FFD Nov-Dec 2015

CARLO PETRINI 12

Patrick McGuigan travels to Italy to meet Slow Food’s charismatic founder on his home turf

HENRY MACKLEY 6

DELI OF THE MONTH 52

The Harp Lane Deli owner on taking over a Ludlow institution

How John Sinclair grew Craigie’s farm shop into a £2m operation November-December 2015 · Vol 16 Issue 10

LIKE WHAT YOU SEA?

From Salcombe crab to seaweed, our seafood round-up starts on p37 LONDON FARMERS’ MARKETS: TAKING THE COUNTRY TO TOWN 23 CHEF’S SELECTION 49 Matt Weedon of The Lamb at Crawley chooses Cacklebean eggs, Kelmscott Country Pork chorizo and Ampersand Cultured Butter

DRUNKEN BURT 17 This semi-soft, cider-washed twist on Burt’s award-winning blue is this month’s Unsung Hero

NEWS CHEESEWIRE CHARCUTERIE CHOCOLATE VINEGARS GLASGOW PREVIEW RETAIL EQUIPMENT SHELF TALK

4 17 19 27 33 41 45 47

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November-December 2015 路 Vol.16 Issue 10

opinion

What’s new this month:

I

hang on them. “It’s about using t’s November 25, press day on this our proud British heritage to boost edition of FFD and the day George our economy and bring greater Osborne is delivering his Autumn investment, jobs and tourism to local Statement. Between checking proofs communities”. and shoveling down a sarnie, I’m There’s nothing wrong with reading real-time reports of the wanting to grow businesses and Chancellor’s speech. And I’m thinking, create jobs, but that’s really not what since he’s managed to find enough the EU PFN scheme was meant to be cash under the mattress to reverse about. “Using” our heritage...? £4bn of tax credit cuts maybe he PFNs are supposed to maintain could rustle up some to give our small the diversity of Europe’s food culture food producers a decent leg-up? and protect the names of farm As you’ll read in this issue, both products, traditionally tied to their the Welsh Government (p5) and locality. They were never primarily Scottish Government (p11) – or its about exploiting those products to agency in the Highlands & Islands, at maximise growth. least – are making a priority of helping The PFN system is, of course, small food firms, recognising their tailored to the kind contribution to of protectionism maintaining jobs I’ve always been in which our Euro in far-flung parts. pals like to indulge.

While seeking out dubious about PFNs. Everything about them But one reason the potential highFrench, Italians and growth businesses, bears the dead hand Spanish have so both devolved of bureaucracy. many more PFNs governments seem is that they have a lot more genuine, to see how small-but-steady firms can traditional regional specialities that help keep rural areas alive. represent part of their culture.

It’s a lot less clear to me how I’ve always been very dubious well the Westminster government about PFNs. Everything about them, understands our sector. This month from the logos to the language that (p4) we report on Defra’s drive to see describes them, bears the dead hand the number of UK Protected Food of bureaucracy. But the alarm bells Names rise from the current 64 to really rang for me when products nearer the French and like ‘Orkney Scottish Island Cheddar’ Italian tallies of well started getting legal protection – a over 200. Sounds product that differs from other laudable, but look traditional cheddars due to a “unique at the language dry stir technique.... developed food secretary Liz in 1984”. Doesn’t quite have the Truss uses about romance of Roquefort, does it?

PFNs and the British consumers don’t recognise promotions PFNs now, and using the scheme to Defra promote foods with no true heritage hopes is no way to give the scheme more to credibility – or to help the wider speciality food community. .

p17

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MICK WHITWORTH Editor

EDITORIAL

GENERAL ENQUIRIES

editorial@gff.co.uk

Tel: 01747 825200 Fax: 01747 824065 info@gff.co.uk www.gff.co.uk

Editor: Mick Whitworth Deputy editor: Michael Lane Reporter: Arabella Mileham Art director: Mark Windsor Editorial production: Richard Charnley Contributors: Clare Hargreaves, Patrick McGuigan, Lynda Searby

ADVERTISING advertise@gff.co.uk Sales manager: Sally Coley Advertisement sales: Becky Stacey, Ruth Debnam Published by Great Taste Publications Ltd and the Guild of Fine Food Ltd Managing director: John Farrand Marketing director: Tortie Farrand Chairman: Bob Farrand Director: Linda Farrand Operations & Guild membership: Charlie Westcar, Karen Price, Jilly Sitch, Claire Powell Accounts: Stephen Guppy, Denise Ballance, Julie Coates

Guild of Fine Food, Guild House, 23b Kingsmead Business Park, Shaftesbury Road, Gillingham, Dorset SP8 5FB United Kingdom Fine Food Digest is published 11 times a year and is available on subscription for £45pa inclusive of post and packing.

Printed by: Blackmore, Dorset, UK © Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2015. 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, photographs or illustrations.

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p45

p47 p51

Editor’s choice

Selected by MICHAEL LANE Deputy editor

Herpac Gourmet Atún al Pedro Ximenez (Brindisa) www.brindisa.com

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Over the last few months, this slot has been filled with off-the-wall products and eye-catching packaging designs, so it’s about time we had a more ‘traditional’ deli product.

On the face of it, that’s exactly what this Spanish jarred yellowfin tuna is.

Imported by Brindisa, the 250g jar has the demure-yet-luxury look that you would associate with a quality Continental item and the price tag to match (RRP £8.75). But, at that price, you’d expect a bit more than some good tuna in oil.

Devised by producer Herpac, the combination of sherry (albeit a Pedro Ximenez wine), pine nuts, raisins and fish works perfectly despite sounding unpromising. The sweetness enhances the dense, meaty fish rather than masking its flavour and there is no trace of the alcohol burn you would expect. It’s actually very moreish.

While it’s not for everyone, this proves that ‘traditional’ doesn’t have to mean ‘boring’.

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Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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fine food news Government wants to use PFNs to ‘boost economy’, but are the right foods lined up for protection?

Small producers question who will benefit from UK PFN drive Matthew O’Callaghan, who is chair of the UK Protected Food Names Association and spearheaded protected status for Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, welcomed the initiative, but said extra support was required.

“Additional resources are needed over and above what is being announced,” he said. “Seminars and encouraging people is fine, but what is really needed is specialist assistance.

I'm happy to help in anyway I can.”

At the Lincolnsh ire Sausage Association, which failed in a PFN application after objections from companies making sausages outside the county, chair Janet Godfrey also highlighted funding as an issue.

“Part of the problem is that Defra aren’t willing to put their money where their mouth is,” she said. “PFNs are meant to help small businesses with traditional products, but Defra wasn’t willing to fight on our behalf.

It’s great for those companies that cash in but are PFNs really helping the people that need it?”

The point was echoed by Iain Spinks, whose Arbroath Smokies – traditional hot-smoked haddock – were one of the first foods to get protected status in the UK. “There is a sense that big manufacturers are capitalising on regional products and stretching the definition,” he said.

“I do agree that perhaps it is getting a bit loose now in what they are trying to push through just to promote British foods.”

PFNs made the news last month when it was revealed that Defra had rejected Stichelton Dairy's application to change the PDO covering Stilton to allow the use of raw milk, after objections from the main Stilton producers. At present, the Stilton PDO requires milk to be pasteurised.

Randolph Hodgson, founder of Neal’s Yard Dairy and a partner in Stichleton, said the decision made Britain “a laughing stock of the European cheese world”.

“It is wrong that our most traditional Stilton cannot be called Stilton because of the whim of a handful of large companies, and that name can even be attached to

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

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It’s great for those companies that cash in, but are PFNs really helping the people that need it?

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Janet Godfrey, chair, Lincolnshire Sausage Association 4

Food secretary Liz Truss wants to use our ‘proud food heritage’ to boost investment, jobs and tourism

recent decades, and some applications have been funded by mass-market brands such as Ginsters.

“We have been encouraging more UK applications by actively promoting our Protected Food Name scheme during regional trade events and agricultural shows,” Truss said.

“I have also been calling on producers in Cornwall, Norfolk and Yorkshire to boost the number of Protected Food Names.” She added that the Great British Food and Food is GREAT campaigns would also promote PFNs. Defra is currently dealing with 35 applications and has identified around 165 products that it believes could be protected, including Norfolk black chicken, Cromer crab, English mustard and Welsh cakes.

“It’s about using our proud food heritage to boost our economy and bring greater investment, jobs and tourism to local communities,” said Truss. “Many of our PFN producers have already seen the benefits that joining the scheme can bring.”

The European Commission says the aim of PFNs is to “encourage diverse agricultural production, protect product names from misuse and imitation and help consumers by giving them information concerning the specific character of the products”.

A timeframe for reaching the 200 PFN target has not been given, but if the Government hopes to get close by the end of this parliament it will have to move quickly. It has taken more than 20 years to reach the current 64 protected foods and each application takes a minimum of two years.

November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

PFNs in the pipeline Products currently being considered for Protected Food Name status include: • Birmingham balti (applicant: Birmingham Balti Association • Darnibole Bacchus wine (applicant: Camel Valley Vineyard) • Welsh laverbread (applicant: Selwyns Penclawdd Seafoods • Iveagh rapeseed oil (applicant: Iveagh Oils) • London cure smoked salmon (applicant: H Forman & Sons) • Devon cider (applicant: The Devon Cidermakers Guild) a cheese that contains apricots and ginger,” he told The Telegraph.

Shane Holland, executive chair of Slow Food in the UK, also criticised the decision but said the grass roots movement still supported PFNs in principle.

He said there were “weaknesses in the current system”, which is why the organisation has its own scheme for protecting traditional foods: the Ark of Taste (see feature, p13).

“We would like the Government to enforce far tighter and rigorous criteria over inclusions to PFNs, and to more tightly regulate descriptor words like ‘traditional’,” he said. “Most consumers would not define a cheese recipe from 1990 as traditional; FSA guidelines say it is.”

Despite the concerns raised by some, others were keen to highlight the benefits of PFNs. Wensleydale Creamery's MD David Hartley and Halen Môn sea salt founder Alison Lea-Wilson have both been named ‘food pioneers’ and will be promoting PFNs next year.

“I’m immensely proud to be a part of this campaign, and help to put Britain firmly on the food map,” said Hartley. “Since Yorkshire Wensleydale cheese was awarded PGI status in 2013, we have seen a great benefit to our business and I feel honoured to be able to share my experiences.”

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James Fraser

The Government’s plan to turbo-boost the number of EU Protected Food Names (PFNs) in the UK has been called into question by producers, who have concerns about funding and the quality of applications.

Speaking at the launch of the five-year Great British Food campaign last month, Defra Secretary of State Liz Truss reiterated a commitment to increasing the number of UK PFNs from 64 to 200 in an effort to rival countries such as France and Italy.

In each of these countries, well over 200 products – from Brie de Meaux to Prosciutto di Parma – are protected against imitations by the PFN scheme.

The UK drive will be overseen by a new Great British Food Unit, which will join together Defra and UKTI’s work to promote British food at home and overseas.

The launch was attended by a number of ‘food pioneers’, including chefs, bloggers and quality producers, who will appear at events next year.

But some food producers have expressed doubts about the Government’s plans for PFNs, arguing the scheme needs more financial backing and a tighter focus on genuinely traditional foods.

Truss told FFD that the push would be supported by the existing PFN team at Defra, working with counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But she would not specify if extra funding had been allocated.

Recent applicants have included cheeses and cold-pressed rapeseed oils that have only been produced in

There is a sense that big manufacturers are capitalising on regional products and stretching the definition

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Iain Spink, Arbroath Smokies producer Follow us on

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Welsh Government gets behind quality artisan food Welsh deputy food minister Rebecca Evans (right) meets award-winning sauce maker Estelle Davies of Estelle’s Gower Goodies at last month’s Great Taste event in Cardiff

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

The Welsh Government has launched a drive to boost artisan food businesses in Wales, backing a new network of producers designed to share knowledge, improve quality and create new jobs.

The Fine Food Wales Cluster will comprise a network of small food firms with high quality products and ambitions to grow. They will come together with the support of the Welsh Government and its marketing support company, Mentor a Business.

Other key partners include Food Innovation Wales and the Food Industry Centre at Cardiff

Metropolitan University.

The programme will includes networking events, workshops and mentoring, funded by the Welsh Government. Companies will share best practice and work together to overcome barriers such as lack of scale and logistical problems in reaching new markets.

Another key objective is to build on Wales’ record haul of Great Taste awards in 2015. The country scooped 174 awards this year, including 10 three-star golds.

The number of Welsh products entered rose by around 25% this year, but the Government is keen to encourage more businesses to

IN BRIEF l Macknade Fine Food in Kent is

develop and enter high quality products.

A number of companies have already signed up as ‘food ambassadors’, including Monmouthshire based Apple County Cider, which scooped a three-star award for its Vilberie medium dry cider, and fruity vinegar producer Beri Da. Deputy Minister for Farming & Food Rebecca Evans said the new cluster would work within the wider Welsh Government strategy of nurturing Wales as an area of food excellence, whether small artisan businesses or those that had reached large-scale production and distribution.

Evans said established Welsh food brands including Rachel’s and Halen Mon had seen their early “drive for excellence” rewarded in the shape of rapid growth.

“We all know how high the quality of Welsh food and drink is, and the launch of this cluster seeks to reinforce these foundations further through providing a web of like-minded food ambassadors for the industry.”

The new business plan was announced at an event at the Pierhead in Cardiff Bay last month, which showcased Welsh winners of Great Taste awards.

Cotswold Fayre starts regional trials of long-awaited chilled food service

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Cotswold Fayre has launched its long-awaited chilled food distribution service across a limited area ahead of a national roll-out in the New Year.

The company first announced it would be moving into chilled in February last year, but the project was delayed by the installation of a new IT system.

The initial phase went live last month, covering Reading and parts of Sussex, with a limited range of around 100 products from 15 suppliers, and is likely to expand as the scheme goes nationwide.

It includes several brands of pies, chilled puddings, yoghurts, dips and salsas, smoked salmon, chilled charcuterie and mozzarella from Laverstoke Park – although chief executive Paul Hargreaves ruled out adding other cheeses. “There are enough people already doing that,” he told FFD. The company is currently

discussing whether to make chilled orders online-only once the scheme goes national, arguing this would provide flexibility for adding seasonal products such as fresh haggis for Burns Night, and speed up delivery times.

“With a chilled range you need to be able to respond quicker than if you brought out a [printed] catalogue every three of four months,” said Hargreaves. “It also means online orders would go straight to the warehouse for picking without the customer service

Paul Hargreaves: chilled ordering may be kept online so the range can be flexed more easily

team being involved.”

Hargreaves said he was confident the new service would grow. “Most reasonable-sized customers in the area we’ve showed it to are ordering chilled products and a few are giving us direction on products we should stock, which is how Cotswold Fayre grew in the first place – around 60-70% of the products in our ambient catalogue are from customer recommendations.”

The launch of the chilled range follows the restructuring of the company’s management team in January which saw the appointment of Ian Roberts as a new jointmanaging director and finance director, allowing Hargreaves to concentrate on marketing and sales.

“I feel we’ve got a much more solid base for growth than we’d ever had before” Hargreaves said.

The company is aiming to double in size by 2016. www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk

strengthening its team with the appointment of a new deli manager to develop the growing cheese and charcuterie team.

General manager Finnian Dunlop said the new role in one of the store’s key departments would help it provide an improved experience for customers in store.

The family-run Faversham food hall is set to expand significantly over the next two years, extending and redeveloping its existing site and planning new sites, as it seeks to establish itself as a leading food destination.

l Growth in sales volumes across the UK’s big retail stores slowed in the year to October after a strong showing in September, according to the CBI’s latest monthly Distributive Trades Survey. l Nim’s Fruit Crisps is set to produce its air-dried fruit and vegetable crisps in the UK after opening a factory in Kent. The company, which previously used a partner in Eastern Europe, recently secured £350,000 of investment for bespoke equipment that give the crisps “a higher nutritional content and crisper texture”. l A deli in Louth, Lincolnshire has relaunched after coming under new management. McLeod’s Deli, Tea, Wine and Beer store was sold earlier this year after the previous owners retired. It has reopened as Beaumont’s Deli Fine Food & Drink. l A Yorkshire meat company has been named the Best Start-up Business by the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce. The Yorkshire Wagyu Company, which was set up in 2013, farms one of the largest herds of full and Wagyucross cattle in the UK. l London’s voluntary Living Wage has risen from £9.15 to £9.40 per hour. The voluntary national Living Wage was also raised from £7.85 to £8.25 per hour. Currently the mandatory national minimum wage is £6.70 an hour. l Sainsbury’s has opened its smallest local store in London to trial a new convenience store format. The 1,000 sq ft site in Holborn, opposite the retailer’s London HQ, is targeting workers buying lunch and commuters. l New start-up The Nirvana Brewery Company has launched a crowd-funding bid to develop a non-alcohol, gluten-free craft beer range. It is looking to raise £85,000£135,000 via Crowd for Angels to fund its micro-brewery.

