An Edible Voyage

July 2021 With all this hot weather, I find myself craving the fresh, bright, juiciness of the season's best produce, and light, refreshing meals to keep me cool of the hottest of days.  I relish opportunities to browse the farm shop, selecting whatever takes my fancy, and then combining ingredients in to colourful patterns on my plate.  Here are some of my favourites. Chicory, Dolcelatte, Clementine, Pine Nuts This is my #1.  Bitter chicory is perfectly offset with creamy Dolcelatte and sweet clementine, whilst toasted pine nuts add a satisfying crunch.  With a simple dressing of olive oil, white wine vinegar and honey, this is quick to make and the flavours dance on my taste buds. Watermelon, Feta, Mint There's nothing quite like slicing through a watermelon and revealing that glorious red flesh, and biting in to cool wedges as the juice drips down your chin.  This salad takes seconds to prepare.  Toss a handful of cubed feta and a sprinkling of torn mint...

June 2021 Cardiff holds a special place in my heart, it being the city of my student years.  So when I was invited to a wedding there, I decided this was a great opportunity for a reminiscent trip. Back when I was a student, I didn't even like coffee (I do wonder how I survived being a student without!) but I had a feeling that in this day and age, Cardiff would have some pretty great roasters.  I started off at Brodies.  They have a cafe, Bricks and Mortar, on North Road but since it was a lovely sunny morning I headed to their cabin in Gorsedd Gardens to enjoy my flat white in the dappled light of the cooling trees.  There's a surprisingly large selection of sweet treats for such a dinky hut, and they also sell boxes of plant-based Patissiere Thibault Courtoisier's macarons. Next I delved in to the arcades.  I love how arcades always feel like a bit of a secret, and how you never know what exciting shop or interesting boutique you'll find around the next corne...

April 2021 During my weekend in Aberdeen, I made an exciting discovery.  A few miles outside of the city, close to Kinellar, is Forest Farm Dairy - an organic dairy surrounded by lush green pastures where their cows roam free.   Not only can you get their delicious non-homogenised milk straight from the source via Scotland's first milk vending machine, you can also get many other delicious products made on the farm.  In the cheese line up, there's Scottish curd cheese and some of Connage Highland Dairy's cheeses, as well as Forest Farm's own haloumi - I'm a big haloumi fan anyway so didn't need much convincing, but this was a whole other level - absolutely gorgeous cooked over a BBQ until the outside caramelises and the inside goes all gooey... Anyway, I digress.   Artisan gelato is the highlight of any trip to Forest Farm.  Made in small batches on the premises, it has zero food miles and flavours change regularly.  The honeycomb is an absolute m...

March 2021 Bakergirl. “If you know, you know” they say, and I think this perfectly sums up what has become quite the Oxfordshire institution.   Starting life as a farmshop café at Wykham Park Farm, and baking flavoursome sourdough loaves, cheese and marmite scrolls, and all manner of cakes, pastries and buns, they appeared in the old thatched post office in the quintessential Cotswold village of Great Tew following a brief hiatus.   At both venues, no matter the time or day, queues of locals as well as those who’d travelled from a afar for the legendary cinnamon buns, snaked out of the door and around the farm/ village green. Deciding to switch things up so as being able to maintain their baking dream whilst minimising the unsociable baker’s hours, they moved fully to their bakehouse in Wroxton to focus on pop-ups.   Sourdough pizza Saturdays, with home made salted caramel gelato and ‘sides’ of loaves of sourdough, milk loaves or whatever else takes their baking fancy...

November 2020 For all things smoked, you can't miss the Ullapool Smokehouse, a traditional smokery in the fishing village of Ullapool.  Using just salmon, salt and smoke, will you opt for malt whisky cold smoked salmon or heather honey hot roast salmon?  Whichever you go for, you'll be assured the highest quality combined with the distinctive flavours of Scotland.  For cheese lovers, I also highly recommend the very moorish oak smoked mature Scottish cheese. Find Ullapool Smokehouse on the edge of the town in the Morefield industrial estate.

November 2020 A cheese pantry was not what I expected to find down a track off the road between Inverness airport and the city, but a welcome find it was indeed.  Entering a small cafe and delicatessen selling all manner of crackers, oat cakes and chutneys, as well as cheese toasties, cakes and coffee, I had a fantastic view of the cheese production through the glass wall.  Then it got better - hidden in the corner of the deli is a door, through which I found myself in the most incredible cheese 'cave'.  Walls and walls of cheese, both locally made and from further afield, a real cheese lover's delight!  Some of the cheeses are made on the farm, such as the 12-15 month matured Connage Cheddar, and the Connage Gouda - a deliciously rich and creamy cheese with a flavour profile unlike Dutch Gouda due to differences in the grazing land.  Connage Farm also have a smokery.  Having never heard of a smoked brie before, I had to try it.  Firmer than traditiona...

December 2020 For the friendliest service and a vast array or Welsh produce, head to Siop Carla just outside Maenclochog.  Food shopping turns from a chore to an enjoyable activity when you can chat with Carla whilst perusing everything from locally roasted coffee and meat reared on nearby farms, to Pembrokeshire chocolate, cheese and cakes.   Highlights for me were the homemade scotch eggs - succulent and not at all greasy, they make a fantastic addition to a picnic or just a great snack, as well as Mary's Farmhouse ice cream.  Available in a selection of unusual yet exciting flavours, such as apricots, walnut and brandy; double chocolate, cherries and fudge; or Caeltic Crunch, alongside the classics, this is ice cream for grown ups as well as kids, churned just down the road in Crymych. Stock up for a picnic or BBQ, or get your hands on some quality ingredients to cook up a seasonal, locally sourced meal. Find Siop Carla on the road between Maenclochog and Pontfaen...

