FFD May 2011

May 2011 · Vol 12 Issue 4

at the heart of speciality food and drink

Crumbs of comfort What’s new in sweet and savoury cookies, biscuits & crackers

LA FROMAGERIE

Why the iconic cheese retailer has taken its first step into branded products

GILES HENSCHEL

‘I didn’t want to go down the Phileas Fogg route, which has been done to death’

BALSAMICS

Charles Campion heads to Modena to hear why some vinegars are worth a daughter’s dowry

INSIDE: TEAHEE SEASONINGS & SPICES mary quicke APLEY FARM SHOP BRITISH COLD PRESSED OILS REFRIGERATION

Register for your FREE tickets at

www.specialityfoodshow.co.uk

The Harrogate Speciality Food Show is the biggest trade event for fine food & drink buyers in the North of England. It brings together around 150 producers and distributors of local, regional, national and international specialities, over 30% exhibiting at Harrogate for the first time.

To make your visit even more worthwhile, the Guild of Fine Food’s greattastelive! programme of teach-ins, tastings and workshops includes: • Crafty beers Tutored tastings with beers & ales expert Melissa Cole • Refresh & Renew – how to revamp the look & feel of your speciality food store • Profit from Coffee – how to offer perfect coffee that brings customers back time and again Plus, Feed the Dragon – the live forum where specialist producers pitch their products to key buyers from delis and food halls. Our most popular feature, Feed The Dragon will now be staged on both days of the show.

Who should attend: • Delicatessens • Farm shops • Food halls • Garden centres • Specialist grocers • Butchers, bakers & greengrocers • Restaurants & deli-cafés • Heritage & gift shops

The North of England’s biggest event for delis, farm shops & food halls Yorkshire Event Centre, Harrogate, June 26-27 2011

opinion

in this issue

For me, good or bad works best. I don’t care for grey, uncertain bits in the middle. Last month, a Guild of Fine Food member complained her local newspaper had named and shamed her deli following its zero rating on the Food Standards Agency (FSA) ‘Scores on the Doors’ scheme. This was clearly bad.

She’d run her shop for eight years and although previous inspections had revealed the odd irregularity, the zero score headlined in the local rag was a gigantic shock threatening her survival. That’s really bad.

I called her local environmental team and a gentleman advised me the lady who handled this inspection only works Monday through Wednesday. This was Friday. That wasn’t good.

I checked the website. Following a poor inspection, a food shop must receive a letter within 14 days setting out the problems and explaining how they must be rectified. Our deli owner hadn’t mentioned a letter – or had she?

I called back and yes, she had received a letter a few weeks back explaining what she was required to do. “Have you completed the work?” I asked. “No,” she replied, “I’m waiting for the EHO to approve my builder’s plans, but it’s difficult because she only works three days a…” “Yes,” I interrupted. “I know that bit.”

On Monday, I telephoned the EHO and that’s when good and bad began to blur. This was no part-time dictatorial ogre. She was charming, knowledgeable, concerned and very sympathetic towards our member.

She explained her department had provided guidance for over three years and the first record of the transgressions that earned our member a big fat zero was in February 2008.

“I really don’t want to give any food business a zero rating,” she assured me. “It reflects badly on our town and on me, and it creates a load more work.”

She also explained that failure to maintain a Safer Food Better Business (or comparable) food safety scheme automatically attracts a 20-point reduction. That alone virtually guarantees a zero rating.

“But why publish the scores? I pleaded. “Why not give retailers 60 days to privately rectify faults and if they don’t comply, then close them down?” I hate closing businesses,” she replied, “and I really wish the local newspaper hadn’t headlined these results.” She is acutely aware that a zero rating can be a virtual death sentence for any food business if its customers interpret the score as proof the shop will probably poison them.

Scores on the Doors wasn’t her idea – the FSA created it to comply with the Freedom of Information Act. Nowadays, we’re allowed to know everything, regardless of whether we understand what it means or appreciate its consequences. Occasionally, that might just be a bad thing.

❝On Monday, I telephoned the EHO. This was no part-time dictatorial ogre.

She was charming, concerned and sympathetic towards our member.❞

Bob Farrand Bob Farrand is publisher of Fine Food Digest and national director of the Guild of Fine Food

What they’re saying ❝Cheeses are so different from summer to winter. We print our restaurant menu every day and we never know what’s going to be on it. You sometimes wonder why some people go into the business, because they don’t seem to enjoy that spontaneity’❞ Sarah Bilney, general manager, La Fromagerie – p14

fine food news

English Food & Drink Alliance calls for immediate action to support food SMEs p4

focus on: sweet and savoury biscuits Bakers of premium cookies, biscuits and crackers have been busy with recipe development p27

balsamic vinegar Charles Campion visits the cellars of Modena in search of the best balsamics p32

focus on: british cold pressed oils

With so many beautifully branded premium rapeseed oils on offer, how should retailers make their choice? p35

product update: seasonings and spices The latest store-cupboard seasonings p39

product update: refrigeration

Everything from blast chillers to cooler bags p41

regulars:

news deli of the month

deli chef cheesewire shelf talk

4 14 19 21 47

EDITORIAL Editor: Mick Whitworth News editor: Patrick McGuigan Art director: Mark Windsor Editorial production: Richard Charnley Contributors: Menna Davies, Gail Hunt, Lynda Searby ADVERTISING Sales manager: Sally Coley Advertisement sales: Becky Stacey Circulation manager: Tortie Farrand Publisher & managing director: Bob Farrand Associate publisher & director: John Farrand THE GUILD OF FINE FOOD Membership secretary & director: Linda Farrand Administrators: Charlie Westcar, Julie Coates Accounts: Stephen Guppy, Denise Ballance

t: 01963 824464 Fax: 01963 824651 e: firstname.lastname@finefoodworld.co.uk w: www.finefoodworld.co.uk Published by: Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd. Fine Food Digest is published 10 times a year and is available on subscription for £40pa inclusive of post and packing.

Printed by: Advent Colour, Hants © Great Taste Publications Ltd and The Guild of Fine Food Ltd 2011. Reproduction of whole or part of this magazine without the publisher’s prior permission is prohibited. The opinions expressed in articles and advertisements are not necessarily those of the editor or publisher.

The publisher cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, recipes, photographs or illustrations.

Vol.11 Issue 1 · January-February 2010

fine food news English Food & Drink Alliance calls for immediate action to support food SMEs

‘Glory days are over’ for producers as cuts in support funds hit home

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Cuts in funding for Regional Food Groups (RFGs) in England and the scrapping of Regional Development Agencies are starting to be felt by small food and drink producers, who are urging the government to do more to support the sector.

England’s RFGs have had their funding stopped altogether or significantly cut in the past 18 months forcing them to make redundancies, scale back services and increase membership fees. The impact is now starting to filter through to small producers.

Julian Warrender, founder of Sussexbased Ouse Valley Foods, told FFD his local group, A Taste of Sussex, had “all but disappeared”.

“My business is relocating in July to larger premises and there is a distinct feeling of doing it alone. Thank goodness I have a huge dollop of determination and a reasonably balanced approach to the risks

in running a small, cash hungry business.”

At Lonely Pony Preserves in Staffordshire, owner Nigel Lindsell, said: “It’s clear that the glory days are over.

There seems to be far less emphasis on Heart of England Fine Foods marketing our products – they’ve lost their countybased reps – and there is certainly less money around to develop businesses.”

This experience was echoed by Deborah Richards, owner of artisan preserves maker Crellow in Cornwall.

“From a high point seven years ago when Taste of the West Cornwall was in full flow, there has been a huge drop in the services they’ve been able to offer during the last few years,” she said.

The cuts to RFGs’ funding have come despite the government’s pledge to support and develop British farming and encourage sustainable food production as one of three priorities laid down in Defra’s Business Plan in November 2010.

Agriculture minister Jim Paice has asked food groups to tell him what they need – but has made no promises of funding

High street sees unexpected rise in fine food outlets Delis like Bristolbased Chandos have proved resilient in the recession, says the Local Data Company

There has been a surprise increase in the number of fine food retailers operating in Britain’s major towns and cities in the past year, according to figures supplied exclusively to FFD. The Local Data Company, which monitors retailers in 500 shopping areas across the UK, found the number of independent cheese shops, chocolatiers and delicatessens increased by 14% in the past year, rising from a total of 702 stores at the end of March 2010 to 797 shops a year later.

The number of delis recorded during the period increased by 80 outlets, while 14 new chocolatiers were opened.

In Central London, 10 new fine food retailers opened during the period, taking the total number 4

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

of shops in the area to 118.

“The number of fine food outlets has performed well relative to the growth of the convenience sector overall,” said Local Data business development director Matthew Hopkinson. “It reflects an overall trend during the last two years where niche, high-end retailers have weathered the recession well as the more affluent have been less impacted.

“This has been an area that supermarkets have not focused on particularly during the recession, as well as being an area that is not perceived as a supermarket strength. This may, however, change with Waitrose rolling out 300 new stores by 2020.”

Since then Defra has had to contend with its own budget cuts and structural reorganisation, with the focus firmly on schemes that do not require significant funding. These include promoting the Protected Food Names scheme and better country-of-origin labelling, while introducing new guidance to encourage government departments to source Red Tractor-accredited food and drink.

“Defra is encouraging the development of Local Enterprise Partnerships and local development hubs to bring growers, processors and small food businesses together,” said a spokesperson. “The recently launched £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund will invest in projects which offer potential for private sectorled economic growth and sustainable employment.”

The first round of bidding to the threeyear Regional Growth Fund, which is open to all sectors of industry and social

Crouch takes over as Boyd quits Ludlow after eight years Sandy Boyd stood down as managing director of the pioneering Ludlow Food Centre in Shropshire last month after eight years in charge.

Reuben Crouch, who ran the centre’s deli counter before becoming its buyer, is now heading up the business as general manager.

In a statement, the Food Centre’s owners said: “Sandy spent four years planning and building a farm shop with a difference and his vision has created a truly unique business model. Sandy’s vision has created the microcosm of the traditional high street.”

Boyd joined the business in 2003 after running the Chatsworth Estate Farm Shop, and created a business that combines a local and regional food hall with on-site food production in kitchens surrounding the main retail area.

Reuben Crouch said: “Working with Sandy has been a real eye-opener to the world of food. His experience and knowledge will be missed but we’re all looking forward to developing the Food Centre further.

“This summer we plan to open a picnic area opposite the Food Centre and next year we are hoping to add a garden centre to the development.”

The £2.5m Ludlow Food Centre was opened by Viscount Windsor in 2007 and is based on the Earl of Plymouth’s Oakly Park Estate in Bromfield.

inbrief shopfitting enterprises, ended in January with over 450 bids received worth £2.78bn. A second round launched last month.

Jonathan Knight, chair of the English Food and Drink Alliance, told FFD action to support regional food needs to happen now.

“As time marches on the world is growing apace. If you look at the Foresight Report we’re going to need twice as much food in 20 years time as we do now. Unless you encourage farmers to farm and producers to produce and give them a market to play into we’re going to be behind the starting line,” he said.

Knight met with Agriculture Minister Jim Paice in March, while an Alliance meeting last month was attended by representatives from Defra and the Department for Business Innovation and Skills.

“We’re doing our bit to make sure decision-makers are aware of the importance of food and drink SMEs in England and the role that we play in glueing it all together,” said Knight.

“We’ve been asked by Jim Paice to make a proposal as to what we think the food groups need to continue, although there’s no promise of funding. It’s promising and the first time we’ve had a minister say to us, ‘Tell me what you need’.”

How should government support regional food?

“It should put its money where its mouth is and provide funding opportunities for food producers to develop their businesses.

Words are not enough. It takes money and resources.”

Nigel Lindsell, co-owner Lonely Pony Preserves, Staffs “It was a terrible shame when Food from Britain closed – other countries are better represented at trade shows than Britain – maybe a ‘new’ Food from Britain, with a different take on regional food would be good.”

Barbara Moinet, co-owner Kitchen Garden Foods, Gloucestershire “Procurement policies need addressing and there needs to be more scrutiny of larger retailers

and their impact on competition through scale economies. Perhaps the Competition Commission’s remit should reflect the risk of concentrated demand.”

John Taylerson, Taylerson’s Malmesbury Syrups, Wilts “We need a coordinated effort with as little overlap of provision as possible. Currently Taste of the West, Cornwall County Council, the Regional Development Agency, and Mad for Food all have a hand in the ‘food pie’ and it would be better if funding could maximise funds to all in the food chain without overlap in bureaucracy or service provision.”

Deborah Richards, co-owner of preserves maker Crellow, Cornwall

Chatsworth Estate has been presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Countryside Alliance in recognition of its role in the local food movement, as well as furthering rural tourism and contributing to the local community. The award – the first of its kind – was presented to the Duke of Devonshire and the Dowager Duchess along with Chatsworth staff at a reception at the House of Lords.

Doncaster-based The Topping Pie Company has secured a listing with Selfridges stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham. The company will supply four different pork pies: Yorkshire Farmer, Scrumpy, Huntsman and Chilli Pork Pie.

●

Anila’s Authentic Sauces has gained its first dedicated Scottish distributor, Blue Mountain Scotland, which has already started supplying six independent retailers.

Curry Cuisine becomes first to push PFN ingredients on-pack

Reuben Crouch (top) takes over from Sandy Boyd, pictured here with Ludlow’s in-house coffee roaster

Food and drink producers using Protected Food Names (PFNs) as ingredients are being encouraged to highlight the fact on labels following a breakthrough product launch and new European Commission (EC) guidelines.

Curry Cuisine in Wakefield has developed a Yorkshire Rhubarb Chilli Jam made with PDO-protected Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb, which now carries the PDO logo on its packaging.

Co-owner Paresh Tejura consulted with Trading Standards and ADAS, which promotes the PFN scheme in the UK, to make sure he was permitted to highlight the PDO ingredient on his labels.

The product is one of the first of its kind in the UK, but more producers are now expected to follow suit, especially after the EC published guidelines in December on using registered food names as ingredients in secondary products.

The guidelines state that PDO or PGI ingredients can be mentioned “in or close to the trade name of a foodstuff... as well as in the labelling, presentation and advertising relating to that foodstuff”. However certain conditions must be met. The use of ‘comparable ingredients’ to replace the PFN ingredient is not allowed, and the protected ingredient should be used in sufficient quantities to be an “essential characteristic” of the product. Consumers should also not be misled to think the product itself has protected status.

“It was a lot of hard work clearing everything with ADAS and Trading Standards, but hopefully it will make things easier for other products in the future,” said Tejura. “We’re

based within the Rhubarb Triangle and are passionate about protecting our local foods and supporting local farmers and the economy.

“Highlighting the fact that we use PDO Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb gives us a point of difference and distinguishes us from the generic products in the supermarkets. It also gives retailers a talking point with their customers.”

Irene Bocchetta, Adas’ PFN manager, said: “The opportunity to use a PFN product as an ingredient has always been available. But it takes one or two to see the potential in doing so, and hopefully many will follow seeing the added advantages. Not only does using a PFN as an ingredient promote the scheme overall, it’s a powerful marketing tool for food and drink manufacturers.”

Curry Cuisine’s Chutnees rhubarb chilli jam, made with PDO Yorkshire forced rhubarb, carries the yellow PDO roundel Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

inbrief Gloucestershire’s famous cheese rolling event has been cancelled again after organisers said they had been threatened over plans to introduce an entry fee. The previously free event was cancelled in 2010 because of crowd safety fears, so organisers decided to turn the event into a twoday festival and charge £20 a ticket in 2011 (FFD last issue).

However, this has now been scrapped after hostility from the public. A spokesman said organisers had been accused of profiteering and had been spat at and verbally abused with threats of violence.

news farm shops

● Selfridges is working with the Marine Conservation Society to ensure that it only stocks sustainable fish and seafood, not the Marine Stewardship Council as reported last month’s issue. Apologies to the MSC, which pointed out the error.

Smoked salmon from St James Smokehouse, Sleeping Warrior hot smoked sausage from Taste of Bute and Black Isle porter chutney are among 53 entries shortlisted for the 2011 Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards.

The big winners will be announced on May 26. ● A distinctly un-Royalist commemorative cheese bearing the slogan ‘Sod the wedding, it’s a day off’ outsold a more conventional ‘Congratulations Wills & Kate’ version by a ratio of eight to one at Lyme Regis’s Town Mill Cheesemonger last month.

Sales of organic food through farm shops fell again last year as retailers continued to focus on locally sourced and homemade products. The Soil Association says sales of organic food and drink fell by 3.4% in 2010, following a 13.8% drop in 2009. The decline is part of an overall trend in the market, with total organic sales falling 5.9% to £1.73 billion in 2010. ● Regional food distributor Mullion Cove has linked with Bristol City Council to launch a West Country farmers’ market at the Ashton Court Estate, a 15th century mansion and 850 acre park owned and run by the Council. It starts on May 15.

6

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

Apley Farm Shop is housed in restored farm buildings on the Shropshire estate, with the interior design making the most of the original brick walls and oak beams

Apley Estate to create ‘visitor destination’ The operators of a newly opened farm shop on the Apley Estate in Shropshire aims to create a ‘visitor destination’ by adding a cookery school and several other retail outlets to the site.

