Food & Drink

Christmas happens to fall right in the middle of brussels sprout season, making it the most readily available and affordable vegetable to serve on Christmas Day. Also, the modern idea of festive feasting was just ‘being invented’ as

By Katharine Wright brussels sprouts were thehungrygiraffe2020@gmail.com becoming much more readily available. The brussels sprout is not just Of course, you either love for Christmas. them or hate them, and like The ‘mini cabbage’ is a little most children, I thought green ball of goodness. So, if brussels sprouts were the food you are one of those who tend of the devil and still to this day not to eat them, maybe after remember having to have one this article you may think on my dinner plate on again. Christmas day. Brussels sprouts are part of the However today I love them gemmifera group of cabbages, and pile them on my plate –grown for its edible buds. and insist that my daughter has They can be as small as marbles or as large as golf balls and named after the capital of Belgium Brussels, where they were popular back in the 16th century. you think that is a lot of money imagine it in volumes – An equivalent to 3,240 British football pitches! Shout for the sprout! Today worldwide the brussels sprout industry is worth in the region of £650,000,000, and if one on her plate at Christmas. One portion of the vegetable gives us a whopping 195% of our recommended daily allowance (RDA) of vitamin K and a huge 125% of our RDA of vitamin C. Along with So why has the humble 11g of carbohydrate and 4g of brussels sprout become a protein, especially if steamed. tradition as part of our Scientists also say that Christmas dinner? No one has brussels sprouts contain the exact answer, but it could substances that have simply be seasonality. We all demonstrated cancer-fighting know that back in time you ate properties which suppress what was in season and inflammation and helps the ORDER NOW FOR CHRISTMAS! ENFORD FARM SHOP risk of recurrence of myeloma. Us Brits consume the most brussels sprouts and an incredible two-thirds Local Farm Fresh Turkeys Open as usual Fri-Sat, of the total amount Free Range Bronze Turkey, Goose And Duck and outside shop 24/7. grown each year are Boneless Turkey Crowns Local Dry Aged Beef Free Range Pork & Succulent Grass Fed Lamb Prime Gammon Joints & Cooked Hams ALL THE TRIMMINGS AVAILABLE INCLUDING: Pre orders for any who don’t want to come in shop. Call the shop or email Christina. marks330@gmail.com or markscattle@yahoo.co.uk consumed over the Christmas period alone. To be sure of the freshest and tastiest sprouts and otherSausage Meat, Sausages And Dry Cured Bacon Pet foods of all variety’s vegetables I suggest

We have moved depots please see new address below can be sourced through our local farm shops, us also by order. of which some may Christmas meat orders now have grown their own. being taken for all your Goldhill Organic Farm needs from turkeys, game, shop is just one for meats and trees coming you to try. Farm shops

Come along and meet our freindly butchers in soon. Durweston, near Blandford are an obvious choice when looking for fresh

Unit 1a Harding’s Business Centre, Bowbridge, Henstridge, Somerset, BA8 0TF 01258 450050 local vegetables, meat, dairy, bakery and 01747 838881 www.bmv-butchery.co.uk @enford farm more.

Cooking...

Cumberland Rum Butter for Christmas and Christenings

Cumberland rum butter is a real Christmas treat – there’s nothing like watching a spoonful slide and melt over your Christmas pudding or slipping a sliver or two under a mince pie lid. Whilst the most well-known ‘hard sauce’, brandy butter, is a fairly light affair and can be whipped up from brandy, butter and icing sugar, Cumberland rum butter is much more complex, and full of potent festive flavours: dark brown muscovado sugar, Caribbean rum and plenty of spice in the form of nutmeg. Rum butter was once fed to expectant and nursing mothers in the Lake District, to ‘keep their strength up’ and was a vital part of Cumberland christenings and visits to new babies and continues in some families today. Usually eaten spread on oatcakes, coins were left in the empty butter bowl. Plenty of coins sticking to the sides and bottom of the

This is my granddaughter

Evie’s favourite at

Christmas!

This lovely tasty salad has festive elements in it and all the traditional

Christmas fare.

Cranberry and Green

Lentil Salad

Ingredients: 150g dried cranberries

Juice and grated zest of 2 small oranges 3 x 410g tins green lentils, drained and rinsed bowl predicted wealth and good fortune would ‘stick’ to the child as it grew. Obviously, it behoved guests not to scrape the bowl too clean, but to leave it fairly sticky in the baby’s best interests! Families often kept a special bowl for serving rum butter

Mum’s Kitchen...

makes a lovely change from

and many beautiful butter

Bunch parsley, chopped 4 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar

Method

Soak cranberries in orange juice and grated zest till plump. Mix together lentils and parsley, reserving some parsley to sprinkle on the top. Add to cranberries and orange juice

with Mrs Simkins

150g salted butter, slightly softened Up to ½ a nutmeg

bowls have been passed down through the generations. As the saying goes: Butter for goodness, rum for spirit, sugar for sweetness and nutmeg for spice.

