Jersey Food - Taste the Real Jersey

y e s er J l a e Taste the R

jerseyfood

MEET SOME OF JERSEY’S VERY BEST FOODIE PEOPLE GENUINE JERSEY PRODUCE DISCOVER OUR BEAUTIFUL ISLAND DELICIOUSLY EASY TO GET TO

Grown here, not flown here The finest new potatoes, seafood, dairy produce and much, much more

Welcome…

Now in its third year, the Jersey Food Festival, which takes place from 18th to 26th May, aims to showcase and celebrate the very best of local produce and talent.

This week-long event is all about ‘foodie adventures’ and we invite you to enjoy a different experience every day throughout the festival. Go on a low water forage – Jersey has one of the largest tidal flows in the world and the Island nearly doubles in size each day – discover country farm shops, viviers full of locally caught lobster; engage with our wonderful local producers, feast on Michelin starred cuisine and come face to face with the Island’s most beautiful resident – the Jersey cow!

2013 sees the 250th anniversary of this wonderful breed and festival goers can visit local farms and Jersey Dairy to find out more.

Appreciate the care taken with the harvesting of our famous Jersey Royal potatoes and visit oyster, mussel and ormer farms.

The festival is launched in the ‘Jewels of St Helier’, the wonderful Victorian fish, fruit and vegetable markets. Watch stall holders demonstrate the art of cake decorating, baking bread and patisserie, learn how to dress freshly caught crab, shuck an oyster and fillet a fish. Savour food and theatre on the street and delight in the ambience of these local institutions – largely unchanged by time.

Editorial: Paula Thelwell, Donna Le Marrec, Arthur Lamy, The Atlantic Hotel, Jersey Dairy and The Boat House Group Photography: Gary Grimshaw at Photo Reportage Design & Production: The Idea Works

Jersey Food Festival 2013

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

A Right Royal Crop The Jersey Royal potato is the only fresh vegetable grown in the British Isles to boast an EU Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status.

This distinction ranks the Island’s premier crop alongside Champagne, Camembert and Parma ham on the scale of national culinary origins, character, heritage and cultural significance.

The Jersey Royal attracts this level of protection because of the unique way it is grown, cultivated and harvested, while the PDO ensures that only Royals grown in Jersey can be called ‘Jersey Royal’.

The Jersey Royal Company is the largest grower and exporter of Jersey Royal new potatoes to the UK market. At the peak of the season the company employs over 550 people and grows more than 1,800 hectares of Jersey Royals, producing approximately 25,000 tons annually.

At the peak of the season in May, up to 1,500 tonnes can be exported daily.

Jersey Royals have been grown in the Island for more than 130 years and have long been a firm favourite with UK consumers for their very special taste. This unique flavour is the result of perfect growing conditions – well-drained fertile soil and mild climate – and growing practices, such as using seaweed as a fertilizer, perfected by generations of local farming families passionate about the crop.

The early outdoor crop, which is dug from April, is grown in ‘côtils’ – small sloping fields near the coast or sheltered inland, which are so steep they have to be worked by hand.

Each year the Genuine Jersey Products Association organises potato growing competitions involving primary schools, parish Constables and the media.

In 2012, more than 6,000 children took part.

Judging takes place as part of the Jersey Food Festival.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Jersey Seafood The Jersey fishery is a diverse and active industry. Local fishermen work all year round to bring many varieties of seafood to our menus and markets. This is a guide to the fish and shellfish they land and the time of the year they are available in local waters. Some 1,200 tonnes of shellfish are caught locally every year.

The European lobster is available in Jersey waters all year round and is not commercially farmed. In July, for three to four weeks, there is a poor meat to shell ratio as the animal moults to give 30% space for new growth.

Shellfish King and Queen scallops are the significant variety in Channel Islands’ waters.

They are available all year round with the best quality scallops being diver caught.

Spider crabs are migratory. They can be caught between April and December but are subject to a partial closure, or restriction, in September and October.

Brown or chancre crabs are readily available all year round – there are no restrictions on landing them.

Oysters, ormers, mussels and turbot are farmed locally in containers or on the seabed of the inter-tidal reefs off the east and south-east coasts.

Whelks are in good local supply.

Fish There is no local cod and there are very few plaice caught locally. Brill, turbot and sole are available all year round. Dog fish and rock salmon are available all year round. Rays are available from September to February. Skate ray are fished mostly in the winter but are available throughout the year. Coley and pouting are found in winter but are not local fish.

The Jersey Cow

& Jersey Dairy

The Jersey is predominantly fawn in colour, although they can range from almost pure mulberry (black) to broken coloured, including patches of white. Its most distinctive features are a black nose with a mealy white band round it, the traditional dished face, refined bone and graceful beauty.

Today there are just under 3,000 Jersey cows in the Island Herd, spread over 24 individual herds.

Images © Richard Close

The ‘Jersey’ breed of dairy cow originates from the Island and is quite distinct from all other breeds.

Renowned for its beauty, ease of management and natural ability to produce rich creamy milk, the Jersey cow is a product of the Island, its soil and climate, the people and their history.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Jersey’s Latest Culinary Star A chef who won his first Michelin Star at the tender age of 24 has moved to Jersey to head the kitchens at one of the Island’s finest dining establishments.

Stephen Smith joined Bohemia in January, bringing with him a wealth of culinary experience that includes working under legendary Jean-Christophe Novelli. He also worked at the two Michelin Star Heathcote’s Restaurant, with Paul Heathcote, before moving on to becoming a Michelin Starred head chef in his own right at the Gordleton Mill in Hampshire.

In addition to Michelin Stars, Stephen’s talents were recognised when he spent two years working as head chef in one of Australia’s most celebrated restaurants, The Restaurant, in Melbourne, where he achieved two ‘Hats’ (the Australian equivalent of a Michelin Star). During his spell there The Restaurant won the American Express Australian Restaurant of the Year title.

Lawrence Huggler, owner of Bohemia and The Club Hotel and Spa said: “We are thrilled to welcome Stephen to Jersey and Bohemia, having been lucky enough to sample his amazing food with constantly evolving and changing menus. Having had a chance to talk to him and understand his approach to food we are very excited about this new chapter for Bohemia.”

Situated on the ground floor of The Club Hotel and Spa, in St Helier’s Green Street, Bohemia Bar and Restaurant is ideally located in the town. With its chic surroundings and vibrant bar, Bohemia oozes style making it a popular venue for locals and visitors and a must for all who enjoy fine dining. And with an exclusive chef’s table in the kitchen – providing a first-hand ‘behind the scenes’ experience – guests can be wowed by an incredible gastronomic treat.

Stephen’s impressive CV, covering more than 20 years as he climbed his way ever higher up the ladder, includes time spent at renowned restaurants such as Quaglinos and Rhodes in the Square in London and at The Burlington at The Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel and Spa in Yorkshire.

Having visited the Island three times before his big move, Stephen met local producers and suppliers to get a real understanding of the fantastic produce the Island offers. He said: “I am really excited about immersing myself in the fantastic local produce Jersey has on offer and bringing my own personal style and menu design to Bohemia and Jersey.”

Images © Bohemia

In an Island blessed with so many fine dining opportunities in such a relatively small area, the arrival of such an internationally renowned and talented chef has placed the fooderati circle on high alert.

Jersey Food Festival 2013

The jewels in St Helier’s crown This year’s Jersey Food Festival celebrates the diversity and evergreen appeal of St Helier’s covered markets, today’s examples of the public markets which have played an integral part of Island life since the late 16th century.

The two town markets are as much the hive of activity they have always been, populated by a changing cast of characters over time, who all know each other and their regular customers.

One thing that never changes, even in the winter when the cold east wind blows into every nook and cranny, is the constant exchange of friendly banter typical of markets the world over.

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The Central Market Jersey is fortunate to have retained its beautiful Victorian market when so many throughout the British Isles have been lost since the end of the Second World War. There has been a market in Halkett Place since 1803 when it moved from the Royal Square.

The current superb example of Victoriana opened its gates in 1883. It covers an area of 33,600 square feet, enclosed within railings set in gabled granite arches with seven gated entrances.

Thirty-seven cast iron pillars topped with coats-of-arms set in ornamental struts support the octagonal glazed roof.

This much-loved local institution is home to 45 tenanted stalls

Simon’s Greengrocer Market trader Angela Osborn’s fantastic selection of fresh fruit and vegetables is sourced from local producers and London’s famous Covent Garden. Her stall is the only place in the market where you can buy Jersey grower Joe Freire’s soft fruit and asparagus, usually the first of the British crop, all delivered fresh-picked from his farm in St Lawrence daily throughout the seasons. Angela and her team enjoy being part of the close-knit market community as much as she does advising her customers on what produce to buy, how to keep it in peak condition and what recipes it can be used in.

and attracts many visitors as well as a busy local trade, six days a week, with everything from fresh meat, vegetables, flowers and fruit to clothing and footwear; sandwiches, cakes and bread to jewellery, knitting wool and the Island’s Trading Standards office.

