But its less easy in foodservice, isn’t it, where the chef may be the only person who has got to grips with PFNs?

IB: Absolutely right. We’re currently working with Stockpot, a magazine for members of the Craft Guild of Chefs. All their members will

get sheets of stickers of the three different logos that they can put next to items on their menus, and a window sticker showing the logos in more detail. Every chef is already going to be buying Welsh lamb or putting Stilton on the cheeseboard, and they are not going to reprint all their menus just to mention PFNs, so we’re giving them stickers instead. We’ve got to make it easy for them.

JF: Is there any money available for consumer promotions?

IB: There is money – the EU has funds to promote the scheme – but it’s match-funding for promotion by industry, so it needs the producer groups to apply for it. I can’t apply for funding for these proposals myself because I work for a government organisation and unfortunately in Britain there’s no-one like me out in the ‘outside world’.

That’s why Sopexa [the former French equivalent of Food from Britain, now a commercial marketing company] are so good – they’ve got loads of people dedicated to writing these proposals for EU match-funding, which is an art in itself.

In the past, I have worked with organisations like the West Country Cheesemakers Association to encourage them to put a proposal together. But any proposal cannot be sector-specific. Producer groups would have to say, for example: “We are taking a stand at the Fancy Food Show in New York and we would like to use part of it to promote PFNs as a whole.”

JF: So once again the French are ahead of the game on getting cash from the Commission!

IB: There’s an even distribution of funds throughout the community, but it’s dependent on who applies for it. The pot of money is there but if the UK doesn’t do anything about it, the UK isn’t going to get it. Sopexa are a private company and they are extremely close to French producers.

JF: Does it help that French consumers are much more supportive of their own producers?

IB: My counterpart in France tells me that consumer awareness in France is no better than here. But it’s the producers who are running with it there. I suspect many producers here are completely unaware of these match-funding opportunities. That’s something I want to change this year.

JF: Put yourself into the shoes of a fine food retailer for me. If you owned a deli, what would you be doing in your shop to utilise PFN?

IB: I would just be telling the story of those products all the time. Look at Swaledale cheese: it’s being made to the same recipe today as it was 400 years ago. I find that quite exciting.

To date, Waitrose is the only major retailer to push the PFN message strongly at point of sale, through prominent signage and ticketing on the cheese counter.

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The best of British

Blue Stilton (PDO)

Arbroath Smokie (PGI)

The Arbroath Smokie is a hot-smoked, headless and gutted whole haddock. Deep golden to mid brown with creamy moist and juicy white flesh, it has a delicate flavour with a light smoky note and slight saltiness. Originating in the fishing village of Auchmithie, production is restricted to a coastal corridor with an inland boundary 8km radius from Arbroath Town House and extending to the community of West Mains to the north and the community of East Haven in the south. In accordance with the recipe of Scandinavian descent, pairs of fish are hot smoked (unlike kippers) in a pit and the skill of the smoker is paramount in deciding how well the fish are smoking and when they are ready.

Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese (PDO)

A traditional cylindrical shaped smooth firm cheese made from full fat cows milk, specifically within the environs of the Fylde area of Lancashire, north of the River Ribble and including the Preston and Blackpool districts. Made from local milk to a 19th century recipe, the cheese is matured for up to 6 months and the grazing pastures, supported by moderate climate and high rainfall result in a buttery texture and an identifiable tang.

One of the world’s most cherished cheeses, cylindrical, creamy-white with trademark blue veins. Made from full cream cow’s milk only in the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, the cheese gained its reputation from being sold at the Bell Inn in Stilton on the Great North Road in the early 18th Century. Unique in flavour, it has become the benchmark for blue cheeses the world over.

Bonchester Cheese (PDO)

A lesser known cheese sadly not made at present. Flat cylindrical shaped, white coated full-fat soft cheese with a yellow hue made from unpasteurised Jersey cows’ milk and matured for 12 days. Specific to the Borders, within a radius of 90km from the summit of Peel Fell in the Cheviot Hills. The Jersey breed and local herbage delivered a mild but sophisticated flavour not unlike Morbier.

Buxton Blue (PDO)

Cylindrical shaped, blue-veined, full-fat hard cheese, made from cows’ milk in Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire. An ageold local recipe, 6 weeks of maturation within the micro-environment of Buxton and the use of exclusive starter and mould cultures ensures distinct russet coloured cheese with a distinct, well-balanced flavour.

Cornish Clotted Cream (PDO)

One of the county’s most famous exports, alongside Daphne du Maurier, Cornish clotted cream is a scalded high butterfat cows’ milk cream. It has a characteristic nutty flavour, varying from thick to thin in consistency, granular to smooth in texture and off-white to golden yellow in colour. Made in Cornwall for several centuries, the high level of carotene found in Cornish grass contributes to its distinctive colour.

Dorset Blue Cheese (PGI)

A lightly pressed blue/green veined cheese with irregular and rough dry brown mould coating limited to production within the county of Dorset using traditionally skimmed milk. The tradition of using less than fullfat milk has continued, but up to 20 weeks of maturation ensures that the low lying permanent pasture on top of Oxford clay leaves a piquant, peppery flavour within a firm texture.

From Buxton blue cheese to Welsh lamb, Britain can boast PFNs in most food and drink categories. Here’s the full list.

Dorset Blue Cheese (above) and Cornish Clotted Cream

Dovedale Cheese (PDO)

Cylindrical shaped, blue-veined, white full-fat soft cheese, made from cows’ milk within the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Staffordshire. Local milk is acquired from farms in the geographical area to produce a sumptuous, creamy soft, mild blue cheese. Dovedale is brine-dipped to add the salt giving it a distinctive Continental appearance and flavour when the cheese is left to mature for 3-4 weeks.

Exmoor Blue Cheese (PGI)

A full-fat blue-veined soft cheese with a rich yellow colour and buttery texture. Made from unpasteurised Jersey cows’ milk within a portion of Devon and Somerset bound by the coast from Barnstaple to Watchet, the steam railway line from Watchet until it is crossed by the B3227, the B3227 west until it crosses the A361 and the A361 west into Barnstaple. Use of vegetarian rennet and Penicillin Roqueforti and Penicillin candidum results in a rich and herby flavour with a gentle savoury twang.

Gloucestershire Cider (PGI)

A traditional cider prepared only in the county of Gloucestershire by fermenting locally-grown varieties of traditional cider apples for a period of up to 3 months. The cider is then racked off and matured for up to 6 months before exhibiting a diversity of rich fruit flavours with marked astringency and a balance between sweetness and bitterness.

Gloucestershire Perry (PGI)

Made only in the county of Gloucestershire, a traditional perry prepared by fermenting locally-grown perry pears, some varieties of which have flourished in the county for 400 years. Gloucestershire perry exhibits a distinct floral flavour and pale colour with positive astringency softened by a residual sweetness derived from sorbitol, a sugar found only in pears.

Herefordshire Cider (PGI)

Prepared by traditional methods only in the county of Herefordshire. Use of local apple varieties and variations in fermentation and racking times ensure a product distinct from that produced over the border in Gloucestershire.

Herefordshire Perry (PGI)

Prepared by traditional methods only in the county of Herefordshire. Considered by many to be the spiritual home of perry (the manor at Much Marcle is home to perry trees planted to mark the coronation of Queen Anne) use of local pear varieties particular to the county guarantees a product which couldn’t be made anywhere else.