The 3,000-plus sq ft shop and 50-seater café near Bridgnorth opened at the end of March, sourcing fresh produce from the 8,000 acre estate and its 12 tenanted farms.

The shop already has a large children’s play barn with coffee shop, but the estate’s owner, Lord Gavin Hamilton, also plans to open a cookery school and provide space for a florist, gardening shop, sweet shop and hairdresser.

“We want Apley Farm Shop to be somewhere that families can come for the day with something to do for all

generations,” said shop manager Frances Bowen.

“This is a high population area, but people struggle to find things to do. Food is something that bonds all the family.”

The opening of the farm shop, which is housed in restored farm buildings with brick walls and oak beams, is part of a scheme to regenerate the estate and its farms.

The Hamilton family has already restored several other buildings to create offices, residential properties and luxury holiday cottages.

Lakes, walkways and walls have also been reestablished, along with the installation of a hydro-electric plant and wood boiler. This forms part of a renewable energy programme using wood from the estate and the power of water to generate heating and hot water.

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news farm shops

food halls

Smarter premises help add 50% to sales at Moor Farm Shop The days of farm shops operating from sheds and garages are over with shoppers now expecting a much more professional retail experience.

That’s the view of the owners of Moor Farm Shop, which has moved to new £250,000 premises at its farm in Shropshire. “The way that farm shops were is no longer acceptable, if you really want to make the business work,” said Elaine Timmis, who runs the business with her family.

“When we opened the first Moor Farm Shop in 2006 it was located in a garage on the side of our house. This was acceptable then, but we have seen the expectations of shoppers change a great deal. They would like a more professional retail environment.

“They want to buy local and support you but in the atmosphere of a larger retailer, combining quality products and personal service, but also adding in a light, clean and well-merchandised shop.”

The new shop, which was part-funded by a £62,500 Rural Development Programme for England grant, is only slightly larger than the original, but has a much better design with more than double the space for the kitchen and food preparation areas, as well as chilled storage and an on-site office overlooking the retail area.

In the first four weeks of opening, the retailer saw year-on-year sales increase 50% with essentially the

same range of products. “I think this is due to better presentation of the products, available in a more inviting interior and we are now visible from the road rather than down a farm driveway,” said Timmis.

Moor Farm Shop grew from a successful meat box scheme. Meat is still central to the business with the majority of its beef from Timmis' own Hereford cattle and pork from its Gloucester Old Spot pigs. Homemade food, such as pies, sausage rolls and ready meals, are also a focus, along with local and regional produce.

Former Iron Chef winner Marcus Bean from The New Inn officially opened the shop last month.

Customers are looking for ‘a more professional shopping environment’, say Moor Farm’s owners

Heal Farm plans factory move to handle shift towards fresh meat

By MICK WHITWORTH

Rare breed meat specialist Heal Farm is seeking a buyer for its 6,000 sq ft factory in north Devon (below) to fund a move to new premises.

Owner Anne Petch hopes to relocate from her current rural base near Kings Nympton to a site with easier access to main roads and more fresh meat processing space.

It follows a shift in Heal Farm’s trade from cooked and cured products to fresh meat for restaurants.

Petch, one of the pioneer members of the Rare Breed Survival Trust, started Heal Farm 30 years ago to help provide a long-term commercial outlet for meat from traditional breeds. Beginning with bacon, sausage

and hams, she developed a business that now includes poultry, game and hand-raised pies, as well as Polishstyle hot smoked meat and sausages.

Heal Farm’s clients include Whole Foods Markets and Partridges in London, and it has a strong mail order business. But Petch said: “We want to expand the chef supply side because we have a lot of specialist knowledge, not just about the meat but about how to use it – for example, looking at cheaper cuts chefs might not have used before.”

While Petch said Heal Farm would have “a big push” on its premium delicatessen meats range once it has relocated, she believed there was currently more call for fresh meat than for British rare breed charcuterie.

“It think it’s the recession,”she told FFD. “Everyone is saying they’d like to buy British – until they see it’s 50p more.

“I think we’ll have to get a general improvement in the economy before that changes.”

Heal Farm’s Kings Nympton processing unit and office HQ has been put on the market with agent Geoffrey Clapp Associates at £499,950. w w

www.healfarm.co.uk www.geoffreyclappassociates.com

Cookhouse will give Suffolk store ‘an edge of originality’

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

The owners of the Suffolk Food Hall have unveiled plans to create on-site facilities for artisan food producers, saying farm shops must develop new strategies to stay ahead of the supermarkets.

Eight production units, all open to public viewing, will be housed in the Cookhouse, a two-storey 7,000 sq ft converted barn which is due to open next year. Tenants will include a microbrewery, smokery, chocolatier, patisserie, caterer, coffee roaster, cider-maker and dairy producer. They will work with the Ipswich-based food hall to develop exclusive lines.

“This is a way to maintain an edge of originality on the supermarkets,” said director Oliver Paul. “The big retailers are always a threat so we have to be innovative and we need new products. All farm shops need to be doing the same.

You can’t afford to stand still.”

Paul hopes to build a collaborative business ethos at the Cookhouse with start-up and small producers working together to reduce distribution, ingredients and packaging costs, but also developing joint marketing and product development initiatives.

“We will also play our part, providing a sounding board and testbed for new ideas. We will be able to trial new products in the store and closely monitor how they perform using our EPoS system before producers roll them out to other farm shops and delis,” he said.

As part of the development, the food hall’s Samford restaurant will be relocated to a larger building next door to the Cookhouse, increasing seating from 120 to around 200. The coffee shop and terrace, with views over the River Orwell, will also be expanded.

Tenants will include a micro-brewery, chocolatier, cidermaker and patisserie Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

9

news delicatessens

Sussex deli and greengrocer expands into Co-op site

SUCCESS ON A PLATE: Lisa Salter’s Pumpkin delicatessen & café in Wedmore took top honours as Best Independent Food Shop in the Taste of Somerset Awards last month after less than three years in operation.

Salter, a Guild of Fine Food retail member, opened Pumpkin following a move from south London where she had spent several years as a deli manager.

She aims to source most of her offering from within Somerset and the West Country. Suppliers include Somerset Cider Brandy, farmhouse cheddar makers Montgomery, Westcombe, Keens and Barbers, Hobbs House Bread, cider and apple juice maker Orchard Pig and chutney brand A Bit on the Side.

Also on the honours board was UK Cheese Guild and World Cheese Awards sponsor Barbers of Maryland Farm in Ditchet, which was voted Best Dairy Producer.

Salter is pictured (above left) receiving her winner’s plate from awards judges Jenny Barton and Sophie Seldon of Enigma Pottery, who also made the trophy. w www.pumpkinwedmore.co.uk

Own-brand products made in full view of customers in an open kitchen are one of the attractions at The Sussex Produce Company’s newly opened store in Steyning.

The upmarket greengrocer, run by FFD columnist Nick Hempleman, previously had a 380 sq ft shop in the East Sussex village, but moved to a former Co-op store on the high street at the beginning of the month. This new site has over 2,000 sq ft of retail space.

A key feature of the new shop is an open kitchen, where the company’s locally sourced fruit and vegetables are used to make own-brand products such as soups, pasta sauces and condiments, in front of customers. It will also produce takeaway products such as tarts and salads.

The new shop, which includes a café, offers a wider range of fresh produce, plus cheese and cooked meats from a large deli counter and wine and ales, including beer on draught for carry-out in two- and four-pint containers. Around £200,000 was spent fitting out the store.

“We pride ourselves on stocking the absolute best quality produce, which meant last year we had to throw away over £20,000 worth of stock,” said Hempleman. “Now, if the tops wilt on a bunch of carrots, rather than it going out the back door we can turn them into soup. It means we cut wastage but also add value to the produce. A bunch of carrots retails for £1.45, but we can sell a pot of carrot & coriander soup at £2.95.”

The grocer’s locally sourced fresh produce will be turned into added-value lines in a new open-plan kitchen

food halls

Montgomerys opens Ballymena food hall

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Northern Ireland’s fine food sector got a major boost last month with the opening of a 4,500 sq ft food hall in Ballymena.

The outlet was opened by family-owned retailer Montgomerys on the ground floor of its three storey shop, which also sells hardware, cookware and has a 160-seater restaurant serving local food.

The new food shop houses a butchery counter selling Aberdeen Angus and Dexter beef, chicken and lamb from the owners’ 400-acre farm, plus a fishmonger, large deli area, bakery and locally sourced fruit and veg section.

“We opened the restaurant six years ago and it has gone from strength to strength, so it made sense to branch out further into food,” said director Tim Montgomery.

“Northern Ireland is 10 years behind the rest of the UK when it comes to food.

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May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

“Tesco launched here in the 1990s, but people are now starting to realise that big supermarkets aren’t the be all and end all.

We’re slowly starting to see more farm shops opening, but this will be the first proper food hall in Northern Ireland, as far as we know.”

Portadown-based Chapman's Farm Fresh announced last year that it planned to invest £2.5m in a new 25,000 sq ft store with a butchery, bakery, fish counter and deli, but building work has yet to start.

Located around 30 miles north of Belfast, Montgomerys – an 80-year-old business – plans to offer day-trip packages to people from the capital.

“We’ll be giving talks and demonstrations on how to use the ingredients we sell and taking people on tours of the farm to see where they are grown,” said Tim Montgomery.

Back row (L to R): Richard Montgomery, Mark Montgomery, Steven Montgomery and Tim Montgomery. Bottom row: Lynette Millar and Clare McCurvey

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11

If I’d known news then what I know now…

garden centres

Colin Dawes, Foxbury Farm Shop, Brize Norton, Oxfordshire We opened our first small farm shop back in 2001 and moved to much larger premises about 18 months ago. During our first three or four years we were winning awards left, right and centre.

We won Farm Shop of the Year with Meat Trades Journal in 2005, but it all came a bit too early for us in many ways. We got lots of PR, but customers were expecting a lush shopping experience, when we were a basic, rustic shop.

It would have been better to get that exposure when the business had developed a bit more and we had moved to our new premises.

We hadn’t realised how supermarket-orientated consumers were. When we opened, our regular customers were generally from an older generation that were interested in the product, not the shop itself. They didn’t mind the fact that it was a bit rustic.

One of the reasons we moved was to generate that supermarket feel for the next generation. We needed a slicker, more professional fit-out.

I think the influence of the supermarkets also explains why we’ve seen sales of convenience

“People expect to be able to walk in and pick something up that doesn’t require lots of work” products grow over the years. People expect to be able to walk in and pick something up that doesn’t require lots of work. We’re moving more into ready-made meals and products on the deli counter like our own pasties, sausage rolls and pork pies.

I still struggle to get my head round people’s lack of cooking ability. There are all these cooking programmes on telly and people will buy certain ingredients when they are in a recipe, but they’ll only ever buy them once.

The move to new premises was interesting. We decided to turn the old shop into a café, but it just didn’t take off because customers had to walk 20 yards from the shop to get there. We moved the café into the shop and it’s been full ever since.

One of our other challenges has been finding good staff. Running a farm shop in an area of very low unemployment where property prices are high is a nightmare. Our customers expect a lot more of staff than they would in Tesco or Sainsbury’s. Quite rightly, they expect them to be polite and know about the products, but it’s difficult to find staff you can train to that level. It’s the same story with finding skilled butchers. A lot of butchers have just given up the trade altogether and the next generation isn’t coming through. We have to take people on and train them up ourselves.

Interview by PATRICK McGUIGAN

12

March 2010 · Vol.11 Issue 2

Brown & Green: ‘People come to visit us as much as they are visiting the garden centre’

Blue Diamond garden centres add second Brown & Green food store

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

The number of garden centres moving into speciality food grew last month with the opening of a second Brown & Green food store by the 12-strong Blue Diamond chain.

The new shop, which specialises in local, ethical and artisan food, is based at Blue Diamond’s Derby garden centre and follows the opening of the first Brown & Green shop at the Blue Diamond in Trentham Shopping Village near Stoke-on-Trent last year.

Last month, FFD reported that Tesco-owned Dobbies plans to build a chain of 100 garden centres, most of which will contain its Farm Foodhall retail concept.

Brown & Green is a partnership between husband and wife team Euan and Susie Keenan, who own the Shepherd’s Farm Shop concession at Blue Diamond’s Gloucestershire site.

“There’s a perception that food shops in

garden centres are about passing trade rather than loyal customers, but that’s not been our experience with Blue Diamond,” said Susie Keenan. “We have built up lots of regular customers at the first Brown & Green shop with customers coming to visit us just as much as they are visiting the garden centre. We tap into each other’s trade.”

Large colourful displays have played an important part in the success of the first shop, said Keenan. “Customers expect bright, visually inspiring displays when they visit a garden centre, so it’s important that our shops fit that style.

We put of lot of work into merchandising and refreshing point of sale displays.”

Brown & Green’s original farm shop in Gloucestershire is earmarked for expansion later this year before the company opens outlets in other Blue Diamond stores. “There are a few sites we are considering,” said Keenan.

business improvement

Retail workshop to run alongside Harrogate show The Guild of Fine Food is to stage a one-day Better Retailing workshop in Harrogate on June 28, immediately after the Harrogate Speciality Food Show (June 26-27), to help shop owners generate more revenue and refresh their stores.

Speakers will include Charlie Turnbull, who trained as an accountant and now owns a delicafé in Dorset, and Georgie Mason, the former fashion industry professional who runs Gonalston Farm Shop and talks regularly on merchandising

and shop design. There will also be a drinks reception for delegates on the evening of June 27 at Fodder farm shop, based at the Great Yorkshire Showground where the Harrogate show is staged, to stimulate debate and content for the following day’s workshop.

Better Retailing will cost £69 plus VAT for Guild members and £89 plus VAT for non-members.

01963 824464 tortie.farrand@finefoodworld.co.uk

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Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

13

deli of the month As La Fromagerie takes its first tentative steps into brand-building, we talk to general manager Sarah Bilney and owner Patricia Michelson about a creating a business with personality

‘You’ve got to create your own identity’ 14

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

Interview by MICK WHITWORTH

I

t’s the curse of the small business, says Sarah Bilney, that you have to wear many hats. At La Fromagerie in Marylebone, where she has worked since helping Patricia Michelson set up the shop a decade ago, Bilney’s ‘hats’ include general manager (her official title), payroll clerk and events co-ordinator.

But last year she added a new responsibility: developing a new range of branded foods that will take La Fromagerie’s name beyond the walls of its Marylebone and Highbury stores and raise its profile outside the London foodie community.

To do so, Bilney has set up a separate business, Simkin Partners, with long-time friend Jamie Fisher, a product development chef who has worked with the likes of M&S and has his own consultancy, Field to Fork. While Bilney knows retailing and foodservice – she previously ran &Clarke’s, the shop and bakery next to Sally Clarke’s award-winning restaurant in West London – Fisher has the experience of turning kitchen-scale foodie ideas into volume products.

The first line they’ve come up with is a range of four cheese biscuits, baked on their behalf by Hugh and Annie Laughton’s Shropshire Fine Herbs. The first commercial batch left the bakery just in time to go into La Fromagerie’s Christmas hampers and they’re now being made available to other independent retailers as well as to La Fromagerie’s top-end restaurant clients.

According to Bilney, the first retail order – from a Scottish cheesemonger – came in after the caraway, charcoal, oat and rye biscuits were featured in FFD two months ago.

In due course, Simkin Partners hopes to develop sweet biscuits, chutneys and fruit cheeses for the La Fromagerie label – “anything that supports the brand beyond the shop” – before going on to create own-brands for other stores and restaurants.

But when we meet at La Fromagerie’s Moxon Street cheese shop, deli and café, just off Marylebone High Street, Bilney says she has no intention of giving up the day job. “It’s what Sundays are for,” she tells me, not really joking.

“This is a 24/7 business, and we do work long hours. But that’s the nature of the beast.”

As if to underline the point, Patricia Michelson, the cheese industry legend who created La Fromagerie in 1992 with husband Danny, who now runs their original Highbury shop, joins us, slightly flustered and half an hour late. She was up until the small hours, she explains, after guests at a private party in La Fromagerie’s café decided to crack open the single malt rather than go home. While Michelson gets her brain into gear, Bilney tells me more about the Marylebone business.

The café is a key part of the operation, she says, accounting for around a third of sales. Open all week from breakfast time through to pre-theatre suppers, it’s actually known as the Tasting Café,

“Sometimes it’s about not taking it all so desperately seriously” Sarah Bilney

The new biscuits range could be followed by chutneys and fruit cheeses

“We don’t have any truck with supermarkets because we’re so individual” Patricia Michelson

which gives you an idea of how it’s used outside normal opening hours: a mix of private parties and special events staged by La Fromagerie, often with Michelson providing tutored tastings. For St Patrick’s Day this year, for example, there was an evening sampling of Irish farmhouse cheeses – Durrus, Coolea, Gubbeen and so on – matched with wines and beers, at £50 per head.