The focal point is the original unique and extraordinary fountain, cast at the Glasgow Sun Works foundry of Geo Smith and shipped to the Island. Standing 15 feet high, it has three tiers cascading into a deep pool below, with delightful cherubic figures leaning on water-jars, ready to disturb the goldfish with their paddles. Over the years Islanders have become accustomed to tossing a coin into the water from where the money is gathered up in aid of local charities.

Central Market Traders Leonidis Chocolate is as synonymous with Belgium as Hercule Poirot

The Spice House This little shop, packed with 100 dried herbs and spices, is the perfect accompaniment to the other stalls, adding so much variety and ‘spice’ to market life. It is also the place in the market to buy Genuine Jersey products including those from the Jersey Dairy and La Mare Wine Estates. Proprietor Tracy Crowley says people are literally drawn in by the wonderful aroma of the products from exotic locations such as Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Grenada. As Tracy says, when you shop in the market, there is a much wider choice and variety of products than can be found in a supermarket.

Pure Charity At the centre of the Central Market is a coffee shop and café

and the most famous Belgian chocolate maker of all can be found

with a reputation for great cup cakes and for having a big heart.

in the Central Market. Leonidas is a world-renowned luxury

Founded by Islander Antonia Cook it is a purely charitable venture,

chocolate maker, selling over 100 different kinds of chocolates,

run by two full-time staff and a team of dedicated volunteers,

through 1,400 shops worldwide – including the local one run by

which donates its net profits to charity. Since it was opened four

Ronnie and Robert McAllister of Chocolate Express. Leonidas

years ago, Pure Charity has raised more than £100,000 for charity

chocolates are popular with Islanders and visitors. Ronnie said the

including Jersey Hospice Care, CLIC Sargent, Teenage Cancer Trust,

same people keep coming back for their favourites and as treats for special occasions. The chocolates may be Belgian but they are very much part and parcel of Island life.

Vienna Bakery Vienna Bakery is Jersey’s traditional craft bakery and a family-run business where the age-old traditional skills of the master baker are combined with the techniques of a modern European bakery.

Their philosophy is simple: use only the best ingredients and allow all the time it takes to make fabulous, fresh bread. The shop in the market is the place in St Helier to buy the freshest local bakery products including traditional English and Viennoiserie, traditional

the Island’s Mont à l’Abbé School and the local Ecce Homo Trust which works with underprivileged children in Romania.

Delicado This classic Italian market stall was a long established feature of the market before chef Orlando Gouveia took it over seven years ago.

Like many members of the Island’s Madeiran community, Orlando came to Jersey to work when he was young and made the Island his home. As well as stocking everything you’d expect of an Italian deli, he sells English and French cheeses and charcuterie and hot

Jersey specialities – cabbage loaf, crumb roll, Jersey wonders –

food at lunchtime – including fresh pasta dishes – made on the

des mèrvelles – and specialities from Ireland, Italy, Poland,

premises. If you can’t find Delicado just follow the enticing smell

Portugal and around the world.

of garlic as Orlando’s staff cook throughout the morning.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Beresford Market - The ‘Fish Market’ The Beresford Market, a short walk away, is affectionately known as ‘The Fish Market’.

A market has stood here since 1841, the current is the result of a refurbishment in 1972, and covers 10,000 square feet. It is a feast for the eyes as well as the table with fresh local seafood – and other imported varieties – a delicatessen, a handy fishing tackle shop for those who like to catch their own, and three cafés.

Fish Market Traders Faulkner Fisheries Fishermen don’t get more local than Sean Faulkner. St Ouennais to the core he has lived all his life at L’Etacq and today has just a two-minute walk to his vivier, shop, summertime al fresco restaurant and office with the best view in Jersey – over the seemingly endless sands of St Ouen’s Bay. If you can’t make it out west, then there is always his stall in the Fish Market. As a proud Jerseyman he is delighted to be part of the long tradition of market trading in the town, selling fresh local and imported seafood to Islanders and the many visitors.

Relish Florian de Poray, the proprietor of the multiaward-winning delicatessen in the Fish Market, has not just built a reputation for bringing high end products to Jersey. In 2011 he was named as the best provider of customer service in the Jersey Chamber of Commerce Customer Service Awards.

Apart from the downside of market trading in the winter when the chill east wind blows through, he is a big fan of the markets. “There are always tourists and new people coming to Jersey who are amazed at how fantastic the markets are and at the choice and diversity that we have in them,” he said.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

GENUINE JERSEY

look for THE MARK

BEFORE YOU BUY Jersey is famous worldwide for its own breed of cow and superior quality milk and the prized Jersey Royal, but the Island can also be proud of an abundance of fresh, seasonal produce and a variety of skilled craftsmen and artists who create a range of excellent products.

glassware and artworks. Genuine Jersey produce and products can be bought in the main shopping centre in St Helier and outlets Islandwide - including, galleries, studios, tourist attractions and heritage sites, farm shops and markets and sampled in restaurants, pubs, cafĂŠs and from ice cream stalls.

If you want to enjoy the best of what Jersey has to offer during your stay, or take home a truly local memento of your visit, then look for the Genuine Jersey mark - the guarantee of local provenance.

Genuine Jersey was launched in 2001 to promote the diversity and quality of local produce and products. Since the Association started it has attracted a loyal and enthusiastic membership. While some members ensure the survival of Jersey’s heritage and traditions others are at the forefront of introducing pioneering farming methods, new crops or exploring previously untapped international markets.

Products and produce carrying this distinctive mark have been reared, grown and caught in Jersey or created by accredited Islanders and local businesses who qualify to be members of the Genuine Jersey Association.

Products carrying the distinctive red Genuine Jersey mark include dairy goods, fruit and vegetables, herbs and salads, meat and poultry, fish and shellfish, pottery, wines, spirits and beers, jewellery, needlework, decorative stonework, wooden artefacts,

Today the Genuine Jersey mark is seen as a byword for the best the Island has to offer.

Look for it before you buy.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Jersey’s Food Heroes The Island of Jersey has been championing the benefits of supporting local producers, products and produce long before ‘buying local’ became a popular movement.

If you want to enjoy the best of what Jersey’s food heroes have to offer then look for the Genuine Jersey mark – the guarantee of local provenance. Goods carrying this distinctive mark have been reared, grown or caught in Jersey or created by accredited Islanders and local businesses who qualify to be members of the Genuine Jersey Products Association.

Not only is produce at its best and healthier when eaten fresh, straight from the fork to the plate, it also reduces food miles. So, by producing more of its own needs an island community can reduce its carbon footprint and boost the economy by keeping the local pound in circulation.

Richard Matlock – La Robeline Cider Company

Jenni Riggall – Field Farm

The key players in this equation are local producers, and Jersey is fortunate to have a great many more than in communities of comparable size elsewhere. The growth of convenience food and supermarket shopping may have made life easier for the 21st century consumer but it is increasingly proving to be less healthier. Equally sad is the consequence of disconnecting the shopper from the producer and seasonality to such an extent that many children don’t know that root vegetables are grown in the ground.

It isn’t difficult to ‘connect’ with Jersey producers.

Their produce can be found in a multitude of places including in shops, cafés, restaurants and pubs, on sale at markets, from the farm door, in Island supermarkets and the departures lounge at the Airport!

Darren Stower – La Mare

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

La Robeline Cider Company Come every autumn, Richard and Sarah Matlock’s boat business takes a back seat to their passion for making cider.

There are apples to harvest from 26 orchards around the Island, before the back-breaking process of pressing the fruit to extract the juice to make Jersey cider. As it takes about 20 apples to make one bottle of cider, that’s a lot of apples. Now they have made life more complicated by launching their very own eau de vie, which requires 200 apples to make each bottle!

Richard learned the art of cider making in Normandy, where he also found a very neglected 90-year-old cider press in a barn and La Robeline Cider Company was born!

The press has been put to good use for the past eight years in the barn at the Matlock’s 18th century farm in St Ouen. It now has company in the form of ‘Sylvie’, a tried and tested – yet somewhat younger – wood-burning mobile artisan still that has been used for 60 years to make Calvados in Normandy.

Richard describes his Eau de vie dé Jèri as a ‘very young spirit’ and at 40% proof it packs a punch.

“It is like apple schnapps,” he said. “It is very ‘appley’ and leaves a good after taste on the tongue. You can drink it as a shot with coffee or mix it with apple juice or tonic water to make a very nice drink.”

La Robeline is at the forefront of the recent revival of cider making and apple growing in the Island. In the 1850s cider exports to the UK averaged 150,000 gallons a year, about a tenth of the annual local production and cider remained a part of daily life as the most common mealtime drink, especially on farms up to the First World War. Richard and Sarah aren’t just making apple juice plus, they are at the forefront of reviving an important part of Jersey’s culture and heritage.

Jersey Oyster Company Another local company reviving an age-old industry is the Jersey Oyster Company.

Archaeological evidence shows that oysters were eaten by Islanders 6,000 years ago, and were fished off Gorey throughout the Middle Ages. By the 19th century Jersey was one of north-west Europe’s main oyster producers with an estimated two billion oysters exported to English markets between 1810 and 1871.