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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fine food news Mild autumn too little too late to save 2015 honey harvest A cool summer meant less nectar for bees, particularly in Scotland. Stocks of honey from small local producers could run short by the new year, experts warn.

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Good weather across the UK in early October caused a late boost to the British honey harvest – but producers have warned it is unlikely to prevent shortages next year.

Early indications put the UK harvest at only a third of last year’s, but Margaret Ginman, general secretary of the Bee Farmers’ Association, said the good weather had “slightly” improved the situation in the north of the country for heather honey.

However she warned that one week of good weather was not able to make up the deficit lost over the summer.

“We were looking at around 75% down [for heather honey], but we won’t have final picture for a few weeks,” she told FFD. Low temperatures during the peak summer season affected nectar flow, failing to provide enough forage for bees.

The problem was most severe north of the border, with some Scottish heather honey producers reporting harvests of “next to nothing”.

Cris Reeves of Haughton Honey argued availability would be a particular issue for small producers who supplied local farm shops and delis in a limited area. He warned they would be “out of honey” by Christmas, well before the onset of

next year’s first harvest in May. “We are fortunate as we are a big co-operative and stockpiled a lot from last year’s very good harvest, so we can fulfil existing and new accounts – but we are one of the lucky few,” he told FFD. Simon Croson of the Artisan Honey Company said smaller and amateur honey producers supplying local retailers could face difficulties fulfilling orders by the Spring.

“I think there may be a shortage on shelf late winter or early spring when producers can’t rely on [last year’s] stocks, which will come to an end at some point,” he said.

Ginman said there were signs of a slight rise in wholesale prices but this was unlikely to boost the price

on shelf as consumers resist paying a premium for British honey.

This is partly because of the prevalence of foreign imports and partly because British raw honey prices are kept “artificially low” by amateur producers undercutting the market, he said.

“People have no problem paying a premium for specialist honeys imported from New Zealand or Central America but they do have a problem paying for British premium honey,” Croson agreed.

Sarah Hoyle, of Hoyle’s Honey said bad crops not only affected this year’s harvest but could have a knock-on effect on the ability of hives to survive the winter, affecting the number going into next season.

If I'd known then what I know now...

Shops like that can be intimidating because they look expensive from the outside. Once you add more stuff the shop becomes a bit more approachable. We’re now nicely cluttered.

HENRY MACKLEY HARP LANE DELI, LUDLOW, SHROPSHIRE Two categories, cheese and coffee, are huge for us, even though our next-door neighbour is a cheese of the mind that I wanted to stock Being in Ludlow, where every shop shop, The Mousetrap. Deli on the products that are lovely to eat, and is part of a food scene legacy, made Square had been selling good if they happen to be local, that’s a it tricky for us to know what to do cheese for the last 15 years and bonus. Eighteen months on we’ve with the former Deli on the Square cheese is something I when we took it over in 2013. really know about – my Our initial vision was to have Embarrassingly, although I’m last job was managing a café upstairs, but that wasn’t the owner of the shop, I’m the the deli at the Ludlow feasible because of the higgledyworst at making a cup of coffee Food Centre. piggledy layout of the building. So We installed a ‘wall we decided to try and give Ludlow of cheese’ on the back wall, so as stuck to that policy, but we’ve also what we thought it needed: an allcustomers walk in they see a huge realised that Ludlow is dependent purpose deli. humidity-controlled fridge. I work on tourist trade and that anything We spent six months closely with The Mousetrap to make with ‘Shropshire’ on it sells. With refurbishing the shop – rewiring, sure we don’t overlap too much or that in mind, we’ve upped our local replastering and making wonky collide on price. They have a loyal lines. walls straight – and reopened with local following for cheeses like I originally wanted a clean, a range of products we like to eat cheddar, brie and Stilton, sparse shop and naively thought at home, whether jam made in which gives us room to try out that having empty front windows London, Korean sauce or US craft some more unusual cheeses sourced giving a clear view into the shop beer. directly from small European would bring in lots of people. It There are a lot of places that producers. didn’t work so we filled them up. specialise in local produce. I was

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

WCAs to be held in Basque region in 2016 The World Cheese Awards (WCAs) will be held outside the UK in 2016 for only the third time in its 27year history. It will take place in the Basque region of northern Spain, with support from the Basque government, forming part of an International Cheese Festival in San Sebastián from November 16-19.

It follows negotiations between awards organiser the Guild of Fine Food and Artzai Gazta, an artisan cheese-makers’ co-operative, which has entered its Idiazabal raw sheep’s milk cheeses into the competition for a number of years.

Artzai Gazta said the WCAs was not only among the most prestigious cheese competitions in the world but “shares our values and philosophy” in supporting artisan, natural and sustainable products.

In 2009, the WCAs took place in the Canaries, following the previous year’s Supreme Champion title for the sheep’s milk Queso Arico from the Sociedad Canaria de Formento. www.gff.co.uk/wca

That’s what keeps me excited.

Last week we had a great Morbier from Franche–Comté and we’re getting some of the best Roquefort ever.

A flat white was unheard of round here until a year ago and this deli only sold coffee in takehome packs. We’ve invested in a small coffee bar that seats four at a push, and have a supplier in Bath who sources beans direct from the grower and has them roasted to our specification. Our coffee is the same price as Costa’s but it tastes much better, and the margin on coffee is very good.

Embarrassingly, although I’m the owner of the shop, I’m the worst at making a cup of coffee. Fortunately, I’m getting better at delegating. I’ve realised I can delegate just about everything to our two full-time and three part-time employees. But I am still guilty of spending more time in the kitchen and less time on marketing and promotion than I should.

Interview by LYNDA SEARBY

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#WhatWouldTheFonduFunDudeDo? Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

Exhibitions

fine food news new openings

Opening or expanding a shop? Email details to editorial@gff.co.uk

FROM GARDEN TO FARM: A new farm shop has been opened outside Selby by the former owners of a successful Yorkshire garden centre.

The Brayton Farm Shop, which opened in late October, is run by three generations of the Hirst family, who operated the Victoria Garden Centre in Pontefract for 15 years.

The new 5,000 sq ft shop comprises a deli, butchery counter, bakery, grocer and a 500 sq ft café.

It is using a mix of national, regional and local suppliers, including 15 from Yorkshire. Brands include Patchwork Paté, Honest Toil, Odyssea, Charlie & Ivy’s and Olive Branch. Local beers come from Old Mill Brewery in Snaith and Sam Smith’s Brewery in Tadcaster.

Owner Irene Hirst said the family wanted to offer a good alternative for the weekly shop for locals and for the farm shop to become a destination for visitors from further afield.

Ex banker opens gourmet deli-café in Beaconsfield

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Former banker Richard Norval has opened a gourmet deli and coffee shop in Beaconsfield New Town, after transforming a 600 sq ft dry cleaners’ opposite the town’s station.

The former banker realised he might have to take an unconventional approach to finding premises when his first purchase attempt fell through, and has created a 2,500 sq foot space by knocking though the dry cleaners’ outbuildings and garage.

Putting the café at the back and the deli at the front was a deliberate move to use the long, narrow layout effectively, Norval said.

“Some shops suffer as the deli doesn’t get the traffic, but we wanted customers to be captured by the deli as they walked through. It’s our job to make sure they don’t just walk past it.”

Since opening, the coffee shop has accounted for around 80%

of turnover but Norval aims to rebalance this by boosting the deli’s 150 products to around 300-400 by Christmas.

“We wanted to be a deli with a café attached – which helps drive footfall and attract people into the shop – but people have to get used to the concept of buying coffee and then buying some Gruyère on the way out,” he said.

The shop specialises in smaller, local producers, as well as British and European cheeses, Spanish and Italian hams, and awardwinning pies.

Suppliers include The Pump Street Bakery, Chocca Mocca, Wessex Flour Mill and Birchall Tea. Prior to starting the new shop, Norval gained experience at Gonalston Farm Shop and spent a year working on the deli counter at Fortnum & Mason, learning about supply, stock planning and systems, and product rotation in addition to front-of-house.

Merthyr council backs new store

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

A new deli has opened in Merthyr Tydfil as part of a council-backed initiative to boost regeneration on the high street. The Deli in the Valley, which opened in an empty unit in the centre of the town in midSeptember, is the first retail outlet for artisan producer Cowleys Fine Foods, which is working in collaboration with local sauce-maker Dan Reed of Chilli of the Valley.

Owner Martin Cowley said the shop would stock products not found elsewhere, including his own range of home-produced jerkies, fruit leathers, smoked products and

vegetarian patés, along with sweets imported from America and even chocolate-covered crickets.

There are also plans to install an olive bar upstairs, selling charcuterie platters, antipasti and snacks.

The shop is backed by the Merthyr Tydfil Enterprise Centre, a service supported by the Welsh Government to help local businesses.

It offers help with rent and business rates during the first six months of trading and funding towards the purchase of equipment.

My deli next door...

The owner of a successful coffee shop in Caversham, Berkshire, has snapped up an adjoining retail unit to open a new deli.

Pat McGregor had originally intended to add a deli unit to her existing Delicious café, but was offered the lease of the former gift shop next door when it closed in June.

The new shop, Lewis & James, has around 15 new suppliers

and offers a variety of local and Continental cheeses, together with a large range of gluten-free products, loose olives, olive oils and balsamic vinegars on tap and a selection of products from speciality Italian supplier Seggiano.

The response had been very good as Caversham had long been missing a deli, McGregor said, adding that it attracted a different clientele to her coffee shop.

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

9

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Welcome to wonderful

November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

For more information call: 01455 444222 or email: info@hr4uk.com www.hr4uk.com

fine food news Calls to protect artisans after ‘contradictory’ ASA ruling

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Three years after winning planning approval the combined development remains on the drawing board

Sabina Pensek/dreamstime.com

Experts in artisan food are renewing calls for Defra to define the term, in the wake of a “contradictory” ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority, which implied the word was only a marketing description in the eyes of consumers.

Last month the ASA forced high street retailer Iceland to withdraw an advert which implied its factorymade, frozen stone-baked breads were hand-made by skilled bakers.

Despite the ruling, the authority effectively accepted Iceland’s argument that the term artisan was “more widely used than previously” and consumers would understand that its use had altered over time.

The ASA said consumers would understand the bread had been produced on an industrial scale and were “artisan-style, or ‘premium’ products” rather than made by hand by a skilled craftsman.

Andrew Burnside, senior trading standards office at Cornwall Council called the decision “contradictory” and said the ASA had “missed the point”.

“It missed an opportunity as it tossed aside the idea there is something that has been used incorrectly,” said Burnside. “What you do in a very large factory does not equate with what you would describe as being artisan.”

Ashburton Deli among TotW trophy winnners

He added: “I think it was beyond their remit to give an opinion on the standard person-onthe-street’s understanding of the word artisan meaning ‘like artisan but done in a big factory’.

“If someone applies the term, it has to mean something, not just be advertising puff.”

Although Burnside said the overall decision to withdraw the ad was likely to deter other big businesses from using the term so lightly, making it easier to protect its meaning, he said better guidance from Defra and the FSA would be “appropriate”.

The Real Bread Campaign, one of the complainants, said guidance would be a good “intermediate step”, but is also calling for

legislation.

“We want protection for those artisan producers who’ve spend decades building up good will and trust with customers, only to be undermined and undercut by people using the same terminology in their marketing for producing a product that just isn’t [the same],” Chris Young of the Real Bread Alliance told FFD. However, Defra said there were no plans to change the current guidelines.

It told FFD there was already effective protection for consumers against misleading descriptions and adding further layer of legislation or bureaucracy was needless, as it would hamper, rather than help, small businesses.

Devon’s Ashburton Deli, run by mother-and-son team Sue and Robin Hudson (pictured below), has been named Best Speciality Retailer in the annual Taste of the West awards.

The high street store, in the small town of Ashburton on the fringes of Dartmoor, beat off competition from Blue Quail in Bristol, Purbeck Deli in Dorset and – last year’s winner – Town Mill Cheesemonger in Lyme Regis.

Best Farm Shop at this year’s awards, staged for the 22nd year running by regional food group Taste of the West, was White Row Farm Shop at Beckington, near Frome, in Somerset.

Among the other winners were Dorset’s Capreolus Fine Foods with its confit duck gésiers (cured meats category) and Devon-based Shute Fruit & Produce’s bread & butter pickles (Best Savoury Preserve). The Artisan Kitchen in Gloucestershire won Best Sweet Preserve with its Early River Prolific plum jam and Wiltshire’s Lick The Spoon took Best Confectionery & Chocolate with its salted peanut bar.

Highlands & Islands foods key to growth

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

REACHING FOR THE SKYE: The Skye Farm Shop has scooped the top spot at the Highlands & Islands Food & Drink Awards for the second year in a row. The Sleat-based shop, which opened in December 2013, was named Independent Food & Drink Retailer of the Year Award in the eleventh annual awards, held in Inverness last month.

A total to 17 businesses across region were recognised, including relative newcomers the Windswept Brewing Company from Lossiemouth, which won the Excellence Award, Best Drink Award and the Best New Product for its The Wolf of Glen Moray dark ale.

Small food businesses across the Highlands and Islands are key to the Scottish Government’s strategy for growth, and “vital” to the rural economy, the head of the Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has told FFD. The food and drink sector is worth nearly £12.5 billion to the region, employing around 32,000 people in 5,000 businesses across Orkney, Skye, the Murray Firth, the Highlands, Lochaber and Argyll.

Elaine Jamieson, head of food and drink at HIE, said the vast majority were small businesses in areas which were “fairly fragile” in terms of employment opportunities.

“While these businesses may be very small, they are not small in terms of the opportunity they provide,” she said. “They are vitally important for all of these areas.”

The Scottish Government, which funds HIE, is determined to recognise and support smaller food businesses with the ambition and capacity for growth, particularly in international

markets, she said.

Between April to Sept, HIE helped fund around 31 food and drink businesses, contributing around £1.7m toward a larger £5.1m investment – but Jamieson said there had been a “step change” in the way the money was being spent.

“Some of these investments have historically been spent on infrastructure but increasingly are around research and outlook for new products, as well as new ways of

working together,” she said.

Producers are also working in groups rather than by geographical areas, to achieve common goals that will ultimately add more value to each business, increase turnover and employ more people, she said.

This approach helps unlock potential new markets, and develop strategies and branding that is likely to appeal to a wider audience.

“All the time we’re keeping the focus on provenance, skills and high quality food, but you always have a fresh eye on what customers are looking for,” she said.

“Collaborations are always difficult to get off the ground, but a facilitator or consultant de-risks the process and helps determines the aim, benefit and the role of each partner.” www.hie.co.uk

Elaine Jamieson, head of food and drink at Highlands & Islands Enterprise said the region’s food businesses are ‘vital’ the government's strategy Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

11

fine food news

Going back to its roots Interview

Slow Food has reversed a steep fall in UK support, partly by shifting power back to the regions. It’s all part of a wider return to grass roots by the ‘too centralised’ international movement, as Italian founder Carlo Petrini told PATRICK McGUIGAN.

T

here’s a pungent aroma in the streets of Bra, as crowds of cheese lovers taste their way around hundreds of stalls run by artisan cheese-makers and retailers.

Slow Food’s biennial formaggi fest, simply called Cheese, is one of the movement’s most popular events, with some 270,000 visitors and 300 producers from around the world turning this normally sleepy, north-west Italian town into the world’s cheese capital for four days in September.

Carlo Petrini, Slow Food’s charismatic founder and leader, looks slightly worn out by all the commotion in his home town as we sit chatting in the sunny garden of his elegant town house just off one of Bra’s main thoroughfares.

Fatigue is not surprising, considering the organisation has grown to more than 100,000 paying members and 1,500 convivia (local chapters) in 179 countries.

Cheese is just a tiny part of a multitude of Slow Food events, activities and campaigns across the planet, all designed to promote traditional local foods and encourage people to eat ‘good, clean and fair’ food [see box].

My total lack of Italian and Petrini’s rudimentary English means our conversation goes through an interpretor, but despite the odd awkward pause and misunderstanding the 66-year-old former journalist and left-wing activist manages to explain that the movement has undergone something of a sea change.