“We have a lot of private clients who book us Monday to Thursday,” Bilney continues. “We’re often approached by publishing houses if there’s a new book coming out – we’ve done launches for people like Maggie Beer and Mark Hix – and we do a lot of tastings for wholesale customers, like [chefpatron] Henry Harris at Racine.”

Wholesaling, mainly to the high-end restaurant sector, accounts for a further third of sales, and until now this has been handled directly from the shop, which is famed for its artisan cheese maturing room.

But in the next few weeks, trade sales are to be moved out to a standalone unit close to the smaller Highbury shop, which will also handle mail-order sales. “We’ll have all the maturing and affinage for wholesale done there,” says Bilney. “We’ve outgrown the space here. It’s a retail outlet, but when customers come in there are often boxes up to the ceiling, and orders going out – it’s bedlam.”

La Fromagerie has a “brilliant” wholesale manager in the shape of Jon Schofield, who has a restaurant background and can offer a bespoke service to chefs.

“It’s lovely when someone like Henry Harris puts ‘La Fromagerie cheese’ on their menu,” Bilney says. “It’s a great brand endorsement.”

Patricia Michelson has been particularly associated with European artisan cheeses, buying direct from continental producers, and this has given La Fromagerie its own niche as a wholesaler, particularly in London, and according to Bilney it doesn’t set out to steal trade from anyone. “We’re in a really small pond,” she says. “And poaching customers is like poaching staff – it will come back to bite you. So we’re not aggressive in any way.”

Instead, in shop, café and wholesale, La Fromagerie simply stresses its direct sourcing from often tiny European producers, its skills in affinage and its understanding of seasonal cheeses, and leans heavily on Michelson’s ability to communicate that knowledge to customers.

Its range changes constantly, says Bilney, and it will tweak the rest of its retail offer – a limited but high quality selection of ambient and fresh deli lines, bread and fruit & veg – to suit the seasons. “We’ve come through the high mountain cheeses now, our diets are changing and we’re going onto lighter, fresher cheeses. That’s reflected in our fresh produce, and we’ll start using different oils in the café.”

She says it’s “worrying” that so many restaurants don’t change their cheeseboards from one end of the year to the other. “Cheeses are so different from summer milk to winter milk. We print our restaurant menu every day and we never know what’s going to be on it. You sometimes wonder why some people go into the business, because they don’t seem to enjoy that spontaneity.”

That sense of interest and change comes across in the look and buzz of the Marylebone store, with produce scattered artfully around the unconventional retail and café space. Appropriately, the Moxon Street property was once a dairy, although that was a century or so back. It had been a builder’s yard for many years when the landlord – the Howard de Walden Estate, which owns Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

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May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

deli of the month SUMMER AT LA FROMAGERIE

Products are scattered artfully around the unconventional retail and café space

and leases much of the property around Marylebone High Street – redeveloped it specifically for La Fromagerie, and it is now an intriguing jumble of rooms of different sizes and on different floor levels.

Perhaps the shop’s most unconventional aspect is the absence of serveovers. Staff are not tucked behind counters but occupy the same space as the customer, making it easier to strike up conversations about what to buy and which products work together. “With this level of product, there can be a huge amount of intimidation,” says Bilney. “It’s something we talk to our staff about all the time.

Don’t say to a customer, ‘What would you like, sir?’ because often their minds go blank. We offer them tastings instead – and we taste it with them. If we say, ‘Ooh, that’s actually quite salty, isn’t it?’ you’ll often see them looking relieved. Sometimes it’s about not taking it all so desperately seriously.”

For Michelson, a shop’s format is an expression of the retailer’s personality – “As soon as you walk into a shop you can gauge the personality of the people that own it,” she tells me – and a key part of any specialist store’s point of difference. “Independents, have to understand and appreciate what they’ve got, rather than trying to emulate supermarkets.

We don’t have any truck with supermarkets here because we’re so individual.”

Michelson was enticed to this now buzzing part of London when Marylebone High Street was dying on its feet. Howard de Walden Estate had begun buying back leases to redevelop the properties and gave La Fromagerie an “incredibly generous” rent, knowing they needed a few small, exclusive independents to attract similar businesses. But rents are now high enough to have driven some smaller shops out again, and Michelson says landlords need to “see the bigger picture” if they want to retain those specialist stores that give an area its cachet.

She is equally impatient with retailers who “just stand behind the counter” and don’t have confidence in their businesses. There is a farmers’ market just round the corner from La Fromagerie, which some traders opposed, but Michelson says it should be embraced for the number of people it brings in and for helping support those small local suppliers on which every independent relies. “It has brought life to an area no-one came to on Sundays.”

Similarly, she refuses to be intimidated by the multiples. “Every day we’ve got another supermarket ‘suit’ looking around the shop. But we come from a position of strength. Deli owners should feel strong and create their own identity.”

As seasonality is so high on the agenda at La Fromagerie, we asked Sarah Bilney what’s on the must-stocks list for late spring and early summer: ●C hris Herald’s lettuces, fresh cut and delivered to us each morning.

He’s a small independent grower in Hertfordshire. ●F rom Pantelleria we source big juicy capers in salt, and a delicious caper paste, which is fabulous with grilled fish and chicken. They also send us an artichoke paste, fantastic spread on crostini, and dried oregano grown on their land too. We’ve been slow roasting legs of hogget with the oregano, with lots of Sicilian lemon. ●W e have also sourced a fantastic passata and tinned tomatoes from Naples, made with a classic Neapolitan tomato variety called Il Miracolo di san Gennaro ●W e’re bringing in new-season Kalios extra virgin olive oil from Neochori Ithomi, Messenie, southern Peloponnese and Oleum Flumen from Lleida, north-east Spain, which was used by Ferran Adria at El Bulli. ● I n the cheese room there is a big focus on new season goats’ cheeses from France: Loire, Charente Poitou, Tarn and all over the south west – in particular Chabicou and Selles sur Cher. We also love the Val de Loubiers from Ariege, which looks like a Vacherin but made with goats’ milk and is meltingly rich. We also have a new goats’ cheese from the makers of Innes Cheese at Highfields Farm Dairy, called Chilcote ●W e’ll have some beautiful varieties of tomatoes such Camone, Merinda, Costoluto and Cuore di Bue. ●B orage is also coming in soon and we will be serving that as our house summer cocktail, with prosecco.

www.lafromagerie.co.uk Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

17

Better Retailing Tuesday June 28 2011 Pavilions of Harrogate, Yorkshire Event Centre Make more of your visit to the Harrogate Speciality Food Show.

A one-day workshop that will help hone your retail skills and increase profitability. Spend Monday at the Speciality Food Show and then join industry experts the next day to swap ideas, generate merchandising tips and tackle issues specific to your store.

You can even join us for an informal drink on the Monday evening.

Who should attend?

• Deli, farm shop and food hall owners and managers looking for inspiration and ideas to generate revenue in their store • Anyone involved in fine food and drink looking to exchange ideas and debate the hot topics in our sector

What’s included Better Finance. Charlie Turnbull, ex-accountant and owner of Turnbulls Deli, looks at good practice in running your shop and explores margin, cash flow and all things financial

Better Merchandising.

Georgie Mason Gonalston Farm Shop, takes the lid off how you can merchandise your shop to increase sales and how you attract and retain customers

Counter Intelligence. A Question Time-style debate hosted by John Farrand with a panel of industry experts discussing issues that relate to the wider fine food market

Better Retailing will give you the tools to generate additional revenue in your shop, easily repaying your investment on the day.

Booking a place Guild of Fine Food member Guild of Fine Food non-member

£69.00 plus VAT (includes lunch) £89.00 plus VAT (includes lunch)

• Is your business making as much money as it should?

• Are your team trained to the right level?

• Need some fresh hints & tips on how to merchandise?

• Are you controlling your margins?

To book your place contact Tortie Farrand on 01963 824464 or email her on tortie.farrand@finefoodworld.co.uk Register for the show which takes place on June 26-27 2011 www.specialityfoodshow.co.uk

interview

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

Dan Barrow TeaHee, Easingwold, North Yorkshire

C

heese and a hot beverage might not sound the most obvious of food and drink pairings, but it’s one that works for TeaHee in Easingwold. Set up by Sophie Smith in 2003, the deli positions itself as a cheesemonger and espresso bar with a line in fancy teas. The cheese counter sells close to 40 British and Irish cheeses from Neal’s Yard Dairy, while coffee (and barista training) comes courtesy of Cooper’s of Huddersfield and tea from Northern Tea Merchants.

Dan Barrow, head chef at the shop’s 30-seater café, uses the cheese and caffeine focus to his advantage.

Cheese is the backbone of the menu, popping up in platters, sandwiches and savouries, while glamorous cakes to partner hot drinks are a speciality.

Chocolate, almond & pear tart, courgette & lime cake and passion fruit meringues are just some of the homemade treats on the menu when we speak to Barrow, not to mention his ‘signature’ Tunisian orange cake (see recipe).

“Space is limited, so our emphasis is on coffee and cake and light lunches rather than complicated hot meals. It fits better with our product range that way as well,” he says.

The farmhouse platter is a good

putting deli ingredients to work

example. It is served with a blue, a hard cheese and a washed rind, such as Stichelton, Coolea and Gubbeen, along with ham from local butcher S&J, homemade chutney and bread from Thomas the Bakers.

“I also love using the cheeses in tarts and savouries. They have such amazing flavours. Montgomery cheddar, leek and Marmite tart is a favourite at the moment,” he adds.

While dishes are basically assembled in the tiny café kitchen downstairs, the bulk of the production work is done in the first floor bakery kitchen, where a 4ft pastry brake takes pride of place.

Barrow makes all his own puff pastry on the machine for everything from tarts and sausage rolls to cheese straws and palmiers.

“We’re one of a very few places that makes its own puff pastry,” says Barrow. “Even top-end fine dining restaurants will use bought-in puff but I think home-made tastes so much better. I also just love the process. You take fairly inedible ingredients like flour and butter, slowly work them, and like magic you get this amazing silky pastry. It’s just a case of folding and feeding the dough through the rollers again and again. I’ve worked it out and our puff pastry has 324 layers.”

As well as serving the café, products made from puff pastry are also ideal for the deli’s growing outside catering business. “We offer a finger or fork menu, but either way they are made up of cold snack items made with pastry, such as mini tarts, sausage rolls and mille-feuille,” says Barrow. “It’s so hard to do justice to a three-course sit-down meal when it’s for 100 people, whereas I think it’s nicer at a wedding when you can

Space is limited within the café, so head chef Dan Barrow concentrates on coffee, cake and light lunches

Tunisian orange cake Cake ingredients: 300g caster sugar 6 eggs 150g ground almonds 250ml sunflower oil 100g bread crumbs 2 teaspoons baking powder Zest of one lemon and one orange Sugar syrup ingredients: Juice of one lemon and one orange 1 cinnamon stick 75g caster sugar 12 cloves

Method: Combine all the dry cake ingredients into a large bowl. Break eggs into a jug and whisk gently with the sunflower oil.

Pour the sloppy egg mixture into the dry ingredients and stir well. Transfer the cake mixture into a greased 9-inch cake tin and bake for around 40 minutes at 180°.

Whilst the cake is baking, combine all the ingredients for the sugar syrup in a pan. Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer for four minutes. When the cake is ready, pierce it several times and pour the spiced syrup over the top. Leave to cool.

All images: Victoria Harley

delichef

be social and mix with people at the buffet.”

Yorkshire Organic Millers near Pickering has developed a local unbleached flour for Barrow that is versatile enough for puff and shortcrust pastry, as well as cakes.

It’s one of many relationships with local suppliers that TeaHee has built up over the years. Fruit and veg come from Easingwold greengrocer Dooley’s, salad leaves from Herbs Unlimited, and there’s also a steady supply of produce from the allotment of Sophie Smith’s father-in-law ‘Big Al’.

“We also encourage customers to bring in the fruit and veg from their gardens and allotments. We trade coffee and cake in return,” says Barrow. “It helps with our bottom line, means we get really fresh seasonal veg and makes for a lovely atmosphere in the shop.”

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Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

19

Make 2011 lovely with Belvoir We believe our drinks are truly lovely and we want to spread the loveliness, so this year we are running 12 months of wonderful on−pack promotions, website competitions and lots more fun stuff besides.

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20

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

cheese wire Sector threatened by lack of expertise

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

The future of Britain’s specialist cheese sector is under threat because of a shortage of technical experts, according to Mary Quicke, MD of Devon-based Quickes.

Most current cheese consultants with expertise in both the science and practicalities of specialist cheese production are now well past retirement age, Quicke told FFD, and there is a shortage of people to replace them.

“Most of Britain’s cheese-makers have been trained by or consulted with Val Bines and Chris Ashby, but there is no next generation of similar experts coming through,” she said. “This lack of specialist and scientific knowledge is one of the biggest long-term threats to my business and others in the sector. We only need a problem with one raw cheese producer in the future and if we don’t have the right expertise to defend our methods we could be in trouble.”

Quicke puts the lack of specialist cheese scientists down to government policy changes in the 1980s, which put the onus on industry, rather than the public sector, to fund scientific research into agriculture and food.

She is calling on fellow producers to back her in an attempt to secure Rural Development

Quicke: Lack of specialist scientists is down to government policy changes in the 1980s

Programme for England (RDPE) funding to train a microbiologist or bio-chemist in the practicalities of cheese-making.

“There are several cheese-making courses, but what we need is a course to train the trainers,” she said. “I would urge others in the sector to get in touch.” mary@quickes.co.uk

Scottish specialities fight for PGI status At the Orkney Cheese Company, general manager Tim Deakin said the company had Two Scottish cheese-makers have applied for applied for PGI status to prevent foreign recognition under the EU Protected Food Name competitors using the name. “We’ve heard there (PFN) scheme to ward off competition from is a company in China using the Orkney name ‘copy-cat’ producers. on cheese, so we thought we should move now Applications for Protected Geographical to protect our market in Europe,” he said. “The Indication (PGI) status for Orkney Island Cheddar PGI would also be an indication of quality on our and Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop have been been packaging.” lodged with Defra.

Both applications have been put out to Dunlop Dairy in Stewarton, near the village consultation by Defra before being submitted to of Dunlop in Ayrshire, said it had taken the step the European Union. The process is likely to take because a number of new cheeses labelled as at least 18 months.

Dunlop had been launched recently in Scotland.

“Dunlop is going the same way as cheddar, with lots of producers across Scotland starting to make it,” said owner Ann Dorward.

“The PGI will hopefully differentiate us and help protect the history of the cheese.”

Dunlop was first made in the village of the same name in the early 18th century by a farmer’s wife called Barbara Gilmour. Dorward said that today she is the only traditional Dunlop maker still in the county.

Dunlop Dairy: ‘Last traditional Dunlop maker’

By PATRICK McGUIGAN

le grand fromage BOB FARRAND Why is so much supermarket pre-packed cheddar imported and yet our home produced cheddar exports grew by 19% in 2011? In the topsy-turvey world of dairy markets, little seems to make sense and we are reaching a point of dangerous uncertainty.

According to the National Farmers Union, prices on world dairy markets have ‘increased dramatically’ over the past year after a surge in demand coupled with limited supplies. As Britain’s own milk supplies tighten, cheddar prices will likely rise by at least 10% over the coming months. This means mild and medium cheddar will be dearer than mature cheese made a year ago using cheaper milk. So what incentive will there be to lay down cheddar to sell as mature in a year’s time?

And how much will British farmers benefit from rising cheese prices? According to the NFU, on each litre of milk used for cheese over the last two years, retailers took 52% of the selling price, producers 36% and processors the remaining 12%.

The uncertainty in prices already means cheese production in Britain is 4.7% lower than this time last year and milk yields look likely to further tighten during 2011. Understandably, farmers and many cheddar-makers (who are often one and the same) are increasingly frustrated that milk prices continue to fluctuate while feed costs have risen heavily. And the large retailers continue to take the largest slice.

Many cheese-makers now look abroad for better

“The uncertainty in prices already means cheese production in Britain is 4.7% lower than this time last year” returns. Cheddar exports topped 36,650 tonnes last year and cheese exports in total reached their highest level for at least seven years.

At the same time, cheddar imports have actually fallen – down from 107,000 tonnes in the first 10 months of 2009 to just over 99,000 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. Earlier this year, in a blaze of publicity, Tesco announced it was to substantially increase the amount of British cheddar it stocks which, it claimed, will reduce cheddar imports by a further 20,000 tonnes a year. Good old Tesco, right up there in the vanguard of local sourcing as ever.

If exports are growing and imports decreasing, why aren’t cheese and milk prices stabilizing at levels guaranteeing producers a viable return? Mostly because the Competition Commission commends and openly encourages what it sees as healthy competition between major multiples whose single objective is to deliver the lowest prices for cash-strapped consumers.

Tesco last month reported flat like-for-like revenue in the UK, with sales dipping 0.7% in the final three months. Sainsbury reported a similar slowdown in sales earlier in the year. Share prices dropped so it can’t be long before multiples start squeezing producers for yet more promotions and price cuts and their buyers once again go looking abroad.

• FFD publisher Bob Farrand is chairman of the UK Cheese Guild Vol.7 Issue 1 · January 2006

21

Not just cheese!