Jersey Oyster Company is owned and run by Chris Le Masurier, a third generation Jersey oyster farmer.

His grandfather started an aquaculture business in the bay 40 years ago.

Today the company is the largest oyster growing concern in the British Isles, farming some 60 hectares of the Royal Bay of Grouville, and producing 600 tons of oysters a year with 80% being exported to France.

The bay’s tidal conditions, that rise and fall twice in 24 hours and the shallow waters, are ideal for

cultivating oysters but not the indigenous ‘flat’ species of the 19th century boom. The company cultivates the rock or pacific oyster.

It also does business with the Middle East and Hong Kong and is exploring the Chinese market.

Just under 5% of total annual production is consumed in the Island, yet the company regards this as a very important part of the business.

Company director John Vautier said “It is very important that we have our product available in Jersey and at an affordable price because it is a good local product.” And, he added, when people come to the Island they want to eat local produce and where better than on the shores of the bay where the oysters are cultivated.

To celebrate the revival of the oyster industry, the company is planning to hold a two-day festival in late summer to celebrate its success and to herald the start of what it hopes will be yet another fruitful season.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Field Farm Jenni Riggall’s passion for sheep farming began when she was growing up on her parents’ farm in Lincolnshire.

Her dream of owning her own smallholding had to wait as she pursued a career as a radiographer.

The Island has been her home for 30 years and 12 years ago she decided to follow that dream.

“While I had always wanted to have my own smallholding I could not find one in Jersey for sale or to rent so I embarked on finding a patch of land to recreate my own. My ambition was to turn back the clock to what Jersey was 300 years ago when the Island was covered with sheep and apple orchards. I faced a very uphill battle with Planning for seven years but eventually managed to create a 23-vergée smallholding in the heart of St Lawrence,” she explained.

Describing herself today as “a full-time smallholder and part-time radiographer”, Jenni prides herself on the high standard of welfare which is reflected in the quality of the delicious, lean, tender lamb she produces from her flock of pedigree Welsh sheep.

Lambs are born in the spring and butchered in the autumn having been reared on their mother’s milk and Jersey’s famous lush green grass.

Field Farm also sells fresh free range eggs daily all year round from the farm gate, and point of lay chickens of various breeds and colours for those wishing to keep their own birds.

Jenni shares her passion and experience with anyone wishing to follow her example. She runs half-day mini taster sessions in smallholding and more specialised courses in lambing, smallholding techniques and practices and keeping hens.

Her latest venture involves putting the apple trees she has planted to productive use. Jenni is currently working on producing a unique local product; sparkling cloudy apple juice.

Definitely one to look out for.

La Mare Wine Estate Australian Darren Stower had the kind of upbringing most of us dream of.

Growing up on Queensland’s Gold Coast – where surfing is part of the school curriculum – his parents owned a doughnut shop. So it was hardly surprising that he trained as a pastry chef and developed an interest in sailing, a combination that brought him to work in the UK in 2001 and to compete in the World Hobie Cat Championships.

He was working at The Hilton in London, when he heard of a job in Jersey at Longueville Manor. What was supposed to be another opportunity to indulge his passion for water sports became a life-changing move.

Today Darren is Jersey’s only chocolatier. He joined La Mare Wine Estate in 2007. The estate has 11 acres of vineyards producing 40,000 bottles of wine per annum. It also produces a champagne ‘methode traditionalle’ style cider – Pompette – and a VSOP Jersey apple brandy. La Mare also produces a range of products including apple brandy cream liqueur, the local delicacy, black butter, Jersey fudge and biscuits and Darren’s luxury chocolates – all of which are hand-made on the estate.

The latest addition to the chocolate range is something very special and a recipe unique to the estate, a premier chocolat, Black Gold – OR NOIR 70%.

The 100g bars are produced using the finest cocoa beans to a recipe personally developed and blended at the prestigious Cacao Barry Or Noir laboratories in Paris by Darren and La Mare Estate director Tim Crowley.

Darren says: “This stunning chocolate is best tasted on its own or with a delicate fruity red wine, like Pinot Noir. It is very smooth, well balanced, with natural aromas of tropical fruits, and Caribbean spice at great length.”

Yet another luxury Jersey product from one of the Island’s premier producers.

For further information about Genuine Jersey and its members, and how to contact the members featured above please go to www.genuinejersey.com

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Putting the ‘sand’ in sandwich Jersey has an amazing 41 places to eat beside the sea which works out at almost one for every square mile of the Island’s surface.

While Jersey is proud to boast so many Michelin starred restaurants it takes a more laid-back approach to dining on the seashore.

However, running a beach café is a 24/7 job. The proprietors of the eclectic collection of seaside eateries dotted around the coast work long hours and for some that means all year round.

From simple kiosks perched on beach walls or on old harbour piers to cliff top cafés, there is plenty of choice whether you’re looking for breakfast after a bracing walk, lazy lunches, sun drenched snacks and suppers in the sunset glow.

Le Braye Café Owning Le Braye Café is a dream come true for Annie Baker who has adored St Ouen’s Bay since she first visited the Island as a teenager.

It was also the place where she later met her future husband, Jerseyman Jolyon Baker. A holiday romance led to marriage; they had three children and lived in the UK, where Jolyon was a TV and stage actor, before returning to the Island in 2000.

With a shared background in hospitality, interior design and building, transforming a place that means so much to them has been a joy.

For Annie’s family the first stop of the holiday when they arrived from Germany was always Le Braye.

“I started coming here with my family in 1977,” she said. “We came every year and we always adored Le Braye. We loved coming to St Ouen and I have built a good affinity with this area. Le Braye is the place where we had our first cup of tea in Jersey!”

Annie and Jolyon offer everything expected of a Jersey beach café – ice creams, cream teas, crab sandwiches, local burgers etc – but also a relaxed dining atmosphere where you can enjoy a three-course lunch or supper of good quality local fresh food in attractive surroundings.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

The Hungry Man Sheltered by the sea wall of Rozel Harbour, The Hungry Man is a local institution and a must in any visitor’s holiday itinerary.

The current owner, Philippa Haydon runs it along traditional lines offering a variety of freshly made food using local produce in big ‘value for money’ portions. The quirky character of the Hungry Man comes through in the miss-matched crockery and the distinctive artwork of local artist Eddie Blampied.

There has been a café in the same location since 1947. Philippa first worked there in 1993 and she has owned it for the last two years.

She attributes The Hungry Man’s success to a combination of factors.

“I think it is being outside, people love to eat outside,” she said. “When the tourists are here and the sun is out you can’t really beat Rozel it’s very welcoming to visitors. We’ve got the cliff top walks not far away and Rozel Valley with its beautiful majestic trees just up the hill. It is just a great place.”

The cakes are homemade, vegetarians are spoiled for choice and if the produce isn’t from Genuine Jersey, it has been grown by either family or friends.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Mad Mary’s Perched at the end of a path below the Water’s Edge Hotel at Bouley Bay, Mad Mary’s is famous for hot chocolate, Bouley burgers and the larger than life character of the proprietor, Mary Tunney.

Mary exudes the traditional Irish charm and banter which, when combined with her specialities using fresh local produce and home made cakes, explains why her little kiosk is popular with visitors and locals alike.

Mary has lived in Jersey for 35 years and has run the café for eight years. After years spent in a desk job, she says it has changed her life.

“It’s hard when I am having a bad day but fantastic when I’m having a good day. It’s extremely hard work but it’s my life. I love being in this place and without it I don’t know what I would do. It is a beautiful life,” she said.

The location is stunning with views over the bay to the French coast, the coastal footpath walking network snaking close by, safe deep water, swimming, scuba diving and occasional hill climb motor racing. Mary is never short of people to serve and entertain.

Her menu includes the mandatory crab sandwich, cream tea and ice creams, tea, coffee and cold drinks.

Plémont Beach Café There has been a beach café at Plémont for more than a century since tourists travelled by horse and carriage from St Helier for guided tours of the caves.

The current proprietors, Paul and Hayley Baxter, pride themselves on dishes freshly made to order, using quality produce and with scones and cakes made on site.

“It is all about freshness, value, quality and consistency,” said Paul who works seven days a week from the spring to the autumn half-term holidays. “We get a cross section of people; locals and visitors, and we have lots of regulars because they know what we are about.”

Paul’s support for the local economy also includes having local art and craft work on display and for sale. And the RNLI lifeguards who patrol the beach in the summer have their HQ on the café’s roof!

Paul summed up why Jersey has got so many beach cafés who manage to keep going even in times of economic recession.

“Jersey has got the café culture that is why beach cafés and restaurants survive,” he said. “There’s healthy competition and the bottom line is we’ve got the location (stunning beach, caves to explore, fabulous views and popular with locals, visitors and surfers) but you have got to work hard.”

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Recipes From the Sea Andrew Baird is passionate about local produce and none more so than the fresh fish and shellfish caught by the Island’s inshore fishermen.

needs to get dirty and live in a kitchen, and so all the ingredients can be bought locally and prepared quite simply covering the whole range of canapés, light lunches, main courses and party food. It also encourages people not to stick to the recipe and to think outside the box to encourage them to use a different fish that can be bought locally.”

