Food & Drink

Cool food for summer weather

July is a month for sandwiches and salads and something icy and delicious. The nation’s With JUNE MACFARLANE favourite sandwich is, apparently, prawn and mayo, but I think we can do a little better! The perfume of a ripe cantaloupe melon is summer heaven and makes a wonderful partner in a chicken salad. The blackcurrant season is vanishingly short so stash some sorbet in the freezer for summer treats.

BLACKCURRANT SORBET

A blackcurrant treat – stash some in the freezer

INGREDIENTS

(For four) 375g blackcurrants 300ml water 225g white sugar 1 tbsp blackcurrant liqueur This is a rich dessert ice, and a gorgeous colour! The liqueur is optional but helps to keep it from freezing hard.

METHOD Poach the blackcurrants gently in the water and sugar until just bursting. Pass through a fine sieve into a bowl. Discard seeds and residue. Allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. Stir in liqueur if using. Churn in ice cream maker according to instructions or put in the freezer and beat every hour until smooth. Pack into a suitable container and freeze for 3-4 hours before serving.

A superior take on a prawn mayo sandwich SPICY PRAWN COCKTAIL ROLL

WARM CHICKEN AND CANTALOUPE SALAD

A soft roll, king prawns, pickled cucumber, spicy mayo and crisp lettuce. Perfect!

METHOD Toss the cucumber with the salt in a colander and leave for 15 minutes to drain. Pat dry. Mix vinegar, sugar and dill in a bowl, stir in cucumber, set aside. Mix ketchup, mayonnaise, tabasco and Worcestershire sauce in a medium bowl and stir in prawns. Halve rolls and butter both sides. Assemble layers of lettuce, cucumber and prawns and serve, or wrap in greaseproof paper for a picnic. INGREDIENTS

(For two) ¼ large cucumber, thinly sliced 1 tsp sea salt 1 tbsp white wine vinegar 1 tbsp caster sugar Small handful dill leaves 2 tbsp tomato ketchup 4 tbsp mayonnaise 6 drops Tabasco 6 drops Worcestershire sauce 150g king prawns 2 soft rolls, or brioche

Butter, softened

Lettuce, shredded

INGREDIENTS

(For four) 1 chicken 1 cantaloupe melon Large handful parsley 80 ml best olive oil 3 tbsp sherry vinegar

Tender roast chicken and sweet juicy melon, a great summer combination. Sherry vinegar is less harsh than balsalmic.

METHOD Roast the chicken and rest until warm. Cut the melon in half and remove seeds. Slice into wedges and remove flesh from rind. Chop into big chunks and put into a large serving bowl. Tear the chicken into rough pieces, add to the melon. Chop the parsley finely and mix through. Make a vinaigrette with the oil and vinegar, taste for seasoning, pour over the salad and mix all together.

A great summer combination with this chicken and melon dish

WILD FOOD Alternative Scotch egg

IT'Sa shame some of the larger, leafier greens aren’t more edible, for example the dock plant. I know plenty of farmers that would be happy if docks were less bitter and could be eaten readily by their animals. Whilst some foragers (and sheep) will With ADRIAN BOOTS purportedly eat them out of choice when they are very young, dosing mature docks with salt can make them more palatable for sheep but not for us foragers. Hmm, a conundrum indeed...

But what if I told you that one can avoid the forager/sheep dock management system altogether, the not small inconvenience of regular salting plus the inevitable embarrassment that comes from wrestling half-masticated leaves from the mouth of an uncooperative sheep?

Bistort is a member of the dock family that has a much milder flavour and is a key ingredient in a savoury dock pudding that was historically popular, particularly in the north of England. Here in Somerset bistort was known as adderwort and snakeweed, both of which sound a lot less appetising but actually refer to the snake-like twisted and distorted root system, not that it tastes of snakes. Bistort (Polygonum bistorta) is a perennial plant, forming clumps or patches. The flowers appear as pretty pink spikes atop a straight, hairless stem up to 70cm high. Flowers appear end of May to September. The leaves are dock-like but are narrower, spear-shaped affairs on long, hairy stalks with tiny wings. This plant favours the uplands, damp grassland, roadsides and stream banks.

For a simple dock pudding, roughly chop a few leaves of cabbage, leeks and a good handful of bistort leaves and sweat down in a pan. Mix with one cup of cooked pearl barley, two chopped hardboiled eggs and season to taste. Add in a third raw egg and a good sprinkle of oatmeal to bind the mixture.

Form into balls, coat in oatmeal and fry. It’s almost the reinvention of the Scotch Egg but we shall call it “Bistort BallsTM” and make a fortune selling it on Dragons’ Den. Although it may turn out to be a rather steep marketing hill to climb and the branding might not be to everyone’s tastes, I bet the sheep will like it.