Set up in 1986 as an antidote to fast food, Slow Food had become too centralised, says Petrini. So a decision was made around two years ago to return to its grass roots. Rather than policy being dictated from Italy or

12

Carlo Petrini: ‘It’s not possible that an Italian leader can say what needs to be done in the UK’

by the leaderships of individual countries, the organisation decided to switch to a “bottom up” regional approach.

“Gastronomy is not based on nationality – it’s based on local and regional cultures,” he says. “There is no Italian cuisine. There is Sicilian, Sardinian and Venetian cuisine. So our movement doesn’t have a rigid character. We are not a political party with a single cause, but more like a syndicate movement that adapts to the territory.

November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

“A single plant that grows big gives you less fruit. We prefer lots of plants, like a forest.”

This change in direction is particularly relevant to the UK,

We are not a political ❛party with a single cause, but more like a syndicate movement that adapts to the territory

❜

Carlo Petrini, founder, Slow Food

where Petrini admits Slow Food had “stalled”. Over the years, funding difficulties and disagreements among members over how the organisation should be run and which direction it should take had hampered progress.

Former CEO Catherine Gazzoli, who had previously worked for the UN, ran the UK operation from offices in London for six years, signing deals with large food businesses, such as contract caterer Compass, Booths supermarkets and

Balvenie whisky. But after she left in 2014 it was decided to radically restructure how Slow Food operated in the UK. Members voted at the AGM at the start of 2015 to replace Slow Food UK with autonomous regional organisations for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as part of a new umbrella body called Slow Food In The UK. The resolution was officially signed last month.

“The construction of a movement depends on local leaders,” says Petrini. “In the UK we didn’t have a co-ordination that worked, and the difference between Scotland, Wales and England was very strong.

“When we saw there wasn’t the possibility of a national direction we aimed for a regional situation. And now something is changing, with new young faces.”

The number of Slow Food members in the UK had fallen to fewer than a 1,000 at the end of 2014, down from a high of more than 2,000. However, the move to a new regional structure has already helped turn round the slump, according to Shane Holland, who is the London convivium leader and chair of Slow Food England and Slow Food In The UK. “The world changed but Slow Food didn’t,” he tells me on the phone after I get back from Italy.

“Our organisation was perhaps being run in a way that didn’t match the wider membership, so we had the reorganisation.”

Numbers have since increased by 70% to around 1,500 members, with the potential to treble that in the next five years, adds Holland.

The 26 convivia that are already operating in the UK will also be joined by seven more in the next six months.

“We’ve really returned to being a grass roots movement and our members are getting engaged,” says Holland, who was born in Cornwall and works as a food consultant. “A member in a local group can have an idea and it can become a reality very quickly.”

The future for Slow Food In The UK will be decided by each separate country, but plans are likely

to include setting up markets for small producers. This will build on the success of Slow Food traders at Borough Market and a weekly Slow Food market in the courtyard of Holborn’s Rosewood hotel.

The organisation is also keen to work with independent retailers that share its values, especially delis and farm shops, by signing them up to its business membership scheme, which starts at £120.

In return businesses get a personalised page on Slow Food’s UK website, are invited to participate in events and schemes, and can use a ‘Slow Food supporter’ logo.

Petrini says another important focus for Slow Food in the UK is working with schools to help children and families better understand where food comes from and how to cook simple, healthy meals. Working with schools is also a way of engaging different socioeconomic groups, not just those middle class foodies who are often perceived to make up Slow Food’s membership – although Petrini vehemently denies this is the case.

“It is like a legend that we are elitist,” he says. “To have simple food, eat local and not waste food – it is an attitude. It’s a question of making more information available to people. And from that point it will help by working with schools.

“We already campaign for better food in schools with Jamie Oliver, and we run programmes for school gardens where children can eat what they grow and cook.”

These are running in London and Ludlow, where Slow Food members go into schools, help children plant heritage fruit and vegetables, then return with local chefs to teach them how to cook what they’ve grown. The resulting dishes are served at a harvest festival. The plan is to extend the scheme to other parts of the country during 2016.

The push to improve food in schools is part of a wider move to become a more political organisation in the UK. In the past year, Slow Food has fought against the construction of a mega-pig-farm near Derby, lobbied government

Slow Food at a glance Slow Food’s mission statement is “to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us”.

Central to its ideology is the notion of ‘good, clean and fair food’, which it defines like this: GOOD: a fresh and flavoursome seasonal diet that satisfies the senses and is part of our local culture; CLEAN: food production and consumption that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; FAIR: accessible prices for consumers and fair conditions and pay for smallscale producers.

Some of its most important projects include: Presidia: Groups of small-scale producers that join forces to protect and promote traditional foods that are at risk of extinction. There are more than 400 in total, but only two in the UK: Three Counties Perry and Artisan Somerset Cheddar.

The Ark of Taste: A catalogue of more than 2,000 endangered traditional foods, from heritage fruits to animal breeds. The UK has 83 ‘forgotten foods’ on the list, including Artisan Cheshire Cheese, Colchester Native Oysters, Jersey Black Butter and Cornish Saffron Cake.

The Alliance of Chefs: Unites over 300 chefs with local small-scale producers.

Terra Madre: an international network of food communities – groups of small-scale producers and others united by the production of a particular food and closely linked to a geographic area.

Westcombe Dairy, run by Tom Calver, is one of three producers in the Slow Food Presidia for Artisan Somerset Cheddar

over the sale of allotments and campaigned against the Food Standards Agency’s so-called ‘risky foods’ register, which threatened the sale of raw milk, washed rind cheeses and oysters.

“In the past we used to talk about the enjoyment of food, and we still do that,” says Shane Holland. “But we’ve also become more of a political organisation. We now actively campaign to change the food system to match our values.”

Back in his pretty garden in Bra, Carlo Petrini says that convivia fighting for what matters to them on a local level is evidence Slow Food’s less centralised approach is working.

“It’s not possible that an Italian leader can say what needs to be done in the UK,” he says. “If local leaders are born and they know the territory then I am very happy. Each region has its own character and finds it own way.” www.slowfood.org.uk

Slow Food looks set to run more markets for small producers around the UK, like this one outside the Rosewood London hotel in High Holborn

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

13

Boxing Day comes but once a Year Helen Dean began baking shortbread in her kitchen to raise money for the Huntly Pipe Band where her husband Bill was drum major.

Forty years on, Dean’s continue to bake their shortbread to Helen’s original recipe – still delicious and guaranteed to melt in the mouth.

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We also offer a delicious range of ‘homestyle’ biscuits and cheese oat nibbles.

Browse our full product range at www.deans.co.uk

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14

November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

EMAIL: sales@empirebespokefoods.com

A promotional feature on behalf of Le Gruyère AOP

Me and my cheese counter Less is more for cheesemonger George Mewes, whose eponymous shop on Byres Road in Glasgow, won the Cheese Counter of the Year title at last year's World Cheese Awards.

T

owers of whole and half cheeses line the counter like a kind of dairy mountain range, but Mewes is a firm believer in keeping the number of varieties he stocks on a tight leash. The shop's inventory rarely gets above 70 cheeses.

“We never go beyond that number because we're all about keeping the cheeses in good condition,” he says. “It's pointless having 130 cheeses, if they are not in perfect condition. We want to sell the cheeses at their peak, which means we need good rotation and not have them sitting there for too long.”

Split 60/40 between British and Continental cheeses, best sellers on the counter include Isle of Mull Cheddar, Corra Linn sheep's cheese, Brie de Meaux Dongé and a 23 month 'Gran Suisse Jura' Le Gruyère AOP, which Mewes says combines an array of sweet, savoury, and buttery flavours. “My customers like strong cheeses,” he says.

“Something with a bit of a kick.”

approach also extends to how they are stored at night. Air conditioning in the shop maintains a cool temperature, which means the cheeses can be displayed in the open during the day and do not have to be hidden away behind glass, but many have to be transferred to a colder walk-in chiller at close of business. “Hard cheeses are okay to be left as they are, but smaller soft and blue cheeses might need to be cling filmed or wrapped in paper overnight so they don't dry out or mature too quickly.”

These are guidelines, he adds, there are no hard and fast rules, so the Ossau Iraty and cheddars that aren't clothbound still need to be wrapped overnight, but not too tightly or they might sweat.

George Mewes' main suppliers, including Neal's Yard Dairy and highly rated French affineur Mons, are just as obsessed with quality and the condition of cheese as the shop's owner. He also deals directly with cheesemakers, such as Errington's in Lanarkshire, who he visits regularly with his staff to taste different batches of Lanark and Dunsyre Blues, and the Manchego-style Corra Linn.

Mewes' focus on cheeses that are matured to 'the point' makes sense when you consider he was a chef for 25 years, working in kitchens in Italy, Switzerland and Australia, before stints at IJ Mellis and wholesaler Clarks. All good cooks are interested in getting the best produce and cheese is no different.

His experiences have given him a keen eye for detail with each cheese lavished with care and attention.

Each morning the staff taste their way along the counter, checking which cheeses need maintenance, The stunning displays, excellent quality and passion whether that’s and knowledge of the staff at George Mewes made brushing, turning it a worthy winner of last year's or pruning, but Cheese Counter of the Year Award, just as importantly sponsored by Le Gruyère AOP. it enables them to The fact George is now opening a know what tastes second shop in Edinburgh good that day. is testament to his hard work “We have to and the underlying ethos of the treat each cheese business, which captures individually,” shoppers' imaginations and he says. This tastebuds!

“It's not just about ordering a cheese and taking what's delivered,” he says. “It's about meeting the cheesemaker, talking to them and tasting their cheeses, and then selecting the best ones from the best batches.”

The added bonus is that staff come back from these visits so thoroughly enthused about Errington's that it does wonders for sales of their cheeses. Mewes also has close links with other dairies, such as Stichelton, Barwheys and Kirkham's, many of whom have visited the shop and held tastings for customers.

Getting people to try the cheeses on the counter is the secret of the shop's success, says Mewes, with samples handed out liberally to customers, although there is never ever any pressure to buy.

“Customers can see we are confident in our product when we give them tasters, but then we leave them to it and let them browse the counter. They come back to us when they are ready,” he says.

Mewes' way of doing business has proved so popular in Glasgow that he is currently in the midst of opening a second shop in Edinburgh's well-to-do Stockbridge area, just 150 yards from a big Waitrose store. Not that he's worried by the competition.

“Waitrose doesn't scare me,” he says. “I know their customers will also shop with me.”

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

NZE

cheesewire Unsung heroes Hidden gems from British producers

news & views from the cheese counter

Roberts makes raw milk the focus at Lightwood

DRUNKEN BURT In a nutshell: Burt’s Cheese hit the headlines in 2013 after being named Best Producer at the Observer Food Monthly Awards for its creamy blue cheese. Drunken Burt is the same cheese, but it isn’t pierced, so there is no blue veining.

It is washed in Golden Valley cider from Gwatkin in Herefordshire. The semi-soft cheese comes in 180g mini-truckles and 750g wheels, and is matured for at least three weeks.

Flavour and texture: Younger cheeses have a chalky centre, which becomes gooey as they mature.

The rind is not overly powerful, but does impart fresh apple flavours when young and meaty, smoky notes as the cheese ripens.

History: Claire Burt previously worked for Dairygold Food Ingredients, which allowed her to visit cheese-makers in Italy and Denmark and attend cheesemaking courses. She set up Burt’s in 2009, working from a kitchen at the Cheshire Cookery School.

St Thom is one of three new raw goats’ milk cheeses added by Haydn Roberts, along with the cows’ milk Worcester Blue (inset)

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Former Neal’s Yard Creamery head cheese-maker Haydn Roberts plans to increase the number of raw milk cheeses made at Lightwood Cheese after taking the business over earlier this year.

Roberts, who made Ragstone and Dorstone at Neal’s Yard for nearly 15 years, bought the Worcester-based company from

Bodnant hopeful of PDO protection for Caerphilly

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Cheese care: The cheeses typically have a 3-4 week shelf-life and should be turned regularly.

Don’t stack the mini-truckles too high – they will get squashed.

Why stock it? Consultant Juliet Harbutt describes Drunken Burt as a cheese with an identity problem – it’s made with penicillium roqueforti, but isn’t blue; has a washed rind, but isn’t overly powerful. An interesting one for the board, but also bakes well.

Perfect partners: A glass of medium sweet cider is the obvious choice, while a dollop of chilli jam is great when it’s hot from the oven.

Where to buy: Contact Burt’s direct. www.burtscheese.co.uk FFD features a different ‘unsung hero’ from Specialist Cheesemakers’ Association members each month. To get involved, contact: patrick.mcguigan@gff.co.uk

former owner Phil Hulland after working alongside him for around six months.

The company’s established cheeses are still in production, including Elgar cheddar, a hard sheep’s milk cheese called Little Urn and a triple cream called Chaser, but Roberts has also started to develop new cheeses.

Three raw milk goats’ cheeses

have been added: Little Flea, a lactic cheese with a wrinkly geotrichum rind, developed with Andy Swinscoe at The Courtyard Dairy (where it is sold as Amalthea); Eleanor, a round 150g bloomy rinded cheese; and a 180g brick-shaped version called St Thom.

Roberts has also launched a blue called Worcester Blue, which is currently made with pasteurised cows’ milk.

“Ultimately I’d like all the cheeses we make to be made with raw milk, but finding a consistent supply of unpasteurised cows’ milk in this area is difficult,” said Roberts.

“I have been in touch with a farm which can supply me with what I need, so I’m hoping to trial batches of Elgar and possibly Worcester Blue with raw milk next year.”

An unpasteurised soft cheese, similar to brie or camembert, is also planned.

“A lot of cheese buyers are looking for raw milk – they see it as a sign of quality because it can add a level of complexity to the final flavour,” he said.

Lightwood’s cheeses are stocked

by Michael Lee and Fromage to Age.

A new Caerphilly has been launched by the Bodnant Welsh Food Centre, which would be eligible for EU Protected Food Name (PFN) status if the current application for Traditional Welsh Caerphilly is successful.

The pasteurised cheese, which is already selling well in Bodnant’s farm shop in the Conwy Valley and is now being wholesaled, is made to a traditional recipe that would meet the terms of the Protected Denomination of Origin (PDO) application currently being considered by Defra.

Developed by head cheesemaker Aled Rowland, the cheese has a natural rind and is made with pasteurised milk from a local farm in three-kilo wheels, which are aged for four to six weeks.

According to dairy manager Debbie Leviseur, Bodnant is one of a group of Welsh dairies backing the PFN application, which was submitted by Carwyn Adams of Caws Cenarth last year. “By protecting the recipe we can protect the cheese,” she said.

If successful, the application would mean that Caerphilly made outside Wales, such as Gorwydd, which has relocated to Somerset from Ceredigion, would not be able to use the ‘Traditional Welsh’ tag.

Bodnant has also recently signed a deal to supply to 33 Asda stores in and around Wales with three cheeses: the Cheshire-style Aberwen, the red Abergoch and smoked Abermwg. Levison said it would also consider supplying other supermarkets. www.bodnant-welshfood.co.uk

Bodnant is wholesaling its new Caerphilly as well as selling as its own Conwy Valley site

WELCOME A BOARD: A cheeseboard service is one of the attractions at Paxton & Whitfield’s new London shop, which has opened at a permanent site in Chelsea following a successful pop-up.

Customers can bring their own boards to the shop on Cale Street to be dressed with cheeses and accompaniments by Paxtons’ expert staff, led by manager Ben Newell (pictured), formerly of top Scottish cheesemonger IJ Mellis.

The service was trialled at Paxtons’ pop-up shop on the same street before the permanent site was opened last month at larger premises. It starts at £25 and is aimed at customers hosting dinner parties.

The new Chelsea shop is Paxtons’ second in the capital, joining its flagship store on Jermyn Street. www.paxtonandwhitfield.co.uk

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

17

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

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cut & dried

making more of british & continental charcuterie

Ludlow to create bigger showcase for charcuterie Shropshire’s Ludlow Food Centre plans to enlarge and “open up” its butchery counter next year to showcase its growing range of estate-cured charcuterie.

Outgoing managing director Edward Berry told FFD the move was part of an ongoing project to reduce barriers between the shopper and the products on sale at Ludlow, since many lines, from cheese to preserves, are produced on-site.

“It’s a combination of a bit of honesty, to show that it’s the genuine article, and a chance to talk to people,” he said.

“This is not just a destination to buy food but a place to learn and have an experience when you’re shopping,” he said.

The farm shop has already established more visible bakery and dairy counters and the butchery counter is next on the list. “Our

Salami is just one of the lines made with the Oakly Park Estate’s Gloucester Old Spot pork

butcher has started doing his own charcuterie products, so we want to have a better way to display those while they are maturing,” Berry said.