As he says, not only is fish good value for money, it’s good for you and buying it helps local fishermen who, like fishermen everywhere, deserve the support of the wider community. To achieve these aims, he has published a cookbook, Recipes From the Sea.

Andrew has been executive head chef at Longueville Manor, ranked in the top 25 hotels in the British Isles, for 23 years.

His talents have helped the hotel to gain Five AA Red Stars and three Rosettes among many other national and international awards.

He describes it as a collection of professional recipes reworked to make them easy, quick and simple to cook at home to get the best from fish, with a few of those he cooks for his family thrown in for good measure.

Local provenance is important for him. He wants Recipes From the Sea to inspire many more people to use what is available around them in local waters. As he says, cooking fish is a big part of his job and it is what people expect to eat when they visit Jersey.

Andrew said: “I wanted to share my cooking, at home and at work, with everyone. I didn’t want a book that looks pretty with recipes that are difficult to cook and which people have trouble getting the ingredients for.

The whole idea was to produce a book that

Andrew’s appreciation of the Island’s quality fresh produce has grown from the relationships he has built with suppliers over the past 23 years.

He puts as much time and effort into promoting provenance and supporting local producers as he does into his dishes.

The book is recommended by the legendary French-born chef and owner of The Waterside Inn, Michel Roux Snr, who along with his brother, Albert, opened Le Gavroche in 1967, the first three Michelin starred restaurant in Britain.

In his forward to the book, he writes: “Andrew takes the mystery out of preparing and cooking fish and gives you a collection of recipes that can be easily created at home, whether it is for your family, friends or a loved one.” Praise indeed!

The beauty of the book is that there is something for every occasion with a few recipes for the more adventurous cooks.

Andrew’s favourite recipe is cod rarebit because it’s a really tasty dish and a good one for encouraging children to eat fresh local fish – which is, after all, a keystone of his mission.

Images © Longueville Manor

Andrew Baird – executive head chef at Longueville Manor – is a man on a mission.

And that is to get more people to eat fresh locally caught fish.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Top foodie destination The award of 32 AA Rosettes to Island restaurants makes Jersey one of the top foodie destinations in the British Isles. The latest edition of the AA Restaurant Guide – the food lover’s guide to enjoying the best cuisine in Britain – lists 17 local restaurants among more than 1,900 nationwide awarded rosettes by the AA’s professional inspectors.

The Island’s AA Rosette success is a barometer of the quality of local restaurants, and marks yet another accolade in a year of triumph for Jersey’s culinary industry, as well as a prestigious ‘Restaurant Chef of the Year’ award from the Craft Guild of Chefs for Richard Allen, executive head chef at Grand Jersey’s Tassili restaurant.

AA Rosettes are awarded following at least one unannounced visit by the AA hotel and restaurant inspectors, who assess the restaurant on the basis of the entire meal, including ancillary items. Establishments must demonstrate they serve consistently good quality ingredients cooked with care and understanding, to be in with a chance of receiving a coveted rosette.

The AA estimates that just 10% of the restaurants in the UK are of a standard that is worthy of one rosette or above.

Jersey’s AA Rosette Restaurants are: Four rosettes: • Bohemia Restaurant, The Club Hotel & Spa • Ocean Restaurant, The Atlantic Hotel These are awarded only to the top restaurants in the UK, where the cooking demands national recognition. These restaurants exhibit intense ambition, a passion for excellence, superb technical skills, and remarkable consistency. They will combine appreciation of culinary traditions with a passionate desire for further exploration and improvement.

Three rosettes: • Longueville Manor • Tassili, Grand Jersey Awarded to outstanding restaurants that achieve standards that demand recognition well beyond their local area. The cooking is underpinned by the selection and sympathetic

treatment of the highest quality ingredients. Timing, seasoning and the judgement of flavour combinations will consistently be excellent. These virtues tend to be supported by other elements, such as intuitive service and a well-chosen wine list.

Two rosettes: • La Chaire Restaurant, Château La Chaire Hotel • The Grill, L’Horizon Hotel and Spa • Mark Jordan at the Beach • The Oyster Box • Sumas Awarded to excellent restaurants aiming for and achieving increasing standards and consistency. A greater precision is apparent in the cooking, and there will be obvious attention to the selection of quality ingredients.

One rosette: • The Boat House • Green Island Restaurant • Greenhill’s Country Hotel • The Montana Restaurant, Hotel Savoy • The Moorings Hotel & Restaurant • The Retreat Restaurant, Hotel La Place • The Salty Dog Bar & Bistro • Seasons, Best Western Royal Hotel Awarded to restaurants achieving standards that stand out in their local area, serving food prepared with care, understanding and skill, using good quality ingredients.

Patrick Burke is the owner of The Atlantic Hotel and Ocean Restaurant, one of only 19 hotel restaurants in the UK to hold four AA rosettes or above along with The Club Hotel & Spa and Bohemia Restaurant.

Commenting on the 2013 AA Restaurant Guide he said: “The AA Awards are among the most prestigious national awards of their kind – I am delighted that Jersey has once again been recognised as a destination which leads the way when it comes to culinary excellence. Our Island is internationally renowned for its rich produce and seafood, and it is extremely rewarding to see our chefs acknowledged for their expertise in showcasing local ingredients with such style and innovation.”

Jersey Food Festival 2013

Longueville Manor

Mark Jordan – Ocean Restaurant

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

The gardens of Samarès Manor

Island of herbs Herbs are as much a feature in the 21st century kitchen as in the Middle Ages when food preserving techniques were rudimentary.

With a reputation for quality, multi-cultural cuisine, the Island produces an amazing array of fresh locally grown seasonal herbs for daily use in Island homes, restaurants, pubs, cafés and take-aways. Jersey is fortunate to have some exceptional chefs, some of Michelin Star status, who appreciate the value of fresh local produce, and the seasoning properties of herbs.

If a herb exists anywhere on this planet it is likely to be grown on an island which has a mighty appetite for these flavour-packed plants.

Images © Gary Grimshaw, Samarès Manor & Fungi Delecti

Samarès Manor – Tour

The polytunnels of Fungi Delecti

Kazz Padidar – Daily foraging

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

The Gardens of Samarès Manor The gardens of this old Jersey manor house – the family home of the Seigneur of Samarès, Vincent Obbard, and his wife, Gillie – were created in the 1920s by the philanthropist and British MP, Sir James Knott, who made the Island his home.

The herb garden covers 1,500 square metres in the manor’s old western walled garden, and was the inspiration of the internationally renowned garden designer and author, John Brookes.

The collection of more than 100 culinary, fragrant, cosmetic and medicinal herbs – laid out in an intricate design – is one of the most comprehensive in Europe and the largest of its kind in the British Isles. It can be seen in its full glory from a viewing platform against the north wall, adding an extra dimension to this unique collection of plants.

The collection also includes a rose and lavender garden, a ‘hot’ border and some of the plants from the pre-Knott garden such as apples, pears and some creepers.

Samarès Manor is open to the public from Easter to October, seven days a week with guided tours of the herb garden weekdays at 12.30pm.

Nature’s bounty Kazz Padidar makes his living off the land and the seashore, foraging daily for the seasonal edible wild plants and vegetables that Island chefs are increasingly demanding for innovative dishes.

To the layman a hedge looks like an – err – hedge, but to this adventurous Jerseyman, it can be a veritable larder of plants.

Kazz grew up on the family farm spending his days in nearby woods or on the beach, learning from relatives which land and sea plants made tasty morsels or could cure maladies. After working as a gardener and leader of outward bound courses – and travelling the world, including living with a native tribe in Central America – he has branched out on his own. Foraging for edible seaweed in St Ouen’s Bay is part and parcel of the school run for this young local family.

As well as foraging to order, Kazz takes schools and private parties and walking groups out and about, on land and at low water, to impart his knowledge to reconnect Islanders and visitors with the land and nature’s bountiful harvest.

A selection of Jersey-grown herbs

Genuine Jersey Family Concerns Fauvic Nurseries Fauvic Nurseries is a fourth-generation business run by Stanley Payn whose family’s connections with the parish of Grouville can be traced back to the 13th century – and you can’t get more Jersey than that!

The business was established 90 years ago when Stanley’s great grandfather began growing outdoor tomatoes. Today the horticultural glasshouse nursery covers almost 13 acres and grows a wide variety of seasonal local produce – including herbs.

While it is possible to grow some herbs all year round under glass, the majority of Stanley’s 30 varieties are seasonal which means to maintain the quality, he has to import in the winter to sustain a year-round supply for the Island’s major supermarkets, food wholesalers, shops, restaurants, cafés and hotels.

Stanley diversified into herbs and salads in 1998 when the local indoor tomato industry went into decline although he still grows the fruit, including heritage varieties. He also grows Jersey melons and salads. The nursery sits alongside his farm shop, café and craft centre, Holme Grown, which was last year named by The Telegraph as one of Britain’s 50 best foodie addresses.