I am one of the guilty people in our company who uses the term ‘Rowcliffe – the cheese people’ when in reality, nearly 40% of our sales are non-cheese lines.

Our olive company, Castellino is our largest supplier and over the years, our charcuterie, prepared fish, stuffed peppers and biscuits have made us into a one-stop shop. The important thing is getting past page 21 of our product list!

Marvellous pâtés from Thiol in Brittany now include 650g options so you can sell these through quicker and with little wastage. The Duck Rillettes have been a great success as has the new salami range from Negroni. Our Spanish meats from Villar are top drawer and the selection of herrings from Orkney and our plain anchovies from France have been strengthened by the addition of smoked anchovies, which are heavenly. As with our cheese, we endeavour to source the very best quality of everything we buy so you have confidence with everything you order.

01892 838999 www.rowcliffe.co.uk

“We’d love you to try our award-winning organic cheeses.

At Park Farm, our family has been happily milking cows for generations. We now produce a range of organic cheeses including: The historic Bath Soft Cheese - a gooey, mushroomy, square, white-mould ripened cheese that comes wrapped in parchment paper and was much loved by Admiral Nelson.

The multi-award winning Wyfe of Bath Cheese - a sweet, nutty semi-hard cheese. Available as whole basket shaped cheeses or in individual wedges.

The soft Kelston Park cheese - “has an authentic mix of creaminess and a delicious rind… as good as anything from Meaux.””according to the Sunday Telegraph. And our Bath Blue Cheese - creamy, moist yet crumbly.

Our cheeses are made with old fashioned manual methods giving the cheeses more flavour. We hope you enjoy them.”

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Park Farm, Kelston, Bath BA1 9AG Telephone: 01225 331601 Email:sales@parkfarm.co.uk www.parkfarm.co.uk

Best Specialist Cheese 2 0 1 0

22

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

Client: The Bath Soft Cheese Co. Rough concept

cheesewire Kid Me Not makes first move into cows’ milk Goats’ cheese company Kid Me Not has launched its first cows’ milk cheese after increasing capacity with new equipment.

The Carmarthenshire company has invested in a continuous flow pasteuriser, which has freed up two production days a week to make a cows’ milk cheese called Ffynnon’s Folly.

Kid Me Not has a herd of around 120 goats and has long produced cheese, as well as fudge, smoothies and chocolate, using their milk.

“Previously we were batch pasteurising one day then making the cheese the next, but now with the new equipment we can pasteurise around 500 litres per hour,” said MD Loraine Makowski-Heaton. “We do a lot of farmers’ markets and our customers have always asked whether we made cows’ milk cheese, so we felt now was the right time.”

The new cheese is a cross between a Caerphilly and a Cheshire with a “fresh lemony flavour”, she said. It is made with milk bought from farmers’ co-operative Llaeth Cymreig.

“I wanted to use local milk and by using Llaeth Cymreig I know that the milk is farm assured and as local and fresh as possible,” said Makowski-Heaton.

The cheese is stocked by local delis and farm shops and is available from wholesaler Elite Foodservice.

Makowski-Heaton with the new Ffynnon’s Folly

Government grant for on-farm production North East dairy farmers Neil and Carol Peacock have diversified into cheese-making in an effort to add value to their milk.

Village Farm Dairy, in Mordon, Sedgefield, currently produces 850,000 litres of farm-assured milk from its herd of 120 Holsteins. With the aid of a £26,000 grant from the Rural Development Programme for England (RDPE), managed by One North East, the company has built a cheesemaking facility at the farm and launched two individually-packaged soft cheeses. Mordon Blue comes in 250g rounds, while Creamy Camembert is packaged in 200g rounds. Both retail for around £19 per

kilo and are already available from farm shops and delis in the Sedgefield and Durham area.

“I recently read that the average age of a dairy farmer in the UK is 59, as the industry is not attracting young people,” said Carol Peacock. “This is due to the struggle that the few dairy farmers left in the UK have to make a decent living. In the long term we hope to develop a thriving cheese production business which will provide jobs for local people and also help to support the survival of the British dairy industry.”

The distinctive branding was developed in partnership with WDA Design to convey that the cheese was produced on a farm rather than in a factory. The company currently makes around 50kg per week in a 500-litre vat, but hopes to build up to 150kg.

Meet-the-makers event gathers pace Gorwydd Caerphilly, Stichelton and Ticklemore are among the artisan cheese producers taking part in this year’s Meet the Makers event run by Fromage to Age, the Gloucestershire-based speciality cheese distributor.

Owner Simeon Hudson-Evans is hosting the day, aimed at independent retailers, chefs and restaurateurs, on May 9 at his headquarters at Chipping Campden Business Park.

Cranborne Chase, Sparkenhoe Red Leicester, Lincolnshire Poacher and artisan goats’ cheese producer Whitelake have

also confirmed they will take part in the day.

Alongside the farmhouse cheese-makers, leading French affineur Hennart Frères will be on hand to talk about the art and science of ripening cheeses.

Dorset’s Olives Et Al, Italian cheese importer La Credenza and KaseSwiss, the London-based importer of Swiss and Dutch speciality cheeses are also taking part.

Independent delis, farm shops and food halls can register for the event by emailing info@fromagetoage.co.uk or calling 01386 849345. www.fromagetoage.co.uk

Simeon Hudson-Evans

From pub landlord to organic cheese producer Beer and cheese will soon be on the menu at Fanny’s Alehouse in Saltaire, Yorkshire, as the landlord branches into cheese-making.

Marcus Lund has converted the building next door to the pub into a cheese production unit, where he plans to make two organic cheeses to sell through a cheese shop in his pub and to other retailers. The production facility includes a 600-litre storage vat and a 500-litre cheese vat from Jongia.

The new company, called Fanny’s Farmhouse Cheeses, will launch a brie made with buffalo milk and a cheddar later this month, with other products in the pipeline.

“We aim to get planning permission for a cheese shop as part of the pub where I will display my cheeses and around 20 others from local producers,” said Lund, who has been on several cheese making courses and has been advised by consultant Chris Ashby from AB Cheesemaking.

“Initially we will deliver to businesses within a 10-15 mile radius in our own refrigerated van, with the rest going to pubs, restaurants and delis via a wholesaler,” said Lund. “Eventually, we’d like to supply a larger retailer, such as Booth’s.”

Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

23

I’ve now got ❝ boundless enthusiasm, real confidence and I really want to talk to my customers about my deli counter

❞

Jo Davies, Stokely Barton Farm Shop

What will you learn?

• The five golden rules for increasing deli sales • How to select the best cheese and charcuterie • How to create the best counter display • How to avoid bad quality cheese and charcuterie • How to sell proactively rather than reactively • The difference between artisan and mass-produced cheeses and meats through comparative tastings

Training dates for the Charcuterie & UK Cheese Guild Charcuterie dates for 2011 Date Venue Mon June 13 Glasgow Weds July 6 York

Cheese dates for 2011 Date Venue Thurs May 26 London* Tues June 14 Glasgow Mon June 20 GFF, Wincanton, Somerset Thurs July 7 York

Course costs Members of The Guild of Fine Food just £65, plus VAT (@ 20%). Non-members £90, plus VAT (@ 20%).

For more information: E-mail: linda.farrand@finefoodworld.co.uk Tel: 01963 824464 www.finefoodworld.co.uk *NB. Unfortunately we have had to introduce a £10 plus VAT (@ 20%) surcharge for London training dates due to higher venue costs.

Avilton foods

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May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

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Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

25

Winner of 3 Great Taste Awards Finalist Carlow Chamber of Commerce Innovator of the Year Finalist in Bord Bia & Waterford Enterprise Boards’ Food Innovation Competition

Established in 2010 by Nutritionist and chef Rebecca Smyth.

Nutritious Nibbles is an multi award winning range of nibbli-ious gluten-free cookies.

Rebecca Smyth t: 00353 85 1180690 e: nutritiousnibbles@gmail.com w: www.rebeccasmyth.com facebook: Nutritious Nibbles

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May 2011 ¡ Vol.12 Issue 4

focus on

sweet & savoury biscuits

Leaders of the pack From chia seed crispbreads and bran oaties to mini gingerbread men, LYNDA SEARBY finds bakers of premium cookies, biscuits and crackers are busy with recipe development • Yorkshire fine food retailer and hamper specialist Lewis & Cooper is moving into own-label savoury biscuits for the first time ever. The products, made by a local biscuit producer, come in 200g cardboard tubes depicting a view of Swaledale in the Yorkshire Dales. There are five varieties: mustard & coriander, poppy seed & black pepper, basil, thyme and rosemary. They retail at £2.50 each. The new arrivals follow hot on the heels of the launch of a 400g sweet biscuit assortment tin. Also marketed under the Lewis & Cooper brand, the tin contains chocolate chip and ginger biscuits and is reported to be selling well at £6.99.

• Based on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Stag Bakery claims to be the only water biscuit maker in the UK apart from mainstream brand Carrs. Due to high demand for its Stornoway Original water biscuit, the bakery is launching five flavoured water biscuits, which went into production in mid April. The chilli biscuit is said to be best with mature gouda, lemon & thyme goes well with soft goats’ cheese, parmesan & garlic is designed to be paired with mature farmhouse cheddar and the sea salt & black pepper variant complements blue cheese. The fifth variant is an original water biscuit with sesame seeds. A 150g box retails at £1.75. www.stagbakeries.co.uk

www.lewisandcooper.co.uk

• Scandinavian crispbread brand Finn Crisp is now available through Baker Bennetts in a wholegrain variety. With their high fibre and five grain content, Finn Crisp Plus 5 Wholegrains are likely to appeal to health-conscious women. They come in two varieties: 190g thins and 200g crispbreads.

• Importer and distributor Bespoke Foods has listed three new Belgian Butters lines: chocolate patisserie (110g), crispy raspberry (100g) and chocolate orange (100g). The Belgian Butters range consists of butter biscuits and waffle crisps made with premium ingredients such as butter, cream, almonds, fruit and Belgian chocolate. www.bespoke-foods.co.uk

www.finncrisp.com

• After producing baked goods like challah breads and Danish pastries for the past 100 years, East End baker Rinkoff’s has broken with tradition and launched a range of snack packs after spotting a gap in the market for ‘on the go’ lines. Rather than developing new products from scratch, the bakery decided to make mini versions of existing products such as shortbread squares and fruit filled biscuits and present them in flow-wrapped packs. www.rinkoffbakery.co.uk

• Best known for producing oat crunch cookies, Teoni’s Cookies has taken inspiration from the Italians and ventured into biscotti with three new lines: chocolate combinati, double chocolate & hazelnut and cranberry & pistachio. www.teoniscookies.co.uk

‘Talking pack’ lets shoppers meet the baker Technology and artisan production rarely go hand in hand, but Derbyshire’s Taste of the Moorlands has found a way of marrying the two, launching ‘talking packaging’ for its oattie biscuits.

The biscuit packs now carry a special code which consumers can zap with their smart phones to watch a video of founder Sarah Gayton making oattie biscuits.

The hi-tech packaging is not only a talking point, it also enables Taste of the Moorlands to tell the story of the product and its provenance without trying to cram more text onto an already crowded pack.

Plus it gives the company a chance to inject some of Gayton’s larger-than-life presence into the product.

“It’s a way of putting my personality onto the pack. People will be able to see how noisy I am in real life and will be able to see exactly how my biscuits are made and what goes into them,” she told FFD. This talking packaging technology is being supplied by www.canditv.com, a Staffordshire firm specialising in mobile software and technology. www.tasteofthemoorlands.co.uk Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

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focus on Little Rose flourishes Little Rose Bakery finished 2010 on a high after winning Best Performance by a First Time Entrant in the Great Taste Awards, and so far 2011 hasn’t been bad either for the bespoke biscuit maker.

At the start of the year distributor Cotswold Fayre started stocking the bakery’s range of hand decorated biscuits with pictures for all seasons.

Little Rose has also developed a new range of hand-decorated biscuits for Fortnum & Mason which are on sale under the retailer’s own label and positioned as gift items. The range features mini decorated animals, mini decorated cupcakes, iced cupcake biscuits, mini flavoured ice cream cones and bouquet of flower biscuits.

The bakery mixes its own icings to decorate its biscuits, using natural colourings, as, according to owner Kate Poole, ready-to-use sugar pastes still contain the ‘Southampton six’ colours which have been linked to hyperactivity in children.

“Since last year certain colours carry the warning ‘may have effects on activity and attention in children’,” she says. “Bought sugar paste still contains many of these colours, which have to be listed and then the warning given, which is very off-putting for the customer, who in the case of many of our products will be parents buying for children. Working with natural colours has its challenges, and it is difficult to obtain some of the darker colours.

However, many of our designs are pastel shades rather than very deep shades, so it hasn't been too difficult for us so far.” www. littlerosebakery.co.uk

sweet & savoury biscuits • Chia seeds have been heralded among the next big ‘superfoods’ to appear on the health food scene and Windmill Organics is hoping to cash in on this trend with its new Amisa chia & flax seed organic crispbreads, which combine the ancient ‘super’ seeds with a nutty-tasting spelt biscuit base. Chia seeds are becoming popular on the back of their high omega 3 and 6, protein, calcium, iron and soluble fibre content. www.amisa.co.uk • Customers can bake off their own cookies at home in minutes with Kooky Dough, a ready-made cookie mix from Ireland. The dough comes in a roll which consumers just have to slice and bake for 8-10 minutes in the oven to make 15 cookies. The dough comes in four flavours: chocolate chip, white chocolate & cranberry, choc ’n’ nut and triple choc. www.kookydough.ie

• Stockans is best known for its Orkney oatcakes, but this year, through Cotswold Fayre, it has launched a range of sweet biscuits which includes the traditional Perkins spiced oat www.cotswold-fayre.com biscuits.

• A 10-strong range of sweet and savoury biscuits is now available to the independent trade through Dart Valley Foods. Marketed under the Butler’s Grove brand, the six sweet variants include British classics like stem ginger crunch and buttery shortbread, while the savoury biscuits are oat-based with three flavours designed to complement cheeses, patés and other savoury spreads. All have an RRP of £2.50 and are currently on promotion to the trade – buy 10 cases and get one free. www.dartvalleyfoods.com

• Retailers keen to boost impulse sales may be interested in Hills Biscuits’ new mini gingerbread men snack packs. The three-biscuit packs (RRP £0.35) come in a counter-top display unit containing 24 packs. www.hillbiscuits.com

• Pretty Tasty is now making vanilla and lemon Swiss biscuits in addition to its original aniseed flavoured biscuits. The biscuits are available in different designs, from stars to flowers, clover leaves, hearts, butterflies and nature scenes. The technique for making these decorative biscuits originated in the Middle Ages in Europe and they are still popular in Switzerland, mainly around Christmas time. Pretty Tasty produces its biscuits with moulds that have been re-cast from wooden moulds passed down several generations. www.prettytasty.co.uk

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Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

• Yorkshire craft bakery Lottie Shaw’s has taken its flagship parkin recipe and adapted it to create a biscuit. “We wanted to bake a biscuit that was as close to parkin as possible with regards to the ingredients we use,” said Lottie Shaw. The Yorkshire parkin biscuit is baked using the key parkin ingredients of oatmeal, ginger, syrup and black treacle. It will be www.lottieshaws.co.uk launched in June.

• One of NISI’s new products, Limonetti, wooed the food sourcing team from the 2012 Olympics at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair and is due to appear in venues across the Olympic village. The Limonetti is based on the same recipe as the Hampshire bakery’s Amaretti macaroon, but with a summery, lemony flavour. NISI’s has also just launched a flow-wrapped single biscotti that gives independent coffee shops and deli-cafés a UK-produced Italianstyle biscotti which it claims is ‘far superior to those sold by Starbucks et al’. www.nisis.biz

Pretty tasty hand made and hand decorated biscuits

EstablishEd 1994

Hand-made Great Taste Award-winning oatcakes & biscuits contact kenmorebakery@hotmail.com or call 01887 830556 Also available from Ochil Foods www.ochilfoods.co.uk

gold 09 • Oatcakes: 1-star 2008 • Millers Crunch: 1-star 2009 & 2-stars 2010 • Kenmore Shortbread: 1-star 2009 & 2-stars 2010 • Sheila’s Gingers: 1-star 2010 • Homemade Tablet: 1-star 2008, 2009 & 2-stars 2010

We are a cottage bakery based in the new South Downs National Park in rural Hampshire All our biscuits are hand made and hand finished using simple tasty ingredients.

Selected lines available through Cotswold Fayre.

For a comprehensive trade list email: info@littlerosebakery.co.uk www.littlerosebakery.co.uk

NEW FROM SHORTBREAD HOUSE THE PERCENT RANGE

Available in four flavours: Original, Ginger, Lemon and Mocha @ £1.10 per box mainland UK 10% of profits from sales of these boxes donated by manufacturer to charity www.shortbreadhouse.com Contact: info@shortbreadhouse.com or tel: 0131 555 5212

www.deans.co.uk

No need to look any further for some honest to goodness traditional home baking.

