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Country & Town House May 2009
The FoodLover: Asparagus
Buy: Abbey Parks Asparagus - Award-winning asparagus farm, Lincolnshire
Visit: The British Asparagus Festival - 23rd April - 21st June, Kent
Eat: Meltons Too - Asparagus tasting menu, Yorkshire
Buy: C W Cave - Freshly cut asparagus, Norfolk
Learn: Mere Brook House - Learn to grow, harvest & cook asparagus, Cheshire
Country & Town House March 2009
The FoodLover: Lamb
Buy: Langley Chase Organic Farm - rear organic Manx Loaghtan lamb, Wiltshire
Source: North Ronaldsay Lamb - one of the rarest lamb breeds, Scotland
Visit: Seven Sisters Sheep Centre - see the animals and learn farm skills, Sussex
Learn: Farmer Sharp - learn nose-to-tail butchery at Borough Market, London
Buy: Thoroughly Wild Meat Company - pure and cross-bred Suffolk lamb, Somerset
Country & Town House February 2009
The FoodLover: Chocolate
Stay: Chocolate Boutique Hotel - chocolate themed hotel, Hampshire
Order: Everything Nice - personalised chocolate brownies, Hampshire
Diet: Pure Flavour - pure raw chocolate, Sussex
Visit: Chocolate Ecstacy Tours - talks and lots of tastings, London
Give: Demarquette romantic chocolate gifts, London
Country & Town House January 2009
The FoodLover: Bread
Order It: At The Chapel - cafe, bakery, wine bar and restaurant, Somerset
Eat It: Bacheldre Watermill - mill a range of organic flours, Montgomeryshire
Stay In It: Burcott Mill - stay in a real working mill, Somerset
Learn It: Panary - cookery school set in a working mill, Dorset
Read It: Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley, founder of The Village Bakery
Great British Food November 2008
British Cheese
Henrietta raves about Stichelton, a cheese designed to recreate the flavour and texture of Stiltons of the "good old days" before the Stilton Cheese Makers Association insisted on pasteurisation in 1989.
Order it from Neal's Yard Dairy.
Turkey
Henrietta recommends Kelly Bronze, describing them as the "Rolls Royce of turkeys". Paired with Musk's Newmarket chipolatas and stuffing balls in the FoodLovers Christmas Turkey box, they make a perfect Christmas dinner.
Henrietta goes in search of the finest traditional British ice cream in BBC Good Food Magazine August 2008
Buy the Best Ice Cream
When I eat ice cream, that’s exactly what I hope to taste – iced cream. Nothing matches homemade ice cream, but if you’re in a rush, what’s the next best thing?
It pays to look closely at the label. Most ice creams are actually made with milk, milk powder and flavourings, and stabilisers and emulsifiers that manufacturers claim are essential. In my opinion, they are not. They are added to make a cheap mixture hang together, to give it ‘mouth feel; and shelf life. All they do is make you thirsty.
As for claims of ‘no artificial ingredients or colourings’, even if an ingredient is made in a laboratory, it won’t be ‘artificial’ if it is by nature identical in composition to the real thing. So you might not be licking ‘real’ strawberries but a strawberry flavouring.
Here are some of my favourite producers – they tick all the boxes for the taste, quality and authenticity of their ice cream.
FoodLovers Approved Ice Cream Producers
Cream o’ Galloway, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland
uses milk from their Ayrshire herd to make light airy ice cream.
Tel: 01557 814 040
Helsett Farm Cornish Ice Cream, Lesnewth, Cornwall
uses milk from their Ayrshire herd; the strawberry is very good.
Tel: 01840 261 207
September Organic Dairy, Weobley, Herefordshire
Made with Jersey milk and local eggs with interesting flavours such as blackberry & apple crumble sold in their parlour in Hay on Wye.
Tel: 01544 312 910
Caprilatte, Colchester, Essex
If you’re allergic to cow’s milk, try Warren Goff’s goat’s milk ice cream. He makes it in small quantities on his goat farm, using local fruit, honey and honeycomb.
Tel: 01206 736 121
Simply Ice Cream, Ashford, Kent
Simply Ice Cream makes ice cream by hand using local Kentish fruit, including English cherries.
Tel: 01233 720 922
Alder Carr, Ipswich, Suffolk
The fruit ice cream is made only with their own-grown fruit and cream – nothing else. Flavours include raspberry, damson and pear & chocolate.
Tel: 01449 720 820
In this month's Country House Henrietta visits The Cotswolds