Funghi Delecti Tucked away at the head of a secluded cliff top valley on the north coast, Fungi Delecti is a family-run business which prides itself on delivering a bespoke food service for commercial kitchens and for home consumption.

The business that began in 1996 growing shiitake mushrooms according to traditional Japanese methods, today grows its own produce, including herbs, as well as sourcing fresh quality local produce and speciality foods from around the globe for the Island’s chefs and cooks.

The company’s range of 1,600 items encompasses everything from cauliflower to caviar, to stock Jersey’s most discerning larders. And their duck eggs, laid on the farm, are highly sought after.

Jamie Racjan, the son of the founder, said they grow a specialist range of herbs according to the seasons and otherwise import to maintain a consistent supply throughout the year. In high summer, Fungi Delecti produces an average of 100 kilos of fresh herbs a week, including up to 700 bunches of their most popular variety, coriander.

Herbs are picked daily, packed immediately and delivered for use that day.

However, if a recipe requires dried herbs they also stock a full range.

The gardens of Fungi Delecti

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Cream of the crop Cold foods have been popular for millennia since the Roman Emperors dispatched slaves to scramble up mountains for ice to serve with fruit toppings.

Legend also has it that Alexander the Great liked to eat a bowl of snow flavoured with honey and nectar and that around 200 BC the Chinese were partial to a frozen mixture of milk and rice.

History is all relative so it doesn’t matter if the great explorer, Marco Polo, introduced ice cream to Italy – or whether Catherine de Medici took it with her to France when she married Henry II – this delightful dessert and seaside essential is no longer the exclusive preserve of kings and queens, it is available for us all to enjoy.

The rich tasting creamy milk produced by the Island’s world-famous unique breed of cow makes fantastic ice cream. The ‘Jersey’ is a pedigree dairy breed indigenous to the Island that can trace its purity back to 1763. Renowned for its beauty, ease of management and natural ability to produce rich creamy milk, the Jersey is a product of the Island, its soil, climate and people, and their history, as much as the equally prized Jersey Royal potato.

Today, with Jersey Dairy and Classic Herd making ice cream all year round, there is no need to climb a mountain – or wait for a baking hot summer’s day – to enjoy a true and delicious taste of Jersey.

Darren Quénault – Classic Herd

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Classic Herd

Jersey Dairy

Darren and Julia Quénault of Classic Herd are the Island’s only independent dairy farmers producing organic milk, creams, yoghurt, and award-winning cheeses at Manor Farm in St Peter’s Village.

Jersey Dairy’s luxury and soft ice cream products are made from pure Jersey milk, from Jersey cows in Jersey.

Classic Herd produces non-organic ice cream, and raises pigs and Jersey-Angus beef conventionally but according to best farming practices. Their products are available from the shop at Manor Farm, retail outlets, supermarkets, restaurants, pubs and cafés around the Island.

Ice cream is a major success story for Jersey Dairy, which processes the milk from 24 local farms at its headquarters in the parish of Trinity.

Darren said they decided to break away from the Jersey Dairy as they wanted to be independent and have total control of their future. They chose organic practices for the well-being of their 60-strong herd of milking Jerseys and other livestock, to protect the natural environment of the 400 vergée farm and for quality. Their son, Chas, joined the business last year.

Darren and Julia perfected their range of soft cheeses before further diversifying into producing luxury ice cream, made with milk and double cream.

The reason it is non-organic is due to the extreme storage requirements for organic ice cream. They now produce ten flavours including La Mare Wine Estate Jersey black butter.

Darren says: “We are a small producer of dairy products handmade on our farm from the milk produced by our herd of Jersey milking cows, which graze on our land and all in very close proximity.”

Which is why, he explained, their ice cream was unique as the main ingredient has hardly travelled any distance from cow to shelf. The cows are brought to the dairy for milking; the milk is taken across the farmyard to be turned into cream, and then made into ice cream. If bought direct from the farm shop, then the only food miles accrued are those the customer takes to get home.

As a small-scale artisan producer, Darren says they devote a great deal of time to achieving and maintaining the consistency of their products. In the end it comes down to his and Julia’s taste buds to know they have got the flavours they devised just right.

In 2012 the dairy’s new soft-scoop vanilla ice cream – which can be scooped straight from the freezer – beat off competition from all over the British Isles to take top honours at the Great Yorkshire Show. The judges in the dairy products section also placed the dairy’s chocolate and strawberry ice creams in second place in their respective categories.

Jersey Dairy’s Bob Jones said they were delighted to receive national recognition. “The new softscoop ice cream, created with the help of an Italian expert, had already gone down well with local customers. What was particularly pleasing was that a sample taken straight off our production line beat rival products especially made just for the show by small artisan producers,” he said.

As well as supplying the local market, the dairy also exports a soft-mix cone ice cream to hundreds of outlets throughout the UK, including an exclusive supply for Brighton Pier.

Bob said: “Ice cream is already a major success story for us, with sales in the UK having quadrupled last year, and this exciting new contract has given us a significant boost.”

The luxury ice cream is available in supermarkets and other retail outlets around the Island. An additional eight flavours – peach melba, banoffee, apple and cinnamon, dark cherry, coconut and pineapple, cappuccino, rum and raisin and lemon – are on offer at restaurants, cafés and outdoor venues.

The dairy’s all-natural frozen yogurt bridges the gap between consumers who prefer the taste of ice cream and those who prefer the health benefits of drinkable yogurt. At less than 4% fat and with a bio live culture – but with the same creamy texture – it makes a good alternative to a standard ice cream without so much guilt!

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Jersey Pottery Comes to Town

There is a great new place to eat and meet in the old town quarter of St Helier where the best produce Jersey has to offer does all the talking.

Banjo, the latest and largest venue to be opened by the Jersey Pottery, is the culmination of the refurbishment of a late Victorian private gentlemen’s club in Beresford Street next to the historic Central Market.

Designed in the classic style of the grand European brasserie, Banjo boasts restaurants and a bar – with feature living trees and clouds – bathed in natural daylight; three private dining rooms, event rooms and four individually decorated bedrooms. With an overall capacity for over 380 guests, Banjo is open every day from 8am to late for lunch, dinner, snacks, cocktails and drinks.

Images © Jersey Pottery

The Jersey Pottery began life as a working pottery and tourist attraction in Gorey Village in 1946. It moved from the site last year. As the Island’s tourist industry has changed from the ‘bucket and spade’ image of the post-war family holiday boom, to appeal to the discerning short-break market, the family-owned and run business has also moved with the times.

Although still a producer of high-quality lifestyle pottery sold in 700 outlets worldwide, the business in 2013 comprises the Oyster Box, Crab Shack and three other restaurants, four cafés, outside and contract catering (including provision in nine Island schools as part of a government-led healthy eating initiative) and a shop in the town.

It is still very much in the hands of the Jones family, and Gemma has rejoined her brothers Dominic,

Robert, Jonathan – and his wife, Manon - and Matthew to work side-by-side at Jersey Pottery ‘HQ’ at the top of Banjo.

The unusual name for the venue was inspired by the world-renowned musical prowess of their greatgrandfather, Ernest Jones, the accomplished British player of the zither-banjo who was a household name on both sides of the Atlantic in the years between the First and Second World Wars. The family’s homage to their talented forbear is evident throughout the buildings in snaps from family albums and in the names of the bedrooms; framed records hang on the walls and his very banjo is on display off a stairwell.

While the building is well worth a visit to enjoy the understated classy décor – the amazing lighttransforming fish wallpaper in the hall outside the basement toilets is already a local talking point – it is the family’s passion for Jersey and its fantastic fresh produce that makes Banjo a must in any selfrespecting foodie’s itinerary.

There is rare breed pork county terrine from pigs raised at Rozel; local rabbit freshly caught, fish and shellfish sourced directly from Jersey fishermen and the best seasonal vegetables harvested each day for the shortest of journeys from field to plate. And that dedication to local provenance even extends to produce from the family’s own garden being used – such as black currants from Dominic’s home in Grouville to flavour cocktails.

A long chapter in the Jones family history may have closed with the pottery in Gorey but the future is looking bright for this latest and most fantastic of venues.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

The Boat House Group “Change is good, it’s all about enhancement to me,” is David Cameron’s philosophy.

Having travelled extensively, his passion for cooking stretches outside the remit of British cuisine and into the cultural facets of food around the world, as he explains.

“Cooking, for me, and food generally, isn’t just about the cooking and sourcing of the produce. Wherever you go in the world – Thailand, Sweden, France, Spain or Britain – the food integrates with the ways and customs the world over. When you’re eating in these places, you’re eating within their culture – why they cook certain things, what happens seasonally – when you sit down to eat with someone from wherever across the globe, you’re sitting down and kind of finding out their life story on a plate – that’s what’s interesting for me.”

David’s emphasis on character within cooking is clear from the menus he designs.

It’s not about ‘celebrity’ chefs, or any sort

of competition really; it’s all about serving beautiful food with personality.

“It’s like I say to my chefs, whatever you plate up is a reflection of your personality.