Jersey Royal potatoes (PDO)

This early kidney variety of potato, characterised by long oval tubers, yellow skin and firm texture, has been produced exclusively on the island for over 100 years. Seaweed is used extensively as a fertiliser, which contributes to their distinct flavour. The sheltered nature of the island and rapidly warming soils mean crops can be grown earlier than anywhere else in the UK, hence the Beaujolais Nouveau-like excitement at their arrival on the mainland.

www.britishcheese.com

Mike Henney of Henneys Cider Co with two of the producer’s four PGI ciders

Herefordshire perry maker Tom Oliver

Kentish Ale (PGI) and Kentish Strong Ale (PGI)

Currently available from the Shepherd Neame brewery at Faversham in the heart of Kent’s hop gardens in the form of Spitfire and Bishops Finger, these ales are produced using only Kent-grown hop varieties and, crucially, green-sand-filtered water drawn from their artesian well. The wort for Bishops Finger is infused only in mash tuns of Russian teak built in 1914. The combination of local hops, taintfree, chalky, medium hard water and a recipe of roasted malts delivers beers of particular character – spicy, fruity and with marmalade notes on a long finish.

Manx Loaghtan Lamb (PDO)

Twice in its recent history the Manx Loaghtan (pronounced ‘Luf-ton’) sheep has had to be rescued from extinction by concerned farmers and landowners as the ancient breed’s numbers became precariously low.

A native of the Isle of Man, the Loaghtan –which sometimes grows four distinctive horns instead of two – is believed to be descended from the hardy, primitive sheep reared around north west Europe by the Celts and Vikings.

To achieve PDO status, Isle of Man Manx Loughtan lamb must be born, raised and slaughtered on the island. Killed at between six and 15 months, the meat is darker, less fatty and more gamey than conventional breeds.

Orkney Beef (PDO)

Beef derived solely from cattle born, reared and slaughtered in the Orkney Islands. The exclusive use of Aberdeen Angus and Shorthorn/Blue Grey breeds fed on pastures of grass and herbage refreshed by the North Atlantic winds gives the beef its characteristic depth of flavour. Restriction of sales to fresh and chilled product and not frozen ensures consistently good quality after the meat leaves the islands.

Orkney lamb (PDO)

Lamb born, reared and slaughtered in the Orkney Islands. The unique North Ronaldsay breed, found only in Orkney, lives on a diet of seaweed and is one of the traditional breeds used to produce Orkney lamb. A meat which shares the same reputation for transforming a particular climate and geography into high quality product as Orkney beef.

Rutland Bitter (PGI)

Sadly not currently available as Greene King moved its Langham operation to Suffolk, but originally brewed to a traditional recipe by Ruddles. A fine beer in the IPA tradition it was fairly weak but had a full flavour. Rumour has it that a local brewer will have all the documentation in place to resurrect production in the very near future.

Scotch Beef (PGI)

Largely serving to protect a description synonymous with good quality and flavour, this designation applies to beef from cattle born, reared for the entirety of their lives, slaughtered and dressed in the mainland of Scotland, including the islands off the west coast, Orkney and Shetland. The characteristics of Scotch beef arise from extensive rather than intensive grazing on the pastures particular to the Scottish landscape.

Scotch Lamb (PGI)

See Scotch beef (above).

Scottish Farmed Salmon (PGI)

Considered by chefs and consumers alike to be first amongst farmed salmon for flavour. The salt waters of the Scottish coast are an ideal environment in which to nurture well-fed and low density stocked salmon, producing succulent pink flesh (with a minimum intensity of 26 on the Roche Scale) and a distinguished flavour. The PGI designation incorporates stringent protocols covering every stage of husbandry and processing.

Shetland Lamb (PDO)

Meat derived from the native breed of Shetland sheep and its derivatives, born, reared and slaughtered in the Shetland Isles off the north coast of Scotland. The Shetland sheep is a distinctive breed native to the Shetland Isles. The texture and flavour of meat derived from Shetland or the Shetland/Cheviot ewes is markedly different from lamb derived from other breeds.

Clockwise from top left: Kentish Strong Ale, Scotch Beef and Scottish Farmed Salmon

britain’s PFNs

Swaledale Cheese (PDO)

A cylindrical shaped full-fat hard cheese, creamy off-white in colour with a soft crumbly texture, handmade from cows’ milk in Swaledale in the county of North Yorkshire and with a clean zesty flavour and nutty finish. Coated with a greeny blue-greyish mould the cheese has been made in the area for centuries. The recipe has been handed down from generation to generation but is still only known by a select few. Hand-crumbled curds give the cheese its characteristic open, dry but succulent texture.

Swaledale Ewes’ Cheese (PDO)

A cylindrical shaped full-fat hard cheese, creamy-white in colour with a soft crumbly texture, handmade from ewes’ milk in Swaledale, North Yorkshire in accordance with a similar recipe to its cows’ milk cousin. The ewes’ milk ensures a slightly more ‘gamey’ flavour and a character of its own.

Teviotdale Cheese (PGI)

Not currently produced, Teviotdale was a cylindrical shaped, white coated full-fat hard cheese made from unpasteurised Jersey cows’ milk on the border of England and Scotland within a 90km radius of Peel Fell in the Cheviot Hills. Pale yellow in colour with a smooth, salty and tangy flavour, resulting from soaking the cheese in brine for 9 hours.

Traditional Farmfresh Turkey (TSG)

Welsh Beef (PGI)

The Welsh have maintained a reputation for producing high quality beef since the time of the Celts, the Romans and the Normans and the influence of the traditional hardy Welsh breeds (predominately the Welsh Black and Hereford) still dominate the Welsh herd. Welsh beef must be born and reared in Wales. Extensive farming means cattle generally feed on natural grassland affected by the wet and mild Welsh climate and interspersed with heathers and indigenous fragrant wild herbs. Cattle are slaughtered at under 42 months of age and must not have bred.

Welsh Lamb (PGI)

Welsh lamb is born and reared only in Wales, from predominately Welsh Mountain, Welsh Mules, Welsh Halfbreds, Beulah, Welsh Hill Speckled Face, Lleyn Sheep, Llanwennog, and Radnor breeds, each contributing to the particular characteristic of the meat. This, combined with abundant grazing on grass leys on which a huge variety of herbs and heathers flourish, delivers a meat typically with good colour and a sweet succulent flavour.

West Country Farmhouse Cheddar (PDO)

Single Gloucester (PDO)

A flat, disc shaped, hard cows’ milk cheese with a light creamy-yellow colour. Recently revived along with Gloucester cattle and limited to production from milk of this breed within Gloucestershire, Single Gloucester has a clean mild and creamy taste, akin to a young cheddar. A fine example of a PDO which has supported the preservation of a rare breed.

Staffordshire Cheese (PDO)

Made in accordance with a rediscovered Cistercian monastic recipe but a newcomer to the roll of Protected Food Names, Staffordshire is produced only from milk from cows kept on Staffordshire farms. Clothbound, it has a smooth, slightly crumbly texture varying from hard or semi-hard depending on the age of maturity, a pale cream colour and a creamy, fresh and lactic flavour.

Currently the UK’s only Traditional Speciality Guaranteed, turkeys so named, wherever they might be raised, must adhere to strict set of production methods. They must be grown to a minimum age of 18 weeks in open or protected barns and the maximum stocking density is 35kg per m2. From eight weeks of age turkeys must be housed in buildings which are both naturally lit and ventilated, and bedding must be deep-litter of freshly toppedup straw or softwood shavings.

Birds must be fed on a diet containing only vegetable protein from the age of six weeks and from 10 weeks of age 70% of the diet must consist of cereals. Unless prescribed by a vet on welfare grounds, antibiotics and growth promoters are not fed to Traditional Farmfresh Turkeys. Sold whole bodied or eviscerated, the resultant bird will have a full fat cover, firm meat and a strong or gamey flavour.

Cylindrical or block shaped firm cows’ milk cheese, creamy yellow in colour, made in Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall. The cheese is epitomised by a nutty, full, rounded flavour with a hint of sharpness achieved through lengthy maturation. The milk used comes from the cheesemakers own herds and local farms in the designated area. The curds go through a unique process of ‘cheddaring’ where the pieces are turned and stacked by hand on top of each other. After pressing, the cheese is stored to mature for at least 9 months.