Ingredients for a 425g (15oz) jar 175g Muscovado sugar 100ml dark Caribbean rum For best results, steep the sugar in the rum overnight. The next day, heat gently, stirring frequently until the sugar is completely dissolved: avoid boiling. Cool. Beat the butter until creamy and gradually work in the rum and sugar mixture. Grate in a lavish amount of nutmeg and stir thoroughly. Pack into a sealed sterilised jar. Note Tightly covered, this keeps brilliantly in the fridge or a cool larder, for months and is absolutely beyond delicious spread on toasted crumpets: no need to butter first with normal butter obviously! It’s also wonderful on pancakes. Or toast. Or tea cakes, scones, gingernuts, digestive biscuits, rice pudding, your weekend porridge, baked apples, Dorset knobs . . . . Check out Mrs Simkins’ website for more Christmas recipes MrsSimkins.co.uk twitter.com/mrssimkinscooks

with Diana Holman CIDER AND APPLE JUICE Farmhouse cider, also Ashmead's Kernel juice. 3 litre takeaways, £10 each. Cider by Rosie, Winterborne Houghton, DT11 0PE. Tel 01258 880543

and mix well. Whisk olive oil and vinegar together and pour over. Season lightly and sprinkle

with reserved parsley.

Food & Drink Celebrating the very best of our

By Miranda Robertson

Fifth generation farmers from the Tarrant Valley have launched a new awards scheme for Dorset food and drink producers. The Love Local Trust Local Awards are all about championing Dorset food and drink producers, Dorset farmers and the Dorset fishing industry. The Cossins family, who run Rawston Farm, The Langton Arms in Tarrant Monkton and Rawston Farm Butchery & Farm Shop in Tarrant Rawston, are well known for delicious, locally produced, Dorset food and drinks. In 2018 they decided the time was ripe to launch a label to promote local foods, after a number of scandals involving supermarket fare. They knew people were interested in the provenance of their food, after hosting Open Farm Sunday, opening the farm to the public so they could see for themselves how their food was being produced. Barbara Cossin said: “Our visitors love knowing the story of their food, the miles it has travelled and that they are buying and eating genuine local produce. But they often asked, how do we know that the food we buy elsewhere really is what it says it is? “The last Open Farm day was in 2018 at a time when major supermarkets were being taken to court for their dishonesty in promoting food from British farms that did not actually exist. There were news reports of meat testing stating that a fifth of samples tested revealed unspecified animals’ DNA. The TV was full of documentaries showing cheap imported meat being labelled with the Red Tractor label, 40

Left Heather Brown of Dorset Foodie Feed runner up of Local Champion 2020. Top right, Bill Meaden of Cranborne Chase Cider proudly showing his three runner up plaques. Bottom right, Jon and Rob from BH Fish with their Love Local Trust Local Awards

giving the consumer the impression they were buying British meat instead of cheap foreign imports.” The family realised the appetite for local produce was strong, and set about creating their own Love Local Trust Local label for Dorset food. Barbara added: “We want to put consumer trust back into buying local, Dorset food with genuine provenance and full traceability.” The Love Local Trust Local label assures the consumer This food has been grown with love & care and to the highest ethical standards This food has transparent and full provenance and complete traceability This food has been produced with the main ingredients sourced from less than 30 miles of its origin. This food fosters community spirit and is good for our overall environment They use the label themselves and have now started to share it with carefully selected Dorset businesses that share their values. The new awards are being backed by several prominent

Food & Drink food & drink producing champs

LOCAL HEROES: Jon and Rob from BH Fish, Barbara Cossins – founder of Love Local Trust Local, Paul Dunlop, Blanchards Bailey LLP, the sponsor and judge of Innovation Category, Sam Purcell of Harbarn Developments Ltd, sponsor and judge of Fish Category

MOOSIC TO MY EARS: Meggy Moo’s Dairy winner of Dairy Category Award 2020 shown with LLTL founder Barbara Cossins and sponsor and judge Sophie Alexander of Hemsworth Farm