It’s so important to recognise that at the end of the day, you’re only as good as the plates of food you serve and the opinions of those who eat them,” he says.

David isn’t one to be pigeonholed in terms of his cooking and his travels have brought his love of learning about food and culture together.

Hence the fabulous opportunity, working within a company such as The Boat House Group offering an array of different venues, serving various types of dishes and cuisine – the newest addition being The Spice House, which is due to open at the start of March.

As far as its flagship venue, The Boat House, is concerned, a make-over and a fresh direction is planned in 2013 as Sails Brasserie will be no more and the whole venue becomes one.

David quite poignantly noted how people’s fine-dining experiences have changed over the past few years, stating that The Boat House Group is moving with the times.

“Generally it seems that people want to dine more casually now. When I first came over to Jersey, people used to get really dressed-up to go out for dinner, of course they still do for some places and occasions. I feel that the Boat House just isn’t that sort of venue these days – we’re all about great food at realistic prices, within a contemporary and unique setting. I mean, where else can you get the unrivalled views we have here; right on the marina, overlooking all of St Aubin, over to St Helier and beyond.”

With regard to the food that will be tantalising local taste buds at the refurbished Boat House restaurant, think authentic Josper ovens turning out delicious prime cuts of steak; top quality burgers and other charcoal cooked/ flame-grilled fayre, alongside the old favourites from Quay Bar such as the formidable fish and chips and mouthwatering moules straight out of the sea.

The Josper ovens will provide a whole new eating experience to Jersey and the venue will be offering later opening times and a wealth of surprises and events for all ages.

To keep up to speed, become part of The Boat House Group Facebook family!

Images © The Boat House

With exciting times ahead, and an exemplary career history pioneering the Michelin Star movement in Jersey, David Cameron has earned his stripes locally and is very much looking forward to the anticipated additions and enhancements to The Boat House Group in 2013.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Black Butter (‘Lé Nièr Beurre’) The recipe for the Island’s traditional farmhouse delicacy Lé Nièr Beurre (black butter) must at first sight be overwhelming for the uninitiated as it certainly isn’t one to try at home.

To begin with there are the îngrédgiens (ingredients): • 1,012 lbs of sweet apples (France and Romeril) and 112lbs of Bramleys • 13.5 gallons of cider or fresh apple juice • 27 lbs of sugar • liquorice, cinnamon, and other spices in proportion Next organise a séthée dé nièr (black butter evening) or two and enlist un tas d’monde (a veritable army of willing volunteers) – locals and visitors very welcome. Keep them warm, undercover, fed and watered for the many hours it takes to peel all the apples.

Light a fire, usually in the old bakehouse of a traditional Jersey farmhouse, place a bâchin (copper cauldron) over the glowing embers. Add the apples and other ingredients, keep the fire burning, bring to the boil and leave to simmer, stirring continuously, for 24 to 30 hours, adding the apples until none are left, so a correct ‘jammy’ consistency is achieved.

Remove from the fire and allow to cool before enlisting more volunteers to spoon the mixture into jars. It can be served as a spread on bread or as a preserve; on scones for a cream tea with a local twist, to go with cold meats or cheese and for other uses by adventurous cooks.

Or preferably let the National Trust for Jersey organise the whole thing every October, with the support of Jersey Tourism, and simply turn up at your leisure to take part or watch, and enjoy the extra activities and entertainment.

The Trust revived this traditional event in the Island’s social calendar as a public event in 2004 at its headquarters, The Elms, an old Jersey farmstead in the rural heartland of St Mary. It usually follows

another Jersey Tourism sponsored event, Jersey Heritage’s La Faîs’sie d’Cidre, at another National Trust for Jersey site, Hamptonne Country Life Museum, which also celebrates the Island’s rich heritage of growing apples and making cider.

The Chief Executive of the National Trust for Jersey, Charles Alluto, said as the evenings begin to draw in, and the apple harvest is in full swing, they look forward, in particular, to hosting their annual black butter evening.

He said: “Not only is it a truly atmospheric event with the burning fire, the smell of apples, and splatterings of Jersey French, but most importantly its success is wholly down to the enthusiasm and involvement of our local community. After many hours of voluntary work and the odd glass of cider, around 350 jars of this unique flavoursome product are jarred and ready for sale in aid of the Trust.

Without a doubt black butter is deeply rooted in the culture and agricultural heritage of our Island, and the National Trust is very proud to be able to carry on such a fine tradition.”

Come autumn and the cider season, before the advent of television, making black butter was a good way of using up a seasonal glut of apples and any surplus of cider. Moreover, it was the opportunity for hard-working farming families, neighbours and friends to get together, peel apples, gossip, drink cider, dunk chunks of Jersey cabbage loaf into bowls of the traditional bean crock or soup and sing a few songs.

Black butter is a legacy of Jersey’s once thriving cider making industry and Islanders impressive consumption levels when cider was drunk with meals every day, particularly among the farming community.

In the early 1850s Jersey exported on average 150,000 gallons – a tenth of what was drunk in the Island, and about

a third of the Island was covered in apple orchards. A great many varieties of cider apple were developed during this period, but few remain today, though there has been a revival in planting heritage apples and cider making in recent years. Jersey Tourism supports the event because it enables visitors to discover the ‘real’ Jersey and what makes the Island unique.

Jersey Tourism’s Development Manager, Donna Le Marrec said: “Black butter making is an ancient communal activity – found here and in some parts of the United States of America where it is known as apple butter. What better way to experience this glimpse of our past than joining in the art of making black butter with local volunteers in the wonderful surroundings of The Elms in St Mary, brought up to date with a Genuine Jersey produce market and pumpkin carving for the children.”

In addition to the efforts of the National Trust and Jersey Tourism, black butter is still produced in far smaller quantities according to family recipes in country kitchens and you can buy some to take home from La Mare Wine Estate.

Local terminology: Jèrriais – Jersey French La faîs’sie d’cidre – cider making Lé Preinseu – the cider press Lé nièr beurre – black butter La séthée dé nièr – black butter evening Rabot – stirrer Bâchin – pan couôteunme – custom l’èrchette – the recipe Un tas d’monde – lots of people à p’ler – peeling à quarteller – slicing up eune tchul’lée – a spoonful îngrédgiens – ingredients d’s êpices – spices du ricolisse – liquorice

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Volunteers Peeling Apples

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

A wonderful year for Grand Jersey and its award-winning chef 2012 was an annus mirabilis for Richard Allen and the Michelin starred restaurant he heads, Tassili at the five-star Grand Jersey Hotel and Spa.

my name, I was so overwhelmed; I wasn’t sure whether they had said my name or a fellow shortlist with the same surname! I really can’t remember walking to accept the award nor walking back to the table. I’m still blown away.”

If the teenage Richard Allen’s mother hadn’t dragged him off the sofa to enrol on a catering course he would never have discovered that he possessed a prodigious talent for cooking.

In June 2012, Richard won the Restaurant Chef of the Year category at the equally prestigious Craft Guild of Chefs Awards, and shortly after was recognised in Debrett’s 2012 People of Today list. Then two months later, Tassili was included in the Good Food Guide 2013 and featured in Chef Magazine’s list of its favourite five restaurants. All adding to the Michelin star and three AA Rosettes!

It was an amazing – albeit confusing – experience, he admits, as another chef on the shortlist had the same surname and when the winner was announced he thought they had muddled the two! To this day he can’t remember receiving this welldeserved accolade.

The 2012 shortlist also featured Lisa Allen of Northcote Manor, Paul Gayler of The Lanesborough, and Stephen Smith of The Devonshire Arms Country House Hotel and Spa, another Michelin starred chef.

He said: “I had some amazing company in the category and didn’t think for one minute I would walk away with the award. When I heard

Married with two sons, Richard has been at the Grand Jersey for five years, having been recommended by Michel Roux. His parents owned a bakery but he had no inclination to follow in their footsteps until his mother’s intervention. He has never looked back.

“It has to be all about the quality. I will use it if it’s good and it has to be fresh,” he said.

He also lists bass and turbot, only line caught, cockles and Classic Herd’s pork and dairy products – in particular the blue cheese – fresh duck eggs and wild plants gathered by local forager, Kazz Padidar, as more examples of the world-class quality food Jersey has to offer.

On his two days off a week – Tassili is closed Sunday and Monday – Richard can be found spending time with his wife and sons. He’s also as passionate about Thai boxing as he is cooking the country’s cuisine.

Even with so many accolades, Richard does not intend to rest on those laurels. Nor, as A fresh-water fisherman, he says he has learned so much about seafood since coming very much a hands-on chef, does he to the Island – and his number one favourite take all the credit. in an Island where the locals love their spider “I would not be where I am today without crabs, is the chancre crab. the great team I have around me, and without the support I have had throughout “I think that the chancre crabs are just the best and the very best of Jersey produce,” he my career. I am immensely grateful to my colleagues at Tassili, for all they do and their said. “The Jersey Royal is lovely – and don’t fantastic commitment,” he said. get me wrong – but it is just another nice potato. You can get great crab everywhere “Looking to the future, the next challenge but I do really like the Jersey chancre as it is to strive towards that fourth AA Rosette, is so lovely and sweet. For me it is the best and I would like to put the front of house produce here but there is so much more – and we can get it in fresh everyday.” team forward to next year’s Hotel Cateys.”