December 2020 For the freshest bread in Pembrokeshire, get yourself down to Crwst.   Often still warm from the oven, the sourdough has a lovely soft texture and a full flavour, making it impossible not to break chunks off and eat it plain on the way home.   The flat white made with the local Bay Coffee Roasters beans is very good, and there is an exciting selection of doughnuts.   Not usually a huge fan of caramel, the salted caramel doughnut deserves a mention for its fluffy texture, silky mousse that bursts out as you bite it, and the little crunch from popcorn adorning the top – a lovely contrast of textures. Find it on Priory Street in Cardigan.   They also serve brunch which I think would definitely be worth a try, and a selection of deli produce – Bay Coffee Roasters beans, creamy Perl Wen from Caws Cenarth Cheese, and the delicious Gethins cider from Maenclochog, amongst other things.

July 2020 I have a weak spot for cheese.  So when I heard that Fen Farm dairy have a 24 hour, yes you heard right!, self-service shop, I realised I was entering dangerous territory.  Raw milk from their  Montbeliarde cows is used to make artisan cheese and the most incredible cultured butter I have ever tasted - it's so good that I could probably eat it on it's own...but I'll resist! I had heard many people, all over the country talking about Fen Farm's Baron Bigod cheese, and wondered how a cheese from a small dairy in rural Suffolk has become so well known.  Now I know.  It's exquisite.  Britain's first unpasteurised brie will give any French brie a run for it's money with it's distinctive flavour - earthy, creamy and utterly moorish.  Also well worth a mention is the St Jude's cheese with it's strong flavour and fluffy, mousse-like texture. I never knew butter could have so much flavour until I tried the Bungay raw butter.  The  UK...

June 2020 Nestled in a pretty, narrow street on the Northern end of the centre of Oxford, among quaint pubs and hanging baskets of colourful flowers, is 2 North Parade.  A tiny but inviting blue shop front leads to a bounty of local produce.  The sweetest local farm strawberries, a vast selection of British cheeses from the very best producers, milk and yogurt from North Aston Farm, all manner of vegetables, Gatineau pastries and quiches, Cotswold beer, and sourdough loaves from both Hamblin Bread and Sourdough Revolution.  And with friendly, passionate and knowledgeable about all things quality produce owners, this the place to come to stock up for a picnic feast.  Find it on North Parade, Oxford 

I love cheese and I love beaches, so for me there is nothing better than people walking up and down the beaches of Brazil with portable BBQs, ready to grill me cheese on a stick.  A little like haloumi, it is salty, squeaky and bendy, and most delicious when it is straight off the coals. Find it at beaches in Brazil.

One of my favourite snacks/ breakfasts/ lunches during my time in Brazil was the Brazilian tapioca.  Made from the starch of the cassava root and cooked to order, it's filled and folded like a crepe.  There are numerous fillings to choose from, my favourite sounding an odd combination, but as soon as i tried it, I was sold.  Salty cheese, nutty coconut and sweet, sticky condensed milk - you have to try it to believe it! Find it at street stalls in the north-east of Brazil.  The best by far is in Olinda old town.  

June 2019 Buttery, flaky filo pastry, stuffed with a creamy, slightly salty mixture of cottage cheese, sour cream and egg, rolled, coiled and baked.  A greasy but tasty and very filling snack - I especially enjoy the texture of the coils. Find it at every bakery - meat and spinach are other commonly found fillings.

March 2018 Chechil is a smoked cheese, a little salty, chewy and firm like mozzarella, and braided giving a feel in the mouth I really enjoyed.  An addictive on the go snack or accompaniment to a beer. Find it at many corner shops and bars. 

March 2020 Afternoon tea always feels so decadent  but they can be quite samey.  I jazzed mine up with some exotic flavours.   'Sandwiches' of Red Leicester and Lincolnshire Poacher with home pickled rhubarb adding a crunch and cutting through the richness off the cheese, on deliciously chewy Yorkshire Levain bread.  Scones with sweet and spicy pineapple and pink peppercorn jam, kefir lime to freshen it up, and coconut cream for that luxurious creaminess.  Light, zingy and gluten free pistachio, rosemary and almond polenta cake with orange and thyme syrup, offset by malty assam tea.  The sparkle of prosecco bubbles fizzing on the tongue...

February 2020 Make no mistake about it, I love cheese, pretty much every type of cheese, so you would think these dishes would be a dream come true for me.     And I do love them in small doses, I just find it difficult to comprehend eating such a vast quantity of cheese in one sitting – where almost the whole meal is melted cheese.   Raclette is a Swiss cheese, nutty and sweet with earthy undertones, which has become popular in the French Alps.  Around 200g of cheese per person is melted under a table top grill and scraped off as it cooks, on to a plate of boiled potatoes, gherkins and charcuterie. Cheese fondue is a mix of firm, mountain cheeses such as gruyere, emmental, comte and beaufort, heated with white wine, a little garlic and Dijon mustard.  The communal ceramic pot is placed above a burner in the centre of the table for everyone to dip bite-size pieces of bread in to, using a long, thin fork.  It is delicious, especiall...