Stallholders from the Ludlow Hamper Company at the Ludlow Food Festival 2009

The 2010 Ludlow Food Festival which take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday 10th – 12th September in Ludlow Castle, Shropshire has launched an exciting new website where you can register for an eNewsletter and keep up to date with what’s being organisd at this fantastic food festival.

Click here for website www.foodfestival.co.uk

Held every year in Ludlow, the small town with the large reputation for good food and drink – this year’s Festival will feature more than 140 top quality small independent food and drink producers from the Marches, the England-Wales border counties. There will be some new features, and all the old favourites including great demonstrations, talks, trails and much more. Tickets are only £7 per adult and £1.50 for children under 16. You can buy tickets online to jump the queues HERE

 SATURDAY – The Day of The British Street Food Awards

The British Street Food Awards are to be held in the Castle Square Car park, just outside the castle; a great location to discover the BEST street food traders in the country. Top chefs Marco Pierre White, Mar Hix, Richard Johnson, Thomasina Miers, winner of Masterchef,  and Antony Worrall Thompson will be in Ludlow this September – as part of a panel of big names who will judge the first-ever British Street Food Awards on Sunday 12^th September – www.britishstreetfood.co.uk

Ironbridge, Shropshire and home to this October's Gorgeous Festival

After a hugely successful event in 2009, The Ironbridge Gorge Museums Trust and The Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft are bringing together a truly inspirational mix of some of the finest craftspeople from the region for the Guild’s prestigious annual flagship exhibition, ‘Gorgeous’, over the weekend of October 9th and 10th. For the third year running there will also be a Food Hall filled with a range of delicacies from across Shropshire. 

This unique selling exhibition will be held at Enginuity, Coalbrookdale, Ironbridge, Shropshire and will include over 35 designer-makers from The Shropshire Guild of Contemporary Craft plus guests.

Shrewsbury based Bonbonniere Chocolates and Ironbridge based Queenies Cupcakery are two of the exhibitors at this year’s Gorgeous.  Melanie Fallon, who runs the organic gourmet chocolate company, Bonbonniere Chocolates, said “last year was our first time at Gorgeous. And it was fantastic for us”. 

Bonbonniere, who won the prestigious Heart of England Fine Foods (HEFF) Diamond Awards for 2009 with their cardamom chocolate will be selling their mouth-watering range of fresh, handmade chocolate including ginger, luxury champagne and aromatic orange.

A new exhibitor at the Gorgeous Contemporary Fine Food and Craft Fair this year will be Queenies Cupcakery from Ironbridge.

Queenies, run by niece and auntie duo Kaye and Claire Shaw opened their Ironbridge ‘cupcakery’ in April of this year and have been making between 100 -1,000 sumptuous cupcakes daily ever since. Kaye said “we’ve been really busy since we opened, not only do we have the shop, but we also supply cupcakes as favours, as wedding cakes and offer a retro 1950′s party service.”

Other exhibitors at this year’s Gorgeous include The Green Cow Deli and Farm Shop, Bridgnorth; Heathers Harvest; Wil’s Smokehouse and Strefford Hall Farm Shop.

Entrance to Gorgeous is £2.50 per person, under 12′s go free. Gorgeous will be open from 10am-5pm on Saturday 9^th and 10am-4pm on Sunday 10^th of October.

 Further details are available from the Shropshire Guild’s website at: www.shropshireguild.co.uk or the Ironbridge Visitor Information Centre on Tel: 01952 884391 or visit www.ironbridge.org.uk

Gwatkin Cider during a quiet moment at the 2009 Ludlow Food Festival

This year’s Ludlow Food Festival promises to be a truly memorable event, with a mouth-watering line-up of attractions for foodies and families alike. The small Shropshire town with a massive reputation for fine food and drink celebrates the 16^th year of its festival from10^th – 12^th September, and over 20,000 visitors from around the world are expected. 

Local produce is, as ever, at the heart of the Festival which showcases all manner of ‘real’ food, from rare breed meat to artisan cheeses, and a fantastic choice of real ales, ciders and perries. Every year, the Castle grounds and fascinating streets of this historic medieval market town– come alive with ranks of deliciously laden stalls and displays. A series of ‘trails’ will lead visitors round the town to taste a huge range of sausages, breads and beers and vote for their favourites. The Castle Gardens promise to be an epicurean paradise and of course there are plenty of restaurants, cafes and bars where visitors can sit back, relax and watch the world go by. 