Adrian Boots is a Landscape Ecologist, Wild Food Forager and Adventure Activity provider. You can visit his website: www.gowildactivities.co.uk to learn more about wild food foraging and activities you can do with him on the Mendip Hills.

GARDEN FOOD Strawberry time

With JAKE WHITSON

IT'Sthat time of year again, and we've done really well with our strawberries. This is one of our early varieties “Christine”, and we're really impressed with the size and flavour of the berries. We planted these last winter, around December, and gave them a good dressing of well-rotted horse manure, seaweed, and a bit of fish, blood and

bone.

When we planted them I marked the boundaries of the different varieties with a few different creeping thymes I had languishing in pots. One of these was “Creeping lemon” and I've found that it's actually a rather spot-on accompaniment to the berries.

We eat these by the kilo, mostly just as they are, as a kind of “starter” for breakfast or sliced on top of porridge. We also find that strawberries freeze well and we're trying to stockpile some in the freezer for the winter.

One of my favourite treats is to pile some frozen strawberries into a glass and pour orange juice (and a few leaves of lemon thyme) over them until they're submerged. After a few minutes the orange juice will turn slushy and the berries get soft like a sort of instant sorbet – the whole is absolutely delicious eaten with a spoon on a hot day.

Another version of this is to add frozen strawberries to a food processor, along with a spoon of icing sugar and the juice of a lemon. Give them about ten minutes to start to defrost and then blitz them until smooth – instant sorbet!

Another really quick combo for dessert is thick Greek yoghurt, shortbread and strawberries – for this I like to mix the strawberries with a dash of sugar and lemon juice (and lemon thyme if you have it) and leave for a few minutes, just until their juices start to run.

Jacob Whitson is a chef, food writer and smallholder –he divides his time between the Mendips and Pembrokeshire.

Bite-sized food festivals are on their way

A NEW concept in food and drink festivals is coming to Mendip this summer. eat:Festivals will be delivering four “little eat festivals” in Street, Glastonbury, Wells and Shepton Mallet during July and August. These have been commissioned by Mendip District Council as a part of their reopening the high street safely campaign.

Showcasing around 20 of the finest local food and drink producers and the usual high production values of eat:Festivals these are a taste of something different in the region. Little eats will be held in Street on Sunday, July 11th, in Glastonbury on Sunday, July 18th, in Wells on Sunday, July 25th and in Shepton Mallet on Sunday, August 8th. eat:Festivals was founded by Bev and Sarah Milner Simonds who are on a mission to reconnect residents with the productive landscape that surrounds them. The social enterprise started in 2012 in their hometown of Burnham-onSea and has grown steadily, now hosting 25 events in Somerset, Devon, South Gloucestershire and Dorset each year.

The four events are on a smaller scale than their usual food festivals, but visitors can still expect to find farmers’ markets favourites alongside top class street food, music and entertainers.

Bev, “Head of Spreadsheets” at eat:Festivals, said: “We are delighted to be working in Mendip this summer and helping the local businesses welcome back shoppers and visitors.

“The small producers we work with and many of the town centre businesses have had a horrid 18 months. Getting back to face-to-face, or mask-to-visor trading, is such a welcome step on the roadmap to economic recovery and we are pleased to play a part in this.”

Head of “Sparkle”, Sarah, added: “We are looking forward to four Sunday editions across Mendip –there will be opportunities to buy ingredients for your Sunday lunch, take a break from cooking and buy your Sunday lunch (and a pint), find a new favourite product, learn the stories behind the produce from the makers and rediscover what your town centre has to offer.”

For details, visit: www.eatfestivals.org

Bev and Sarah Milner Simonds at the eat:Festival in Castle Cary in May

butCherS * fiShmoNgerS * deliCateSSeN l Fresh meat l Fresh fish l Local cheeses l Fresh pastries & pies New shop opening in Winscombe! Cobb’s Charter now running the galley at Cheddar Sailing Club –another great reason to become a member

open: monday –Saturday 7am-6pm • Sunday 10am-4pm e Cross, union Street, Cheddar, Somerset bS27 3Na • 01934 742521 email cobbsofcheddar@outlook.com

Call goes out to cider makers

The British Cider Championships are returning to the Royal Bath and West Showground

ENTRIES have opened for the UK’s biggest and best cider competition, the British Cider Championships, which will this year be staged as part of the Bath and West Country Festival from Friday, August 27 to Sunday, August 29th.

Organisers are hoping for a record number of entries, as the best possible bounce-back from the Covid crisis, which has hit the cider industry hard.

In a normal year, the championships would have been staged at the Royal Bath and West Show at the end of May and attract well over 500 cider and perry entries from across the length and breadth of the UK.