Dean’s offer a delicious light and crumbly ‘melt in the mouth’ range of traditional Scottish Shortbread and Biscuits. Made from the finest ingredients, and using Helen Dean’s original family recipe, there’s something for everyone with a real taste of home. Give your taste buds a treat!

Dean’s, Huntly, Aberdeenshire, AB54 8JX T: 01466 792086.

Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

29

We have been established since1911, celebrating our 100th year in 2011.

We pride ourselves on being a fourth generation family bakers, producing artisan and craft made products from traditional recipes. All bought over from Russia by Hyman Rinkoff. These include Challah, rye bread, black bread, Cheesecake, Danish pastries and more recently mini baps, sourdoughs, spelt and wheat free bread.

info@rinkoffbakery.co.uk www.facebook.com/rinkoffs.bakery www.rinkoffbakery.co.uk

Stag Bakeries are pleased to launch 5 new exciting flavours of the Stornoway Water Biscuit. Handmade traditional award winning biscuits from the Outer Hebrides

Rinkoff Bakery 222-226 Jubilee Street

London E1 3BS 0207 791 4909

Enquiries to Jenny: sales@stagbakeries.co.uk · www.stagbakeries.co.uk

Delicious double-baked savoury crackers Fig & Olive

Cranberry

& Hazelnut

Pecan &

Sundried Berries

Double-baked like biscotti, but delicately cut to create the ultimate savoury slices, these Cracotti are very different – and very special.

Contact The Cracking Good Food Company at: T: 0121 472 8039 E: enquiries@crackinggoodfood.com www.crackinggoodfood.com 30

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

Tel: +44 (0) 1556 611292 www.cairnsmhor.co.uk

focus on

sweet & savoury biscuits

• According to Cottage Delight, the quintessentially English afternoon tea is making a comeback, and to capitalise on its resurgence the Staffordshire producer has launched a range of classic teatime biscuits ‘with a luxury twist’. All four variants – lemon Viennese shells, Viennese whirls, gypsy creams and custard creams – are hand-baked and filled with buttercream. They are priced to provide an RRP of £3.50 a pack.

• Honeyrose Bakery has created mini versions of its bestselling organic ‘indulgent treats’. Two of the four products are biscuits – oat & raisin cookies (2 x 12g) and shortbread (25g) – wrapped in biodegradable film. The bakery says it will be adding gluten-free biscuits to the range in the coming weeks. www.honeyrosebakery. com

www.cottagedelight.co.uk

• Cotswolds bakery Four Anjels has spotted a gap in the indulgent sharing market that it hopes to fill with a new range. The bite-sized biscuits come in a 150g carton (RRP £2.20) and there are four variants: double chocolate, gluten-free lemon, classic shortbread and fruit. www.fouranjels.com

• Earl Grey’s English Biscuits, the biscuit company that trades on the reputation and heritage of Earl Grey tea, has launched a range of character cookies. Gingerbread gentlemen, little lemon ladies and shortbread soldiers are already on sale in Fortnum & Mason and several delis, and are available to the trade via Covent Garden Quality. They have been personally endorsed by the 6th Earl Grey. www.earlgreysbiscuits.co.uk

• Deli cafés looking for something sweet to serve with a coffee may be interested in a new range of twin-packed cookies (below) from Byron Bay Cookie Company. Described as ‘crisp, buttery biscuits’ available in citrus, choc hazelnut and passionfruit flavours, the Butterburst range is supplied in cases of 75 x 40g twin packs.

• A 150g thistle measuring 6” in diameter is Kenmore Bakery’s latest hand-cut shortbread product. It is made to the same recipe as the shortbread first produced at Fortingall Hotel in Perthshire and sent by train to Fortnum & Mason in London in the years following the Second World War. In the period of post-war food rationing, butter was more readily available in rural areas,which is why the shortbread was made in Scotland.

The recipe was passed to Kenmore Bakery’s Keith Mitchell in 1970 by chef John Roy, a protégé of William Heptinstall of Fortingall Hotel.

www.beyondthebean.com

kenmorebakery@hotmail.com

• Wooleys of Arran is hoping to build on the success of its cheese and standard oaties with the introduction of bran oaties. The ‘oatie’ is a smaller version of the traditional oatcake, using the same ingredients but baked at half the size.

Wooleys says the bran oatie – a miniature version of its bran oatcake – tastes great crumbled over ice cream.

• While many sweet biscuit producers are harking back to the classics, Fiendish & Goode has gone for contemporary flavours with the miniatures range it launched at the end of last year. The three biscuits (oat crunch, stem ginger oat crunch and peanut butter) and three shortbreads (St Clements, cardamom and rosemary & walnut) are made mainly from organic ingredients.

Wholesale price is £1.80 (RRP £2.60). www. fiendishandgoode. co.uk

www.wooleys.co.uk

Cracking good start for Cracotti After just over six months in business, The Cracking Good Food Company has signed the first distribution agreement for its Cracotti savoury crackers with The Cheese Man in Brighton. The fledging business is also in discussions with other wholesalers, including Marigold Health Foods and

Oxford Fine Food, and has secured listings with some high profile retailers such as Valvona & Crolla, Westmorland and Ludlow Food Centre.

The Cracking Good Food Company launched Cracotti at last September’s Speciality & Fine Food Fair. The biscuits, which are double-baked like

biscotti and then sliced, are made for the brand by Shropshire Fine Herbs.

They are currently available in three flavours – cranberry & hazelnut, pecan & sundried berries, and fig & olive which are said to complement cheese, smoked salmon, charcuterie or dips. www.crackinggoodfood.com Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

31

feature

Affordable luxury?

Quality balsamic vinegar is rich, treacly and sweet

It’s a little understood product, but quality balsamic vinegar – especially in the mid-price range – can offer both complex flavours and real value for money on the deli shelf.

Food and restaurant critic CHARLES CAMPION reports from Modena, the heartland of quality balsamic production.

A

s recently as 20 years ago, most independent delis stocked only two or three kinds of olive oil: one basic, one fancy and one other. Now their customers ponder the differences between French, Spanish, Italian and Greek varieties, oils from the very top of the range can retail at three or four times the price of a ground floor brand and any food shop worth its salt will offer a comprehensive range.

As the telly chefs cast around for new ingredients

to brighten up old recipes and food writers seek out new tastes, balsamic vinegar became the new olive oil. But the truth about balsamic is more tricky to pin down. For a start, most shoppers are not sure what it is and what it does, and that is probably equally true of many of the people selling it.

Balsamic vinegar has always intrigued me, so when an opportunity came to visit Modena in northern Italy to see the production process, my name was first on the list. I was joined by a gaggle of London

Jeremy Lee, head chef at London’s Blueprint Café, inspects the barrels (above). Vinegar is transferred into progressively smaller barrels each year as it becomes more concentrated (right).

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May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

balsamic vinegar chefs – Mark Hix, Rowley Leigh and Jeremy Lee – and our guide to the mysteries of balsamico was George Bennell, the key man at The Fresh Olive Co. Bennell has set up a joint venture with Marina Spaggiari of Nero Modena to produce balsamic vinegar for Fresh Olive’s Belazu brand. Spaggiari represents the third generation of balsamic makers on his family’s farm and Nero Modena produces nearly a third of all Balsamico Tradizionali.

And this is where it all gets complicated.

There are three grades of balsamic vinegar. At the top of the tree is the ‘Tradizionali’, selected and bottled by the Conzorzio in Modena. The top grade is at least 25 years old and is very sticky, almost like treacle. A little goes a very long way – you add it to your food with an eye dropper – with layer upon layer of flavour coming through. But there is a snag: it costs roughly £1 per ml! So a decent blob from that eye-dropper will set you back £3.

The parallels with olive oil hold good with balsamic vinegar. When extra virgin olive oil hit the shelves even the foodie public didn't know what to do with it. Some recoiled from the price and a goodly number just assumed EVOO was better and proceeded to fry with it, make mayonnaise and use it in salad dressings.

If balsamic vinegar is to enlarge its niche, more customers and more retailers have to understand what it is and what it does. There's also the question of which of the three different levels is the right one.

Very few people, including (dare to say it) even famous and successful chefs, have any idea of how best to use the good stuff, Balsamico Tradizionali di Modena. A tiny splodge of the elixir on ice cream seems silly to all but the most passionate gourmet.

At the other end of the spectrum the simple ‘balsamic vinegar’ is dull and often too coarse in flavour even for a mundane role like adding zip to salad dressings. Thankfully there is the middle ground: balsamic that is made in Modena but which sells at a more realistic price.

Mid-table vinegars like Belazu typically retail at around £12.50 per 250ml – that’s a twentieth of the price of the very smart stuff. But while the price gap between the two may be huge the difference in quality is less pronounced. This

Roll out the barrels: understanding balsamics Balsamico Tradizionali di Modena In days gone by a family’s fortune (and the dowries of its daughters) was in its vinegar stocks. The good stuff is made by a process that would be very familiar to a sherry maker using the solera system. There are flights of seven or eight small barrels made of different woods and during the courses of each year evaporation concentrates the natural sugars of the grape juice while the different woods add character. Once a year the barrel on the extreme right is tapped and a litre of Balsamico is harvested.

Then that barrel is topped up from the one to its left and so on until you come to the extreme left hand barrel, which is topped up with the new season's grape juice.

The most important thing you need to make good Balsamico is patience. From her 4,000 barrels (they are kept under the eaves in all the buildings that make up the farm and factory) Marina Spaggiari harvests a paltry 50 litres of Tradizionali a year.

Balsamico di Modena This is a halfway house. It’s not so old as the elite stuff but it does share many of the processes described above. For The Fresh Olive Co’s Belazu, Nero Modena makes an upper middleweight vinegar. The grape juice is still matured in a flight of barrels made from rare woods, but instead of waiting for 25 years the ageing process is reduced to 24 months. This is accomplished by storing the barrels in sealed, insulated rooms and changing the temperature from warm to hot and back again. By mimicking the seasons it makes the vinegar mature more quickly.

Balsamic vinegar While Balsamico Tradizionali di Modena is highly protected there is nothing to stop anyone anywhere making ‘balsamic vinegar’ – indeed the cider- and vinegar-maker Aspall make an English balsamic cider vinegar.

Many of the cheapest balsamic vinegars on offer are products of the laboratory rather than of wooden barrels. Taking a gently acidic vinegar then adding caramel for colour and sugar for taste seems to be the popular way of doing it, along with using heat to reduce the product to a thicker consistency. represents a sales opportunity for fine food stores, as suddenly the middleweight vinegars look rather good value and you can offer a sophisticated taste at an accessible price.

If only that were true of some other legendary luxuries – budget caviar or bargain black truffles anyone? www.charlescampion.com www.fresholive.com www.mybelazu.com www.neromodena.it www.aspall.co.uk

Below: George Bennell of The Fresh Olive Co (left) and Alessandro Calveri of Nero Modena, Belazu’s balsamic supplier

Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

33

UNCOMPROMISING ON HEALTH, NOT TASTE JUST ANY RAPESEED OIL...

AND QUALITY… UNCOMPROMISING ON AHEALTH, LOW IN SATURATED FAT, AND NATURAL TASTE AND QUALITY SOURCE OF OMEGA 3.

MELLOW YELLOW® cold pressed rapeseed oil is at the heart of all Farrington’s award winning products, produced on our family farm.

...Britain’s original seed to bottle producer

LOCALLY PRODUCED:- available from good local butchers, Stock ourshops delicious ofwell oil, as dressings and mayonnaises farm and range delis as Waitrose and Ocado.

www.farrington-oils.co.uk www.farrington-oils.co.uk

Kentish Rapeseed and Sunflower Oil Grown, harvested, cold-pressed, filtered and bottled on the Quex Estate in Birchington, Kent.

Available in 250ml, 500ml bottles and catering packs of 5 litre, 10 litre & 20 litre.

For samples, price lists and further details contact Paul on: 01843 848827 Or visit our website: www.quexfoods.co.uk

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May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

01933 622809 622809 01933

focus on

british cold pressed oils

Spoilt for choice?

Retailers can now take their pick of beautifully branded premium rapeseed oils that tick the boxes on health and low food miles.

But is the market already close to saturation?

MICK WHITWORTH reports.

I

f you’re a farmer who’s been jealously eyeing the premium rapeseed oil market, the message from your fellow growers – or most of them, at least – is ‘don’t go there’.

In the space of just a few years the British cold pressed rapeseed oil market has gone from a standing start to near saturation, according to many of those who were in at the beginning.

Where three or four distinctive brands pioneered the sector, each cornering sales in its own region, there are now well over 20, with some counties served by more than one premium producer. Kent, for example, can boast The Chapel Press rapeseed oil brand in Romney Marsh as well as Quex Foods’ rapeseed and sunflower seed oil from the Isle of Thanet. And at a trade show last month FFD heard that a consortium of Kentish farmers had been exploring the potential for another brand from the county.

“They’ve already missed the boat,” one disillusioned oil producer told us.

“The opportunity was 10 years ago, not now.”

Yet still they come. Newcomers to the sector last year included Oxfordshire’s Stainswick Farm, run by a fourth generation farming family, and Bell & Loxton in south Devon, which is marketing its oil in distinctive, stylish aluminium bottles. This February, Midlothianbased Supernature joined the ranks of Scottish producers.

Competition of this kind is potentially great news for retailers.

The availability of brands from most regions fits neatly with consumer demand for all things

Supernature Launched in January, Supernature has already secured listings in some of Edinburgh’s top outlets: Jenners foodhalls, Valvona & Crolla and health food supermarket Real Foods.

Grown and bottled at Carrington Barns Farm, in the Lothians of Scotland, the ‘nutty, buttery’ oil is also used by top Scottish chefs Martin Wishart and Tony Borthwick. RRPs are £3.25 for a 250ml bottle and £4.50 for 500ml.

Bell & Loxton Bell & Loxton’s rapeseed oil, grown, cold pressed and bottled on its farm in South Devon, is sold in 700ml aluminium bottles at a trade price of £4.50. The company, launched towards the end of last year, says aluminium is the ideal container since rapeseed oil keeps best in the dark and ‘wins hands down on recycling’ as it takes less energy to recycle than glass.

local. Celebrity chefs have also got enthusiastically behind British rapeseed oil.

But farmers who invested heavily in processing facilities and branding say growth in demand among fine food shoppers is now being outstripped by growth in supply, putting downward pressure on prices.

“I think the market is becoming saturated,” says Northamptonshire producer Duncan Farrington. “It’s not like rare breed meat that can be successfully marketed with a producer in every village and small town.

For rapeseed oil to be successful there needs to be a minimum turnover of bottles to pay the set-up costs, and at the moment the market is just not big enough to support the number of producers.

Some counties have several, all targeting the same shops and farmers’ markets.”

Those who agree with Farrington’s assessment include Charlie Beldam of Cotswold Gold in Worcestershire and Claire Rose of Just Oil in Staffordshire, both of whom told FFD what’s needed is a far greater public knowledge and understanding of cold pressed rapeseed oil.

Broadly speaking, all producers are pushing the same messages about what they portray as a healthier, more versatile, homegrown alternative to olive oil. As newcomer Bell & Loxton declares, cold pressed rapeseed oil is: “…naturally rich in Omega 3, 6 and 9 and has less than half the saturated fat of olive oil. It’s delicious for drizzling, dressings and dips, and with its high burn temperature is perfect for roasting and frying.”

Mark Bush of Scotland’s Summer Harvest Oils, a two-star Great Taste Awards winner last year, says: “British cold pressed oils are a great product [but] ● ● ➔ Donegal Rapeseed Oil Ireland’s Donegal Rapeseed Oil says it will be significantly increasing the acreage devoted to oilseed rape around its Raphoe, Co Donegal, base, claiming the area’s microclimate gives its oil a ‘particularly distinctive flavour’. The product, launched in 2009, has been repeatedly featured on TV by celebrity chef Neven Maguire.

Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

35

focus on consumer awareness will be the key to growth.”

At Borderfields, a partnership of farmers located between Nottinghamshire and the Scottish Borders, general manager Tilly Fuller says: “It has tended to be a ‘slow burn’ as people have gradually become more aware of all the benefits of home-grown cold pressed oils. Now we’re starting to see some real significant growth. Better awareness is certainly improving sales, and the fact that well-known people such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Chris Evans and James Martin are continuing to educate the nation is certainly helping.”

Borderfields has also signed up Michelin-starred chef Kenny Atkinson as an endorsee, with a Q&A section on its website where consumers can ask the chef questions about rapeseed oil. (Unfortunately for the speciality trade, the same website then drives consumers in the direction of stockists Asda, Morrisons, Tesco and Sainsbury.)

But there’s a long way to go to get shoppers fully convinced about rapeseed oil, and Duncan Farrington reckons producers will have to be more patient. “The reason so many people have come into the market in recent years is they think it will make them a fast buck,” he told FFD. “In reality, it took olive oil 30 years of education to get to where it is today, and the same will be true for British cold pressed seed oils.”

british cold pressed oils JUST OIL Awarded two stars in the Great Taste Awards 2010, Just Oil’s cold pressed rapeseed oil is now available in a one-litre tin with a pop-up pourer.