Staffordshire Cheese (above) is based on a recently revived monastic recipe, while Swaledale Cheese (below) also boasts a long heritage

TSG Traditional Farmfresh Turkey conforms to strict feed and husbandry methods

White Stilton (PDO)

A rich white cheese made in cylindrical form from full cream cow’s milk within the counties of Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, like its blue-veined and slightly more famous sibling. A moist and open structure is achieved by allowing the moulded curds to drain unpressed. A brown crust forms naturally on the surface, safeguarding a mild and creamy flavour with a hint of sweet walnut.

Whitstable Oysters (PGI)

Once considered poor man’s food, oysters have been produced in the vicinity of Whitstable, Kent, since Roman times. Shellfish of the species Ostrea edulis (native) and Crassostrea gigas (cultivated) 3-5 years old are gathered from the oyster beds during the spring tides and deliver plump and succulent morsels of sea spray flavoured meat.

Worcestershire Cider (PGI)

With the concept of terroir as applicable to cider making as it is to wine production, traditionally made ciders from the county will possess their own unique characteristics. With plenty of varieties to mix and match, local cider-makers can craft fine products with varying levels of tannic dryness and sweet perfume…

Worcestershire Perry (PGI)

…likewise with perrys produced in Worcestershire, the use of local varieties flourishing in different climatic and geographic circumstances ensures a diversity of flavours, setting this PGI apart from its Gloucestershire and Herefordshire cousins.

Clockwise from top: Welsh Lamb, Whitstable Oysters and West Country Farmhouse Cheddar

Herefordshire

15. Buxton Blue Cheese (PDO)

14. Dovedale Cheese (PDO)

13. Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese (PDO)

12. Swaledale Cheese (PDO)

11. Swaledale Ewes’ Cheese (PDO)

10. Isle of Man Manx Loaghtan Lamb (PDO)

9.

7.

6.

5.

4.

Teviotdale Cheese (PGI) *

3. Orkney Lamb (PDO)

2. Orkney

1.

4

in the United Kingdom LAMB FISH/SHELLFISH ALE TURKEY DAIRY 9 8 7 6

5 2 1

Rooted in tradition

It’s their unique blend of craft techniques and regional roots that makes many PFN products so special. Five very different examples – Arbroath Smokies, Welsh Lamb, West Country Farmhouse Cheddar, Manx Loaghtan Lamb and Three Counties Perry – demonstrate the depth of provenance on offer.

WEST COUNTRY FARMHOUSE CHEDDAR

Modest food producers they may be, but the 14 members of the West Country Farmhouse Cheesemakers (WCFC) group see themselves as the knights of a round table founded to protect a tradition clearly defined before the 12th century.

Cheddar cheese is made all over the world, but WCFC members reckon they possess the Holy Grail. West Country Farmhouse Cheddar is made only on farms in the region according to authentic methods and using only milk from West Country cows.

All the cheddars produced by WCFC producers have been awarded PDO status.

Philip Crawford, chairman of the group and a retired cheese-maker, explains: “Formed in the 1970s, our

group was already united to protect the reputation of a traditional food, define its authenticity, preserve its place of origin and traditional methods of production and prescribe its essential ingredients. When the PFN scheme was established in 1993 we immediately recognised in it the opportunity to secure a sustainable future for our farms and our cheeses.”

Undergoing a continuous process of auditing developed by the group, cheese can only be dubbed West Country Farmhouse Cheddar if it is made using milk from local herds reared and milked in the counties of Somerset, Dorset, Devon or Cornwall. It is made and cut in these same four counties and production is undertaken largely by hand.

From the outset the process maintains

a close relationship between raw ingredient and cheese-maker. The junket – a product of milk from a single local origin, warmed with starter cultures specific to the individual farm in a vat left open to the local atmosphere – is ‘cut’ and drained only once it is deemed ready by a cheese-maker, trusting his sense of touch.

After the whey has been drained off, the curd is repeatedly turned by hand to ensure only the requisite level of moisture is retained – the process known as ‘cheddaring’. Salting of the curds, packing the moulds and wrapping the cheeses is all undertaken by hand.

The PDO cheddar must be made and matured on the same farm and must be aged for at least nine months. Authentic West Country

❝PDO is an indication of diversity –something you only really get from committing to traditional methods ❞

Farmhouse Cheddar doesn’t leave the confines of the farm from the moment the milk arrives from the parlour until it’s ready to cut and pack. This means the cheese remains encapsulated within the same microenvironment and under the care of the same farmer until, after three separate independent gradings, it is deemed good enough to release into the custody of discerning retailers or restaurateurs.

Simon Clapp of Brue Valley farm, a cheese-maker whose family has farmed in Somerset since 1538, works alongside brother Bob to craft an awardwinning cheddar under the watchful eye of Glastonbury Tor. He is certain that handmade production in an open environment is the key to the special nature of the group’s cheeses: “Exposing milk to the microscopic flora and fauna resident in the air around our farms is what makes our cheeses different.

“Cheese-making is a delicate process and carefully handled milk is very receptive to what you might call ‘terroir’. Milk from the same cow used to make cheese in the same way on two different farms only a few miles apart will taste different. If you pick up a cheese with PDO on the label you know that it will have a character of its own. Our cheddar will eat differently to Westcombe’s or Denhay’s. PDO is an indication of diversity – something you only really get from committing to traditional methods.”

A ‘horizontal’ or comparative tasting of West Country farmhouse cheeses bears witness to the influence of terroir on cheddar-making. Each PDOdesignated cheddar shares some top line characteristics: a depth and length of flavour, a complexity in the mouth which unfurls over time and an open but resistant texture.

However, a tour of the handsome wedges reveals subtle differences that serve to transport the taster across hill and valley.

Keen’s retains a sweet hint of green twigs behind the fulsome strength of its unpasteurised extra mature. The Calver’s of Westcombe preserve a unique woody note within each traditional round. Parkham, the only Devonian in the group, has a particularly close texture and unrivalled creaminess you might expect from pastures fanned by the coastal breeze passing Bideford.

But isn’t PDO status just a romance, a marketing myth? Philip Crawford raises his shield: “Not at all. We have all invested time, money and effort in crafting fine cheeses to the very highest standards to meet consumer demand for great food produced in a way they expect and cherish. We wouldn’t do otherwise. The PDO symbol on our labels serves as a guarantee to the shopper that they are getting what they pay for.”

Wales’ 1200km coastline provides fresh, sea air to three sides of Wales; a sweep of rich, green landscape rolls back inland, offering mile after mile of hills and mountains where sheep are able to roam and feed on the best nature can offer.

This is reflected in the taste of Welsh Lamb, awarded PGI status in 2002 in recognition of its regional significance.

PGI provides consumer assurance that only lambs and cattle born and reared in Wales and slaughtered in an approved abattoir can be marketed as Welsh, says Hybu Cig Cymru/Meat Promotion Wales (HCC). The stock must also be traceability compliant to Farm Assured Standards. HCC acts as guardian of the PGI designation, with an independent body appointed to monitor its use. All plants that use the Welsh Lamb designation must be approved by HCC on an annual basis.

❝Only lambs and cattle born and reared in Wales and slaughtered in an approved abattoir can be marketed as Welsh ❞

PDODOLCE BLUE

Italyishometosomeofthemost prestigiousPDOcheeses buthaveyoutriedDolceBlue?

DolceBlue ismadefromthemilkofcowsthatgraze inthehillsoftheValsassinaareaofNorthernItaly.

‘Dolce’meansthesweetflavoursthatcomefromthemilk and‘blue’fromthemouldsthatforminthecheese. Thisperfectcombinationissweetbutnottoocreamy, andhasacleanaromawithslightlyblueundertones.

DolceBlue isproducedaccordingtoanancientmethod thatinvolvesleavingthecheesetomatureslowlyin naturalcavesintheItalianAlpsforatleast60days.

DolceBlue isidealasatabletopcheese,forsnacks andforcookingaswell,prefectformeltingintopasta orrice,giveitawhirlinCauliflowerCheese.