Dorset businesses as sponsors and judges. The inaugural awards were planned for autumn – plans which had to be changed in the light of the pandemic, but will nonetheless be going ahead. Barbara said: “Surely there is no better time than now, in the midst of a global health pandemic, to embrace all that is local as we strive to feed our families with nutritious food and drink with known provenance we can trust.” She added: “We could not be more pleased as to how these new Dorset Food & Drink Awards have been received. “I am so thankful for the support from all of our sponsors, they were heavily involved in the judging process, which we took very seriously and a number of our entrants were visited to understand their stories and how they made their produce. “The judges found choosing a winner for each category so difficult as the entrants were all so strong and all were deserving contenders.” The overall winner was BH Fish from Poole, a company born at the start of the

The winners and runners up were: n Cakes, Pastries & Confectionery: Sweet Indulgent Fancies, Lizzie Baking Bird

nJams, Chutneys & Honey: Barbara’s Kitchen, joint runners up Bohemian Dorset and Tarrant Valley Honey

nDrinks: Shanty Spirit, Cranborne Chase Cider

nFish: BH Fish, Portland Shellfish

nMeat: Chase Royale, The Dorset Goat Meat Company

nCheese: Dorset Blue Vinny, The Book & Bucket Cheese Company

nDairy: Meggy Moo’s Dairy, Baboo Gelato

nDiversification & Sustainability: Bohemian Dorset, Cranborne Chase Cider

nInnovation: BH Fish, Dorset Blue Vinny Rising Star: Isaac Cider, Cranborne Chase Cider

nLLTL Local

Champion 2020: BH

Fish, Dorset Foodie

Feed pandemic. Sponsor and judge, Paul Dunlop of Blanchards Bailey, said: “We were amazed that BH Fish were able to create what they had in such a short period, were so passionate about the produce and the customers, supported fisherman during a time they would have been out of work and promote Dorset produce.” 41

Food & Drink Cheers! Sparkling future for vineyard

By Steve Keenan newsdesk@blackmorevale.net A Dorset vineyard has sold out of its top-rated sparkling wine after the company scooped an international award. The website at Langham Wine Estate crashed for three days in a row when the winery was named Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year, beating prestigious French Champagne houses. In those three days, Langham sold more sparkling wine online than in the whole of the 2018-19 season. And top of the sales chart was the Blanc de Blancs 2015, retailing at £31 and awarded a gold and second highest score for any sparkling wine in the International Wine and Spirit Competition (IWSC). At present, only magnums are available, at £75. “The website just melted down,” director Justin Langham told The New Blackmore Vale. “We had individuals buying from all over the country, while every one of our trade customers has come on saying they want more because the wine is flying off the shelves.” The IWSC is one of the largest competitions of its kind, and the trophy for Sparkling Wine Producer of the Year is awarded to the winery who demonstrates quality and consistency across its range, taking an average score from the producer’s wines. More than 700 wineries entered the competition, with Langham entering all five of its sparkling wines. Last year, French house Veuve Clicquot was the winner. It is a remarkable triumph, given that Langham is a single vineyard of just 30 acres, planted in 2009.

CHEERS ALL ROUND: The team at Langham Wine Estate celebrate after being named Sparkling Wine producer of the Year in the International Wine and Spirit Competition. Inset: A bottle of their award- winning sparkling Blanc De Blanc

“Eleven years of hard work has paid off,” said Justin, who planted the vines and turned his father’s small vineyard into a commercial venture. “It’s been slowly paying off for the past four or five years but it was hard work building up sales. I thought that if we could produce a good wine, people will buy it. I found out that’s not the case. “We had won a fair few awards and I thought that would be helpful but it wasn’t significantly helpful. “This is.” Langhams has a small staff and produces 50,000 bottles a year, a relatively small number in the industry. There are still rose and chardonnay wines, as well as the five sparkling wines. “I put the success down to three things,” said Justin. “First, the grapes we grow (chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier). The site is extremely good and the clones of the three varieties we grow affects all sorts of things in the vine.

“Secondly, as we are relatively small, we do everything ourselves, which is not what most people do. If anything goes wrong, we have only ourselves to blame.

“We pay very good attention to detail.

“And thirdly, the way we make and blend the wine.” As well as gold for

Blanc de Blancs, silver medals were awarded for its Corallian Classic Cuvee and Culver Classic Cuvee, recognised as “sophisticated and complex” by the judges; as well as for the Pinot Meunier 2017 and Langham Rosé NV. The whole wine industry in England is upping its game, said Justin, and is still growing fast. Last year, Langham teamed up with two other Dorset vineyards – English Oak and Furleigh – to promote the county’s wines. Visitor numbers to Langham have grown steadily for the past six or seven years, he added, and now account for about 100 a day, every day of the week. After the first lockdown ended, numbers visiting were double that of summer 2019. The vineyard also expects to re-open its café this week.