Grown, farmed and cold pressed on the farm in Staffordshire, it is triple filtered for an extra light flavor.

The one-litre can is only available to independents, farm shops and delis and has a RRP of £8 (trade price £33.60 for a case 6 x 1litre).

www.bellandloxton.co.uk www.borderfieldsrapeseedoil.co.uk www.cotswoldgold.co.uk www.donegalrapeseedoilco.com www.farrington-oils.co.uk www.justoil.co.uk www.quexfoods.co.uk www.stainswickfarm.co.uk www.summerharvestoils.co.uk www.supernature.uk.com www.thechapelpress.co.uk

Top trophy opens doors for cobnut oil

By MENNA DAVIES

Picking up the Supreme Champion title at last year’s Great Taste Awards has “turned around” business for Kentish cobnut oil producer Hurstwood Farm. “It’s opened so many doors for us,” says product manager Catherine Robinson. “We’ve quadrupled the number of delis we sell to and we’re now stocked at Fortnum & Mason and Selfridges too.”

Cobnuts from the farm were previously sold in their shells, mostly to supermarkets, before farm-owner Richard Dain started experimenting in making oil. Today Hurstwood Farm is the only commercial producer of cobnut oil in the UK. “We just couldn’t make any money selling cobnuts,” said Dain.

“After all the work picking, drying and packing there was no return whatsoever. We really didn’t know if making the oil was going to work or not, but it’s turned around the farm’s finances. We’ve at least doubled our takings this year and we’re investing in a pressing and bottling plant. We’re all very optimistic about the future.”

A kilo of nuts is used to make every 250ml bottle, which has a trade price of £6.75 and RRP of £9. To date about a quarter of the nuts grown in the farm’s orchards have been used to make 9,00010,000 bottles of oil each year. Hurstwood Farm plans to double this over the next couple of years and is also experimenting with making walnut oil.

“Our win has also had a very positive knock-on effect to other Kent nut growers,” says Robinson. “There is more interest in cobnuts and sales are increasing across the board.” www.cobnutoil.co.uk

www.pettywood.com

The same, but different?

Many of them are beautifully branded, but are there other ways to separate rapeseed oils from around the UK? Is rapeseed oil just rapeseed oil, wherever in Britain it was pressed? “I’ve tasted a lot of them,” one producer told FFD, “and I think most people would be hard-pressed to identify any of them in a blind tasting.”

Given the natural variations in crops, that may well be true. But some producers insist there are identifiable taste characteristics linked to soil, climate, seed variety and production methods.

“As it’s a 100% natural oil, the taste will vary from year to year, region to region and with the selection of seed,” says Mark Bush of Summer Harvest Oils in Crieff, Perthshire. “Scotland benefits from long days, during which the oil is maturing in the seed, which gives ours a very smooth taste.”

At Just Oil in Staffordshire, Claire Rose flags seed variety and filtration methods as key differentiators, and that’s echoed by Tilly Fuller of Borderfields in the North East, who claims that its five-stage filtration process, removing impurities down to 0.2microns, is “15 times finer than most other producers”. “Better filtration equals a better quality oil,” she says.

36

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

Borderfields has also used a single seed variety for five years, which it says delivers a consistent mellow, nutty, fresh flavour and golden yellow colour. And Fuller says branding is a another valid point of difference. “The consumer needs to be confident and comfortable that what they’re buying does what is says on the tin – or bottle, in our case.”

At Farringtons Oils, Duncan Farrington says it’s vital that brands spell out their “individualities” to consumers. “Beyond the look, provenance is equally important. Our Mellow Yellow is produced entirely on our farm, the rapeseed is grown to high environmental standards under LEAF Marque, and we’re founding members of BACPOP – the British Association of Cold Pressed Oil Producers – ensuring the oil is produced to an approved high standard.”

Faced with a growing choice of brands, he advises retailers to “stick with a couple of brands you trust from producers that can offer support and advice”.

“Farrington’s have lost some customers over the

years because more local producers have started around the country,” he says. “But many of our customers stock Mellow Yellow because it is known and enjoyed, and then have an offering from a local supplier too.”

All agree that in-store tastings are vital. And if you’re persuaded that each oil has a distinct taste, why not create a dedicated British oils area?

Summer Harvest’s Mark Bush says: “Using a section for British cold pressed oils – similar to grouping olive oils by region – and holding tasting sessions with the producers will all help to raise consumer awareness.” www.bacpop.org.uk

Borderfields says the important differentiators are seed variety, filtration – and branding

Join the Guild of Fine Food and save time and money.

As an independent retailer have you ever thought how much of your day is spent doing the bits that don’t actually earn you any money? You are not alone: 1300 other like-minded businesses felt the same, so they joined the Guild of Fine Food. The Guild can help you: • increase sales through the Retail Promotion scheme and take advantage of exclusive discounts and access to new launches • drive more customers to your door • track down artisan-made food & drink specialities that won’t be found in supermarkets • train your staff in cheese & charcuterie product knowledge and improve retail management through Retail Ready • keep informed on industry news, services and new product launches through Fine Food Digest magazine • stay in the loop on food shows, political views and member activities, with an e-newsletter direct to your desktop • save money with business & vehicle insurance, card transactions, personnel issues, health & safety advice plus much more

To find out how to become a member TODAY, call 01963 824464 or email tortie.farrand@finefoodworld.co.uk Check out our consumer websites too, driving more customers to Guild members’ shops and deli-cafes

www.finefoodworld.co.uk/retail

Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

37

A promotional feature for Guild of Fine Food A promotional

The Guild of Fine Food has developed its Retail Promotion Scheme to help retailers survive recession hit Britain. We are negotiating with our producer members and have handpicked a selection of great foods on which we’ve secured big discounts unique to Guild retail members.

THE PROMOTIONS – MAY EL OLIVIO OLIVE OIL CO

Dequeste Spanish Round Rice; the essential ingredient for all Spanish rice recipes. Perfect for Paella to give the authentic Spanish taste, but versatile and can be used in any rice dish.

El Olivio began life as a specialist importer of Spanish olive oils but has complemented their range to include vinegars, antipasti, sweets and even cosmetics. The company concentrates on sourcing genuine ingredients made in Spain and consistently take gold in the Great Taste Awards.

THE DEAL: 20% off a 1kg pack of Dequeste Spanish Round Rice (normal price £1.30) AVAILABILITY: Mainland UK, minimum carriage paid order £130, smaller orders £6.99 CONTACT: 0131 6684751 info@elolivio-olive-oil.com www.elolivio-olive-oil.com

THE FINE SEAFOOD COMPANY

Guild of

Fine Food

THE REVERSE RN DOWNTU

feature for

E PUT MORIN MONEY L YOUR TIL

NEW IL A RET OTION M PRO HEME SC

2011.

MONEY IN ERS. MB AND MAKE E FOOD ME E MARGIN INCREAS TO GUILD OF FIN EXCLUSIVE

of in this issue enclosed out shelf barkers s on shelf. Through that rs will find deals Guild membeto highlight these product and more great more to help Digest, will roll out margin.

Fine Food new scheme our plus VAT issue of FFD ing to help increase ed a brand with it’s just £95 2011, each has develop negotiating y negotiat member – ably cover of Fine Food n hit Britain. We are a selection of crackwe are currentl currently a Guild will comfort The Guild recessio handpicked unique to Guild If you’re not first deal on our offers benefits and s and have retailers survive rship – your big discount r members of membe for a year 700 produce which we’ve secured find full details help you You’ll will on on that. ing foods on page 30. offer rs. ongoing promoti to how to join prices you The retail membe coming months, this ns on the ts are unique find margin.

Over the genuine reductio by increasing – these discoun – you won’t money by offering Remember Food members 2011 drive sales just make you more and 3 · April Fine n of foods all Guild of Vol.12 Issue re else. in store OR tory collectio them anywhe behalf. Choose list our introduc choice is yours. ed on your two pages The next we’ve negotiatyour store. of the deals sell in the details know will those you or simply

GUILD OF FINE FOOD

The limited edition Ben Trë chocolate bar – a collaboration between the Great Taste Awards, Demarquette and Action Against Hunger – is not only doing good, with £1 from each bar going to the charity, it impressed the hard-to-please judges at the Great Taste Award to the tune of 3-stars, the highest rating.

The chocolate bars are made from vintage 2010 cocoa produced by a Vietnamese cooperative set up to help a community still suffering from the long term effects of the Vietnam war.

Sold in packs of 20 x 70g bars – either 70% dark or 40% milk. You can reduce your selling price by £1 per bar to £2.99 and make 30% POR or sell at £3.99 and make a whopping 47% POR. THE DEAL: £1 off every bar of 3-star Ben Trë chocolate AVAILABILITY: Nationwide from Hider Foods, Petty Wood, Anthony Rowcliffe & Son CONTACT: Hider Food Imports 01482 504333 Petty Wood 01264 345520 Anthony Rowcliffe & Son 01892 838999

The Fine Seafood Co offers a luxury range of prepacked fish and seafood. The range is designed to give the independent retailer a seafood offering that can’t be found on the high street. All products are cooked or prepared over-night at their custom built factory and delivered early the next day giving maximum shelf life and freshness.

These succulent Mediterranean Crevettes are a great addition to any dinner, picnic or BBQ. Served with a wedge of lemon, all the consumer needs to do is open the packet and get stuck in!

GLIGORA PASKI SIR CHEESE

THE DEAL: 15% off during May AVAILABILITY: National next day delivery CONTACT: 0800 012 6966 info@fineseafood.co.uk www.fineseafood.co.uk

THE DEAL: 9% off, with sale or return, plus tasting samples AVAILABILITY: Nationwide (including Northern Ireland), no minimum order CONTACT: 00385 2369 8502 simon.kerr@gligora.com www.gligora.com

After a hugely eventful 18 months in which they opened a new, modern dairy as well as winning six prestigious titles from around the world, Sirana Gligora has announced their latest offer.

They are so confident that you’ll love their cheese that not only are they currently offering a 9% discount on all products, but Gligora are also offering sale or return (including the cost to return the items).

GUILD RETAIL PROMOTION SUMMARY – MAY

COMPANY DEAL TEL El Olivio 20% off 1kg pack of Dequeste Spanish Round Rice 0131 6684751 Fine Seafood Co. 15% Off Fine Seafood Co’s Mediterranean Crevettes 0800 012 6966 Gligora Paski Sir Cheese 9% off, with sale or return, plus tasting samples 00385 2369 8502 Guild of Fine Food £1 off every bar of Ben Trë chocolate Hider 01482 504333/Petty Wood 01264 345520/

Rowcliffe 01892 838999

EMAIL info@elolivio-olive-oil.com info@fineseafood.co.uk simon.kerr@gligora.com info@finefoodworld.co.uk

Retail members – sign up to the retail promotion scheme contact tortie.farrand@finefoodworld.co.uk or ring her on 01963 824464 to ensure you receive your shelf-barkers to help promote these discounts instore.

Supplier members – want to take part? Contact mike.cook@finefoodworld.co.uk for more information 38

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

27

product update

seasonings and spices

Summer seasonings MENNA DAVIES finds out what’s new in store-cupboard salts, spices and rubs • Suhana has added to its Indian spice range with spice mixes for four North Indian dishes. These include Dal Makhani mix, Paneer Butter Masala mix, Palak Paneer mix and Veg Biryani mix.

• Asharun has extended its range of gourmet spice kits to include Mexican herb and spice mixes for chilli beef and fajitas. The range also includes a tortilla flour mix, and more products, including a mixed bean chilli spice and herb mix, will be launched soon. Fajita kit: £1.22 trade, RRP £1.95.

Chilli beef: £1.95 trade, RRP £2.85.

• The Chilli Pepper Company has launched four new products for the summer. Chipotle seasoning rub, which combines the smokey richness of chipotle chilli peppers with the sweetness of honey flakes, is ideal for grilling or barbecuing meat and fish (60g jar, RRP £2.50). There’s also a tandoori curry spice mix, which comes in a 50g pouch (£2.50), Garlic Kirmizi Biber, a ‘secret blend’ of hot red chilli and sweet red peppers used in Turkish cooking (35g jar, RRP £2.90), and sweet smoked paprika (60g jar, RRP £2.90).

suhana.food@gmail.com

• Three of the Good Salt Company’s Himalayan crystal seasoning salts have gained organic certification. One of these is also a new addition to the range: Organic Hot Spiced, which includes a kick of chilli. The others are Organic Provencal and award-winning Organic 5 Elements Seasoning Salts. The seasoning salts have also been repackaged to give them a more stylish look. Wholesale: £2.75; RRP £3.85.

www.asharunspices.com

www.goodsaltcompany.com

• Ravishing Rosemary, a premium mix of garlic, rosemary and salt, has been launched by Spice Way as part of its Cook Clever sub range, which aims to provide “healthy and clever additions to any cook’s kitchen”.

Available from May 2011 it comes in 100g stand-up pouches and has a RRP of £4. www.spicewayuk.com

www.thechillipeppercompany.co.uk

• Five new Milldown herb and spice mixes have been launched by Kencryst, based on the west coast of Scotland. Made using the company’s reduced sodium Milldown sea salt, they are also vegetarian and additive free. The range includes Milldown seaweed, using seaweed from the Outer Hebrides; steak mix; hot chilli mix; Tuscan; and fish mix. It also has new packaging, including square, easy-to-grip glass bottles, with an adjustable grinder offers fine or coarse grind options. RRP is between £3.95 and £4.35 with a purchase price of between £3 and £3.40 per unit. www.milldownsalt.com

• Red Dog Foods launched in Kilkeel in Northern Ireland in 2010, and makes a range of herb-infused sea salts.

Ideal for roasting with meat and vegetables, the range includes lavender, rosemary, mint and dillinfused salts. These are available in 110g jars, and sell at £2 wholesale with a RRP of £3. www.reddogfoods.co.uk

• Leicester-based spice kit producer Spicentice has launched two new spice kits inspired by Mexican cooking classics. Yee-hah! chilli con carne (RRP £2.49) incorporates Mayan spiced chocolate, which is added towards the end of cooking. It is available to the trade in outers of six spice kits at £1.74 per kit with an RRP of £2.49. The Arriba fajitas spice kit recipe is based on the classic herb and spice combination of paprika, cumin, oregano, onion, garlic and thyme. The addition of chipotle chilli gives an authentic smokey heat and depth of flavour. It is supplied in outers of six spice kits at £1.39 per kit with an RRP of £1.99.

• Three rubs are included in the new Jamie Oliver Jme range of ambient products for the independent food sector. These include zesty lemon pepper rub for chicken, a blend of lemon zest, black pepper, garlic and fennel (60g); barbeque rub for beef – a blend of coriander, cumin, mustard seeds, oregano and smoked paprika (50g), and sweet & smoky rub for pork – a blend of smoked paprika, orange zest, coriander, fennel, thyme, black pepper and a pinch of allspice and clove (50g). The rubs have a RRP of £4. www.jamieoliver.com

• Bart Spices has recently rebranded a number of its products as Fairtrade Organic. Since 2005 the company has changed many of its products to Fairtrade including cinnamon sticks, ground ginger and black peppercorns. Of the 19 products in the Bart Fairtrade range, 13 are also certified organic by the Soil Association. The Fairtrade Organic range includes cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, turmeric, black pepper and white pepper. Trade price varies between £6.57 and £7.74 for a case of six jars. RRPs range from £1.83 to £2.47. www.bartspices.com

www.spicentice.com

• BMC Global has re-launched its Herbs de Provence range, featuring a “different and more refined” blend of dried herbs from the South of France in ceramic pots.

RRPs are £6 for 25g pot, £12.50 for 150g pot and £22.50 for 300g pot. www.bmcglobal.com Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

39

GrEAT TASTING

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AT HOmE

THE PINK GOURMET SALT This salt will delight the senses as an addition to the prepared dish.

“Sprinkle” the salt over salads, steaks, seafood - in fact all foods will taste delicious as the texture and delicate flavours mingle with the ingredients.

THE BLACK GOURMET SALT By using this salt - stronger flavoured foods like stews, game, curried dishes and sauces will be given an enriched flavour as the black salt mellows during cooking.

THE WHITE GOURMET SALT This salt enhances the taste of delicately flavoured food such as light sauces, seafoods, soups, rice and pasta for example.

Three distinctly flavoured natural mountain rock salts, giving superb results, in 200g Retail jars or 12.5kg tubs for Food Service & Manufacturers.

Please visit www.salariumargentum.co.uk or call 01432 355 136 Salarium Argentum is a brand of “the Salt Seller”

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W N EB EW SI TE ON D LI AT N A E BA SE AREYOU LOOKING FOR QUALITY, SEASONAL FOOD AND DRINK? Lincolnshire Food & Drink has a new online database.This is a one stop shop for producers and buyers • “Find Your Nearest” Producer of Lincolnshire produce • Go online to the Product Producer Page by visiting

Our aromatic herb blends are pre-packed and ready made aiming to help create your own meal at home easily. Enjoy a 100% successful result and enjoy a delicious Mediterranean dish using our easy to follow recipes.

Our extra virgin olive oils (organic and conventional) originate from Sitia a famous area that has received nine awards, including the Mario Solinas award for its fine quality of extra virgin olive oil.