Ifyouareinterestedinplacinganorder pleasecontact,AviltonFoodsLtd-tel:01392822200fax:01392822201-e-mail:info@avilton-foods.co.ukwww.avilton-foods.co.uk

CHEESE– thenewwine!

Overthelasttenorsoyearsconsumershave increasinglybeenlookingforAuthenticand traditionalcheesesandhavecometoregard specialitycheesesinthesamewayasconnoisseursdowine.Provenanceandterroirhave becomeimportantandtheprotectionsnow guaranteedbyAOC,DOPandPDOarebeing recognisedwithconsumerswillingtopaythat bitextraforquality.Ourproductlistisnow bulgingwithFrench,Italian,Spanish,Swissand slowlybutsurelyBritishcheesesregardedas the“realarticle”.Longmaythiscontinuetogrow!

(t)01892838999-www.rowcliffe.co.uk

case studies

ARBROATH SMOKIES

The Arbroath Smokie is a small haddock that has been hot-smoked, but left whole and on the bone. It’s very different from kippers, which are herrings that have been split before smoking, and mackerel, which tend to be filleted before smoking.

The benefits of the hot-smoking process are that it stops the haddock drying out and gives the finished fish a very soft, almost buttery texture.

They can be eaten on their own –they’re delicious warm straight out of the smoker – or used in any recipe that calls for smoked haddock, their more easily available and less sophisticated cousin.

The Arbroath Smokie has always been a great favourite with chefs and food writers due to its combination of intense flavour and magnificent texture. So it’s no surprise that smokies have notched up hearty endorsements from the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Paul Rankin, Gary Rhodes, Nigel Slater and Sue Lawrence.

Like many genuinely traditional products Arbroath Smokies come with a story attached. For a start they should really be called Auchmithie Smokies, as that is the tiny fishing village where they originated in the 1890s. At the end of the 19th Century Auchmithie was a boom town with a population of around 400 people and was home

to 38 fishing boats. Eager to share its success, Arbroath Council approached Auchmithie’s three principal fisherfamilies – the Swankeys, the Cargills and the Spinks – and lured them south with promises of new houses in the area of Arbroath known as the Fit o’ the Toon and moorings in a new and improved harbour. The Arbroath smoked fish industry was born.

Today there are a dozen small producers making Arbroath Smokies and thanks to the tireless work of Robert Spink of processor R.R. Spink, who shepherded the certification through, Arbroath Smokies have had official PGI status since 2003. To qualify, the fish have to be processed within five miles of the centre of Arbroath, a distance that (in a nod to the past) includes the tiny village that is Auchmithie.

One of the greatest supporters of the Arbroath Smokie is Robert Spink’s son, Iain. Like his father before him, Iain is a fish smoker by trade and he has gone on to win the BBC Radio Four Food Producer of the Year and also to be named Scottish Champion in UKTV Food’s Local Hero scheme in 2006. Iain R. Spink has put together a roadshow for outdoor events and food markets to give a practical demonstration of how Arbroath Smokies are made. For these demos he smokes haddocks the traditional way, hanging pairs of fish over wooden bars and smoking them in a halved whisky barrel with layers of hessian to retain the smoke, then offers the fish to the public while still hot.

It is somewhat ironic

that while one branch of the Brussels bureaucracy was awarding PGI status to the Arbroath Smokie, elsewhere another division was severely limiting the haddock catch via stringent quotas. While fisherman report that stocks of haddock (at least in the North Sea) have never been more plentiful, due to the quotas there is not enough fish being landed to keep pace with demand.

Some fish smokers have been forced to try alternatives and there are murmurings about a “kind of smokietype thing” made using hake. But in taste tests the impostor couldn’t get close to the proper Arbroath Smokie and the project petered out. Iain Spink estimates that 90% of the Arbroath fish trade revolves around haddock, whether it ends up in a fish and chip shop or goes for smokies, which means that the latter will always be at risk from abrupt changes in EU fishery policy.

If you ask Iain Spink whether the PGI that his father fought for is helpful to his business he is generally positive.“I think that it has made a difference, people know that when they buy an Arbroath Smokie it is going to be the genuine article. The PGI is a tool that is there to be used.”

When the first Viking raiders put down roots in Auchmithie during the early part of the 11th Century and brought with them techniques for smoking fish for long sea voyages, they had no idea that centuries later the Arbroath Smokie would have become so highly sought-after – the kind of traditional product that richly deserves its PGI.

w: www.arbroathsmokies.net

❝They should really be called Auchmithie Smokies, as that is the tiny fishing village where they originated in the 1890s❞

Iain

R. Spink (below) has followed his father in championing the humble smokie

MANX LOAGHTAN LAMB

With its lean, dark, fine-grained meat and distinct, gamey flavour, Isle of Man Manx Loaghtan lamb has been described as a cross between beef and venison. It certainly bears little resemblance to that familiar, fatty mass-market lamb served up as Sunday roasts in many British homes. And in April 2008 it became the first pure-breed meat to gain Protected Designation of Origin status in the UK.

The origins of the Manx Loaghtan (it’s pronounced ‘Lufton’) stretch back more than a thousand years. Bearing similarities to other primitive types found among the outlying regions of Western Europe, these sheep – some of which boast four or even six horns –may have been brought to the British Isles by the Vikings and could even have been known much earlier by the longestablished Celtic Britons.

Written records dating back centuries show the Manx Loaghtan was valued for both its meat and its wool. And its low fat content – typically 5%, compared with nearly 30% for modern breeds – meant its meat could stay fresh for weeks, making it popular aboard ships that would stop at the Manx port of Douglas to ‘victual up’ before a long voyage.

Like other ‘unimproved’ breeds such as the Soay and Shetland, the hardy Manx Loaghtan thrives on poor land,

which means it’s ideally suited to the damp, windy, maritime climate and scrubby pasture and moorland of the island. But only six farmers currently raise this lamb commercially here. One of them is George Steriopulos, a driving force in the PDO application. From the outset, he says, the project hinged on the fact this historic breed had not lost its distinctiveness through human intervention.

“Manx Loaghtans have never conformed to modern farming practices, which are all about producing meat quickly,” says George. “Modern crossbreeds are ready for slaughter after six months. Manx Loaghtan ewes can have a breeding life of 15 years, which is a long time, and the lambs themselves are slow growing and very laid back – in fact, typically Manx! So ours are still young animals at 15-18 months.”

These are the very characteristics that, in recent centuries, nearly led to the breed’s extinction, as farmers switched to quicker growing, higher yielding crosses. Luckily, interest revived in the last century, and the Manx Loaghtan was also championed by the Rare Breeds Survival Trust. Until now, however, it has not had similar recognition from officialdom. Government price support for sheep farmers has not extended beyond standard commercial breeds, which means rearing Manx Loaghtans

PDO

has been a labour of love, not a living in itself.

George Steriopulos reckons he and his fellow Manx farmers currently produce about 1,500 Manx Loaghtan carcasses a year. A further 1,000 or so breeding ewes are believed to be kept on farms elsewhere in the UK, but the very different landscape, climate and feeding conditions in, say, the Sussex Downs mean that the Manx Loaghtan PDO applies specifically to those few slow-growing animals born, raised and slaughtered on the Isle of Man.

And those Manx farmers who have stuck loyally with the island’s traditional sheep now hope sales will reach more viable levels, enabling them to produce more animals each year and ensuring this handsome, hardy and historic breed’s survival.

w: www.manxloaghtan.com

ISLE OF MAN

❝Manx Loaghtans have never conformed to modern farming practices, which are all about producing meat quickly

status will help ensure the survival of this fine primitive breed

THREE COUNTIES PERRIES

The 16th Century kitchen accounts of the Manor House in Elmley Castle, Gloucestershire, are obsessive in their detail and list all the food and drink consumed. So we have a pretty good idea of the bill of fare when Elizabeth I stopped by on her royal progress. The house party got through a very creditable amount of wine, ale and cider, but it was perry that caught the Queen’s fancy. When she returned to court she wrote demanding a special delivery of perry and, so the tale goes, graciously suggested that three perry pears be added to the Worcester City coat of arms.

