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MENDIP TIMES
Follow the roadmap to quality food
WITH staycations being the most certain way of getting a summer holiday this year it provides a great opportunity to think of doing something With NICK different. How about GREEN following a food and drink roadmap and just to make it interesting only use goods with a Protected Geographical Status? While this might be a bit of a mouthful and many of the consuming public won’t know much about it, for those businesses which rely on this particular stamp of approval for what, where and how they make their products, it is vitally important. One of the elements of the Protected Geographical Status is the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO). A red and yellow or blue and yellow star shaped logo on qualifying foods shows it has been
grown, made, reared and processed in a certain area and in a certain way. With the exception of Northern Ireland, you could go the length and breadth of the United Kingdom following a PDO roadmap. Orkney beef or lamb would be a good start before moving south to sample Beacon Fell traditional Lancashire Cheese. Lamb features again with Lakeland Herdwick followed by Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb before travelling west across to the Isle of Man for some Isle of Man Queenies – queen scallops that have been caught in the territorial waters of the island. Back to the mainland and there are plenty of cheeses to choose from. Single Gloucester, West Country Farmhouse Cheddar and Stilton are a few of many. Travelling south from the Mendip Times area we can enjoy Cornish clotted cream, Jersey Royal potatoes and Fal oysters amongst other delights. And to wash it all down, there are plenty
of English and Welsh wines to choose from. We live in a golden triangle of food and drink in our area but it doesn’t take much research to see others are equally as lucky. If you fancy a Melton Mowbray pork pie, Scotch Salmon or a Cornish Pasty you’ll have to follow a PGI route instead. Maybe 2021 is the year our taste buds are awakened and we explore the many golden triangles elsewhere in the country.
Nick Green is Farms Director for Alvis Bros Ltd based at Lye Cross Farm. He is responsible for the farming and estate business and is passionate about British food and farming. As well as the business, he is involved with a number of local and national farming charities.
We are now stockists of ASPEN Fuels
l Ready mixed for 2 stroke engines l Burns cleaner than ordinary fuel l Virtually free from sulphur, benzene and solvents making it less harmful than regular petrol, therefore breathing much cleaner air when working with power tools l Better for engines, longer storage staying fresh for years therefore easier starting l Reduced toxic emissions so better for the environment
PAGE 10 • MENDIP TIMES • AUGUST 2021