Ludlow’s cured meats range is produced by butchery manager John Brereton, with help from staff and one of the centre‘s trained apprentices.

Coppa, smoked coppa, salami, chorizo and prosciutto-style air-dried ham are all made with Gloucester Old Spot pork from the Earl of Plymouth’s Oakly Park Estate, where the food centre is located. Bresaolastyle air-dried beef is also made with estate-reared beef. www.ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk

FLATTER YOUR PLATTER: With charcuterie sharing boards popping up on pub, restaurant and deli-café menus everywhere, Tracklements has launched a trio of relishes to enhance them.

Produced in small batches at the company’s Wiltshire base, the Charcuteriments range comprises pickled onion, mixed pickle and hot garlic relishes, in 100g mini Le Parfait jars (RRP £3.80). www.tracklements.co.uk

Capital coppa is cured in mead

By ARABELLA MILEHAM

Free range pork specialist Ambrose Sausages topped the charcuterie section of 2015’s Great Hampshire Sausage & Pie Competition with its Hampshire salami.

The Eastleigh business, run by Phil and Sue Ambrose, was one of 35 butchers that entered this year’s contest, which was staged in Winchester by county food group Hampshire Fare.

A total of 235 products were put forward for judging – up 20% on last year – in 13 categories including speciality pork sausages, hot pies, black puddings, traditional pork pies and meatballs & faggots.

They were assessed by a panel of professional butchery experts working along with a number of guest judges.

The charcuterie section was judged by Martin Edwards, co-owner

The Electric Eye Photography

Simple but ‘flawless’ salami takes Hants award

Keith Fisher of sponsor AHDB Pork presents the charcuterie category trophy to Sue Ambrose of Ambrose Sausages

of Cornwall’s Deli Farm Charcuterie, alongside FFD editor Mick Whitworth, who described Ambrose Sausage’s simply Italian-style salami as “flawless”.

Phil and Sue Ambrose set up a sausage-making unit on their farm at Upham in 2011 to revive a recipe used by Phil’s grandfather in his West

Sussex butcher’s shop in the 1920s.

Pip and Donna Smith of LJ Smith Butchers, which has shops in Eastleigh and Bishopstoke, took the 2015 Supreme Champion trophy with an innovative pork, bacon & tomato sausage that received a maximum 100 points score from the specialist judging panel.

Crow Farm Shop of Ringwood topped the traditional pork pie category, while multi-site retail butcher Owtons took the award for the best black pudding.

Hampshire Fare’s annual competition was supported by headline sponsors Lucas Ingredients, Dalziel and AHDB Pork (the Agriculture & Horticulture Development Board) and category sponsor Eric Robinson Solicitors. www.ambrosesausages.co.uk www.hampshirefare.co.uk

The London Charcutier is extending its range of English boozeinspired charcuterie with a coppa (pork shoulder) which is cured in Peckham-produced Gosnells mead (wholesale price £3.50/90g pack, RRP £6-8/90g).

Available since the end of October it joins the existing threestrong range which comprises airdried beef cured in ale, duck infused with sloe gin, and a mackerel cured in vintage cider.

Former head chef turned meat curer Simon Hodge has also trialled a cured venison infused with red wine, using Sussex vineyard Bolney Wine Estate’s Dark Harvest 2011 to give a fruity, blackcurrant flavour.

The London Charcutier products are selling through online retailer Craved, Islington butcher Turner & George, Budgens in Belsize Park and Eat 17. www.londoncharcutier.com

VENISON BILTONG: Hampshire Fare member Newlyn’s Farm Shop near Basingstoke has added a seasonal venison variety to its range of biltong.

Head butcher Jason Moore has been making the dried snacks since Newlyn‘s invested in a purpose-built biltong maker in April. Made with Hampshire venison from nearby farms, and selling out at £52/kg, the new variety is said to be similar in texture to beef biltong but a little dryer, thanks to the small, lean muscle meat. It will be available until February. Newlyns co-owner Emma Higgins told FFD the customer response had been “amazing”. “It’s high in protein but very low in fat, so we have a great following for it now.” www.newlyns-farmshop.co.uk

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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Open for entry:

ary u n a J 0 2 ers: b m e m d o Fo e n i F f o Guild Non-members: 3 Fe bruary

New to Great Taste? Make sure you receive entry information by registering with info@gff.co.uk Want to know more about food and drink’s most coveted awards? gff.co.uk/gta

www.gff.co.uk | www.greattasteawards.co.uk |

@greattasteawards |

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

24-26 2016 SECC JANUARY

Ŕ The only trade show in Scotland dedicated to the speciality food and drink retailer.

Ŕ Over 175 suppliers and hundreds of great food and drink products.

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Kent’s Kitchen stockpots make winter cooking easier and tastier.

The stockpot range includes beef, chicken and vegetable that all add a great depth of flavour to home-made dishes.

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To register for your free visitor badge or see a full list of exhibitors please visit:

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

Visit www.kentskitchen.co.uk, email emma@kentskitchen.co.uk or call 07966 888240

Fo se r st e w oc eb kist sit s e

from the experts.

farmers’ markets

A weekly antidote to ‘clone town’ shopping

Interview

It began as a way to get regional farm produce direct to the Capital’s shoppers, and grew to include butchers, bakers and fresh pasta makers. Now London Farmers’ Markets is even venturing into street food, as director Mark Handley tells MICK WHITWORTH.

T

owards the end of September a new weekly food market opened on Wembley’s Olympic Way, just a few firm kicks of a ball from London’s landmark stadium.

Dubbed FoodShed, it brought together a clutch of small, on-trend takeaway outlets – among them cupcake firm Cakehole, savouries baker Humble Pie Co and scone, muffin and preserves maker Bow Belly – to offer West Londoners an artisan alternative to their usual, mundane café-chain and convenience store lunch options.

FoodShed might be a new name in the world of street food, but the firm behind it, London Farmers’ Markets (LFM), has been setting out its stalls for well over a decade.

Launched in 1999 by US-born Nina Planck, a Virginia farmer’s daughter who remains its major shareholder, LFM now runs nearly two dozen one-day-a-week markets in the Capital, stretching from Twickenham in the south-west to Walthamstow in the north-east.

The largest, in Queen’s Park and Marylebone, host upwards of 40 producers each week, and across its whole portfolio LFM provides an urban outlet for some 200 small food and drink businesses.

Two-thirds are primary producers: farmers, fruit and vegetable growers and a few south coast fishing businesses. The remaining third are small scale processors – mainly bakers and preserves-makers – with close links to the region’s farmers.

Certified by FARMA, the farmers’ markets association, LFM aims to “enable farmers to sell to the public so that they get a fair price for their work”, and it has firm guidelines to ensure that principle is stuck to.

Since there’s not much agriculture in the middle of London, it says stallholders must be based within a 100-mile radius of the M25 (compared to FARMA’s 50-mile rule in provincial towns). Those artisan producers making pies, cakes, juices or preserves must draw their main ingredients from the same radius.

The new FoodShed idea is LFM’s response to the street food trend that has swept through the UK’s bigger cities. “The core business of our markets is meat and produce for people doing their weekly

Mark Handley: With low car ownership in London, convenience is a key attraction of LFM’s markets

shop,” says director Mark Handley, one of the small team of staffers who run LFM since Nina Planck returned to the US. (She is married to Rob Kaufelt, owner of iconic US cheesemonger Murray’s Cheese). ”But we’ve opened a few during the week too, and some of those have evolved into hot food markets.

“We still apply the same rules: the people selling hot sausages will

be pig farmers; the people running the paella stall are fishermen.

“But rather than confuse our offering, if there are sites that are more suited to hot food we thought it might be better to call them something different. So we’ve come up with the FoodShed brand.”

It can work well for those who already attend the retail markets, he says. “A farmer selling prime

cuts at the weekend will always be left with some forequarter meat, so if they can sell burgers or pulled meat at FoodShed it gives them an outlet for it. Farmers who sell to the public have always tended to put the forequarter meat into the catering trade. If they can sell direct to the consumer [at a better margin] it’s much better for them.”

The FARMA rules give FoodShed

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

23

LE GRUYÈRE AOP

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BORN IN SWITZERLAND, 1115 A.D. And remains the only cheese that’s 100% Natural, 100% Traditional, 100% from Switzerland and 100% Le Gruyère AOP *AOP = PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) – must be traditionally and entirely prepared and produced within the region, thus acquiring the unique properties of Gruyère AOP cheese, to bear the name Le Gruyère AOP.

The uniquely smooth, savoury flavour you’ll find only in Le Gruyère AOP is a product of its upbringing – where the cows that supply the milk are grazed (only in the villages of Western Switzerland), the way the cheese is aged and cared for (slow-aged in the region’s cheese cellars and caves), and the recipe that’s remained, unchanged, for centuries (hand-made, in small batches). For a smooth and mild yet extremely satisfying taste, Le Gruyère Classic is aged 5 months minimum. Le Gruyère Reserve, which has been aged for 10 months or more, has a smooth but more robust flavour. Both varieties are great in recipes, or sliced as a snack. Either way, we’re sure you’ll enjoy the only cheese that can call itself Le Gruyère AOP.

22 November-December Switzerland.

Naturally. 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

Castle of Gruyères

Born in Switzerland in 1115. www.gruyere.com

Cheeses from Switzerland. www.cheesesfromswitzerland.com

farmers’ markets a point of difference from similar outlets, Handley says.

“There has been this strong trend for street food across the country.

But there’s no particular assurance on the stalls on those markets, whereas we’re exactly offering the same level of assurance that we do on our farmers’ markets.”

According to Handley, LFM’s regular London clientele are mainly interested in two things: supporting British farmers, and knowing they’re buying quality food. With no opportunity to buy from truly ‘local’ farms, he says: “Food miles are pretty much irrelevant to most people.

“London has always been different in that respect. You can’t easily get to a farm shop or pickyour-own, and that disconnection from a rural community is so entrenched that just to have fresh, local produce from somewhere you’ve heard about is appreciated.”

LFM’s markets are certainly not just for those who’re finickity about their food or like to flaunt their social conscience. “In London it’s all about convenience, so our markets do really well in a residential area where we offer a better alternative to an expensive convenience store,” Handley says, adding: “It’s also a leisure opportunity. Shopping here is a nice experience.”

On this occasion, “here” means LFM’s regular Thursday market in Bloomsbury’s Torrington Square, where Handley has invited FFD to get a feel for how the markets operate and how they’re evolving.

There are just short of 40 stallholders here, most of whom attend every week. There’s a preponderance of fruit and veg growers like Brambletye Fruit Farm in Sussex (seasonal berries, top fruit, juices) and organic or rare breed meat businesses like Buckinghamshire’s Hazeldene Farm (rare breed beef and pork).

But perhaps a third are small, added-value producers – some very London-focused, others selling widely enough to be on the radar of FFD readers. These include artisan biscuit and cake bakery Popina, The Garlic Farm from the Isle of Wight, and 2014 World Cheese Awards champion Bath Soft Cheese.

Perhaps the busiest stall, still attracting a queue as the market draws to a close after the lunchtime rush, is Seriously Italian.

This Walthamstow-based Great Taste award-winner makes pasta from British grown cereals, and fabulous pestos to go with them.

At Bloomsbury – and more than a dozen other LFM markets, including FoodShed – it sells hot pasta dishes alongside its retail packs and jars.

It’s important LFM is offering an alternative to Sainsbury’s Local or Costa, says Handley. “There’s been talk of ‘clone towns’ for years,

❛

There has been a strong trend for street food but no particular assurance on their stalls, whereas we’re offering the same level of assurance [with FoodShed] that we do on our farmers’ markets

❜

Mark Handley, director, London Farmers’ Markets

and the shift to café culture has meant a loss of uniqueness. To find a nice independent deli in London is something of a mission – they’ve been priced out of the market by high rents – so the only option for most people is a supermarket sandwich or a chain restaurant. Once a week, this market offers the choice of something different.”

He continues: “Our markets also offer convenience, and that’s the biggest thing in their favour.

“Something like 60% of our customers walk to the market. Car ownership in London is low – most new developments don’t even have

parking – so most people can only shop for one or two days at a time, and the convenience stores have nothing like the range we offer.”

LFM’s shoppers are drawn from all age groups, and are not just middle-class foodies, he says.

“If you’re shopping on a budget, markets may not be your first port of call. But there’s something for every price point, and usually you’ll find veg or cheaper cuts of meat that are competitive with a supermarket c-store.

“None of our markets are more than two streets away from social housing, and most c-stores are not

going to be selling cheap cuts of braising steak.”

There’s another key attraction to these islands of traditional shopping in the heart of the Capital. “The other big thing is the personal side,” says Handley. “Coming out, meeting people, and dealing with a real person, not an automated checkout.

“That social interaction can’t be replicated anywhere else. So while competition has got stronger – there are more small local food shops now – I still think what we offer is unique.” www.lfm.org.uk www.foodsheduk.com

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

25

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

the both s for e cream. d r a w c r a la i 1-sta ganic Vanil Taste and the om or t a e e d fr t Wales. l Gr a a m n o s i s t .com eam i r, We cream Tradi, isice ce cr Lampete t i n o s c ’ w.

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product focus

confectionery

Raising the bar LYNDA SEARBY devours the latest introductions in speciality chocolate & confectionery As raw foodism continues to gather pace, The Raw Chocolate Company has enlarged its line-up with three new products: Vanoffe mulberries, raw chocolate sweet apricot kernels and raw chocolate golden berries. RRP £5.99 for a 125g resealable pouch. www.therawchocolatecompany.com

Charbonnel & Walker has collaborated with luxury brand Alice Through The Looking Glass to develop a collection of chocolate gift sets that celebrate the 150th birthday of Lewis Carroll’s Alice character. These range from a seven-piece mini milk chocolate set (RRP £6.95) to a chocolate selection box retailing at £24. www. charbonnel. co.uk

New packaging, branding and flavours have refreshed Miena’s handmade Irish nougat range.

Cashew, almond & cranberry, chocolate, hazelnut & cranberry and almond & fig are available in bars, gift boxes and hand-embossed tins from Taste The View. www.mienas.ie

Building on the success of its raspberry pâté de fruits, Fifth Dimension Chocolates has introduced a passion fruit version of this ‘chocwich’ (RRP £4 for a pack of three). A St Clements (orange & lemon) salmóran and a Colombian 70% single origin chocolate bar are among the other new lines at the London chocolatier. www.5dchocolates.com

Lick the Spoon’s new chocolate bar range launched at flagship stockist Gloucester Services’ farm shops this summer. The Bakewell, rose & violet cream, salted peanut, Black Forest, Absolutely Nuts and honeycomb bars are all handmade in Wiltshire using Raisetrade Madagascan chocolate and handwrapped in colourful glassine. RRP £2.95. www.lickthespoon.co.uk After debuting with its superfood chocolate truffles in November 2014, Sweet Virtues has launched nut-free superfood halo thins. The halos are made from organic raw 72% chocolate, bio live cultures and ingredients that are chosen for their reputed health and wellbeing benefits.

Four varieties – white tea & peppermint (Revive), yerber mate & lemon (Energise), Himalayan pink salt (Balance) and maqui (Detox) – hit the shelves in September with an RRP of £15.95 for a gift box containing all four, or £3.95 individually (each smaller box contains six halos). www.sweetvirtues.co.uk

Cocktail confectioner Smith & Sinclair has translated two vodka classics into pastille format and given them a British twist. Since making headlines last year for becoming the first food product to sell on the alcohol shelf, Smith & Sinclair’s alcoholic confectionery now retails nationwide in Harvey Nichols and Fenwicks. Rhuby Mule, a vodka, rhubarb and ginger pastille coated in sour lime sugar, and Long Island High Tea, a vodka, black tea and rum pastille coated in a raspberry infused sugar, both contain 6-8% alchohol by volume. RRP £9.99 for a box of six. www.smithandsinclair.co.uk

The founders of Cornish chocolate company Kernow Chocolate have conceived a new sister brand, Macondo Chocolate Co, with a focus on single origin chocolate bars. Sales director Andy Soden says that with an RRP of £3.50-3.95, the bars will be pitched somewhere between Montezuma’s and Green & Black’s and the more expensive bean-to-bar brands. An inaugural range of five varieties launches this month, and takes in milk and dark bars from Cameroon, Ecuador, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and Tanzania. www. kernowchocolate. co.uk

Going gooey over marshmallows As gourmet marshmallow for grownups continue to trend, Barú has launched three new flavours.