Perry (the increasing use of the term ‘pear cider’ is irritating and just plain wrong) is one of the great glories of the English countryside. To a chemist the humblest perry pear is much more complex than any cider apple and they deliver a much greater variation in taste profiles. This is all due to the high levels of obscure tannins – tannins from which expert perry makers coax an astonishing depth of flavour.

The process starts when the crushed pears are left to macerate in their own juice (over time, tannin levels can reduce by two thirds, presumably the same mechanism is at work here as when making Muscadet sur lie). By comparison cider makers have it easy, and that goes for the apple picking too. Commercial cider apples are grown in neat orchards of sensibly short trees so picking is a manageable, mechanical exercise. But there are hardly any perry orchards left, and the few perry pear trees remaining are often standard trees over 100 years old.

This means the ripe pears may be over 80 feet above the ground, so gathering them can be a tricky business and pickers need to be armed with ‘panking poles’ or ‘love hooks’ – 12ft poles with a crook at the end to shift the

pears from the upper branches of these aged trees. What’s more, this situation is unlikely to change in a hurry, as perry pear trees take 30 years to fruit well and need to be old before they start to bear a large crop. There is even a countryman’s adage to that effect: “Plant pears for your heirs.”

Perversely, this old-fashioned, traditional drink was at the heart of one of the great post-war marketing success stories, when a family of Somerset farmers, the Showerings, made their fortune with Babycham, a drink which originally had the strap-line “the genuine champagne perry”. This was the focus for a long running lawsuit with the Champagne producers who eventually banished the French word from the Babycham label. Against all expectations, perry has come good for the Showerings a second time – they launched Brothers Pear Cider at the Glastonbury Festival and look like having another perry success on their hands.

In a complex application, the Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire Cider and Perry Makers Association has managed to secure PGI status for each county’s cider and each county’s perry. The producers are a goahead bunch and have also set up the Three Counties Perry Presidium under the aegis of the Slow Food movement. The Presidium aims to raise awareness of perry, safeguard biodiversity and conserve the old perry pear varieties, and maintain, protect and enhance the skills involved in the production and marketing of perry.

Kevin Minchew is a traditional cider and perry maker who lives and works in Gloucestershire. His perries are sophisticated, with a great depth of flavour and he has an on-going project to try to perfect a real Champagne-method perry. As he points out, as long ago as

1811 Thomas Andrew Knight wrote: “The Teinton Squash perry has, I believe, been often sold for Champagne, which it resembles a good deal in colour and briskness.”

Minchew’s holy grail is to make a single variety, method Champenoise perry. As he says: “In Gloucestershire we were making a bottle-conditioned, fizzy perry in the early 18th Century well before Dom Perignon ever put a cork into a bottle.”

And that sums up the enigma of perry – a drink that is both simple and sophisticated. The fact that perry pear trees are few and far between means true perry will always be a minority product when viewed alongside the huge, industrial business that cider has become. As a specialist, high quality artisan drink, perry is made in small quantities for a knowledgeable local market, making it exactly the kind of product that deserves both a wider audience and the protection of the PGI system.

w: www.threecountiesperry.co.uk

❝There are hardly any perry orchards left, and the few perry pear trees remaining are often standard trees over 100 years old❞

Tom Oliver of Oliver’s Cider & Perry in Ocle Pychard, Herefordshire

HandmadeLeicestershireStilton

Madeinthetraditionalmanner,usingmilkfromlocalherds. Ittakes12weekstomature-weareoneofsevendairiesintheworld

OrderNumber: 01162595403 /Tel/Fax: 01162595224

Email: enquiries@quenbystilton.co.uk /www.quenbystilton.co.uk

Ingredients for success

There’s no better way to demonstrate the value of protected name foods to shoppers than through tastings and recipe suggestions. We asked top chefs, deli owners and suppliers for inspiring ideas featuring PFN favourites.

Bryndza Podhalañska (Poland, PDO)

WHY NOT TRY...

Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena (Italy, PDO)

❝We make a strawberry tart topped with a balsamic vinegar caramel, which delivers the perfect mix of sharpness and sweetness. We use the Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena because it has the right balance of acidity and sweetness. You can’t make a good caramel out of balsamic if it’s too sweet.❞

Jean Sancey, co-owner, Locatelli Deli

Aubocassa (Mallorca, PDO)

❝Aubocassa is an unusual island oil, produced by Bodegas Roda on the Manacor estate on the island of Mallorca. It is made from arbequina olives and the company’s philosophy is that olive oil is a fresh fruit juice and should be treated as such, so that all stages of harvesting and production get the best from the olives. This fragrant oil is delicious drizzled on bread, used to dress fish or used to create a surprising but delicious dish of fried egg finished with a dash of oil.❞

Claire Roff, marketing controller, Brindisa

Cidre de Normandie (France, PGI)

❝French ciders tend to be more sparkling, cloudier, weaker and drier than English ciders and would probably be drunk more as an aperitif. I’d say chill it down and have it predinner to get you in the mood, much as you might enjoy a prosecco.❞

Charles May, owner, Abbey Stores

❝This is like a soft Quark style cheese, so is very adaptable. It is great as an ingredient in a cooked or uncooked cheesecake, or as a stuffing for pancakes or pasta. We use it to make a cooked savoury cheesebake using herbs, lemon zest, chilli and beaten eggs, mixing them all together, placing the mixture in a flan tin and baking it in the oven. Then serve it hot or warm in slices with salad.❞

Patricia Michelson, founder, La Fromagerie

Kölsch (Germany, PGI)...

❝It is similar to Pils in appearance but not usually as hoppy. It is delicate and refreshing and therefore suits dishes such as stew or a Sunday roast but also sweet desserts.

...Rieser Weizenbier (Germany, PGI)

With a fruity and zesty taste - lemon or banana is often detected - and a crisp finish, this wheat beer is suitable for dishes which are light, mild or carry some sweetness, such as salads, poultry, seafood and steamed fish.❞

Joachim Oertel, director, CMA Foods UK

Beef simmered in Kentish Ale (PGI) with flat mushrooms. Adapted from Britain: The Cookbook by Phil Vickery.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

350g good chuck steak, cut in 2cm pieces

1 beef stock cube

300ml water

300ml Bishops Finger Kentish Ale

1 large carrot, peeled and chopped into 1cm pieces

1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped

A couple of pinches of caster sugar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 tbsp good quality tomato purée

Olive oil

4 large flat mushrooms

1 tbsp flour

40g unsalted butter, softened

Method:

Place the beef, stock cube, water, beer, carrot, onion, sugar, salt, pepper and tomato purée into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Turn the heat down and barely simmer, partly covered, for 2-2½ hours. Keep checking the meat and do not overcook it or it will be dry and stringy. You may need to occasionally top up the liquid with a little extra boiling water to keep the meat covered.

Meanwhile, preheat the grill to its highest setting. Brush olive oil over the mushrooms and season well with salt and pepper. Grill for 15 minutes to dry out the mushrooms – once cooked they take on an almost meaty texture. Cut into 5mm slices and reserve.

Mix the flour and softened butter together. Once the meat is tender, and the stock has reduced somewhat, stir in the flour and butter paste and the stew will thicken nicely. If it ends up too thick, add a little water. Once thickened, stir in the cooked mushrooms and warm through.

Serve with plenty of mashed potatoes and a few roasted parsnips.

wine matching & recipe ideas

WHY NOT TRY...