Although the Covid crisis has dictated a rather later setting for this year, organisers are hoping that the pent-up demand among cider makers for the opportunity to test their products against the very best in the land will make for an even more competitive and comprehensive line-up than usual.

Judging will take place on the opening day of the show in the renowned Orchards and Cider Exhibition, which this year will be staged in the Sedgemoor Building to allow maximum space for exhibitors and visitors.

Anthony Gibson, cvhairman of Orchards and Cider, said: “The British Cider Championships at the Bath and West is always one of the highlights of the cider year, and we’re determined that, to give the industry the lift it needs, this year’s competition will be bigger and better than ever.

“Because we weren’t able to stage the championships last year, we’ve decided to open the classes to ciders made in each of the past two years, and we have also simplified the classes to make the judges’ task a little easier.”

For details and to enter, visit: www.britishciderchampionships.com

Countryside showcase

THENorth Somerset Showground at Wraxall is reopening after two years for a new Food & Craft Field Fayre, starting on June 26th, then being held on July 10th, August 7th, August 21st and September 4th.

The fayres will be free to attend and will see around 30 different businesses from across the South West set up stalls. This will be followed by a countryside showcase, a new event for the society, on September 18th.

Benji’s one of the family

Scott and Laura in the garden of their home with Benji, Molly the labrador and Albie, the dalmatian

MEET Benji – the pedigree Welsh Mountain lamb who might just believe that he’s actually a dog!

Benji was one of triplets and was failing to thrive when Laura Feltham offered to rear him at her home in Haydon with husband Scott and their two dogs, Albie and Molly.

The canine pair soon accepted Benji as one of them and the trio play regularly together and will sometimes go for a walk with the lamb wearing an adapted pony harness. Laura has even taken Benji to meet her mother, Karen, for coffee at the café at Whiterow Farm Shop at Beckington – to the surprise of other visitors and their dogs.

Laura, a carer, is hoping Benji will grow up to remain as placid as he is to be able to visit clients and provide some comforting animal therapy.

Walkies! Benji walks happily alongside his canine companions

Lunchtime for Benji – one of his final bottle feeds before being weaned

Rare token found in Chew Valley

ALTHOUGHthere have been no meetings of the Harptrees History Society since the current situation began, members have not been idle.

One, who is a metal detectorist, has discovered this coin, a trader’s token, made as “illegal money of necessity” for local currency use. On one side it reads “A BRISTOLL FARTHING C B 1662” and on the other “THE ARMES OF BRISTOLL”.

No-one will ever know who dropped it but it proves that trading between Bristol and the area was happening during the reign of Charles II.

Pictures of the coin appeared in the society’s bi-monthly newsletters, which contain all sorts of snippets about local history matters and have kept the group in touch during the lockdown.

Much internet research has also been carried out, some of which will be published in the society's journal, the Harptreenian, free to members, which is published each year and contains longer pieces – some in depth and some more light-hearted.

The society is hoping to start up meetings again in the autumn, in the newly refurbished West Harptree hall.

From engine footplate to hospital theatre

VINTAGE rail enthusiast Mike Abbott was one of the happiest people at Midsomer Norton South railway station when its resident loco Joyce returned to action.

Aged just 23, Mike was on the footplate as Joyce’s driver when the 94year-old engine pulled its first farepaying passengers of the year over the May Bank Holiday.

Mike is a familiar face at the station, usually driving Joyce or one of its diesel counterparts but his day job couldn’t be further away from the soot and grime of a heritage railway volunteer.

He is a full-time nursing assistant with the United Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Trust – often working in an operating theatre – and is about to embark on the next stage of his medical career. He also recently became engaged to his girlfriend.

As the Somerset and Dorset Heritage Railway’s operations manager, Mike has also been responsible for securing the loan of a visiting loco due to enter service in Midsomer Norton at the beginning of July. Kitson 5459 Austin 1, on loan from the Llangollen Railway, was built in 1932 to service the Austin Motor Company’s Longbridge factory in the Midlands.

Mike will have to undertake a crew assessment before being allowed to take control of the loco, but that is nothing new to him. He said: “This is a working railway and, whilst not as stringent as on a network line, I still needed to pass my personal track safety exam and railway rules exam.

“I’ve done about 15 exams so far, all in my spare time; it’s been a busy time for me.”

Mike added: “It’s such a contrast from having scrubbed hands in hospital to driving a loco and getting a bit grubby, but I love it. It’s an exciting time to be at Midsomer Norton.

Joyce will be joined in July by a loco with an interesting history

Mike in charge as Joyce leaves Midsomer Norton South station Joyce’s return was delayed after owner Andy Chapman spotted a split in a steam pipe which had to be replaced

Young passengers enjoying the experience at Midsomer Norton Fireman Harry McConnell, another young volunteer on the line