The chocolate enrobed, individually wrapped strawberry & toasted coconut, coffee & crème and dark caramel marshmallows come in 60g boxes (RRP £3.69).

Meanwhile, London-based Mallow & Marsh has built on the success

of its mini packs of marshmallows with the launch of three bars: raspberry and 70% dark chocolate, vanilla marshmallow & milk chocolate and simply coconut.

Belinda Clark has rebranded her marshmallows as MellowMallows, improved the recipe to give a lighter, fluffier texture, and expanded her flavour range.

The newly enlarged lineup takes in vanilla, salted

caramel, raspberry, passion fruit and coconut

marshmallows (RRP £3.50-4 for an 85g bag, £1.75-£2 for a 30g impulse bag), as well as two chocolate enrobed varieties (RRP £3.99-4.50 for an 85g sharing bag, £1.99-£2.35 impulse). www.baru.be www.belindaclark.co.uk www.mallowandmarsh.com

New to chocolate & confectionery…

Canesmith & Co Not many newcomers land Selfridges as their first stockist, but city-worker-turned-confectioner Laura Brown has done just that with Canesmith & Co. A sweep of five Great Taste awards this year helped, along with her philosophy of making old-school sweets with a modern twist for the adult market. Her sherbet dippers are a good example: she’s brought this favourite up to date by using real blackberries or raspberries for the sherbet, and a real apple lollipop to dip. Other lines include beer & peanut caramels made with ales from local brewery Elgoods, and salt water taffy. www.canesmith.com

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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product focus chocolate & confectionery Two new 80g single origin Vietnamese chocolate bars have gone on sale under the Marou brand, available in the UK via Middletown Hill. Packaged in the brand’s trademark screen printed wrappers, Heart of Darkness is an 85% version of the 75% Treasure Island variety. The second new variety, Dak Lak, is from the Central Highlands province of the same name, known for its coffee.

Wholesale price £3.10+VAT, RRP £5.95. www.middletownhill.co.uk

New to chocolate & confectionery…

Raw Halo Former HR executive Meg Haggar is taking raw chocolate to the next level, with a range of bars that also eschews refined sugars. The nine bars in Raw Halo’s collection are sweetened with organic coconut sugar and lucuma powder.

According to Meg, this means that by weight, her Pure Mylk bar has almost half the total sugars of other raw milk chocolates.

The newcomer’s Pure Dark 76% chocolate is made from Peruvian raw cacao. Its other flagship product, Pure Mylk, adds cashew butter, lucuma powder and vanilla to the mix. www.rawhalo.com

With an RRP of £3 for an 85g slab of handmade fudge, Fudge Kitchen’s new Signature Slice sits at the lower end of the gifting price spectrum.

It comes in five flavours: peanut butter, white chocolate & raspberry, sea salted caramel, chilli chocolate orange and classic chocolate.

BoojaBooja has introduced new designs for the hazelnut and Fine de Champagne truffles boxes in its Artist’s Collection. The gift boxes are handpainted by artists in Kashmir, India, using traditional art forms. www.boojabooja.com

The first raw chocolate liqueur bars have hit the shelves. The 50g cheeky cherry brandy, raucous rum & raisin and cranberry vodka kiss bars from Conscious Chocolates are certified organic, vegan and vegetarian, free from gluten, soy and dairy and sweetened with rice syrup or agave nectar. Wholesale price £18.67 for 10x50g, RRP £2.99. www.consciouschocolate.com

Add some bling to your confectionery display with Cocoa Cabana’s hand-crafted chocolate shoes and handbags. Shoes have a wholesale price of £22.99 (RRP £29.99) and handbags have a wholesale price of £21.99 (RRP £28.99). www.cocoa-cabana.co.uk

salted caramel trend to the next level with the launch of Espelette chilli pepper caramels with fleur de sel and liquorice caramels with fleur de sel.

www.pandorabell.com

O Edinburgh-

based Coco Chocolatier has redesigned the wrappers for its chocolate bars and switched to Scottish ingredients such as Isle of Skye sea salt for its hazelnut and caramel salted milk chocolate bars.

Davenport’s has launched starter packs for its new trade customers. The packs, which contain a selection of gift boxes and tubes, have a retail value of £262 and are sold to the trade at £150+VAT. www.davenportschocolates.co.uk

Elderberry & vodka and chamomile & alpine strawberry are the latest botanic chocolates from grower partnership Firstleaf. The chocolates, which are based on flavours it grows or forages locally, are traditional chocolate cream and butter ganaches using single origin chocolate. Trade price for a four-chocolate ballotin is £2.65 (RRP £5). www.botanicchocolates.co.uk

www.cocochocolate.co.uk

O The South Devon Chilli Farm has extended its range of chilli chocolates with two single source 100g bars: Madagascar 70% dark and Costa Rica 38% milk. www.southdevonchillifarm. co.uk

O Herefordshire’s Sue Gilmour Chocolate has released a new seasonal milk chocolate bar that combines mulling spices from The Shropshire Spice Co with a 33% Belgian milk chocolate base. www.suegilmour.co.uk

O Brindisa has sourced four new

Spanish products: individually wrapped Torre Real marron glacés, marrons steeped in a brandy syrup, Guirlache whole almond & honey nougat, and a dark chocolate bar with honey from El Canario. www.brindisa.com

O Mighty Fine Honeycomb’s new honeycomb bars come in four varieties: milk chocolate, peanut butter, dark chocolate and salted caramel.

www.fudgekitchen.co.uk

From cold to hot chocolate London-based Caboclo Chocolate is making the transition from bars to drinks, with the launch this month of seven organic hot chocolate powder mixes in 180g pouches.

O Pandora Bell has taken the

The fusion mixes take inspiration from around the world, and include Matchoc (dark chocolate & matcha), Moroccan Spiced Rose, Sushila’s Masala Chai and Aztec Chilli. RRPs range from £7.60 for a plain variety to £10.70 for the Matchoc powder.

Another chocolate producer moving into the hot chocolate space is Choc Affair, whose

kilner-tin packaged range goes on sale this month. The York company’s signature raspberry & rose, salted caramel, orange & geranium and lime & seasalt flavour combinations feature alongside Colombian dark and milk chocolate. Wholesale price £4.89, RRP £6.99. www.caboclochocolate.com www.choc-affair.com

www.mightyfine.co

O Lincolnshire’s Duffy’s Chocolates has added two new 80g bars to its collection: Guatemala Rio Dulce 70% dark chocolate and Panama Tierra Oscura 40% milk chocolate. www.duffyschocolate. co.uk

O Summerdown Mint’s single estate English peppermint oil is the star ingredient in its new Heritage range of 70% dark chocolate peppermint fondants and peppermint crisp discs. www.summerdownmint.com

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

Chocolate Made for Drinking

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NOW

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No one should even consider entering any form of fine food retail without completing the Retail Ready course at The Guild of Fine Food.

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It gave me insight I was lacking, to feel fully confident about getting started.

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The course is designed to equip managers of prospective, new or developing delis and farm shops with the business essentials of fine food and drink retailing.

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www.gff.co.uk | 30

November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

@guildoffinefood

product focus chocolate & confectionery Bonbons is already thinking ahead to Easter, and has just launched its 2016 collection. Highlights include hefty 350g eggs (RRP £10) in flavour combinations such as Rocky Road, Eton Mess and dark chocolate ginger; and Belgian chocolate figures, including Daisy Duck and Henrietta Hen (RRP £3.95).

Newly founded specialist chocolate and confectionery importer Appetitus has added a new range of limited edition chocolate-coated liquorice kilner tins for key gifting seasons to its catalogue. Made by Swedish company Haupt Lakrits, the liquorice is flavoured with mulled wine spices for Christmas, rose for Valentine’s Day and honey caramelised Italian almonds for Easter. RRP £8.95 for 165g. www.appetitus.co.uk

www.bonbons.co.uk

James Chocolates has created three Christmas Day ‘tasting menus’, pitched as place settings to accompany the main event. These feature fresh cream truffles in festive flavours such as gingerbread, figgy pudding and mulled port. RRP £2.50 for a small box or £7.50 for a medium box. www.jameschocolates.co.uk

Parisien chocolate fondue specialist Aux Anysetiers du Roy is now making an organic milk chocolate variety, available to the trade via BMC Global, and presented in an attractive ceramic pot which can be heated in the microwave or a bain-marie. Wholesale price £6, RRP £10.

New to chocolate & confectionery…

Sweetieatie

www.bmcglobal.com

The real deal Hot chocolate is moving away from powder towards melt-inthe-mug real chocolate pieces. Sir Hans Sloane, Kokoa Collection and Marimba World Chocolate are three companies at the forefront of this trend.

Having established a leadership position in the café sector, Kokoa Collection has started retailing via Ocado, Selfridges and Harrods.

Its range of single origin hot chocolates takes in white (Ivory Coast), smooth (Venezuela 58%), classic (Ecuador 70%), dark (Haiti 75%)

and darkest (Madagascar 82%).

Wholesale price for 210g is £3.75, RRP £5.99.

Marimba World Chocolate is targeting health-conscious consumers with its new sugar-free melt made from real chocolate.

The 55% cocoa content, it says, provides the perfect balance of chocolate and sweetness.

Sir Hans Sloane’s latest presentation of its unique chocolate beads is a Christmas Bauble (35g, RRP £2) for the festive season. All consumers need to do is drop it in a mug and dissolve it in hot water or milk. www.kokoacollection.com www.marimbaworld.com www.sirhanssloane.com

Sweeteatie founder Nicola Shaw is juggling a full-time job with making handcrafted caramels in her spare time. She sells these at farmer’s markets and supplies a handful of local outlets, including Jenny Wren’s Deli in her home town of Standish, Wigan. However, having recently won a Great Taste award for her apple & cinnamon caramels and a Producers’ Bursary Award for next year’s BBC Good Food Show, she may soon find that there aren’t enough extra hours in the day. www.sweetieatie.com

O Guppy’s chocolate shards are now available in 50g and 100g sizes as well as the original 150g packs. www.guppyschocolates.co.uk

O The Serious Sweet Company’s

The language of taste...

CHOCOLATE

FIND OUT WHAT GREAT TASTE JUDGES LOOK FOR IN KEY PRODUCT CATEGORIES, WITH SILVIJA DAVIDSON Chocolate is an easy win for most but not for Great Taste judges. We’re a stern lot (as chocolate makers are swift to tell us) and we’re not looking for a quick sugar-hit.

What judges noted about one of this year’s three-star winners (a Madagascan milk chocolate) was not just its scrumminess but an interesting hint of pepper in the chocolate itself – not something you’d find in your average bar.

They also noted great balance of flavour and an exceptional finish – in other words layers of long-lasting, uncloying flavour.

Another Madagascan bar – this

time dark chocolate – was described as having a silky finish while the taste was described as clean (reflecting good bean quality, fermentation and processing generally) and the aroma of dried fruit and raisins also played its part.

As chocolatiers (notably British and Irish artisans) have raised their game, so the expectations of both Great Taste judges and discerning consumers have grown. We’re no longer content with a vaguely

^

chocolatey, easy melting milk bar.

Neither are we anticipating an inky colour, bitter hit and a solid 70% cocoa content from dark chocolate. What matters are sustained, interesting layers of aroma and flavour and a long but clean finish that leaves you begging for more.

We’re not just bar purists, of course. We love our filled chocolates too. Desired qualities include perfectly thin, crisp shells that will contrast nicely with hit of flavour from the filling. It helps if they look good, too. .

• Food writer and editor Silvija Davidson is chief judging coordinator for the Great Taste awards.

As chocolatiers have raised their game, so the expectations of consumers have grown

_

Ultimate English range has been enlarged to include two new fudges: crystallised ginger fudge and salted caramel fudge. www.serioussweets.co.uk

O Biona’s organic

berry burst jellies are gelatine-free, makimg them suitable for vegans.

www. windmillorganics.com

O New for Christmas 2015 from

Montezuma’s are aniseed & rosewater dollops – milk chocolate with a gently fragrant rose and aniseed ganache centre. www.montezumas. co.uk

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

31

Whole Fruit Infusions

so much more than a dressing Burren Balsamics stemmed from a desire to create an array of avours which could be used as part of any recipe, to produce not just a luxury dressing, but an essential store cupboard ingredient.

Situated in County Armagh, in the heart of the orchard county of Northern Ireland, we strive to use as many local ingredients as possible.

Only whole fruits are included in the making of our vinegars, never concentrates, ensuring a rich distinctive taste.

Our passion is to produce a ground breaking and affordable range of fruit Balsamics with limitless possibilities and combinations to delight and inspire.

After all we believe it is so much more than a dressing.

Our present avours include blackcurrant, raspberry, blueberry, Armagh Bramley Apple and rhubarb and ginger. We also produce a strawberry and mint white wine vinegar.

We supply to independent retailers and through fairs and markets.

Please call 07802566029 or email info@burrenbalsamics.com.

Natural Rapeseed Oil Rapeseed Oil with Lemon

Rapeseed Oil with Chilli

Visit our website for more information

www.brockandmorten.com 07739 188111

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November-December 2015 ¡ Vol.16 Issue 10

product focus

speciality vinegars

Keeping them sweeter LYNDA SEARBY’s round up of the latest launches in vinegar has a distinctly fruity theme Scotland’s The Little Herb Farm has expanded its range to take in two new vinegars and secured a distribution deal with The Cress Company. Like the rest of the line-up, the new rhubarb & ginger and Scottish blueberry & lime vinegars have a high fruit content and are made from home-grown produce and Scottish berries. Each bottle has a wholesale price of £2.50 and an RRP of £3.75. The Fife-based company has also introduced three-bottle gift boxes (wholesale £8.20, RRP £11.99). www.thelittleherbfarm.co.uk

From Dorset With Love has branched out beyond its core jams and chutneys, developing a trio of fruit-infused vinegars.

“The vinegars have been given a rich, fruity flavour by infusing an aged aceto di balsamico with real fruit for 30 days,” says owner Karl Regler. The raspberry, blackberry and strawberry balsamic vinegars are already on sale in Whole Foods Market. They are available to the trade via Artisan Food Club in 250ml bottles (wholesale £3.50, RRP £6).

Vallebona has added two balsamic glazes to its larder of Italian specialities. Both the berry and the truffle flavoured balsamic glaze can be used to add a sweet and exotic note to anything from meat and fish dishes to salads, desserts and ice cream. RRP is £5.99 for a 250ml squeezy bottle (wholesale £3.50). www.vallebona.co.uk

www.fromdorsetwithlove.co.uk

Independents looking for something that can’t be bought elsewhere should check out Mas d’en Gil’s Agredolc wine vinegar (500ml, RRP £5.95(, available via C&D Wines.

So far, the Spanish wine vinegar is only on sale in one UK outlet: Ultracomida.

It is aged by the Mas d’en Gil estate using a solera system to producing a complex, bittersweet vinegar with aged tones. www.masdengil.com

Rose petal vinegar and chocolate balsamic vinegar are the two latest inventions from Sussexbased Stratta, run by husband and wife team John and Mary Stratton. The rose petal vinegar, which captures the flavour and aroma of Gertrude Jekyll rose petals, can be used in meringues, couscous and Moroccan chicken and on salad leaves with ewes’ milk cheese. RRP is £6 for 250ml.

The chocolate balsamic vinegar (250ml, RRP £8) will give depth to chilli dishes, rabbit stews and venison casseroles. The minimum order is 12 bottles. www.stratta.org

Jan McClure, trading as Jan’s Preserves, has introduced two new white organic balsamicbased fruit vinegars. Fresh fruit is marinated in the vinegar for up to three weeks before it is strained and cooked with sugar to create the blackcurrant & rosemary and strawberry & mint vinegars.

Both come in 175ml bottles with droppers (RRP £3.50) and flip top bottles (RRP £4.50).

Clearspring’s wood-aged, organic Italian vinegars have been treated to a new look.

janet.mouse@btinternet.com

www.clearspring.co.uk

Retailers looking for ways to create in-store theatre might be interested to learn that Deli-cious has introduced a new vinegar that can be dispensed via its OnTap system.The company has taken inspiration from French artisan fruit pulp vinegars and developed a red bell pepper vinegar that combines spirit vinegar with 35% real fruit pulp and a hint of chilli pepper for “a sweet-tart flavour and slight sharpness”. Delicious has been supplying fine food retailers with its OnTap dispensing system for almost a decade and now has a presence in over 300 outlets.

Red bell pepper vinegar is available in five-litre cans from distributor Anthony Rowcliffe & Son, priced at £54.88 per can. www.deliciousontap.co.uk

Following a two-year project to improve its fruit vinegars, Womersley has unveiled its new “fruitier” recipe vinegars with 25% less sugar.