Our honey comes either plain to enjoy the full flavour of Crete’s mountains or with almonds and mixed nuts to create an easy and healthy dessert at home.

If you would like to stock our products in your own shop, please e-mail us and we can arrange a meeting to explore all routes of co-operation.

www.lincsfoodandfarming.org.uk Also, Lincolnshire food and farming related businesses can register for FREE by going to the website

TROOTS LtD. 45 Arnos Grove, Southgate, London N14 7AE www.troots.co.uk · info@troots.co.uk Anastasia: 07736688717 · Irene: 07713017714 40

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

product update

refrigeration

Keeping it cool With hotter weather already upon us, LYNDA SEARBY explores all things cool, from back-kitchen blast-chillers to insulated picnic bags

Get picnic sales in the bag this summer WBC is offering a range of budget cooler bags (pictured) to join the luxury Jack Frost range launched late last year, to help delis and farm shops capture more of this summer’s picnic market.

Available in two sizes costing £2.99 and £4.89 plus VAT, they are described as an alternative to the traditional wicker hamper that can also be used for online or mail order sales or for home deliveries.

Marketing director James Hayward says it’s important retailers think outside the box to provide a point of difference in a competitive market. “Enticing customers by offering the produce you already have on sale, neatly packed in ready-made cooler bags, can set you apart from the crowd,” he says.

The bags can be branded with a shop or company logo to double as a marketing tool or promotional gift.

Stay cool beneath the sheets Companies looking for an alternative to freezer bricks, water filled ice and gel packs or dry ice for keeping product cool on the move may be interested in Chillerz and Cool-Cell sheets.

Originally developed as a dry-ice replacement for the movement of pathological samples (organs) by aircraft, the sheets are now used by food producers worldwide.

They are made from a polymer refrigerant which is flexible even when frozen, and stay frozen for several days. In addition, they are supplied flat which means they take up less space than bulky bricks and ice packs. For example a box containing 600 sheets is just 41cm x 41cm x 41cm and weighs only 11kg.

The Chillerz sheets are reusable while the Cool-Cell sheets are designed for single-use.

www.thewbc.co.uk

www.chillerz.com

One-stop shop for cool vans

Extra features at ‘affordable’ price

Refrigerated van converter GRP Group has launched a sister company, Kfacto Solutions, providing a ‘one stop shop’ for companies looking to buy or rent a refrigerated van.

Historically, says GRP, many food businesses wanting a refrigerated van approached a dealer, who would then sub-contract the conversion of the van to

The new Precision range of ‘affordable and compact’ blast chiller/freezers is said to incorporate features not previously available at this price point, such as a user-friendly digital control panel. There are three models in the range: an under-counter blast chiller/freezer, a counter unit with integral worktop and a conventional upright cabinet.

The upright cabinet has a capacity of 35kg while the other units hold 10kg. All three models take standard 1/1 gastronorm pans. The undercounter version allows for incorporation of blast-chilling/freezing into a fitted kitchen design, while the counter version includes a top-mounted control panel at the back of its stainless steel work surface.

Users can choose from soft chill, hard chill and blast-freeze modes and can switch to standard chiller/freezer storage when required.

The Precision design has the refrigeration system mounted on the bottom of the cabinets, at the point where the kitchen’s ambient temperature is normally at its lowest, allowing the units to operate in environments of up to 43°C. Precision’s vaporiser system design eliminates the need for a defrost drain. www.precision-refrigeration.co.uk

a specialist such as GRP Group.Now, with the creation of Kfacto Solutions, companies can deal directly with a specialist rather than a van dealer whose area of expertise isn’t refrigerated vans.

“We recognised customers wanted to speak to an organisation that could provide the entire fridge van package – whether a long-term rental solution or the purchase of a new or used vehicle,” explained Katie Reynolds-Jones, director of Kfacto.

Each conversion is built to the customer’s specific requirements and the group can offer a bespoke finance package.

Examples of satisfied customers include The Fruit Pig Company, which approached GRP when it first started out and was sold a used, small car-derived van. As the company grew, Kfacto bought this back and sold them a larger van to cater to its growing needs. www.kfacto.co.uk

Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

41

Modern high spec purpose built 6,000sq ft food processing unit.

Retail shop, processing area, commercial kitchen, staff room + first floor offices and storage – £499,950.

Extensive site with ample parking. Business growth necessitates relocation. Would suit similar business, rural craft or other country based enterprise.

Geoffrey Clapp Associates 01769 572121

S Orefrigerant R B A - F R Epads EZE Sorba-Freeze Ltd, Unit 5, Girdleness Trading Estate, Girdleness Road, Aberdeen AB1 8DG, Scotland Tel 01224 894417 Email info@sorbafreeze.com www.sorbafreeze.com

Refrigerant Packaging you can

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Visit our website www.sorbafreeze.com 42

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

product update

refrigeration

Counter for meat and deli displays Valera has designed the Prestige counter (right) for fresh meat or delicatessen displays.

Prestige counters are built to individual specifications and can incorporate integral or remote refrigeration systems, 90 degree and 45 degree internal or external corners, salad wells, dry heated decks and bains marie with or without steam.

The basic refrigerated units are available in six lengths ranging from 600mm to 2900mm, with all end walls measuring 55mm.

There is also a fish version with piped deck.

Valera has also launched a range of compact upright refrigeration

and freezer cabinets for use with standard 1/1 gastronorm containers, allowing pans to be quickly and easily transferred from fridge/freezer to oven or combi.

The refrigerated units are available with either a full height stainless steel door (AGR50) or glass door (AGRE50), while the freezer (ACG50) is only offered with a stainless steel door. All three units have a capacity of 240 litres and feature a digital controller and temperature read-out and self-closing doors with stay-open facility for ease of loading. Prices are £1,410, £1,520 and £1,790 respectively. www.valera.co.uk

Blast chillers that are kinder to food Available for the first time from Exclusive Ranges, the Irinox range of blast chillers promises savings on time, waste and energy without damaging the structure, flavour or aroma of food.

Exclusive Ranges believes the range will prove particularly popular with ice cream producers and deli kitchens as chefs can quickly freeze batches of soups, sauces etc, and defrost them without compromising on product quality. To save time users can also preset programmes for individual products.

In terms of capacity the MF45.1 sits in the middle of the Irinox range. With a yield per cycle of 45kg and a temperature range from 90°C to 3°C for blast chilling and from 90°C to -18°C for blast freezing, the MF45.1 will hold either 9 x 65mm, 12 x 40mm or 18 x 20mm 1/1 gastronorm trays. It measures 790mm (w) x 962mm (d) x 1595mm (h) and is priced at £13,384. www.exclusiveranges.co.uk

Cabinet for ‘grab and go’ sales Gram says its new multideck refrigerated display case is ideal for retailers wanting to target the ‘grab and go’ market.

The stainless steel unit has a refrigerated well with re-circulated cold air which cascades down the front and over the shelves to ensure even temperatures of 2-8ºC. It is available in four widths – 900, 1200, 1500 and 1800mm – and can be supplied with a secure lockable shutter or night blind.

Check temperature as goods arrive

The new DTR (Delivery Temperature Recorder) printing thermometer from Electronic Temperature Instruments is designed to record the temperature of products on delivery. The portable, battery-powered thermometer measures temperatures in the range of -39.9 to 149.9 °C and provides the user with hard

copy readings as well as downloadable audit trail data.

The software is programmable to set high/low alarms for up to four different food types: chilled, frozen, hot or ambient.

The DTR is housed in an ABS case that incorporates a Lumberg screw-locking type connector, allowing a range of interchangeable thermistor probes to be used. Software, a battery charger and a wallmounting boot are included in the £325 purchase price. www.etiltd.com

‘Curtain of air’ systems encourage impulse buys According to John Lilly, marketing director of commercial refrigeration firm True UK, doorless ‘curtain of air’ cabinets are becoming increasingly popular as they are more likely to result in an impulse purchase than a glass fronted display cabinet.

“Shoppers are more likely to make impulse buying decisions with a doorless display,” he says. “Once a customer has their hands on a consumable refrigerated product, the sale has been won.”

True’s TAC-27K is a four-shelf air curtain merchandiser offering a 566 litre capacity. It features True’s heavy-duty refrigeration system, which is designed to save energy and deliver faster temperature pull-down times – an important benefit in display cabinets in busy sites. www.truemfg.com

www.gram-commercial.com Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

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• We recently supplied a semi-automatic filling machine to TCD Foods Ltd, an artisan producer of chilli based sauces, jam, chutney, pickles and marinades

SPECIAL R E P O RT S

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• Following a steep expansion path, they decided to bring all production in-house

Guide to Importers & Distributors

• They supply pre-dominantly to farmshops and deli’s, regionally to Tesco and Sainsbury’s, and export 30% of produce all over the world

If you’re wholesaling fine food & drink, you’ve got to be in it.

• They contract pack for other artisan food producers that don’t have the facilities to pack their own food produce • Our filling machine was built on a bespoke basis for TCD Foods and they use it to accurately fill 227gm jars, 100ml bottles and half kilo plastic pouches • Our versatile filling machine has considerably improved their food production process and fulfilling all manufacturing demands t: 01282 440040 f: 01282 440041 e: info@autopack.co.uk www.autopack.co.uk

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COMING SOON! Introduction to Nutrition Online Suitable for those interested in learning the basics of healthy eating and nutrition principles, in order to develop healthy menus, recipes or products.

Classroom-based courses in HACCP, Food Safety, Auditing and Nutrition take place in Skipton or can be run at your own premises for groups of 5-15 people.

Contact Claire Lennon on 01756 708526 or email claire.lennon@vwa.co.uk Verner Wheelock Associates 4 Stable Courtyard, Broughton Hall Bus. Park, Skipton BD23 3AE

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May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

11 s 20 te ed da eas l re

Learn more, understand more and sell more

The School of Fine Food is a series of masterclasses and food experiences that will expand your product knowledge and improve your foodie credentials. Our industry experts will develop your understanding of each counter in your fine food store and help you to sell more.

You should know where the food and drink you sell comes from, how it’s made and who makes it.

Masterclasses Beer & Cider May 10 The Grain Barge, Bristol

Olives, Olive Oil, Jams & Marmalade June 14 Sturminster Newton, Dorset

The Meat Counter July 6 Cirencester, Gloucestershire

Kitchen Garden July 12 New Covent Garden Market, London

Come and join us for a microbrewery tour to see the brewing process. Talk to the experts and understand how to retail bottled beer and cider and educate your palate in both through comparative tasting

A journey through the life of an olive and how to sell them, plus a tutored tasting and how to retail olive oil with Fortnum & Mason buyer, Sam Rosen-Nash. Jams and marmalades are brought alive by preserves legend, Pam Corbin

Join Rob Rees, the Cotswold Chef, for a tour around a topnotch meat counter and learn how to get this category right.

This is followed by a guide to the major cuts of meat and how you can advise your customers to use them in cooking

Where better to learn how to retail fruit, veg and salads than in New Covent Garden Market, London.

Come and experience the market in action and see the important must-stocks for any food retailer.

We then go into detail with Nick Templeman, retail expert

Booking

Guild of Fine Food members Non-members

£39.00 plus VAT per masterclass £59.00 plus VAT per masterclass

How to book

You can book online at www.schooloffinefood.co.uk or contact Charlie Westcar on 01963 824464.

www.schooloffinefood.co.uk

The School of Fine Food has been developed with funding and support from South West Food & Drink

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fresh thinking

Captain Tiptoes opens doors beyond mainstream delis, says Olives Et Al

New brand tiptoes round ‘limitations’ of Lapsnacks

By MICK WHITWORTH

Olives Et Al boss Giles Henschel says the Dorset company’s “completely left-field” new Captain Tiptoes snacks range is opening sales routes that were largely closed to its existing Lapsnacks subbrand.

The new range, initially encompassing five powerful flavours in 40g single-serve and 100g sharing packs, all supplied in shelf-ready cartons, was first shown at London’s IFE show in March.

With no obvious visual links to Olives Et Al, the brand had its own stand alongside its parent at IFE, and according to Henschel attracted buyers who had never worked with the olives, oils and antipasti specialist. “We came back with 300 leads for Tiptoes and 200 leads for Olives, and there was hardly any cross-over between them.”

Those showing serious interest ranged from Edinburgh deli operator Valvona & Crolla to Luminar nightclubs, “all the way down to convenience stores on the Mile End Road”.

Henschel said that while customers liked the “wit and humour” of the Lapsnacks brand, it is strongly associated with Olives Et Al and with Mediterranean-type products such as habas fritas and habas mojadas (Spanish-style roasted broad beans). “That means we haven’t been meeting any new routes to market. So we decided to do something completely left-field with a new set of products. It had to be generic, not limiting, and with recipes from anywhere in the world.”

The kick-off flavours are Cajun spiced nuts, Fire Cracker rice puffs, chilli harissa nuts, salt & pepper nuts and wasabi Flaming Rice. “I’ve wanted to do something with wasabi for ages,” says Henschel, “and they’re the ones that take people most by surprise. We put three heats in the bag, so it’s a bit like Russian roulette – every now and again you get one that really catches you.”

Branding combines the typographical look of old theatre playbills with a large, black ‘waxed moustache’ device, but while Henschel has

developed a clear brand personality for the ‘the Captain’ he has stopped short of putting a cartoon character onto the packs. “I didn’t want to go down the Phileas Fogg route, which has been done to death,” he says.

He also dismisses any idea that the launch was a reaction to last year’s creation of the Mr Filberts snacks brand, also based in Dorset, by a team including ex Olives technical head Paul Dooley.

“Quibbles, the new range that [Middlesex-based nut roaster] Levantine is doing, is much closer to Filberts,” he suggests.

At IFE, he says, it was interesting to see buyers’ reactions when talking to a female sales rep wearing a busby and stuck-on moustache. “Some were completely bemused; other people just carried on discussing RRPs. But when there’s a lot of doom and gloom around it’s good to have products that give you permission to smile.”

Olives Et Al’s trademark humour also comes out both in point-of-sale material and packaging.

A visiting Trading Standards Officer apparently took exception to one jokey on-pack reference to “all the dull and boring stuff” – meaning legallyrequired ingredients listings etc. So now one pack bears the words: “Our friend Kate says all the really important information is over on that side.”

“There’s no reason you have to write dull copy,” says Henschel. “Copy is key and I’ve always tried to write it personally. People have said, ‘There’s something of the [smoothies brand] Innocent about you’, which is very nice – but we’ve been doing this for 18 years!”

Does Henschel’s evident excitement about Captain Tiptoes mean the Lapsnacks brand will quietly fizzle out? “Not necessarily,” he says, “but I don’t see us launching any more Lapsnacks products. There are some limitations with Lapsnacks, but this one can go in all sorts of directions.” www.olivesetal.co.uk www.captaintiptoes.co.uk

Giles Henschel (inset): ‘There are limitations with Lapsnacks, but this can go in all sorts of directions’

NICK HEMPLEMAN

During recessionary times it’s surprising what sells and what doesn’t. Quality food, for example, often does quite well as people eat more at home. Sales of quality chocolate are up 10% as people look for a treat and quality shirts are doing well as people spruce themselves up for interviews.

You wouldn’t expect flowers to sell very well if people were cutting back but little affordable luxuries are often the order the day. A bunch of flowers for £4.95 can yield you a mark-up of 100% even after allowing for VAT, and in an old galvanized bucket can make the front of your shop look a picture.

Unless your shop is large or you have a full time florist, keep it simple with pre-bunched flowers.

Bunches of 8-10 stems can be wrapped together or slightly more ambitious bouquets can be prepared but I would suggest keeping the price to below £10.

“Go for seasonal cottage varieties, like delphiniums, peonies and sweet peas in the summer’’ The real trick for nice food shops is to find varieties garage forecourts and small supermarkets don’t generally do. Avoid imported roses and chrysanthemums and go for seasonal cottage varieties.

Anemones, ranunculus, hyacinths in the spring; delphiniums, peonies and sweet peas in the summer; and dahlias and sunflowers towards autumn.

You don’t need a full range, just several varieties and a smaller selection will help keep them fresh.

Buy a couple of times a week from local growers or the wholesale market. There are even people who will visit you and sell off the back of a van – but make sure you are buying quality. When the fresh delivery comes in get rid of what you have. It may be good enough today but people expect flowers to last when they get them home and will be disappointed if they don’t. If you have a café, use the old ones in little vases on the table.

Presentation is the most important thing. I avoid clear plastic sleeves – they look a bit cheap – but delicate stems do need protection. The best solution I have found is waxed tissue or crepe paper. Available in different colours, it looks lovely hanging up in the shop with raffia to tie the bunches up. Tereena Davis from florists’ sundries supplier Michael Dark (tel: 01626 334134) confirms my prejudices: “Simple packaging can look absolutely stunning, especially when combined with old fashioned flowers.” That seems to be what people want at the moment. www.thesussexproducecompany.co.uk Vol.12 Issue 2 March 2011

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shelftalk Wild Trail goes straight into 35 stores after Exeter launch

Dip, drizzle and dress Family-owned Cottage Delight has introduced six new versatile and convenient gourmet squeezes S U P LI E P that can be used as dips, toppings or drizzled on cheese or fish. Each is supplied with a serving suggestion to provide inspiration for consumers and has an RRP of £3.95.