Images © Grand Jersey

Last year brought one professional accolade after another for the team at Tassili, crowned in November by the UK’s culinary equivalent of an Oscar when Richard was named as Hotel Catey, Hotel Chef of the Year (with less than 250 covers). Past winners include Heston Blumenthal, Gordon Ramsay, Rick Stein and Raymond Blanc.

Richard prefers to use local but for him, quality and proximity take precedence over provenance.

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Walking routes to build a thirst For such a small Island, Jersey packs in an amazing variety of walking opportunities from spectacular coastal footpaths to the narrow lanes that cris-cross the rural heartland.

You can make your walks as long or as short; as comfortable or challenging as you like. There’s everything here from halfhour strolls to long distance around-Island coastal hikes, led by a guide or self-guided with maps and explanatory notes.

Among the popular routes are the Ale Trails, which begin and end at a pub.

Jersey Tourism and the largest pub chain in the Channel Islands, Liberation Group, produced a booklet, researched and written by walking guide Arthur Lamy, detailing each trail and pointing out landmarks, places of historical interest and areas of natural beauty.

The circular Rozel Bay route is guaranteed to whet the appetite to try the other five.

Rozel Bay Ale Trail: Mileage: Four Duration: 1½ hours Difficulty: hard to medium. Wear stout shoes as can be slippery.

Images © Jersey Tourism

The walk begins in Rozel – a small fishing port in the parish of St Martin at the north east of the Island – with a climb up Vallée de Rozel, a sheltered valley lined intermittently with a variety of attractive properties and Château La Chaire Hotel, once the home of horticulturist, Samuel Curtis.

In 1830s, Curtis began searching the British Isles for a suitable site to grow the sub-tropical species that were being grown under glass in his garden in Essex, Glazenwood, and Kew. In 1841 he came upon the sunny, sheltered, almost frostfree valley in Rozel which was ideal for his collection to flourish in.

He moved into the house in 1852 and developed what became known as the Tropical Garden of La Chaire. Curtis died in 1860, and is buried in the churchyard of St Martin’s Parish Church.

At the top of the climb, close to where the lane meets Rue des Alleurs, is Rozel Mill. Evidence shows that there has been a mill on this site since 1219.

In medieval times the mills would have belonged to the king, the seigneur (lord) or one of the Norman abbeys that owned land in Jersey.

The trail continues a way to St Martin’s Methodist Church and down into St Catherine’s Woods, a popular location with local dog walkers and horse riders.

The trail bypasses the main path and up to the grounds of Rozel Manor.

The manor house visible across parkland dates from 1770. It was built by Charles Lemprière who had the original house knocked down. Fortunately, he left the manorial chapel and the mediaeval colombier (stone-built dovecot) intact. In 1890, Philip Lemprière, Charles’ grandson, carried out extensive alterations; he had the granite walls rendered with cement and added Gothic towers and crenellations.

The trail continues along the path, into a B road and along lanes – with clear views over farmland to the Normandy coast to the east on fine days – and down another steep, narrow, and eventually wooded lane into the secluded Saie Harbour. Instead of venturing down to the pebble covered, rocky bay take the track to the west that leads back to Rozel.

On your right, what looks like a pile of stones, is actually a dolmen, which is a Stone Age burial site. This late Neolithic dolmen or burial chamber, which is about 5,000 years old, is unique in two ways.

It is one of only two gallery graves in the Channel Islands – a gallery grave, unlike the more common passage graves, has no side chambers. Secondly it’s made of Rozel Conglomerate, a stone that is only found in this corner of Jersey.

The track meanders past a small reservoir; turns sharp right and continues uphill to the main road, Mont de Rozel or Rozel Hill. Turn right and descend back into the bay and pause to admire the lofty views over the picturesque Rozel Harbour.

At the bottom of the hill, bear left and the welcome sight of the Rozel Bar and Restaurant marks the end of this ale trail.

Time your arrival for lunch or evening to enjoy good pub food and a pint of local ale in the old pub or al fresco – weather permitting – in the garden terrace.

For information on the Ale Trails and Jersey Tourism’s full walking programme go to: www.jersey.com

Rozel Bay

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Some Tasty New Cafés & Restaurants Check out the new cafés and restaurants listed here to discover the latest foodie experiences, from fish and seafood to coffee and cakes and some healthy stuff in between. These new venues are both in and out of town but well worth a visit for their culinary delights.

Bracewell’s Restaurant Up St Aubin’s cobbled High Street, on the left Freshly made on the premises Bracewell’s menu includes a variety of cuisines: Italian, French, Japanese, English, Latin-American as well as oriental and Thai influences. Our menu changes regularly but there is always a selection of fish, meat, vegetarian and gluten free dishes. £5.00 to £9.95 for smaller portions/starters £10.00 to £17.00 for larger portions/mains Open every day except Sunday. Lunch 11:30am to 2:00pm. Dinner 5:30pm to 9:30pm. Tel: 01534 747 014. www.bracewells.je

Mary at Bracewell’s Restaurant

Seafish Café Liberty Wharf, St Helier At Seafish Café you’ll find all your fish and chip favourites including our locally-caught and sustainable fish and chips with homemade Seafish tartare sauce and mushy peas, along with a few contemporary takes on classic recipes, using the finest ingredients, cooked with care.

Price range: £6.00 to £14.00

Fish & Chips

Open Monday to Saturday 11:30am to 2:30pm and 5:00pm to 9:30pm (takeaway open until 10:30pm). Sunday 11:30am to 6.00pm.

Tel: 01534 510 015. info@seafishcafe.com, www.seafishcafe.com

CocoRico 33 Broad Street, St Helier Authentic French style home cooking: crêpes, gaufres (sweet waffles), tartes, macarons, galettes (savoury crêpes), croque monsieur, soups, salads, quiches, raclette and platters of cheese, charcuterie and our signature beef Bourguignon.

Price range: £5.00 to £15.00 Open Monday to Wednesday 7:30am to 4:30pm, Thursday and Friday 7:30am to 9:00pm and Saturday 7:30am to 4:30pm. Tel: 07700 703 919, sebastien@cocoricojersey.com

Sebastien Perrais

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Cooper & Co Café and Deli Millais House, Castle Quay, Waterfront Roastery and shop at 57 Halkett Place, St. Helier Co-op Grand Marché Café, Rue le Masurier, St Helier Emphasis on local food from local producers. This includes artisan bakeries such as Vienna and La Baguette Chaude; Individual soup suppliers; Me and The Farmer for meat products and new suppliers such as the Smokehouse for ‘grab and go’ nuts.

Price range: £1.30 to £3.90 Monday to Saturday, and Sunday at Castle Quay from 8:00am to 5:00pm Tel: 01534 725 327

David Warr – Cooper & Co

Moo 47 New Street, St Helier Wholesome hearty back to basics health food including Indo noodles, wild rice salad, green peace smoothie and breakfast parfait. Freshly made on premises by health coach and cook Jennifer Moore.

Price range: £3.00 to £5.00

Healthy Snacks at MOO!

Faulkner Fisheries L’Etacq, St Ouen Local seafood all freshly prepared, cooked or barbecued and served in a rustic style to be eaten on wooden benches beside the sea, with stunning views over the golden sands of St Ouen’s Bay or across to the other Islands. Try our delicious barbequed local Lobster in homemade garlic butter, served with salad with homemade dressing and French bread. ‘Takeaway’, crab and lobster sandwiches and freshly opened oysters also available. Bring your own wine or beer.

Price range: £2.00 to £14.00 Open from 8:00am to 5:00pm; Spring to Autumn. Tel: 01534 483 500

Open Monday to Friday 6:30am to 3:00pm Telephone: 01534 618 396

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

You can have your cake and eat it!

According to the saying, birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.

But wouldn’t life be rather dull if we had to confine ourselves to only eating cakes on special occasions?

Cakes, especially the homemade variety, are good enough to eat anytime, in moderation naturally, because we all need a treat once in a while.

The popularity of the BBC’s The Great British Bake Off has put baking back on the map and inspired many talented home cooks to turn a hobby into a business. The Genuine Jersey Products Association, which champions all things local, has 15 cake makers among its members – and that’s an awful lot of choice for a small Island, from classic French patisserie to the local delicacy, Les Mervelles dé Jèri (Jersey Wonders).

Here are four tasters of the Island’s talented bakers:

Hungry Lawyer’s Patisserie Nancy Chien balances a career as a lawyer with a lifelong passion for baking.

After ten years practicing law she decided to study classic French patisserie. With no courses available in London, and in spite of not speaking a single word of French, she enrolled on an eight-month course at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris.

Nancy first started baking as a child at home in New Zealand.

“When I was too young to help my mother I used to sit in the kitchen and watch her. Eventually she let me help her so baking has always been part of my life,” she said.

