South Devon Chilli Farm
That BBC Good Food Show has presented some marvellous products and brilliant, innovative producers. South Devon Chilli Farm is another of my favourite finds and what a surprise, a chilli farm in the UK. Could their claim that all this chilli is home grown be true? Yes, it’s true and it’s quite an enterprise. South Devon Chilli Farm has also been recommended by Jamie Oliver as a supplier of chillies. Jamie says, "As you know I am a chilli freak and these guys grow the best in the country".The chilli farm has expanded greatly since its beginnings and now they grow over 10,000 chilli plants every year, and harvest tonnes of fresh chillies which they sell or use in their range of chilli sauces, preserves and chilli chocolate.There is a large selection of delicious delights at the South Devon Chilli Farm site.
Hot Habanero Sauce is their hottest. It's a very hot and fruity chilli sauce made with 50% fresh habaneras. It's ideal for adding heat and flavour to spicy dishes, and a few drops go a long way when used as a table condiment (as served on the table at Wahaca Mexican Restaurant, Covent Garden). Great value for money.
Winner of a Gold Great Taste Award 2005.
Winner of a Gold Taste of The West Award 2007.
The Chilli Jam has just the right balance of sweet and hot. It’s ideal with a mature cheddar but works well with cold chicken or turkey. The chilli preserves are made using chillies grown on the farm, and are prepared without the use of artificial preservatives, artificial ingredients, thickeners, or setting agents. They use fresh garlic, onions and other vegetables rather than dried or powdered. They also use unrefined and organic sugar.
Winner of a Silver Taste of the West Award 2005.
There are five delicious flavours of Chilli chocolate: Original, Orange, Peppermint, Fruit& Spice and Coffee-Bean. All five flavours contain a unique blend of Devon-grown chillies. It’s hotter than the more commercial brands but I will go as far as to say that it’s the best I have tasted. Take a little nibble and wait!
A couple of the chocolates have won medals but I am surprised that all varieties don’t have several golds. “Enter more competitions” is my only advice.
Honeybuns
This little company, Honeybuns, is another BBC Good Food Show find. The stand was a delight, the
proprietor, Emma, is lovely, young and enthusiastic, and the cakes are to die for.Emma says “I had a hare-brained scheme to pedal around Oxford delivering my home-made cakes to delis and cafes during the late 1990s. We've still got the bike leant up against our Bee Shack Cafe wall. Some visitors assume it's just an attractive prop, but it truly is the original facilitator of the Honeybuns enterprise!
Now based at Naish Farm in beautiful Dorset, our growth has been organic and gentle. Everything is still made completely by hand without rushing and we take a holistic approach, considering our environment and community in everything we do.”
I have had the pleasure of tasting a selection of Honeybuns products. Many are gluten-free and all are moist and utterly delicious. It’s not only this humble writer who reckons these cakes are high-end. Honeybuns have a list of awards as long as your arm, culminating with the Blackmore Vale Media Taste of Dorset Awards 2008 - Most Inspirational Food Business, and The Great Taste Awards 2007 Gold*** Great Taste Award.
Heathcliffe Brownie, Cranberry and Pecan Flapjack, and Coppice Cake were my selections from the tin of Minis. Each of the individually-wrapped squares of cake was fresh, moist and had the texture of freshly baked and home-made goods. The Heathcliff Brownie has a subtle orange flavour which is admired even by those who don’t normally enjoy anything chocolatey (I had to hide the tin after I foolishly allowed my husband to try a brownie). The Cranberry and Pecan Flapjack has a lovely hint of maple syrup, and the Coppice Cake would be a marvellous afternoon tea-time treat, fruity and scrumptious.
The quality of these cakes is unbeatable and the packaging makes them ideal gifts. Emma offers a choice of attractive tins of cakes that would be brilliant presents for almost anyone of any age. Because the cakes are individually wrapped they stay fresh for quite a while but they can equally be frozen with no ill effects.
You can visit Honeybuns at www.honeybuns.co.uk where you will find an online shop as well as all kinds of nutritional information
Adesso – Marinades for the discerning palate
The company, Adesso (Rizwan identified Adesso as the Italian word for Now) is owned and managed by two very charming guys (yes, I have had the pleasure of meeting them), Rizwan Rashid and Brian Goodhand, who have been involved in the food industry for a few years. They have recently presented this marvellous range of Olive Oil based Ambient marinades.It’s not just Rizwan and Brian who are inspiring but the oils are something special as well. I spotted them, the oils that is, across a crowded room, or more accurately the BBC Good Food Show at Olympia. The bottles are slender and attractive and the beauty is that you can keep them on display on the counter. Adesso have collaborated with the Manchester Metropolitan University, Advanced Food Department, to ensure ambience so no need to keep them in the fridge.