Wasabi can be used as a topping for smoked salmon blinis; smoked chipotle can be drizzled over grilled haloumi; garlic & cracked black pepper is ideal for drizzling over smoked mackerel; and the lemon, coriander & pink peppercorn is perfect as a dip with chicken goujons.

Wholegrain mustard, chilli & cider can be used as a topping for salt beef bagels or as a dip for barbecue sausages, while the feta cheese & mint squeeze can be used with barbecued lamb or drizzled over salads and wraps.

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“We’ll be selling them to the trade at 52p-60p per bar depending on volumes and whether we distribute through wholesalers, which would be our preferred route,” says Leatherdale, the founder and former chief executive of Country Food & Dining Group and later director of Countrywide Farm Shops.

Leatherdale has written the Better Retailing column for FFD for more than a year, but is putting this on hold while he develops the new business.

Wild Trail is being targeted at farm shops and independent stores as well as the health and energy markets, and picked up listings from Stein’s Deli in Padstow and Farrington Farm Shop in Somerset – just crowned Local Food Champion in the Countryside Alliance Awards – after the Exeter show.

“We’ve still got a long way to go but early indications are positive,” says Leatherdale.

“We’ve probably got about 35 direct customers now following the show, and at least three distributors lined up: DW Holley, Samways and J & R Foodservice.”

One of the bars picked up a Great Taste Award last year while still at the pilot stage, and endorsees include former Atomic Kitten Liz McClarnon and the editor of Trail magazine.

But the products have taken longer than expected to bring to market because of the challenges of achieving a nine-month shelf life with all-natural ingredients.

Spice Way offers herb and spice combinations to spice up any dish. The spice blends range can be added to meat, fish or poultry and includes a Heavenly Herb fish blend containing rose petals, adding to the taste as well as the look of dishes, while the Fast Gourmet products can be stirred into cooked pasta, rice, potato or salads. Fruit Infusions are pieces of dried fruits that can be added to hot water to make herbal tea.

Barbecue season sees the launch of Precious Paprika and Prime Philadelphia spice blends, ideal for cooking with poultry, game, steak or even potatoes.

Products are available in clear stand-up 100g pouches (RRP £3-4.50) or in resealable 175g kraft bags (£5-6.50).

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Former investment banker and farm shop operator Gordon Leatherdale’s S U P LI E P Wild Trail natural popcorn bars were finally launched last month after nearly two years in development.

The products – believed to be the only popcorn-based cereal snack bars on the UK market – were unveiled at The Source trade show in Exeter.

There are three flavours initially: double cut cranberry & yoghurt; apple & raspberry with yoghurt; and double fruit & nut with yoghurt.

Packed in cases of 20 they are expected to retail at between £1 and £1.25.

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African sauces brand Bim’s Kitchen has been offered a promotional tasting at S U P LI E P Stein’s Deli in Padstow in July, just months after the north London business made its first move beyond local farmers’ markets.

Bim’s, run by husband and wife team James and Nicola Adedeji, uses exotic spices popular in the cuisine of sub-Saharan Africa, such as alligator pepper, cubeb pepper and melon seeds, to produce sauces, marinades and ketchups more familiar to British palates.

The business only began wholesaling a few months ago after previously selling direct to consumers at Palmers Green Community Market.

Bim’s, featured in FFD’s barbecue feature last month, has since picked up listings with Stein’s and The Market Place Deli at Chelsea Bridge Wharf. Both have taken Bim’s full range.

James Adedeji posted samples to Rick Stein’s Cornish deli because he knew of the TV chef’s EDITE CR

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May 2010 · Vol.12 Issue 4

interest in unusual flavours and was rewarded with a trial order for six jars each of Bim’s full range of 15 products.

He told FFD: “I contacted them to tell them about what I’d started doing and asked if I could send samples. The deli manager was very interested in the concept of using African spices and ingredients to create more familiar products.” www.bimskitchen.com

01538 382020 www.cottagedelight.co.uk

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product news from Guild accredited suppliers

• Medallion Chilled Foods has added Devon-made Chunk pies, pasties and pork pies to its range of over 1,000 chilled delicatessen products.

Local produce is used in traditional recipes for the handmade products from pie producer Chunk of Devon, available in loose formats for deli counters and hot food cabinets and retail-wrapped for chiller displays.

01582 590999

www.cottagedelight.co.uk

• Brothers Jay and Will Allan of Hillside Speciality Foods in Devon have added to their range of fruit pastes and now offer a complete set of handmade products for the cheeseboard. New recipes for chutneys, relishes, pickles and savoury biscuits have also been developed to complement cheese. The new range was shown at the Exeter Festival of South West Food and Drink last month.

01392 826028 www.hillsidespecialityfoods.co.uk

• Troots markets its herb blends, olive oils and honeys as providing “easy and healthy solutions for meals at home”. Six different herb blends are offered along with extra virgin olive oil produced in Sitia and a honey range shown at IFE in March.

07736 688717

01963 441493

www.easybean.co.uk

www.westphalia.co.uk

• Cottage Delight’s latest marmalade is a limited edition product made with limes and an added kick of tequila that carries a RRP of £2.45. As well as offering a different option for breakfast, the marmalade can be warmed as a dessert sauce and also used as a glaze for chicken. The company suggests sampling it in little shot glasses as a fun countertop taster.

01538 382020

• Easy Bean says it has launched the first Fairtrade prepared meals in the UK: a vegetarian Mexican chilli one-pot meal and an African palava with free-range chicken.

Prepared in the company’s Somerset kitchens, the range will carry the Fairtrade mark. Available in 320g sizes, the vegetarian pots retail at £2.99 while the meat meals are £3.49.

www.troots.co.uk

• Curry sauce and accompaniments producer Anila’s Authentic Sauces has unveiled new branding and packaging, which includes peeland-reveal labelling. Each label highlights the concentrated nature of the Indian curry sauces as well as serving suggestions and recipe ideas. The curry sauces, chutneys, pickles and dips are also packaged in new jars.

020 8577 6162

www.anilassauces.com

• Sencha Naturals is launching its green tea mints onto the UK market through distributor Cotswold Fayre, with an introductory offer of four cases for the price of three. Aimed at health conscious consumers, they provide the health benefits of green tea in a breath-freshening mint. Four, sugarfree variants will be available: original, Delicate Pear; Lively Lemongrass and Morning Lychee.

Display cases contain nine 28g tins and cost £15.50, and individual tins have an RRP of £2.90.

0844 840 4045 www.cotswoldfayre.co.uk

• Chaat-tastic tamarind sauce is said to transform barbecues, cooking sauces, stir-fry dishes, sandwiches, salads and even desserts. It contains no additives, preservatives, artificial flavourings, thickeners and colourings and is also gluten free. Chaat is the Hindi name for savoury snacks sold by street vendors in India.

020 7790 2833 www.chaat-tastic.com

BOTTLED

JOHN FARRAND Cider has truly arrived, hasn’t it? When I was a lad, it was all industrial and you really only chose cider if you were the sort of person who, by the end of the evening, would have forgotten their name, address and, indeed, purpose in life.

A few years ago we were instructed by the big boys to drink our cider with masses of ice: an idea dreamt up by marketing men that did wonders for sales. Only last month the Revenue announced that while volumes for beer, wine and spirits were down, consumption of cider increased marginally in the year to January 2011.

This increased demand has led to some healthier stats for apple growers and, some would argue, a welcome return to a more indigenous use for agricultural land in traditional apple-growing counties.

Two million new cider apple trees have been

“Names such as Somerset Redstreak and Improved Dove are memorable by their quirkiness’’ planted since 1995, which means Britain now produces 130m gallons each year. If you were in a pub on a Friday night with 99 other people, 51 would be enjoying a pint of beer, 49 a glass of wine and 13 a cider. Relate that to a deli or farm shop and retailers should be giving cider some space on the shelf.

Single varietals are an easy idea for shoppers to get. They now understand varieties in olives and ‘single estate’ in coffee or chocolate, so selecting cider by apple varietal should also appeal.

Names such as Somerset Redstreak and Improved Dove are memorable by their quirkiness and with the help of some sensible tasting notes a thirsty punter can soon establish their favourite.

A quick keyword search for ‘cider’ on the Great Taste Awards website (www.greattasteawards.co.uk) will give you a steer on the better producers.

Don’t ignore food-matching opportunities.

In a search for ideas I put in a call to Perry’s in Somerset, which has been making cider since 1920. You’d think it would be a big conglomerate by now, but not a chance: I spoke to George Perry himself, a fourth-generation cidermaker, who suggested matching his Somerset Dabinett with a pork sausage.

‘Apple and pork’ sounds obvious, but it’s easy to forget it can mean an apple drink as well as a sauce. The astringency of the cider worked well with the meat and I reckon even I could sell a pack of four sausages with a 500ml bottle now. john.farrand@finefoodworld.co.uk Vol.12 Issue 2 March 2011

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May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

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Griottines and Framboisines � Machinery and Display Units �

Print Your Own Food Labels

www.keylink.org Tel: 0114 245 5400

• ingredients

Crestchem

Crestchem Ltd., Crest Station Rd, Amersham, Bucks HP6 5DW Crestchem Ltd., 10Hse, Hill152 Avenue, Amersham, Bucks, HP6 5BW

Food Division - suppliers of

PECTIN XANTHAN GUM CITRIC ACID POTASSIUM SORBATE GLYCERINE & more Contact: HEATHER AHMED heather@crestchem.co.uk T: 01494 434660 - F: 01494 434990 www.crestchem.co.uk • ingredients

labelling • insurance

Don’t leave advertisers in the dark – tell them you saw them in digest Ring us on: 01628 668836 or visit us at: QuickLabel.co.uk

• labelling

CLOTHING COLD TRANSPORT DESIGN CONSULTANTS EPOS TECHNOLOGY PRODUCTS INGREDIENTS INSURANCE LABEL SUPPLIERS LEGAL SERVICES SHOPFITTING TICKETING TRAINING LEASING Call & ourDESIGN sales teamSUNDRIES on 01963 824464 today to discuss the rightVEHICLE classified heading BUSINESSES FOR SALE CLOTHING COLD TRANSPORT DESIGN CONSULTANTS , ingredients or services for your equipment UIPMENT HYGIENE PRODUCTS INGREDIENTS INSURANCE LABEL SUPPLIERS • labelling

• packaging

L A B E L S

Suppliers of labels to Artisan Food Producers, Delis, Farmshops, Cafés, Independent Retailers…

FREEPHONE 0800 096 2720

www.inkreadible.com sales@inkreadible.com

CARNI

Peppero

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with TO

• washing equipment

EQUIPMENT WASHING

L T D

Passionate about labels

Served

• refrigeration

CODING AND MARKING SYSTEMS FOR FOOD AND PHARMACEUTICAL New

Refurbished

Hire

Hire-to-Buy

Offline sleeve and watch strap band feeders Ink jet printers - 5yr warranty on new units Hot Foil & Thermal Transfer Printers Laser coding systems

  

AMANT

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RTILLA

n and M

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d cole

• labelling

JEROS

utensils washing machines T. 01563 551122 F. 01563 573103 mcrawford10@gmail.com

I

elted Ch

CHIPS an

WASH & DISINFECT 2 MINUTES !! phone: Malcolm Crawford 07788 926925

slaw.

• packaging

DEPOSITORS & PACKAGING SYSTEMS MEATS/SEAFOODS & READY MEALS Depositors for sauces and dressings Pot fillers and liquid fillers Vertical Form Fill Seal Thermoformers Tray sealers Pumps

• refrigeration

         

For more information call 01962 761761 info@printsafe.co.uk www.printsafe.co.uk

• packaging

• packaging

Packaging Foil & PET Diaphragms

Paper packaging, labelled and direct print containers

FOR SALE – UNUSED SEMI-AUTOMATIC HEAT SEALING MACHINE •Commissioned by Packaging Automation Ltd. •Diaphragms – 40-80mm •Adaptable aluminium plates •Thermo heat control suitable for a range of plastics & foil membranes in food & drink packaging

Celtic Spirit Co. Tel.: 01873 735770 Mobile: 07850 721510 • ingredients Tamper Evident Packaging

• refrigeration

• training

• washing equipment

Level 2 Award in Food Safety on CD

TRAIN ALL YOUR FOOD HANDLING STAFF WITH THIS CD

DON’T CUT BACK ON TRAINING CUT BACK ON COST! To download demo’s go to www.foodhygienecd.net Or call: 01507 477589

By J. O. Training

• packaging

Online Training in Food Safety & Nutrition Courses lead to City and Guilds accredited certicates.

Level 2 Food Safety Online Suitable for all food handlers involved in preparing or serving food in a retail, catering or food manufacturing environment.

BUY ONLINE www.

parkerspackagingdirect.com t: 0151 547 6700

Purchase with confidence from a company that has been trading since 1952!

Don’t leave advertisers in the dark – tell them you saw them in

01963 824464

Level 3 Food Safety Online Ideal for supervisors or catering managers and those responsible for training other food handlers in food safety.

We recommend that at least one person in any food business should be trained to Level 3.

10% discount for Guild members. Use code VWAL3FF when booking COMING SOON! Introduction to Nutrition Online Suitable for those interested in learning the basics of healthy eating and nutrition principles, in order to develop healthy menus, recipes or products.

Classroom-based courses in HACCP, Food Safety, Auditing and Nutrition take place in Skipton or can be run at your own premises for groups of 5-15 people.

Contact Claire Lennon on 01756 708526 or email claire.lennon@vwa.co.uk Verner Wheelock Associates 4 Stable Courtyard, Broughton Hall Bus. Park, Skipton BD23 3AE

www.vwa.co.uk Vol.12 Issue 4 · May 2011

51

We

a

and the

S Sh sn

W

Welcome to the world of CAPTAIN TIPTOES and Welcome to the world of CAPTAIN TIPTOES THE OCCASIONAL SNACK COMPANY. THE OCCASIONAL SNACK COMPANY A world where seriously splendid snackage A meets complete and utter buffoonery - world where seriously splendid snackag meets complete and utter buffoonery all impeccably delivered with wit, charm and a all impeccably delivered with wit, charm an dash of sophistication. dash of sophistication.

a

and the

w

Way more than a mouthful

So does the Captain really exist? Is it a He or a So does the Captain really exist? Is it a He o She or Something In Between? Is the occasional She or Something In Between? Is the occasio snack right for me? Well, you’ll be delighted and snack right for me? Well, you’ll be delighted relieved to hear the answers are yes, yes and relieved to hear the answers are yes, yes an most definitely yes. most definitely yes.

and the

S

What we do know is the Captain is always well What we do know is the Captain is always w buffed, snipped, clipped and neatly trimmed buffed, snipped, clipped and neatly trimme and eagerly wishes to present, for your delight and eagerly wishes to present, for your delig and edification, a brand new range of snacks and edification, a brand new range of snac with a curious twist, a knowing smile and thea curious twist, a knowing smile and t with occasional moustache. occasional moustache.

Tel: 01258 474300 Email: ahoy@captaintiptoes.com

O KNOWS WHAT THE CART WILL BE THIS TIME?

NACKS A LA CARTE”. WHO KNOWS WHAT THE CART WILL BE THIS TIME?

WEBSITE things

FIND US HERE

www.captaintiptoes.com www.captaintiptoes.com

WIT, CHARM, SOPHISTICATION WIT, CHARM, SOPHISTICATION

SPLENDID

ACKS A LA CARTE”. WHO KNOWS WHAT THE CART WILL BE THIS TIME?

things

SNACKS

SPLENDID SNACKS SNACKS

WEBSITE

www.captaintiptoes.com

SPLENDID SPLENDID

There’s one of those fancy

There’s one of those fancy

WIT, CHARM, SOPHISTICATION

things

HOW CAN WE HELP

WEBSITE

FULL STEAM

There’s one of those fancy

AHEAD! YOU

GREATPEOPLE PEOPLE GREAT TO WORK WITH TO WORK WITH

So climb aboard and come and say “HELLO” So climb aboard and come and say “HELLO to the CAPTAIN at IFE, Excel, London.to the CAPTAIN at IFE, Excel, London.

Full steam ahead!

Full steam ahead!

GREAT PEOP TO WORK WIT

GREAT PEOPLE TO WORK WITH

LOOK LOOK

FREE MOUSTACHES!

LOOK

SNACKS

GO ONLINE TO WIN “SNACKS A LA CARTE”. WHO KNOWS WHAT THE CART WILL BE THIS

Way more than a mouthful Way more than a mouthful

The Captain invites you to try these splendid nuts and fiery puffs prepared with wild enthusiasm and rampant dedication. We firmly assert that thousands of kittens were kissed to bring them to you and they all come with our No Quibble guarantee: we guarantee a total absence of Quibbles in any of our packs.

things

There’s one of those fancy

LOOK

May 2011 · Vol.12 Issue 4

WEBSITE

52

HOW CAN STEAM HOW CAN FULL