Now living in Jersey and practicing law again, Nancy bakes every week in her spare time for pleasure and to make people happy, mostly to order for friends, although her macaroons are available from La Mare Wine Estate.

She is enjoying working with the fresh ingredients available in Jersey and says the excellent quality of eggs; butter and cream add something special to the flavour of her cakes.

Her specialities are the classic French patisseries such as the fraisier, bavarois, croquembouche, macaroons and tarte au chocolat to name but a few.

Nancy still has a dream to own her own cake shop one day but for now she will continue to pursue both her law and pastry ambitions as captured by the Hungry Lawyer name.

Les Mèrvelles dé Jèri Jersey wonders (les mèrvelles) are best described as a rich twisted doughnut, shaped like a lover’s knot – but without the jam filling or sugar coating. This traditional Jersey delicacy is a popular treat at fairs, festivals and markets.

Now the Island’s most famous wonder cook, Maureen Le Brun has hung up her apron; David Pallot has assumed the mantle of keeping such an important Island tradition alive. His mobile kitchen has been specially adapted for cooking wonders at outside events. Once set up and running people can see how wonders are made and cooked before eating them as fresh as can be!

David hails from an old Jersey family.

His grandfather, Don, founded the Pallot Steam, Motor and General Museum in Trinity and it was his grandmother, Dolly, who taught him how to make wonders. In times past, each family would have varied their recipe according to taste and the Pallot’s were no exception.

“I use the family recipe that I have tweaked and adapted to the modern taste,” he said, without divulging what it might be.

Tradition has it that wonders can only be cooked as the tide was going out but David said as he bakes his anytime that was probably just an old wives tale.

A wonderful luxury

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

The finishing touches – Nancy Chien

Zoë’s Kitchen Zoë Horne is excited to be living in an Island with such a strong ‘foodie’ reputation and to be working with Jersey’s fantastic produce.

Drawing on her extensive experience of the food market, Zoë started out on the small side with a limited range of chocolate brownies and cakes. She also produces boxes of brownie bites – similar to a box of chocolates – and brownie pops on a stick.

Zoë learned about the food business from her parents who turned a small home cooking business into a large food manufacturing concern making sauces and dressings for retail giants such as Tesco and Waitrose, the Pizza Express chain and the food writer and television presenter, Mary Berry.

On leaving school Zoë trained at Leiths School of Food and Wine in London, just as her mother had done.

She was fortunate to land every cook’s dream job – writing for the food pages of Good Housekeeping, testing each recipe up to ten times – so she knows the best practice of getting everything absolutely right before launching it on the public.

“I am not just setting up a little business and selling, it is a passion of mine so I want to get it 100% right,” she said.

Jersey Cottage Treats Tom and Tracey Fallon specialise in Christmas cakes, handmade in their home kitchen to a traditional English country recipe using local produce where possible and laced with their passion for baking.

The Fallons describe themselves as a foodie family.

Tracey has always baked, Tom was a chef before becoming a teacher and their two sons enjoy home cooked food. Tracey said a particular favourite of one of their boy’s was to bake a Battenberg cake made with chocolate and filled with caramel – but that is very much for home consumption. They were encouraged by friends to turn their skills into a business.

The Christmas cakes are not covered with royal icing in the usual manner; they are decorated traditionally with nuts and dried fruit, then tied with ribbons and wrapped.

Tom said the recipe was inspired by the notable English cookery writer, Jane Grigson. They use only top quality ingredients – dried fruit, spices and ginger – and the best local eggs, butter and apples.

Tom said the addition to the recipe of stewed apples – sourced fresh in the autumn from friends’ gardens – made their cakes more moist than most and added a subtle flavour.

Sweet Treats – Zoë Horne

The Fallons begin baking in August, ready for sale from October at the Island’s Christmas and Fête dé Noué markets.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

Celebrating 250 Years of Pure Quality That notable statement refers to the basic raw material on which all of its products are based, the beautiful rich creamy milk produced by the famous Jersey cow.

The dairy industry has, of course, changed dramatically over that quarter of a millennium. In 1866 there were over 12,000 head of cattle on 1,808 separate holdings. In 1973 there were 8,000 head of cattle on 344 farms, whereas in 2003 there were approximately 3,500 head of cattle on 35 farms.

In 1763 the States of Jersey introduced the first legislation to protect the purity of the breed by banning the import of cattle into the Island. Two hundred and fifty years later that ban still exists.

Today there are 24 farms sending milk to Jersey Dairy and together those 24 producers make up the voluntary co-operative that is the Jersey Milk Marketing Board.

Every drop of milk supplied to Jersey Dairy continues to be produced exclusively by pure-breed Jerseys who can trace the purity of their lineage back to 1763 – hence the anniversary slogan ‘250 years of pure quality’.

The Island’s dairy structure has also changed dramatically. At the beginning of the 20th century there were around 30 small private dairies dotted around the Island, collecting milk from farms and selling directly to the public.

Images © Nicholas Romeril - Local Artist

Jersey Dairy is celebrating a very special anniversary this year – ‘250 years of pure quality’.

Today, the Jersey Dairy – established by the Jersey Milk Marketing Board to be totally responsible for the collection, quality control, production, distribution, sales and marketing of all milk produced within the Island – produces around nine million litres of fresh milk a year and an additional two million litres of milk for butter, yoghurt, cream, cheese and ice cream for sale in the local market. In addition a further two million litres of milk products are produced for export markets.

At the heart of all that production lies the quality and purity of Jersey milk – a key element not only in the Dairy’s past and present but also very much in its future as export markets are explored and developed.

In a burgeoning world, hungry for food, the quality of Jersey Dairy’s products is proving

Jersey Food Festival 2013

highly attractive to a number of global markets.

Some of these are quite close to home, such as the UK, Ireland, France and Spain, but distributors in China, Japan and India are also among those currently in discussions with Jersey Dairy and it is highly likely that Jersey UHT milk, butter and soft mix ice cream will go on sale in these far-flung countries during 2013.

Potential buyers are greatly reassured by the heritage and quality of Jersey milk, especially so in China where the safety of dairy foods is paramount.

Quality products, free from the risk of disease, command high prices in the developing countries that are now playing an integral role in the Dairy’s growth strategy.

With limited local expansion, the need to develop overseas markets is increasingly important. It is forecast that the members of the voluntary

co-operative of Jersey farmers will increase milk supply by 30% by 2020 – partly through an increase in the size of the herd but also as a result of genetic enhancement to increase yield.

Jersey Dairy seeks to sell all of this extra production at premium prices to the developing middle classes in the emerging growth economies, such as India and China.

That such growth is possible is due in part to the UHT facilities at the new Dairy premises in Trinity, opened in 2010.

However, the future potential for the industry is still very much dependent upon the underlying quality of the milk provided by the Jersey – the rich creamy milk produced by a cow that is itself a product of its Island, its soil, its climate, its people and their history.

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Jersey Food Festival 2013

The Atlantic Hotel & Ocean Restaurant Recently ranked by TripAdvisor as one of the UK’s top 15 hotels, The Atlantic Hotel in St Brelade receives outstanding reviews from travellers including comments such as “Amazing experience – sheer excellence!”

“Exceptional service and staff.”

“Just perfect.”

The sole Jersey member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World, the Atlantic Hotel sits in a secluded location with breathtaking views and fine dining in its Michelin-starred restaurant.

In 2012 Ocean restaurant was awarded a Michelin Star for the seventh consecutive year as well as four Rosettes in the AA Restaurant Guide, placing it in the top echelon of restaurants in the British Isles. Plus, the recently opened ‘Mark Jordan at the Beach,’ sister establishment to Ocean, was awarded a most sought after Bib Gourmand.

Here are some of our other awards and accolades: • 2013 TripAdvisor’s 2013 Travellers’ Choice Hotel awards, 15th in the UK • 2012 Awarded 4 AA Rosettes (retained 2013) • 2011 and 2012 Head Sommelier Sergio dos Santos reaches finals of Sommelier of the Year Competition • 2011 The Atlantic Hotel is short listed for Cateys Best Independent Marketing Campaign Award • 2010 Head Sommelier Sergio dos Santos reaches finals of Sommelier of the Year Competition • 2010 Condé Nast Johansens Most Excellent Waterside Hotel UK and Ireland • 2008 Website shortlisted for Travolution Awards • 2007 Ocean Restaurant awarded Michelin Star (retained 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013) • 2006 TripAdvisor Travellers Choice Award • 2006 Condé Nast Johansens Most Excellent

Images © Atlantic Hotel

Hotel - Outstanding Service

Mark Jordan

bulthaup Winchester and Regency Installations of Jersey, are delighted to support Jersey Food Festival.

bulthaup kitchens – the perfect place to enjoy delicious Jersey products To discover more about the exclusive beauty and perfect function of bulthaup living spaces contact your most local showroom in Winchester.

bulthaup at Stewart Carr design 1 The Broadway. Winchester. Hampshire. SO23 9BE T. 01962 849000. www.bulthaup-winchester.co.uk

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In a nutshell, the Mark allows you to make an informed choice to support local producers, embrace seasonality and reduce your food miles. www.genuinejersey.com

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