OK, so the chaps are friendly and the bottles are classy but you’ll be more interested in the contents. These marinades are different and delicious. I have the pleasure (mostly) of sampling many “fine foods” every month and I am often disappointed. Adesso products taste as good as they look and I have no problem in recommending that you try them.
Brian and Rizwan have discovered herb and spice combinations which are rich and flavourful. The marinades are versatile and easy to use, and manage to retain a freshness that is lacking in some other commercial brands. The Adesso range offers something for every taste, ...but me, I’ll have a bottle of each, thank you!
Portuguese Hot Marinade
Inspired by the recipes of Portugal. A blend of chillies, oregano and muscavado sugar, to create a sweet balanced heat. Excellent with: Chicken, Prawns, Fish and Pork.
Lemon & Herb Marinade
A traditional blend, bringing together the herbs; mint, basil, oregano and the zing of lemon. Excellent with: Chicken, Lamb, Fish and Vegetables.
Orange & Honey Marinade
For those with a sweeter tooth, but not too much so. One third honey blended with rosemary, thyme and orange zest, to create a subtle treat for the taste buds!
Chermoulla Moroccan Marinade
An aromatic blend of cumin, coriander, parsley, cayenne pepper and paprika, following a North African recipe.Taste the spice, not the heat!Visit the Adesso site at www.adessofoods.com to find your nearest stockist or to order online.
Shortbread House
Anthony Laing and his wife Fiona run Shortbread House, a family bakery based in the lovely city of Edinburgh. The company has grown to the extent that it now has customers worldwide.The name Laing might ring a few bells with my biscuit-nibbling readers. Anthony’s dad is Lord Laing who was chairman of United Biscuits until he
retired.Anthony and Fiona are happy to concentrate on producing a quality product rather than seeking to expand the company any further. “We do not supply supermarkets and our customer base is predominantly the independent retail trade such as delicatessens, garden centres and department stores such as Fortnum & Mason, John Lewis and Harvey Nichols.”
The first thing I noticed about the shortbread was, in fact, not the shortbread at all but rather the boxes. Not a kilt or a bagpipe in sight. The Scottish link is made by way of a gold thistle and works well on all the product packaging. It gives the impression of a quality product before your first crunch.
Shortbread House produces several different varieties of ...well, er.... shortbread but also other Scottish classics: things like Dundee Cake and Oatie Biscuits, all handmade.
“Our products are popular because they are genuinely made by hand, so their taste, texture and appearance are quite different from the mass produced brands. We employ a small team of skilled bakers and use the very best quality ingredients. We make the products to order and do not use distributors in the UK, to ensure you receive the products as fresh as possible.”
We tested (and it was a pleasure) three sorts of shortbread: Macadamia Nut, Demerara and Cinnamon, and Original Recipe. They do look more homemade than the brands that I most often buy. Each biscuit looks as if a person has made it rather than being rolled and stamped by machine.
All three kinds of shortbread were excellent but I was particularly impressed by the Demerara and Cinnamon. It was a combination that worked very well, having a warming spice flavour and a crumble rather than the crunchy density of some other brands. Delicious.
If you haven’t got Harvey Nick’s round the corner, have a look for Shortbread House products at garden centres and your local Deli. If you can’t find them, ask the manager to stock them.
To find out more about Shortbread House visit www.shortbreadhouse.com
Pure and Wicked Chocolate
Pure and Wicked ! It’s a new organic chocolate company that is dedicated to making a difference to poverty in Africa. Have a look at www.pureandwicked.co.uk to find out more about how they are helping.
Lifescape Magazine says “With the market for ethical and organic products growing year on year, Pure and Wicked Ltd, a delicious new chocolate company, is forging new ground in the market, introducing a new way of ‘making a difference'.”
Liz and Pip are sisters who set up the company Pure and Wicked. No, dear reader, it isn’t that one of these ladies is pure and the other wicked. The name was thought up with friends during a trip to their second home in Sydney, Australia. Pure reflects the company’s ethical principles and refers to the organic chocolate, which is one of the most Wicked indulgent experiences.
We taste-tested three kinds of Pure and Wicked truffles: elderflower, ginger and blackcurrant. My heart sank with the prospect of munching on anything flavoured with elderflower. I have had elderflower wine a time or two and I don’t much care for it. This, on the other hand, was a delightful taste experience. The outer chocolate shell was thick and delicious and the centre was soft with an almost citrus bite.
The second flavour was blackcurrant. These had the same dark rich chocolate coating but a subtle and tangy centre. I found these much nicer than the soft-centre ‘blackcurrant creme’ alternatives that you find in regular boxes of chocolates.
The ginger truffles are lovely. The flavour is that of fresh ginger rather than the more common candied variety, which I find too sweet. This ginger has real impact and marries very well with the coating of organic Belgian chocolate.
Pure and Wicked donate a proportion of every sale to the charity Africa Now. To find out more visit www.africanow.org.