Arbroath Smokie (PGI) with shallots, potatoes and chives

by Lawrence Keogh, head cook, Roast, Borough Market

Mortadella Bologna (Italy, PGI)

❝I ate a lot of Mortadella Bologna in panino when I was a boy and I really got to like the taste. It’s a product that is accessible, not too expensive and flavoursome. I don’t want to suggest it’s dubious but it’s certainly not made from the prime cuts of meat. It’s best sliced paper thin and eaten in a bread roll with a nice white wine such as a Chardonnay, Verdicchio or Cinque Terre.❞

Giancarlo Caldesi, Italian food writer, TV chef and owner of Caldesi Italian Restaurants, Café, Bar and Cookery School

Serves 4

2 smokies, skinned and flaked (no bones)

12 pink fir apple potatoes cooked in their skins

28g butter

Pinch of mace

Juice and zest of ½ lemon

½ bunch of chive batons

Salt and pepper

Method:

Bring the potatoes to the boil in their skins and let them simmer for approximately 8-10 minutes until cooked. Take out and allow to cool.

Place the butter in a small pan then add the flaked smokie and warm through for approximately 4-5 minutes.

When hot, add the mace, lemon juice and zest and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Take a small slice of each end of the potatoes, like when eating a boiled egg, cut through the middle at an angle and place three potatoes in a small bowl standing up in a ‘Stonehenge’ circle.

Lastly, add the chive batons to the smokie mixture and spoon into the centre of each potato circle and serve. Great with warm crusty bread.

Wine recommendation:

Chapel Down Bacchus Reserve 2005: beautifully scented with rose petal and ripe gooseberry on the nose.

Reblochon (France, PDO)

❝There are several famous recipes with Reblochon such as tartiflette (pictured), which is layers of cooked sliced potatoes, onions and lardons with Reblochon and crème fraiche. We also use Reblochon in fondue; just at the point when all the cheese and wine has melded into a thick mass we stir in Reblochon to give that extra rich, silky finish to the dish. Savoie wines are the best matches, such as Chignin Marechale, Chignin Bergeron, or a slightly chilled Pinot Noir from Savoie.❞

Patricia Michelson, founder, La Fromagerie

Scottish Farmed Salmon (UK, PGI)

❝Marinade half of each salmon fillet in beetroot and sugar, and the other half in soy sauce and honey and leave for three days. Finish the honey and soy salmon with some fresh coriander and serve both together on a plate with some Cornish crab meat mixed with crème fraiche. Wash down with a Pinot Grigio or Chablis.❞

Gary Klaner, executive chef, The Landmark Hotel

Kentish Ales (UK, PGI)

❝I think the hoppiness of our Bishops Finger and Spitfire ales cuts right through the richness of lamb and beef. They also go well with sausages, and I enjoy nothing better than fish and chips and a bottle of Spitfire. The ales should be served slightly on the chilly side of room temperature in a tulip shaped goblet to allow the foam to concentrate in the upper portion of the glass – you get this wonderful contrast between the whiteness of the foam and the richness of the beer colour.❞

Ian Dixon, production director, Shepherd Neame

WHY NOT TRY...

Whitstable Oysters (PGI) poached in Herefordshire Perry (PGI), with pollock and Jersey Royal potatoes (PDO)

A well-chilled clear perry serves as a fantastic substitute for a dry white Entredeux-Mer with shellfish. The very particular fumy sweetness and crisp, dry finish of the perry partners the fresh sea spray flavour of our native oysters particularly well.

If you’re feeling adventurous and fancy creating a dish brimming with PFNs, then the following, provided you cook it in April, unites the last of the season’s Whitstable Oysters, the best of the season’s Jersey Royals (hand-planted in January), Herefordshire Perry and a rediscovered favourite, pollock.

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 dozen Whitstable Oysters

2 6oz fillets of pollock

1 pint of Herefordshire Perry Jersey Royal potatoes

3 cloves of garlic

Butter

Clean the oyster shells under a running tap. Bring the perry, crushed garlic cloves and a generous knob of butter to the boil in a saucepan.

Add the oysters, cover and simmer for 2 minutes until they start to open. Remove the oyster shells from the pan retaining the liquid. Carefully remove the whole oysters from their shells.

Fry the pollock fillets in a little melted butter for 2 minutes, then add enough of the liquid to cover and poach for 1 minute.

Transfer the cooked fillets to serving plates, pour the remaining liquid into the pan and boil vigorously, stirring until reduced to a few tablespoons of delicious fish and perry sauce.

Place 6 of the oysters on top of the pollock and pour over the perry sauce.

Serve with freshly boiled Jersey Royals tossed in a little melted butter.

TraditionalWhiteStilton Creamy,freshwitha verycleantaste

ShirevaleTraditionalWhiteStiltonhasacomplete pointofdifferencetoothercheesemakers,because that’sallwedomake.HistoricallyWhiteStilton hasbeenmadeinaBlueStiltonenvironment,hence isnaturallycontaminatedwithBlueMouldand Yeastspores.Shirevalecanguaranteenoyeast andmouldatall.

Thisnaturallymeansthattheshelflifeonallour productsaregreaterthanallourcompetitors. ShirevalesWhiteStiltonalsohashalfthesaltthan ourcompetitors.MostofourWhiteStiltonismade purelytoblendintospecialitycheesesuchasWhite Stilton&Apricot.

Forfurtherinformationcontactuson 01159899888orinfo@shirevale.co.uk

Deliciousaward-winninghandmade CORNISHFARMHOUSECHEESES MissMuffet,Trelawny,KelticGold & CornishCrumbly

AllcheeseshavebeendevelopedoverthelastnineyearsbySue Proudfootwithhelpandcriticismfrommanyunlikelyquarters! Allthecheesesarehandmadeinsmallbatchesonourcoastalfarm inNorthCornwallusingpasteurisedlocalfarmassuredmilk. Thissmallbusinessmaintainshigheststandardsofquality, hygieneandservice. Nothingistoomuchtrouble!!

MissMuffet isanuniquelywashedcurdmould-ripenedcheesewitha sweet,deepflavourandsuppletexture

Trelawny isatraditionalfarmhouse mould-ripenedcheesewithabeautifully balancedacidity

KelticGold isapungentwashedcurd cheese;rindwashedinlocalcidertogivea wonderfulalpineflavourandmeltinthe mouthtexture

CornishCrumbly isalivelyacidicyoung surfacesaltedcheeseagainmould-ripened

Interested? -ring SUEPROUDFOOT on 01288361317 oremail seproudfoot@aol.com tofindhowtogetataste…

YOUWON'TFINDUS INANYSUPERMARKETS! Costeffectivedistributionis availablethroughvariouswholesalers -contactusfordetails

French Emmental GrandPavois

Thischeeseismadeinourdairiesinthe heartoftheTarentaisevalley,fromthe unpasteurisedmilkfromTarineand Abondancecows.Beaufortisalsocalled thePrinceofGruyere.Wheelsare maturedforaminimumof5months. Beaufortiseasilyrecognisablefromits concaveheel,itssmoothivorytopale yellowcolour,anditsrichanddeeparoma.

Comtéismadefromunpasteurisedmilk fromMontbéliardecowsinthemedium rangemontainsofJura.Prestigewheels areexclusivelyfromsummermilk andcarefullyripenedforaminimum of18months!

Thecolourofthecheeseisadeepgold, almostlightbrownandthetasteis amazinglyfruityandstillsmooth.

Thisemmentalismadeexclusivelyinthe Franche-Comtéfromunpasteurisedmilk andismaturedatleast10weeks.Itis alwaysgenerouslyroundedwithregularly spacedholes,showingagorgeousgolden colour.Theconsumerrecognisesitfrom itsgreenlabelrecallinggreenpasturesor fromitstastes,generouslyfruityand gentlybiting.

Formoreinformation,pleasecontactJérômeREIGNIERon 07929418672oremailJREIGNIER@entremont-alliance.com

wine matching & recipe ideas

WHY NOT TRY...

Weissbier (PGI) sorbet from An Appetite for Ale by Fiona Beckett and Will Beckett

Wheat beers make sensational sorbets, but if you’re to preserve their unique character, they need careful handling – you’re freezing a mix that contains a fair amount of alcohol and sugar, which is not going to freeze as hard as a conventional ice cream. If you use less beer and more fruit juice or purée, you’ll lose that delicious sour fruit flavour. So. Freeze the container you’re going to spoon the mix into and the glasses you serve it in. You’ll also get a better result with a sorbetiere or ice cream maker.