“Those increased fruit and herb flavours make them even better for marinades,” says second generation owner Rupert Parsons. Available via Cotswold Fayre and The Oil Merchant, the range includes golden raspberry & apache chilli, raspberry, cherry and strawberry & mint vinegars, to name a few. They are available in 100ml (wholesale £3.10, RRP £4.85) and 250ml bottles (wholesale £5.10, RRP £7.85). www.womersleyfoods.com

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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To complement our award winning signature product, Flaky Smoked Salmon, we now have a further range of exciting new unique products to offer our customers this Christmas.

This year we are offering a 15 item special edition Hebridean hamper from Artisan producers throughout the Isles of Lewis, Harris, North Uist, South Uist, Barra and the Isle of Benbecula; this will be available via our online shop for Christmas delivery direct to the customers.

Only ÂŁ99.00 with free courier delivery!! Per hamper to a single UK address. Normally ÂŁ110.95

iainmacrury@salarsmokehouse.co.uk | telephone: 01870610324 info@salarsmokehouse.co.uk | www. salarsmokehouse.co.uk

The Home of gourmet Scottish Seafood (Multi-award winning) Over 25 luxury frozen seafood lines to choose from

Scottish Cooked Lobster

Designed for specialty retail, offering larger sizes and KLJKHU VSHFLÂżFDWLRQV IURP VXVWDLQDEOH ÂżVKHULHV Free national delivery when ordering 5 or more cases )RU IXUWKHU LQIR RU WR EHFRPH D VWRFNLVW SOHDVH contact us at: LQIR#KLJKODQGED\VHDIRRGV FR XN Ä 7HO

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Hand Dived Scottish King Scallops

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CHRISTMAS PUDDINGS STICKY PUDDINGS

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November-December 2015 ¡ Vol.16 Issue 10

www.burtreepuddings.co.uk enquiries@burtreepuddings.co.uk @burtreepuds 01325 463 521

Phone: 0845 0533269 Email: wholesale@choitime.com Visit: choitime.com

FROZEN IS THE NEW FRESH!

If you’d like to stock our products, please call Lisa on 01472 355217.

POACH IN THE PACK, BAKE, GRILL OR ZAP! GSRXEGX$FMK½WLFVERH GS YO [[[ FMK½WLFVERH GS YO $&MK*MWL&VERH FMK½WLFVERH GS YO

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Pride. Passion. Patience.

Nothing added except time, passion, honesty and integrity!

Multi-award-winning consistently elegant produce from the last exclusively wild fish smoker left!

Authentic, hand-crafted, artisan produce and production – smoked with integrity, honesty and traditional methodologies Wild Salmon (limited stock), albacore tuna, mackerel, kippered herrings, haddock, white Pollack available

Hot-smoked Atlantic Mackerel

Smoked Wild Atlantic Salmon

Hot-smoked Albacore Tuna

Cold-smoked Irish Haddock

Contact Sally on+353 28 36232 | www.woodcocksmokery.com Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

35

Win Sales with our award-winning Chapman’s gourmet fishcakes and seafood products...

Using their Mum’s recipes Kevin and Paul Chapman continue to produce Traditional Fish Cakes and Fish Products using their mums principle of incorporating only the finest ingredients.

• • • • •

Handmade with fresh ingredients No artificial colours or flavourings Attractive packaging Weekly Deliveries Low minimum order value

Email: sales@chapmansfishcakes.co.uk Web: www.chapmansfishcakes.co.uk Tel: 01472 269871

The Finest Scottish Produce Summer Isles Foods was established in the 1970’s. We have come a long way from our humble beginnings as a small smokehouse on the north-west coast of Scotland. Based in Alness, in the centre of the Scottish Highlands, Summer Isles supplies some of the finest hotels, restaurants and delicatessens throughout the UK and abroad.

Summer Isles Foods ‘wet-cures’ the salmon to ensure that the subtle footnotes from the brine are released during the slow smoking process. This produces a firm textured salmon with a full-bodied smoked flavour.

We offer various flavours of cold smoked salmon, organic smoked salmon and smoke roasted salmon. We have a small range of other smoked fish and meats and also have a variety of cheeses.

We also have an ordering process for anyone that would like a personal order. For mail order customers, please visit our website. Free of charge deliveries applies to any mail order over £60, if being delivered to one address. If you are a trade customer, please contact us and we can provide you with a price list.

Peat Smoked Salmon

01349 882 624 | sales@summerislesfoods.co.uk | www. summerislesfoods.co.uk 36

November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

product update

seafood

Casting the net wide We bring you everything from Japanese-style fishcakes to Breton seaweed in our annual review of premium seafood. By ARABELLA MILEHAM and MICK WHITWORTH.

Demand for seaweed products has been gaining momentum over the past year, according to Plymouthbased Meridian Sea, which reports strong interest from both consumers and chefs in its fresh salted sea vegetables and dried seaweed.

Growing consumer awareness of the health benefits derived from eating seaweed is likely to see this trend continue, it says. The company stocks native-grown dulse, nori, sea lettuce, royal kombu, wakame and ocean sea blades, among others, as well as an organic seaweed handharvested in Brittany, Demand is also growing for added value lines which can offer something a bit different, it says. Its marinated seaweed, seaweed mustards, organic seaweed tartare and sea salts are gaining popularity in farm shops, delicatessens, online stores and fishmongers.

Spanish food importer Brindisa has introduced jars of yellowfin tuna marinated with pine nuts, raisins and Pedro Ximénez sherry.

The tuna is best served just as it comes from the jar, Brindisa suggests, adding an original twist to a simple salad with minimal effort.

The product’s flavour combination was inspired by the region of Spain where its key ingredients are made. The family-run producer, Herpac, is based in Barbate in Andalucia, southern Spain, which is close not only to the Atlantic coast, but also to the pine forests of La Breña and the Jerez region. Raisins are added to give a more intense sweetness. www.brindisa.com

Weald Smokery has introduced a prime fillet of smoked salmon, which it calls the “fillet steak” of the fish world. The Royal Fillet comes as one whole 300g piece, enabling consumers to slice it vertically into medallions more easily than cutting a traditional side of salmon. The salmon are reared in the cold waters of the west coast of Scotland, and cold smoked over oak chippings in a traditional brick kiln. The new format is available at £12.47 to the trade (RRP: £18.70 for 300g) with a shelf-life of 21 days. www.wealdsmokery.co.uk

Long-established London smokery Formans has added a fishcake recipe to its Restaurant Collection – a range of restaurant-quality fishcakes, paupiette and smoked salmon sausages that are handmade specifically for the retail market. The new black cod in miso fishcake combines large chunks of fish with a miso sauce and an oriental-inspired mash containing spring onion, ginger, lemongrass and a hint of chilli, all covered in panko breadcrumbs.

Available to the trade as a case of six trays, each containing two 150g fishcakes (RRP £7.50). “When the recipe was finalised it left us scratching our heads wondering why we hadn’t thought of it earlier,” the producer says.

www.meridian-sea.com

www.formans.co.uk

Curing and drying are key to ‘seafood charcuterie’

By MICK WHITWORTH

New Scottish smokehouse Campsie Glen has chosen the novel description “seafood charcuterie” for its range of smoked fish, all traditionally cured using regional ingredients.

It’s a term that has gained some traction in the US, but may offer a clear point of difference in the UK. “We couldn’t find anyone else doing ‘seafood charcuterie’ in the UK,” says Duncan Smith, who runs the business with daughter Lynn, “‘and we wanted to start travelling the road of Spain’s amazing Pata Negra hams and Jamon Iberico.

“We feel there’s scope and demand for a seafood equivalent, and in our short time in production we’ve been tremendously encouraged by the reaction to our range.”

Campsie Glen began production in September at a smokery near the foot of the Campsie Fells in East Dunbartonshire.

It opened with a core range of nine lines, comprising smoked salmon, trout and halibut in three distinct cures. Its Island Cure is described as “a taste of the pure Hebridean seas”, with a blend of salt and dried seaweed.

Highland Cure is a gentler, “entry level” for newcomers to dried, cured and smoked fish, and the Lowland Cure has sweeter notes to appeal to the younger palate.

A malt whisky cure was added in time for the Christmas 2015 season.

The range is suited to the top end of the independent

retail market, and to chefs, says Smith. With RRPs of £6.50 for a 100g pack of salmon, £7 for trout and £9.50 for halibut, Campsie Glen will be targeting “discerning foodies, wherever they may eat or shop” – but will not be chasing business with the supermarkets.

“All of our filleting, curing slicing and packing is done by hand,” he says, “so we are real artisanal producers.”

The initial product line-up points to what Smith says is key differentiator of the Campsie Glen range. “Obviously we would be foolish to become just another smoker, and our focus is on the curing and drying processes. That’s where we believe the products are made. Smoking is simply a finish, or a flavour that’s introduced during the process” He adds: “We will be introducing an unsmoked range of our cures early in 2016. So we really are charcutiers first and foremost, not just smokers.” www.campsieglen.co.uk

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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Hot Smoked Salmon Cooked Crab Meat

Award-winning fresh & frozen seafood sourced from local, UK & worldwide seas Call us on 028 4484 1196 or email marty@eastcoastseafoods.co.uk 38

November-December 2015 ¡ Vol.16 Issue 10

THE FINEST SMOKED AT L A N T I C S A L M O N FROM THE ISLE OF LEWIS W W W. U I G L O D G E . C O. U K T. 0 1 8 5 1 6 7 2 3 9 6

product update Burren Smokehouse has rolled out new packaging across its smoked salmon, trout and mackerel ranges. The move follows a large investment in the Lisdoonvarnabased business, which saw it relaunch its website in October, and invest in production and install a new ERP business management system. www.burrensmokehouse.com

seafood

Greek fine food specialist Maltby & Greek has rolled out new packaging across three products in its seafood range. One is from family-run producer V. Geitonas, which has relaunched its smoked eel fillets in a new 80g vac-pack (trade price £5.53, RRP £6.70) saying this gives greater flexibility and freshness.

The eel comes from Arta, in north west Greece, and is salted and smoked in small batches over oak chips, after being exposed to the heat of an olive and citrus wood fire.

The other two new-look products are from Trikalinos, which has launched new packaging, with English labels, on its jars of marinated anchovy and sardine fillets.

Both the anchovy and sardines are marinated in a mix of extra virgin olive and sunflower oils with fresh Mediterranean herbs and come in 200g glass jars (trade price £5.23, RRP £7.80). All three products can be served as a meze with wine, ouzo, raki, as a canape or with risotto. www.maltbyandgreek.com

South Devon fishing business Favis of Salcombe took the Supreme Champion Product trophy in this year’s Taste of the West awards with its white crab meat. Judges described the product – cooked and handpicked at Favis’s factory near Kingsbridge – as “outstandingly good quality”. Family-owned Favis has been supplying fresh, sustainably caught shellfish since 1972, fishing out of Salcombe on its crabber Emma Jane. As well as selling to restaurants and chefs UK-wide, it says it is the West Country’s biggest exporter of shellfish.

Gourmet fishcake specialist Chapman’s is launching a premium, frozen ready-to-cook fish range in time for Christmas.

The new products – cod fillets in white wine, lemon & tarragon sauce, and salmon fillets in lemon & dill sauce – join a range which already includes fish and crab cakes, fish wellingtons, fish pies, luxury peeled prawns and king scallops. The Grimsby-based company recently refreshed its packaging to give a more eyecatching presence in the freezer, which it says has resulted in a 20% uplift in sales. www.chapmansfishcakes.co.uk

www.favis-os.com

Sales are accelerating for chauffeurs-turned-smokers

Katja Driesel and Colin Webb have collected their first Great Taste awards this year

By MICK WHITWORTH

Four years after losing their jobs as airport chauffeurs, Katja Driesel and Colin Webb have reinvented themselves as artisan food producers – and begun picking up their first quality awards.

Before setting up Hanningfield Smokehouse on the edge of Hanningfield Reservoir in rural Essex, the pair were racking up 10,000 miles a month driving clients around East Anglia from the London airports.

But they had already learned about fish smoking for fun on a course at Cumbria’s Smoky Jo’s, and when they were made redundant in 2012 they quickly sought help in turning their hobby into a business.

“We applied for sponsorship with the Essex

Innovations Programme and got accepted,” Katja Driesel tells FFD, “and in 2013 a business manager provided by Essex County Council helped us get our vision off the ground.”

Working with a local carpenter they converted an old cattle shed into a small production unit, including a cold smokeroom. Here, they began smoking salmon, sea trout, rainbow trout and even cheeses, using Webb’s personal blend of oak and beech chips.

Hanningfield Smokehouse is currently selling to nearby farm shops, cafés and delis such as Lathcoats farm shop in Galleywood and Cairnsworths deli & coffee shop in Little Waltham.

Its range includes 2 x hot smoked rainbow trout (400g min), smoked Scottish salmon (100g and

200g), smoked sea trout (80g) and smoked trout paté (150g), as well as hot smoked salmon portions.

This year has seen both the rainbow trout and smoked trout paté pick up one-star awards in Great Taste, and the smokehouse has just been highly commended in the Essex Life Food and Drinks Awards.

With the plaudits starting to roll in, the couple say they are a ready to start supplying independent outlets further afield.

“We obviously don’t have the tradition of smokehouses built years ago, but customers love our products and the Great Taste awards are recognition of that,” Driesel says. www.hanningfieldsmokehouse.co.uk

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

39

Award winning biscuits throughout our range

DUNNET BAY DISTILLERY Hand Crafted Scottish Spirits

Sweet & savoury biscuits in both traditional recipes and those unique to McKenzie’s Biscuits baked to the highest standards. Now available throughout the UK and selected overseas markets Traditional butter biscuits and oatcakes. Our own UHFLSH KHUE à DYRXUHG VDYRXU\ ELVFXLWV LQ YDULRXV à DYRXUV LQFOXGLQJ WK\PH URVHPDU\ DQG EDVLO Oatcakes

Stem Ginger Biscuits

mckenzie biscuits

Cheese Oatcakes

McKenzie quality biscuits A Scottish Tradition

01888 562459 | mckenzie-biscuits@smartone.co.uk

www. mckenzie-biscuits.com

A taste of the Outer Hebrides

Family Butchers and Producers of Stornoway Black Pudding.

Winner of the Country Alliance ‘Best Scottish Butcher Award’ 2012 www.charlesmacleod.co.uk

Tel: 01851 702 445 Email: sales@charlesmacleod.co.uk

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November-December 2015 ¡ Vol.16 Issue 10

We are Dunnet Bay Distillers. Unsurprisingly we are located in the spectacular bay of Dunnet, where the freshest of air and the finest of water are in abundance.

Our goal is to create spirits which reflect the Caithness way. We hand distil slowly, thoughtfully and passionately to create our exceptional products! www.dunnetbaydistillers.co.uk rockrosegin holygrassvodka Dunnet Bay Distillery, Dunnet, Thurso, Caithness, KW14 8XD

show preview

Glasgow opens show calendar Now in its ninth year, Scotland’s Speciality Food Show returns to Glasgow’s SECC in January

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After a year of celebrating Scotland’s Year of Food and Drink, Scottish speciality producers are set to start 2016 with the largest fine food trade show north of the Pennines.

Back again at Glasgow’s SECC, the show has grown since last year and now comprises around 150 exhibitors – a third of them exhibiting for the first time. With nearly 80% of the exhibitors based north of the border – and a small aisle devoted to produce from Orkney – there is ample opportunity to find great home-grown speciality products.

Among the stalwarts are frozen food producer Field Fare, Perthshire-based ice-cream maker Stewart Tower Dairy, Jolly’s of Orkney, Caledonian Confectionery and the Highlands’ Great Glen Charcuterie. Fine food distributors The Cress Company, Hider Foods and Cotswold Fayre will also be represented.

Many returning exhibitors will

be bringing out new lines to inspire visitors. These include Hebridean Sea Salt with a new smoked salmon, Summer Harvest with its new gift boxes, and Patchwork Traditional Food Co, which will be showcasing its mushroom marmalade.

The show will also welcome around 50 companies who are exhibiting for the first time.

Newcomers include Clash Farm Pedigree Saddlebacks, Wild Fig, Koppert Cress, Yushoi Snacks, Yum Yum Bros, Spice Pots, and S. Luca of Mussellburgh.

In addition, the centre of the show will host the Launch Gallery, an area devoted to innovative new companies who have been operating from less than two years.

