food notes

Food news, events and fabulous local produce

Say ‘cheese’!

Bbq Booty

Firing up the barbecue? You’ll need some top-quality meat to put on it. Mainsgill Farm Shop’s BBQ packs include beef and pork steaks, beef burgers, sausages and grill sticks, and they make planning your outdoor entertaining as easy as can be. Order your BBQ packs online at mainsgillfarm.co.uk or drop in to pick them up – opening times are on the website.

Let’s get fizzical

Champagne and sunshine make a perfect match, and now’s the time to stock up in anticipation of clinking celebratory glasses on gloriously hot lunchtimes and warm summer evenings. The well-stocked shelves at Mainsgill Farm Shop (mainsgillfarm.co.uk) on the A66 west of Scotch Corner offer a dazzling range of options, with big-name brands including Bollinger, Pol Roger, Moët & Chandon and Lanson.

Take it from us, cheese wedding cakes – a selection of cheeses stacked and garnished to give the effect of a traditional tiered wedding cake – are bang on trend. A cheese wedding cake is a photogenic centrepiece with a difference that will definitely wow the guests on your special day. Find out more at The Cheese Press, Victoria Road, Richmond, thecheesepressrichmond.co.uk

Crunch time

Now in smart new eco-friendly packaging, Yockenthwaite Farm’s delicious, super-fresh granolas are a great way to jolly up your breakfast table. With recipes that range from the original and ever-popular ‘Real Nutty’ to the zingy ‘Just Ginger’ and the indulgent ‘Choc Cherry’, there’s something to cater to every palate. Shop the range at Campbell’s of Leyburn, campbellsofleyburn.co.uk

Nice Ices

Wensleydale Ice Cream Parlour in Thornton Rust near Leyburn is a great place to cool off and indulge in some delicious ice cream made from milk produced by the Harrison family’s award-winning Jersey herd. With dozens of flavours of ice cream, not to mention mouthwatering sundaes, waffles and pancakes, anyone with a sweet tooth will be spoilt for choice. For opening times see wensleydale-icecream.co.uk

Grill guide

To get the most from your barbecue this summer, why not learn to add smoking, roasting and baking to your alfresco cooking repertoire? The Weber Smoke House BBQ course on 15 July at the Swinton Estate Cookery School will teach you how to do everything from reverse-searing steaks and curing salmon to flavour-boosting your desserts with coffee beans. For more details visit swintonestate.com

Pick Of The Crop

Picking your own fresh fruit is fun for all the family, and from midJune onwards Hutton Bonville Fruit Farm near Northallerton will be open for you to forage your own juicy strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and tayberries. Precise timings vary from year to year, so follow their Facebook page, @huttonbonvillefruitfarm, for the latest updates on what’s ripe and ready to harvest.

Say it with rosés

Rosé wines are ideal for summer drinking, and Campbell’s of Leyburn campbellsofleyburn.co.uk) have some splendid examples on offer until the end of July.

Fabulous farm shop

Yorkshire boasts some of the finest food and drink in the world, and an excellent selection of examples can be found at Mill Close Farm Shop at Hackforth near Bedale. Alongside top-quality beef, pork, lamb, poultry and game from the Yorkshire Dales Meat Company you’ll find artisan goodies from local favourites including Bracken Hill Fine Foods, Taplin & Mageean and Wensleydale Brewery. Find out more at yorkshiredalesmeat.co.uk

They include CVNE Viña Real Rosado 2022 Rioja, a delightfully fresh summer crowd-pleaser that’s down from £12.40 to £9.49, and Esk Valley Rosé 2021 from Hawke’s Bay, New Zealand, an elegant dry wine that’s down from £14.80 to £11.99.

Seaside Special

If you don’t normally like lamb, this might just change your mind! Salt marsh lamb, in season from now until late autumn, comes from animals pastured on coastal marshland full of nutrient-rich plants like samphire and sea purslane. Far from being salty, the meat is sweet, flavoursome and extra-lean. Interested? Available from mid-June at Booths of Ripon, booths.co.uk

4 miles west of Scotch Corner A66 (DL11 7PN) www.mainsgillfarm.co.uk 01325 718860 Open daily until 5:00pm

Farmers & Butchers

Artisan Kitchen Food Hall

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A ‘real’ farm shop offering a shop floor to our working award-winning family farm. All our beef, pork and lamb is traditionally home-reared here in Yorkshire

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Tearoom with Outdoor Seating Real Dairy Ice Cream

Home-reared Meats & on-site Butchery

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