I tasted a sorbet like this at a fabulous beer dinner at a brilliant restaurant called Fingerprint in Hersching, just outside Munich. You get all the aromatic character of the beer, which makes it a brilliantly impressive palate cleanser or a refreshing end to a spicy meal. The quantities I’ve given for the sugar syrup will make enough for two batches of sorbet. You can keep the leftover syrup in a sealed container or a jar for a couple of weeks in the fridge.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

250g caster sugar

3 tbsp liquid glucose

330 ml bottle of weissbier

If you’re using an ice cream maker, put the bowl in the freezer for the time recommended by the manufacturer (usually at least 18 hours). Put the sugar in a saucepan with the liquid glucose. Add 200ml of water and place the pan over a very low heat until the sugar has completely dissolved, stirring occasionally. Bring to the boil without stirring and boil hard for 3 minutes, again without stirring. Take off the heat, cool and refrigerate. Put the beer in the fridge, too.

When the beer and syrup are both chilled, pour the beer into a measuring jug and add syrup up to the 450ml mark. Mix well. Pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and churn until frozen. Scoop into a lidded plastic container, put the lid on and freeze for at least two hours until firm. (The level of alcohol means that it won’t go completely hard.)

Serve on its own as a palate cleanser, with other sorbets or with exotic fruits.

If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can freeze the base mixture and whizz it 3 or 4 times in a food processor during the freezing process instead. However, you won’t get as much volume or such a smooth result.

• An Appetite for Ale is published by CAMRA w: www.camra.org.uk

Everyone knows cheese and wine are the perfect partners, but which drinks should you recommend to accompany the most popular PFN cheeses? LYNDA SEARBY asked the experts.

Epoisse & Gewürztraminer

❝ Epoisse – a rind washed cheese from Burgundy – goes perfectly with a Gewürztraminer from Alsace. Epoisse stinks to high heaven when it’s mature but when it’s young it’s got a good nose and complements the floral bouquet of the Gewürztraminer. We did a tasting with this combo last year and it was the star of the show.❞

Terry Roberts, general manager, Chandos Deli

Matches made heavenin

Brie de Meaux & Chablis

❝ Made in Ile-deFrance, the area around Paris, this is a rich cheese with a full, earthy flavour – it leaves a taste in your mouth for hours afterwards. As with all cheeses, I’d take it out of the fridge about an hour before serving to let it warm up to room temperature and serve it with a dry white such as a Chablis or a Sancerre.❞

John Axon, owner, The Cheese Hamlet

Parmigiano Reggiano & Macon Villages (Italy, PDO)

❝ Italians just go home and eat parmesan the way that the English eat cheddar, so every Saturday, for the last three weeks, we’ve been putting out chunks of parmesan and Macon Villages and have been selling bucketloads on the back of it. People think they won’t like it, because they are used to that horrible, ground sick-like stuff you get in the supermarkets, but once they try real parmesan with a nice, dry, crisp, white wine, they love it.❞

Terry Roberts, general manager, Chandos Deli.

Taleggio & Chianti Classico

Taleggio is quite pungent and powerful so I’d pair it with something with a bit of bite and a little tannin. A mature red wine like Chianti Classico works better than a younger wine with fuller flavoured cheeses as the tannins give it more richness and texture.❞

Peter Fawcett, co-owner, Field & Fawcett

Single Gloucester & Pinot Noir

❝ I use 12-month-old Single Gloucester, not because it’s got PDO certification but because it’s a first-rate cheese. I serve it as a standalone item and would probably recommend a Pinot Noir either from Burgundy or New Zealand to go with it.❞

Swaledale & St Émilion

❝ Swaledale is made in North Yorkshire by Mandy Reed to a very old recipe. It’s mild, moist and creamy and as it matures you get a fuller flavour. It’s best eaten at about six weeks and I enjoy eating it with a few wheatbased crackers. I’d wash it down with a St Emilion – the fruity richness of the wine complements the creaminess of the cheese.❞

John Axon, owner, The Cheese Hamlet

Mozzarella di Bufala & Dolcetto

D’Alba

❝Dolcetto literally means ‘little sweet one’, so it hasn’t got much tannin at all and is very soft, supple and juicy, which tends to work quite well with the texture of Mozzarella.❞

Peter Fawcett, co-owner, Field & Fawcett

Grana Padano & Brunello

❝ There is now a new grade of Grana Padano, which is aged for at least 20 months, giving it a darker colour, more granular consistency and richer, fuller flavour with aromas of butter and hay and floral hints of corn. Wines that are velvet-smooth, with plenty of tannin and a high alcohol content, such as Barolo and Brunello, are the ideal accompaniment to this aged cheese.❞

Elisabetta

Gouda & Plymouth Gin

❝ This is one of the most underrated cheeses, due to inferior specimens in supermarkets, however, when you do get a raw milk, farm-made version it’s a real treat. As a breakfast cheese it is hard to beat. What to drink with Gouda? An idea could be to try Plymouth Gin! You would be surprised as the aged [four year] Gouda is a wonderful complement to the spirit.❞

Patricia Michelson, founder, La Fromagerie

Cropwell Bishop Stilton & Chateau Musar

❝ At Christmas we did Cropwell Bishop Stilton with Chateau Musar – a winery in the Lebanon that produces an incredibly good organic, single vineyard red. The vintage I particularly liked was 1997. It’s one step away from being fortified, so it’s really big and heavy and has this sweetness of cherries in it.❞

Terry Roberts, general manager, Chandos Deli

Serraiotto, Consorzio per la Tutela del Formaggio Grana Padano

Shaun Hill, patron chef, The Walnut Tree

Protected for posterity?

Where is the PFN scheme heading? PATRICK McGUIGAN took soundings among experts at the European Commission and Defra.

With over 700 PFN products already registered across Europe and 400 in the pipeline, the burgeoning interest from producers can be read as an endorsement of the scheme. But how much further can it grow? After all, only products with genuine tradition and provenance can be registered.

Gesa Wesseler, policy officer at the EC’s Directorate General for Agriculture and Rural Development in Brussels, who deals with applications from around the EU, believes there is still plenty of mileage in the scheme.

“If you think of the wines and spirits sectors [which are covered by separate schemes] there are thousands of registered names. Why can’t it be the same with this? Of course at some point, all eligible products and names will be covered, but we are a long way from that.”

There is now a global future for “geographical indications”, with PFN applications coming in from countries outside the EU after the rules on who could apply were relaxed. The changes were implemented in 2006 after complaints from the US and Australia to the World Trade Organisation that the scheme was a form of protectionism. The WTO dismissed most of the complaints but the EU was forced to simplify its rules to allow direct applications from producers in third countries. Café de Colombia was the first non-European product to receive protected status, and applications from tea producers and others in India and China are being considered.

“Under the EU regulation, PFNs are open to every country but protection will only apply in the EU,” explains Wesseler. Outside the EU, WTO rules provide for protection of geographical indications, but some countries are reluctant to enforce them. “We have a problem with Parma ham in Canada, for example,” says Wesseler. “Real Parma ham [from Italy] cannot be sold as such because a company has the name as a trademark. The only way

this could be resolved would be to go to court, but this would be a long and difficult process. In the meantime, we are concerned that Canadian consumers are being misled.”

The PFN scheme will be bolstered in May 2009 when legislation is introduced to make it compulsory for registered products to either carry the logo or make a reference on pack.

Funding to promote the scheme is also available, but at both European and UK level will be aimed at producers rather than directly targeting consumers.

According to Simon Johnson, policy adviser on regional and local food at Defra, the EU is particularly keen to see producers from different member states working together in joint promotions. Match funding is available from the EU’s €50m annual budget for supporting agricultural products and food.