They are picked on the basis of originality and quality, and this year’s line-up includes the new Luss Smokehouse, Angus and Oink’s rubs and marinades, The Wee Kitchen Company, Yorkshire Dama Cheese, The Auchtermuchty Cake Company, and Ogilvy Spirits.

There is also the chance to browse a collection of the best products in the show in one place, as judged by industry experts. The Best Product Awards has four categories: condiments & preserves, chilled & frozen, drinks & confectionery, and biscuits & snacks.

But it is not just about products.

Visitors can also pick up advice and tips on everything from e-commerce to launching a pop-up shop to making the perfect coffee, courtesy

of the experts at The Seminar Theatre. Talks include social media guru Liz Melville on maximising sales through using social media’ while Sarah Ward, the chief executive of the Giftware Association, will run through the art of selling online.

The show is run in conjunction with Scotland’s Trade Fair, which features over 400 suppliers of gifts, jewellery, clothing and crafts. www.scotlandsspecialityfoodshow. com

Information for visitors Dates: January 24-26 2016 Venue: Hall 4, Scottish Exhibition and Convention Centre, Glasgow.

How do I get there? The nearest airport is Glasgow International Airport, a 20 minute taxi ride away or the SECC’s railway station is only two stops from Glasgow Central Station. Alternatively you can travel to Glasgow Prestwick airport, an hour away by train. For drivers, there is ample parking in the multi-storey car park at the East End of the SECC. Leave the M8 at junction 19 and follow signs to the SECC. How do I register for tickets? Entry is free for food retailers and members of the trade, but you need to register online via www.scotlandsspecialityfoodshow.com

Newcomers and new launches Clash Farm Pedigree Saddlebacks

The Stranraerbased farm, which supplies meat to upmarket restaurants and hotels across Scotland, is launching an artisan retail range of salamis made from its free-range pedigree saddleback pigs. The four flavours red wine & fennel, hazelnut & tarragon, chorizo and salami a la piciniso. www.clashsaddlebacks.co.uk Spice Pots Launched in 2013 from founder Melanie Auld’s East Lothian kitchen, these little pots of spice aims to take the hassle out of making

an authentic, gluten-free curry quickly. Each 35-42g pot come with a recipe card and is available in Goan, Bhuna, Tandori Masala and Korma blends. www.spicepots.com S. Luca of Musselburgh Third generation ice-cream maker S.Luca of Musselburgh is targeting delis and wholesalers with its range of ice-creams and sorbet, including an artisan line of handlayered ice-creams. www.s-luca.co.uk Wild Fig Highlands-based catering company Wild Fig has launched into retail with three new products this year. Its Seville orange & malt whisky marmalade (a gold winner at the World Marmalade Awards) has been followed

by a salt caramel sauce and a tomato chutney with caskstrength Glengoyne whisky www. wildfigcatering.co.uk Yum Yum Bros Gourmet snacking company Yum Yums Bros will be showing its new wrapped Ndulge cookies, which are available in all butter, choc chip and stem ginger and comes as a pack of four for the grab-and-go market. It is also showing its new gluten-free Oh My Goodness! range of cereal bars.

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

41

Guild Retail Training dates 2016: Cheese

Cheese retail: it’s all in the detail Training is vital to retail success and will dramatically improve sales. Guild retail cheese training will help you to: • Enhance your understanding of the cheese making process • Understand the impact terrior has on cheese • Recognise the main families of cheese • Learn how to select, display, sell and care for cheese • Comparatively taste over 40 cheese types • Inspire customers with your knowledge, enthusiasm and passion for your cheese counter • Succeed and increase turnover Call 01747 825200 or email jilly.sitch@gff.co.uk

LEARN

BE INSPIRED

Feb 3 Mar 7/8 Apr 18 Apr 19

PLUS: Charcuterie Feb 22 Feb 29 Mar 1

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

Guild House, Dorset Guild House, Dorset London

Course fees Guild Member Offer: £75 plus 20% VAT Non-members: £100 plus 20% VAT

SUCCEED

SPONSORED BY

www.gff.co.uk |

Guild House, Dorset Exeter Birmingham Cardiff

@guildoffinefood

New Winter Warmers..

Two exciting

recipes have been added to the range of wholesome ready meals.

Savoury biscuits are our speciality. Our range includes multi award-winning products made using recipes passed down through the generations.

Simply cook from frozen & enjoy high quality, hearty food at home.

Beef Bourguignon

All made with the finest Ingredients & use Red Tractor meat.

For more information on ready meals & desserts, simply visit

Liver & Bacon

or call 01732 864344.

We're exhibiting at the Scotland Speciality Food Show Come & visit us at Stand M32

Stag Bakeries Ltd. 01851 702733 sales@stagbakeries.co.uk www.stagbakeries.co.uk

Seaweed Oatcakes

Seaweed Water Biscuits

Vol.16 Issue 10 路 November-December 2015

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Vol.16 Issue 10 路 November-December 2015

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retail equipment & services

Upkeep and upgrades MICHAEL LANE checks out the latest innovations and additions in retail display and software Packaging and display specialist WBC will soon be launching a 135-strong range of store signage and ticketing products that includes chalk and menu boards, table-top signs, plastic clips and antiquated hooks.

“76% of shoppers never speak to a sales assistant when shopping, which means that whatever you’re selling, your store signage and POS systems are critical to your success,” says WBC marketing director James Hayward. “Clearly communicating your message will encourage your customer to notice the products and special offers you want them to see. Don’t be tempted to leave your message to chance.” The Store Signage & Ticketing collection is available from the January 18 2016 but a core range is already available to order now. www.wbc.co.uk/retail-display

Bizerba has developed the world’s first fully automated, customer self-serve refill weighing scale for Unpackaged, a bulk re-fill concession at Planet Organic’s Muswell Hill store. Using a Bizerba XC 800 PC-based scale with 15” screen, the system allows customers to buy a varied range of loose products – from cereals and chocolate to wine and household cleaning products – using their own containers. All customers have to do is weigh the empty container on the scales, fill it with their desired quantity of product, weigh it, print off a label and pay at the till. www.bizerba.com Cambridge-based technology company Checkit has released the latest version of Work Management, the UK’s first cloud-based app running a food safety management system.

Developed in consultation with food enforcement officers, Checkit’s cloud-based Control Centre organises a schedule of checks and jobs to be carried out and assigns them to staff across both daily and weekly. Bespoke checks, processes or actions can be added to the system at any time and it also retains up-to-date records for when the environmental health officer comes calling. Businesses can subscribe to the service, which can be used across multiple sites, on a month-by-month basis with no upfront payments required. www.checkit.net

The latest retailer to install BCP’s EPoS solution, Accord Momentum, is Westmorland’s Gloucester Services on the M5. The cloud-based system is well-suited to the fast, omnichannel nature of the business and provides real time data to improve stock replenishment.

But, because it is cloud-based and data is stored remotely, the system affords retailers physical and financial flexibility.

The software is easily updateable and scalable while the cost of running the system is spread into a monthly subscription rather than upfront investment in servers. Even if the connection to the cloud servers fails, the system will continue to run independently and store data until it can reconnect. www.bcpsoftware.com

Packaging and retail display supplier Gadsby says it is seeing food retailers moving away from the “shabby chic” merchandising style. With demand shifting from old apple crates to a cleaner look, the Somerset-based business has released a new range of wooden tabletops and trestles in a beech wood finish.

The range currently features two sizes of tabletops and trestles in two different height but will be expanded over the coming months. Gadsby has also launched a display easel and large chalkboard in the same beech wood finish and added new wooden risers and boards to help complement these larger display options. The company’s metal buckets and tubs have proved so popular in 2015 that it will growing the range in the New Year. www.gadsby.co.uk Retailers can say goodbye to confusing, labour-intensive order tracking systems thanks to Lakeland Computers’ latest software package. The EPoS specialist says a lot of retailers across the UK and Ireland are still using outdated

duplicate books and spreadsheets to track orders and their fulfilment, particularly at Christmas time. But the new Order-It software cuts out the need for double entry of data and a single administrator. Order-It can be run on a laptop or

a dedicated touch screen behind the counter and allows counter staff to manage orders easily from start to finish. Lakeland Computers provides full support and training. www.lccs.co.uk

By the light of the iMoon When Dorset’s The Udder Farm Shop expanded earlier this year, it also took the opportunity to upgrade its lighting store-wide.

With a brief to reduce energy consumption and maintenance costs, iMoon Lighting (UK) was given the task of illuminating both the existing shop and an extension that houses the tills and a frozen food section supplied by COOK. To get the appropriate colour displays for Udder’s

fresh food sections, iMoon used its Venere Pro P track mounted LED fixtures.

It selected Venere 5650lm 2700k for the fruit & vegetable and bakery & deli areas while the shop’s butchery counter is lit by LEDs that are specially designed for lighting fresh meat.

To create contrast in the extension iMoon deployed its Kronos Recessed LED 32w 3700lm fixtures in soft touch white for general lighting with a mix of Recessed Venere Pro 50w 5850lm for the COOK section.

“This project was particulary satisfying,” says iMoon UK coowner Ron Coleman. “I knew from the start that we could really improve on the existing solution and save at least 50% in running costs with virtually no maintenance.” www.imoongroup.com

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

shelf talk

products, promotions & people

Union sheds purple bags to unveil user-friendly rebrand

January launch for Stag Bakeries’ new sub-brand

By MICHAEL LANE

coffee, information on its origins and advice on how best to brew it.”

All of the coffees in the rebranded range are sourced via Union’s flagship sourcing principle Union Direct Trade, which creates direct, long term partnerships with farmers to improve the quality of the coffee and the livelihoods of those growing it. www.unionroasted.com

Union’s new-look range features both single origin coffees and blends

By MICHAEL LANE

Union Hand-Roasted’s purple foil bags are no more after the coffee company unveiled new-look branding and packaging that wasrolled out from the beginning of November.

The East London-based roaster has relaunched its 14-strong range of blends and single origin Arabica coffees (see box) in brown paper bags with copper accents.

Designed to reflect the premium nature of Union’s coffee, each bag now features more information to inform consumers, including the roast profile, quality score and tasting notes.

As well as established coffees, like its signature Revelation espresso blend and the Great Taste three-star Yirgacheffe, the range also features

a newcomer from Colombia – the fruity, medium roast Timana.

The full range comes in 200g packs with RRPs ranging from £4.90 to £5.50.

Co-founder Jeremy Torz said Union wants encourage more consumers to make coffee at home, given the popularity of café culture on the high street.

He added that a recent study Union had conducted revealed some 80% of coffee drinkers only make instant at home.

“Much like wine, the world of speciality coffee can seem a little daunting to the uninitiated,” said Torz, “so to help consumers discover their favourite coffee blends or origins, we are including a simple guide in every pack highlighting the distinctive taste profile of each

what’s in the range?

Blends - House Blend (cafetiere ground) - Natural Spirit (cafetiere ground or wholebean) - Revelation (espresso ground or wholebean) - Bright Note (wholebean) - Decaf (cafetiere ground) Single Origins - Yirgacheffe, Ethiopia (cafetiere ground) - Maraba, Rwanda (cafetiere ground or wholebean) - Bobolink, Brazil (cafetiere ground) - Liberacion, Guatemala (cafetiere ground) - Timana, Colombia (cafetiere ground) - Gajah Mountain, Sumatra (wholebean)

Stag Bakeries is set to launch a range of sweet straws as the first lines in a new sub-brand, known as West Coast, that will be available to retailers from January.

The Stornoway-based familyowned bakery said West Coast would allow it to experiment with “contemporary twists” that wouldn’t fit under its main brand.

The four-strong line-up of buttery, hand-baked straws – apple & cinnamon, blackberry & basil, raspberry & chocolate and sour cherry & vanilla – can be served with ice cream or yoghurt or enjoyed on their own. All four varieties come in 80g boxes with an RRP of £2.30.

Stag Bakeries owner Charlie Macdonald said the name was inspired by the company’s location on the west coast of Scotland.

“West Coast will provide us with the flexibility to launch products that are completely different to our Stag brand,” he said. “The opportunities are endless in terms of innovative product development and contemporary packaging. The only cross-over with Stag will be that both brands are committed to providing an exceptional quality bakery range.” www.stagbakeries.co.uk

Fresh Olive takes Belazu name company-wide

By MICHAEL LANE

SWEET & SMOKY: The latest product to receive a traditional Scottish smoking is demerara sugar. Cold smoked using a blend of hardwoods, Smoky Brae’s sugar is the first in a range of foods that the start-up smokehouse plans to release. Its creator Graham Johnston began developing the sugar to use in BBQ sauces but he says it has a range of uses, from baking through to cocktail-making.

It is available to buy direct in 235g tins and 700g bags (RRPs £5.99 and £13.50 respectively). www.smokybrae.com

After 25 years in business, The Fresh Olive Company has decided to change its name to the Belazu Ingredient Company to better reflect the range of products it offers.

The wholesaler has used the Belazu brand on a number of lines in its retail range but will apply its new name across its line-up of foodservice and retail products.

The business said it actually sells more antipasti, pestos, pastes, balsamics and olive oils than it does fresh olives.

The Belazu name is a combination of the French ‘Bel Azur’ and Italian ‘Bello Azzurro’ (both translate as ‘beautiful blue’) and was created to evoke imagery of the Mediterranean region where the wholesaler sources the majority of its products.

As well as the branding overhaul, the company has also launched a number of new lines to sit alongside its core offering.

The new harvest range features

Belazu Ingredient Company livery will appear on all the wholesaler’s products

Nocellara olives, pomegranate molasses and verbena harissa as well as zahter, a preserved Turkish herb similar to wild thyme. It will also be

selling two wheat grains: siyez, which is billed as “the world’s most ancient grain”, and freekeh. www.belazu.com

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

47

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

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shelf talk

Looking for suppliers accredited by the Guild of Fine Food?

Follow the logo

CHEF’S SELECTION

Top chefs tell CLARE HARGREAVES their deli essentials

Poetic License to fly craft distilling flag in North East

By MICHAEL LANE

A new small batch craft distillery in the North East has launched with two gins and a vodka that it is pitching to both independent retailers and the on-trade.

A sister business of Sonnet 43 brewery, Poetic License has developed the recipes for Northern Dry Gin (43.2% ABV), Old Tom Gin (41.6%) and Graceful Vodka (40.4%) in its 500-litre pot still, Gracie, situated in full view of customers at its own distillery bar.

Billed as “the gin drinker’s choice”, the Northern Dry has been crafted to suit cocktail-making – with a “big punch” of juniper among its botanical mix.

The oak-aged rose-tinted Old

Tom is based on a style of gin from the mid-1800s and is better suited to subtler accompaniments.

The vodka is created entirely from British wheat and is distilled seven times for a smoothness that means it can be served neat or with a mixer over ice.

Both gins have already achieved success at the Gin of the Year Awards, staged at the Craft Distilling Expo in October.

All three spirits will be available in 70cl and 20cl bottles, as well as a presentation pack of 3x20cl.

The distillery plans to broaden its range with a dark rum, a white rum and an absinthe, as well as limited edition flavoured gins and vodkas. www.poeticlicensedistillery.co.uk

Matt Weedon Chef-owner, The Lamb at Crawley, near Witney, Oxfordshire www.lambcrawley.co.uk

Before taking over The Lamb, Matt Weedon was executive chef at Lords of the Manor in Upper Slaughter in the Cotswolds, where he earned a Michelin star after just a year in the job. Previous to that he ran the kitchen at Glenapp Castle in Scotland, where he also won a star. He’s also worked at L’Ortolan in Reading, Seaham Hall in Durham and Hambleton Hall in Rutland.

Ue coffee www.uecoffeeroasters.com

This is the UK’s first and only wood-powered artisan coffee roaster. The wood gives the coffee a lovely rounded flavour. I discovered them when I was head chef at Lords of the Manor. They were close by then but now they’re even closer and we feel exceedingly lucky to have them on our doorstep. The guys who run it take care over every stage of the journey from bush to cup, and only select beans that are ethically and sustainably cultivated.

Cacklebean eggs www.cacklebean.com

The people who produce these amazing free-range eggs at Cackleberry Farm in the Cotswolds came to see us when I worked at Lords of the Manor. I told them their eggs were too expensive – but bought them anyway. The orange-saffron yolks have liquid around them, which is a sign of freshness. They get their yellowness as a result of the hens – all Arlington Whites – being fed a higher ratio of maize.

We use the eggs in sponges and in hollandaise sauce.