“Many member states are ahead of the UK when it comes to accessing funding,” says Johnson. “France, Spain and Italy are looking to work together to do promotions in the US. There is a lot of support for producers in these countries from their local authorities.”

In France, for example, communications and marketing company Sopexa – formerly a state-funded quango but now a

French producers.

“There is a tradition of producers working together for the common good in Italy and France,” says Johnson. “Britain is a nation of individuals. Producers tend to be protective and secretive, but that is slowly changing. They recognise that they have to work together.”

As well as EU promotional funds, UK producers can apply for grants from the Regional Development Agencies. Defra is also committed to supporting the scheme and is currently looking for another organisation to take over Food from Britain’s promotional role. The size of the budget for promoting geographical indications in the next financial year is still being discussed.

“I would be lying if I said there was lots of money to promote it,” says Johnson. “Defra is confronted with big issues such as climate change and flood defences, and funding for regional food is being reduced. I think the focus will switch to helping producers tap into funding streams. There is a growing responsibility for producers themselves to promote the scheme and think about how they work together.”

Defra is also keen to work with UK retailers and restaurants, he adds. “I would like to see a PDO/PGI corner in shops with, say, Greek olives, Italian cheese and Cornish clotted cream. Some of the big retailers have been supportive of such an idea.” Other measures designed to engage retailers include pointof-sale material for Guild of Fine Food members and menu stickers for restaurants.

There is little on the horizon in terms of funds for marketing PDO, PGI and TSG products directly to consumers, but Johnson says the efforts of the trade should lift awareness. Sometimes the act of applying for protected status is enough in itself. Objections from Northern Foods over the PDO application for Melton Mowbray pork pies, for example, sparked several articles in national newspapers. “We are not looking to encourage controversial applications, but the Melton Mowbray pork pie case did as much as anything to publicise the scheme,” says Johnson. “There is still a lot to do, but as more producers become registered you begin to reach a critical mass, where promoting the scheme becomes easier.”

❝I would like to see a PDO/PGI corner in shops with, say, Greek olives, Italian cheese and Cornish clotted cream. Some of the big retailers have been supportive of such an idea.

Simon Johnson, Defra policy advisor

PRODUCERS & DISTRIBUTORS

Anthony Rowcliffe & Son

Unit B

Paddock Wood Distribution Centre

Paddock Wood

Tonbridge

Kent TN12 6UU

t: 01892 838999

w: www.rowcliffe.co.uk

Wholesaler of cheese, meats and other delicatessen products

Avilton Foods

Malvern House

Matford Court

Yeoford Way

Exeter

Devon

EX2 8LB

t: 01392 822200

w: www.avilton-foods.co.uk

Importer of foods from Europe. Italian foods a speciality

Borough Market

8 Southwark Street

London SE1 1TL

t: 020 7407 1002

f: 020 7403 9162

w: www.boroughmarket.org.uk

Bradbury & Son

Staden Lane Business park

Staden Lane

Buxton

Derbyshire

SK17 9RZ

t: 01298 23180

w: www.bradburyandson.co.uk

Distributor of white Stilton as well as other Euopean and UK cheeses

Cropwell Bishop Creamery

Nottingham Road

Cropwell Bishop

Nottinghamshire

NG12 3BQ

t: 0115 989 2350

w: www.cropwellbishopstilton.com

Multi-award winning producer of Stilton

Foodhouse (UK)

Paul Anthony House

724 Holloway Road

London

N19 3JD

t: 020 7263 9170

w: www.foodhouse.co.uk

Long-established Italian food specialist supplying restaurants and retailers in London and the South-East

Grana Padano

Via XXIV Giugno, 8 San Martino della Battaglio

25015 Desenzano del Garda BS, Italy

w: www.granapadano.com

Consortium that represents Grana Padano

– Italy’s oldest PDO cheese

Idiazabal Cheese

Granja Modelo de Arkaute

Apdo 46

01080 Vitoria

Spain

t: 00 34 9 45 289 971

w: www.quesoidiazabal.com

Consortium representing Idiazabal Cheese

Isigny Ste Mere

2 Rue Du Docteur Boutrois

14230 Isigny sur Mer

France

t: 00 33 (0) 231513330

w: www.isigny-ste-mere.com

French producer of PDO dairy products

Le Gruyère AOC

Case Postale 12

CH-1663

Gruy res-Pringy

Switzerland

t: 00 41 26 921 84 10

w: www.gruyere.com

Consortium for Le Gruyère AOC cheese

Marine Harvest

Kindrum Letterkenny Co. Donegal

t: 00353 749159805

w: www.marineharvest.com

Organic farmed salmon

Products From Spain

Unit 18

Cumberland Business Park

Quenby Stilton

Quenby Hall

Hungarton Road

Hungarton

Leicestershire

LE7 9JF

t: 0116 259 5224

w: www.quenbystilton.co.uk

A PDO Stilton producer

Shirevale Unit 7

Kinoulton Road

Cropwell Bishop

Nottingham

Nottinghamshire

NG12 3BE

t: 0115 989 9888

Producer of white Stilton

Von Muhlenen

Bonnstrasse 1

CH-3186

DŸdingen

Switzerland

t: 00 41 26 492 93 30

w: www.vonmuhlenen.com

An affineur, part of the Le Gruyère AOC consortium

Whalesborough Farm Foods

Whalesborough Farm

Marhamchurch

Bude

Cornwall

EX23 0JD

t: 01288 361317

Producer of Cornish cheeses

OTHER USEFUL CONTACTS

Guild of Fine Food Guild House Station Road

Wincanton

Somerset BA9 9FE

t: 01963 824464

w: www.finefoodworld.co.uk

Representative body for UK delis, farm shops food halls and their suppliers. Organiser of the Great Taste Awards and World Cheese Awards and publisher of Fine Food Digest and Artisan magazines.

Entremont Alliance

76C Acre Lane

London

SW2 5QN

t: 00 33 450 337555

w: www.entremont-alliance.com

A cooperative of cheese-makers supplying PDO cheeses such as Comte and Beaufort

17 Cumberland Avenue

Park Royal

London

NW10 7RT

t: 020 8965 7274

w: www.productsfromspain.co.uk

Spanish importer with a large range of delicatessen products

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)

Nobel House

17 Smith Square

London SW1P 3JR

w: www.defra.gov.uk

e: protectedfoodnames@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Here are just some of the suppliers, distributors and trade bodies that can help with further information about Protected Food Name products

GR ANAPADANO:

ITALY'SFAVOURITECHEESE

GranaPadanoisagrainy,hardcheesewhichhasbeenmadeintheNorthofItalyin thePadanaValleyforover1000years.

Thecheeseisagedfornineto24months.Asitmatures,GranaPadano’ssweet,mellow flavourturnsdeliciouslyfruitywithadistincttexture.

● Withmorethan4millionwheelstradedeach year,1millionofwhichareexportedinternationally, GranaPadanoisItaly'sbestsellingPDO (ProtectedDesignationofOrigin)cheese

● Anexcellentsourceofprotein,GranaPadanois easytodigest,soitcanbeenjoyedbythewhole family,fromweaningbabiestograndparents

● Just25gofGranaPadanoprovidesanadultwith overaquarteroftheRecommendedDaily

Amountofessentialmineralcalcium,criticalfor strongbonesandteeth

● GranaPadanoisaversatilecheesethatis deliciousonitsownwithanaperitif,canbe enjoyedonacheeseboardservedwithpicklesor chutney,orincludedasanaccompanimenttoa varietyofdishes

● New“Riserva”,apremiumvintageagedover 20monthstradescustomersup

● GranaPadanocontainsover8keyvitaminsand minerals,oneofwhichiscalciumphosphorus whichisarecommendedsourceofnutritionfor athletes,pregnantwomenandchildren

● GranaPadanoisbeingsupportedintheUKby anextensiveUKmarketingprogrammewhich includesadvertising,PRandsampling.