GETTING PICKLED: Littlewindsor has launched pickled quail eggs in two jar sizes. Known for its fresh eggs, the Dorset-based producer has developed a special recipe vinegar using herbs and spices to create a “sharp but delicate” flavour. The eggs, available direct in cases of 18x100g jars (£36) and 9x190g jars (£27), work well on a ploughman’s or as a snack. www.littlewindsor.com

Blakemore adds British beers, ciders and spirits catalogue

By MICHAEL LANE

Blakemore Fine Foods is targeting the growing interest in British beer, cider and spirits, by launching a catalogue that features more than 400 drinks sourced from across the UK. Over 80 British distilleries, cider mills and breweries will be listed in the distributor’s new brochure, which will be circulated to 1,500 retailers and independent pubs. Key lines will

also be sold into SPAR stores and the Blakemore Wholesale cash & carry estate.

“Our catalogue reflects the latest trends by showcasing traditional long-established producers such as Yorkshire’s oldest brewery, Samuel Smith, right through to relative newcomers such as Tiny Rebel, creators of Cwtch, which was recently awarded the title of Britain’s Best Beer

by CAMRA,” said Fine Foods trading controller Patrice Garrigues.

The range of spirits on offer will include Penderyn Welsh Malt Whisky, Two Birds Absinthe, Chase Marmalade Vodka and Southwestern Distillery’s Cornish Pastis.

The full range can be ordered online or over the phone with a minimum order value of just £150.

Kelmscott Country Pork chorizo www.kelmscottcountrypork.co.uk

I discovered Christopher Maughan, the man behind Kelmscott Country Pork, when I was at Lords of the Manor, too. His pigs are transformed into a range of products – from prosciutto and Italian-style smoked ham to salami and chorizo – by local charcutier Native Breeds. I use the salami and chorizo on my charcuterie board and I also buy black pudding and sausages from Christopher.

Butts Farm meats www.buttsfarmrarebreeds.co.uk

Butts Farm rear all their rare breed animals on site, whether its cattle, sheep, pigs, goats or poultry. Their meat is consistently good as the animals have been reared and hung properly for maximum flavour and tenderness.

We take their sirloin of beef for Sunday lunch, and we also use their wood pigeon, wild boar and game. When we use their meat we know we won’t get complaints.

Ampersand Cultured Butter www.butterculture.bigcartel.com

Grant Harrington used to work as a chef at Magnus Nilsson’s Faviken in Sweden, as well as with Gordon Ramsay, and now has a workshop on a farm near here. He takes local Jersey milk and handcrafts it into butter using Scandinavian techniques. It’s made with a culture so it’s slightly acidic. It’s far too good for cooking, so we just put it on the tables for people to enjoy with our freshly baked bread.

www.afblakemore.com/fine-foods

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

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shelf talk

Looking for suppliers accredited by the Guild of Fine Food?

Follow the logo

what’s new

Matcha yoghurt

Gluten-free granola

www.coyo.co.uk

TRINCA

With the popularity of matcha showing no sign of abating, coconut milk yoghurt brand Co Yo has created a new variant made with green tea powder sourced from Eat Clean Tea. Available in 125g pots (RRP £1.99), the yoghurt is described

CO YO

www.trinca.tictail.com

This granola producer has gone fully gluten-free, after partnering with the Portuguese Coeliac Association earlier this year. The business, which was set up by a Portuguese shoe designer, is looking for a UK distributor for its four-strong range, which includes goji berry & almond, cranberry & coconut, fig & walnut and ginger, lemon & apricot granolas (RRP £7.99£8.99).

Healthy snack bars SQUIRREL SISTERS www.squirrelsisters.com

Health and wellness bloggers Sophie and Grace Tyrell, aka Squirrel Sisters, have launched a range of gluten-free, vegan- and paleo-friendly date, cashew and dried fruit bars. Already listed in Planet Organic, the three flavours are cacao brownie, raspberry

the brown and white rice are available in cases of 10x500g (RRP 2.49 per unit).

Jerk pork crackling CLAUDIA’S KITCHEN

shelf life due to better packaging.

The five-strong range comprises apple, pear & kiwi, orange & melon, pineapple & mango and apple & plum, which are all available at a new reduced RRP of £1.10.

www.claudias-kitchen.co.uk

A former chef and caterer has launched a Jamaican twist on a British classic – a jerk flavoured pork crackling.

Black Country-based Claudia’s Kitchen rolled out Mr Jamaican Jerk Pork Crackling in 50g packs and 35g tubs (trade prices £1.30 and £1.20 respectively) at the Birmingham Millennium Point Independent Food Fair in September.

Updated labels ANILA’S www.anilassauces.com

Small batch curry sauce, chutney and pickle producer Anila’s has revamped its labelling in line with new legislation. The company, which is established across the independent retail market, has a 14-strong range of accompaniments and nine sauces that is one of the few curry sauces to be free from onion and garlic, as well as from added sugar, dairy, and gluten.

This makes it particularly suitable

as “the ultimate healthy powerhouse in a yoghurt pot”.

Chilli sauce SOUTH DEVON CHILLI FARM www.southdevonchillifarm.co.uk

The farm has added a new medium heat Cherry Bomb chilli sauce to its range. It says the small and fleshy Cherry Bomb chillies, which it has sold fresh for the

New look and price OLIVE BRANCH www.myolivebranch.co.uk

ripple and coconut cashew.

Each pack (RRP £2.49) contains 2x20g portions, which clock in at around 90 calories each.

Greek food specialist Olive Branch has revamped the packaging of its mezze range – featuring red pepper, aubergine & basil and sundried tomato pastes – after feedback from retailers. Designed to be more eye-catching, the new labels now highlight the provenance of the ingredients in each jar. Given the popularity of the range, which contains no added sugar, Olive Branch has scaled up production and is passing on the cost benefits. Cases of 6 units now cost £11.94.

Rice from Malawi JTS www.jts.co.uk

An African rice brand developed as a sustainable project to promote eco-friendly farming practises in Malawi has been launched by Scotland-based ethical food distributor JTS. The aromatic long-grain Kilombero Rice, which is grown by smallholder farmers in Malawi using traditional farming techniques, won a Great Taste one-star award this year. Both

Range relaunched NIM’S FRUIT CRISPS www.nimsfruitcrisps.com

Nim’s Fruit Crisps has relaunched its range of healthy air-dried fruit snacks after moving production to the UK. The producer says the range is now fresher, crispier and has a longer

for low FODMAP (Fermentable Oligosaccharides, Disaccharides, Monosaccharides and Polyols) diets.

Available to the trade in packs of 6 (RRP £4.50).

Canadian maple syrup PURE MAPLE / SAMWAYS

last decade, make for a fruity yet versatile sauce. It comes in 100ml bottles (trade £2.68, RRP £3.95).

www.samways.uk.com

Samways Fine Food Distribution has teamed up with Pure Maple to distribute its 100% Canadian maple syrup throughout the UK from November. The Grade A syrup is manually tapped by a co-operative of producers in south east Quebec.

Packaged in glass bottles, the range consists of three flavour profiles: delicate, amber and dark robust.

Two teas HAMPSTEAD TEA www.hampsteadtea.com

The tea brand has revamped its range of bio-dynamic, organic and Fairtrade teas with new “clean and clear” labels and the addition of two hot teas. It is claiming its Cocoa Green, a blend of Darjeeling green tea and equatorial cocoa, as a UK first while the Strong English Breakfast offers a robust blend of Assam and East African teas.

Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

51

shelf talk

Build it and they will come On the back of a pick-your-own boom, Craigie’s Farm Deli & Café is doubling in size for a second time in under a decade. FFD visits with construction in full swing.

John Sinclair has grown Craigie’s from a farm gate shop into a £2m retail operation in less than a decade

Deli of the Month INTERVIEW BY MICHAEL LANE

H

aving been forewarned about the ongoing construction work, I was braced for a bit of disorder during my visit to Craigie’s but I still expected it to be relatively peaceful compared to nearby Edinburgh.

But when I arrive at the farm shop – perched on a hill on the Dalmeny Estate overlooking the Firth of Forth

52

and the Pentlands – it seems to be even busier than Scotland’s capital.

The car park is heaving, the frontage is blocked off by construction hoardings and machinery, and the parts of the site that aren’t closed off are overrun with young families making the most of the final days of half term.

Standing head and shoulders above the throng, owner John Sinclair greets me cheerfully as some hammering starts up on the other side of a temporary chipboard wall in the shop. Away from the shopfloor in the Portakabin that serves as his office, Sinclair’s smile has not diminished.

And why should it?

Craigie’s farm shop, café and

November-December 2015 · Vol.16 Issue 10

pick-your-own operation is “knocking on the door” of £2m annual turnover, he says, and this latest round of expansion work will see it nearly double its floor space, increasing both the retail area and the number of covers. The site employs 30 people and this rises to 60 in the peak summer months.

Even though the shop’s main entrance was closed off last week in preparation for part of the extension, which is being installed during my visit, takings have not suffered at all. The live construction site has even been an added attraction for customers, particularly Craigie’s younger visitors who have been peering through the

fences at the diggers. Sinclair tells FFD that the shop has done a roaring trade in children’s hard hats, too.

He has tried to put this kind of positive spin on every aspect of the project, whether it’s motivating staff to embrace the challenge of everchanging till locations or the large sign at the entrance which shows the construction plan in full.

“The first draft of the sign came back and it was all ‘Sorry about this’ and ‘Apologies for the inconvenience’,” says Sinclair. “I said, ‘No, we’re not wanting to make an apology at all’.

“It’s an exciting time. Ok, there might be a little bit of pain for a while but this is what we’re going to get at the end of it.”

This is the second time Craigie’s has doubled in size in the last eight years but the Sinclair family has been a tenant on West Craigie Farm for half a century. John’s father inherited a dairy farm but switched to growing soft fruit in the ‘70s when pasteurisation laws came in. He then introduced pick-your-own during tough times in the ‘80s. When John took over in the mid ‘90s, he added polytunnels to extend the growing season and cater to the supermarkets’ evolving demand for year-round produce while his wife, Kirsteen, was selling a range of jams and chutneys made with the excess fruit at farmers’ markets.

There was also an informal shop in a small outbuilding at the back door of the farmhouse. “If we were there the customer got served, if not it was tough luck,” says Sinclair.

Given the level of consumer interest in the farm’s preserves, and with the blessing of their landlords on the Dalmeny Estate, the Sinclairs built the first version of the farm shop and café in 2007 and were “queued out the door” shortly after opening, with turnover rocketing from £150,000 to £600,000 in its first year of trading.

Thanks to 50% grant funding, they added a deli counter, a butchery concession run by local farmer Steven Mitchell and more café space in 2009.

Currently there’s some 200 sq m of floor space but that will soon be 380 sq m when the building work is finished. The latest expansion will also afford Craigie’s more capacity for its in-house production team that turns out all manner of baked goods, snacks and ready meals to be sold on the deli and from the café servery.

While what’s indoors becomes more and more of an attraction, the surrounding fields have also played their part in Craigie’s rise and they have become even more important in the last couple of years.

The snowy winter of 2010-11 wreaked havoc and caused some £200,000 worth of uninsurable losses.

Even though he was offered a loan to get back up and running in time for supplying the multiples the following

products, promotions & people year, Sinclair decided that the evertightening margins weren’t adding up anymore and declined the financial help.

Free from the supermarkets’ demands, Sinclair diversified from 90% strawberries to 60% and supplemented it with a wider range of fruit, including cherries, raspberries and the apples that Cragie’s now uses in its own freshly pressed juice.

He says the growth in the pickyour-own business has been massive since these new fruits came “onstream”, adding that mothballed polytunnels are being revived to cope with demand. While it accounts for a healthy £300,000 of annual turnover, the true value of Craigie’s pick-yourown can be measured in footfall.

In July 2014, Craigie’s had 18,000 customers, this year that number was 30,000.

“Ten months of the year, our core customers come from a six-mile radius,” he says. “In the summer, we’ll have customers coming 100 miles to us because, in The Central Belt, we’re probably the only pick-your-own farm left now.”

That said, the concept is only attractive because Craigie’s has modernised it.

“Twenty years ago, people used to go out to pick fruit for making jam or to put in the freezer but now it’s a leisure activity,” says Sinclair. “Come

Twenty years ago, ❛people used to go out

to pick fruit for making jam but now it’s a leisure activity

❜

out with the family for a day in the countryside, nibble a few strawberries, come out of the field with these big baskets of them and say ‘Oh, what am I going to do with these?’”

During the peak months, Craigie’s runs jam-making classes to offer an experience for visitors that also includes a number of free activities (playground, nature trails and farm animal exhibits) and, at very least, a browse of the shop and something to eat or drink in the café.

The formula is clearly working.

Once you subtract the fruit, the remainder of turnover is divided 40:60 between the café and the shop.

Sinclair estimates this will be an even

split once more covers are added, although he has no plans to switch to full table service any time soon.

Like its fellow departments, the shop has a strong focus on showcasing Craigie’s own capabilities, from salads and pies in the deli counter to a display of the 40 preserves and vinegars it makes in its dedicated jam kitchen. More than half of its lines are prepared in-house and 85% of all stock is Scottish.

“The main sourcing policy is ‘Can we do it ourselves?’,” says Sinclair. “If we can’t, what’s the best product that we can get closest to us? If there’s a product that’s down the road but we feel it’s not up to the standards that we’d want then we would go to the next nearest.”

The majority of bought-in stock comes via speciality distributor The Cress Co, whose HQ is just across the Forth Bridge, while the entirely Scottish cheese selection comes from Tanny Gill and Clarks in Edinburgh. There is not one Continental product in the counter or on the shelves. Even the charcuterie comes from north of the border (Great Glen Charcuterie and Peelham Farm). Sinclair says there are very few gaps that Scotland cannot fill, although he is still lamenting the liquidation of Clyde Valley Tomatoes in 2015; that spot has been ably filled by Isle of Wight Tomatoes.

Craigie’s dedication to local food extends to taking on and mentoring small start-ups, particularly with packaging and routes into the retail market. Sinclair is so keen to see Scottish producers succeed that he isn’t even upset that they might

[lunchtime], the two groups kind of graduate to bigger retailers. put up with each other,” says Sinclair.

“You’re almost holding their hand “Weekends, you get more noisy kids a little bit at first, then you see that so less older clients.” product really taking off and next “We get a lot of our regular older they’re getting signed up by Waitrose customers that we won’t see from or Whole Foods,” he says. “That’s the end of June until the middle of cool.”

August.”

“I see farm shops as the stepping Keen to keep his older clientele stone for these businesses to develop happy and having witnessed the and if they want go on to increase effects of similar ideas, Sinclair production, farm shops are never really abandoned his original vision for going to satisfy their demand.” the latest extension that would have The concept of local food is still added a play barn. misunderstood, say Sinclair, adding Once the extension is complete, that a lot of consumers still confuse Sinclair knows that he will have to it with organic. He says there is solve this issue in the long term. He is also a lack of understanding about even pondering if a second site might pricing compared to that of the be the answer but, for now, that supermarkets, citing a recent critic on remains a theory.

Facebook grumbling about the price Given how he copes with the of pumpkins – Asda’s are £1, Craigie’s current iteration of Craigie’s being in are £3.50. such a state of flux, you can imagine “If someone thinks they’re Sinclair conquering the mechanics of going to start off a farm shop to running two locations side-by-side. compete with supermarkets, then It’s not out of the question, then, that they’re just not going to last,” says we’ll see it double for a third time.

Sinclair, returning to his business’s core philosophy of offering a day out www.craigies.co.uk for the family that includes picking your own AFÉ ’S pumpkin from the field, RM DELI & C CRAIGIE’S FA “which you can’t do in KS MUST-STOC Asda”. n fruit Pick-your-ow While young families emade fruit are a major contributor Craigie’s hom scones to sales, Sinclair estimates tomatoes that they only account for Isle of Wight for around 50% of the berry jam Craigie’s rasp customer base. The shop’s gin in rhubarb other key demographic Edinburgh G g are what he calls “retired Black Puddin Stornoway professionals”. sh tablet ti ot Pantry Sc “The two groups don’t Ochil Fudge mix all that well together,” cheddar Isle of Mull sic Mac he says with a chuckle.

Egg Co Clas ade Scotch The Handm “And that’s been one of our ddings Country Pu pudding biggest challenges.” ee ff to sticky Part of the extension barnyard Cookielicious project will see new seating s ie animal cook areas created – some dressed ple juice Craigie’s ap up for kids, others decorated tcakes more boringly to discourage Adamsons oa families from sitting in them – cheese in an effort to solve the culture Arran Blue oil clash when both groups want vest rapeseed Summer Har to visit.

“This time of the day Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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Vol.16 Issue 10 · November-December 2015

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November-December 2015 路 Vol.16 Issue 10

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