Over the 3 days of the Festival, there’s a rolling programme of informative and entertaining talks, demonstrations, hands-on workshops and displays. Cookery classes will be on offer with local chefs demonstrating their talents – including Michelin starred La Bécasse head chef Will Holland, who won through to the finals of this year’s Great British Menu. Plus this year traders from across the UK will be battling it out for the first ever British Street Food Awards – a prestigious prize that will test their skills cooking in mobile kitchens the size of a postage stamp! ‘Slow food’ tutored tastings are another attraction, with nearly 200 top quality small independent food and drink producers from the Marches and the border counties lined up with tempting morsels.

 There’s plenty of fun for all ages too – with street performers, a big top circus, cooking with kids, Caribbean music and food from The Levi Roots Experience. A host of other entertainers will be performing throughout the town helping to raise cash for the Festival’s chosen charity, Self Help Africa. So if you’ve got an appetite for a great day out, and your taste buds are tingling at the thought, book September 10^th-12^th in your diary and get yourself along to the Ludlow Food Festival.

Ludlow Food Festival runs from 10^th-12^th September.
Friday: 10am – 5pm. Saturday: 10am – 6.30pm. Sunday: 10am – 5pm.
Ticket Prices: Adults £7 Children £1.50. Family £16 (2 adults and up to 4 children under 16). 2 Day Tickets Adults: £12. 3 Day Tickets: Adults: £18.
All events are free once you’re in the Castle apart from Slow Food Events.
You can book tickets online at foodfestival.co.uk, or by phone on 01584 873957.
Park and Ride and Park and Walk facilities are available.

Chef Will Holland (L) with Ellie Harrison and Adam Henson of BBC1's Countryfile

BBC One’s Countryfile have been filming a Michelin-starred chef experimenting with local Ludlow produce to create a dish using “the most free range chicken you will ever find,” from the Welsh borders at Brinda Farm, writes Kieran Ward. 

Chef Will Holland’s, of La Becasse restaurant, list of ingredients included strawberries to add a sweeter taste to the chicken, almost like honey, and to contrast with the strong flavours of the pink peppercorn paste. Tarragon oil was used to marinate the chicken and soak up the complementary sweet and spicy flavours. 

Speaking at the market, Countryfile presenter Adam Henson, said that the rural food economy is under huge pressure from modern supermarkets and global warming which is making the ground infertile resulting in smaller crops. 

The local food availability is failing since more farmland is being lost and more food is imported from abroad, he added.

Sarah-Jane Brough of The Ludlow Jam Pan Company

Held twice-monthly, the Ludlow Farmers’ Market celebrated its 10^th anniversary with stallholders offering a wide range of goats cheese, bread, meats Wenlock Edge Farm and fish were on sale and even homemade pies of which I ate a salmon and goats cheese pastry.  Delicious.  Beer and cider were on offer from the Ludlow Brewing Company and Berriew Cider.

If you’ve missed the demonstration and market, the Countryfile episode featuring Will and Ludlow will be shown on BBC1 TV on Sunday, 29^th August.

 www.labecasse.co.uk

 www.localtoludlow.org

www.bbccountryfilemagazine.com

The art of smoking with Ludlow Food Centre butcher, Tamas Borbas

The butchery team at a Shropshire food centre have been spending a great deal of time and effort smoking behind the building.  John Brereton and his team at the Ludlow Food Centre have acquired a surprisingly healthy smoking habit by spending time developing a range of smoked meat products.  In just the last 4 months John and his team have worked on smoking an alarming array of smoked meat including local, free range chicken and duck, estate reared venison, Gloucester Old Spot pork and even locally sourced trout. 

John says, “We started by smoking our own bacon and its grown from there.  We are now working on more unique smoked meat such as spiced turkey breast, pastrami and even smoked garlic.”

The Food Centre invested a small amount of money in a hot smoker with the view of smoking a small range of meats to increase the product range their butchery offered.  John had found it difficult to find the variety of smoked meat locally and so decided that it would be best to try himself with meat from the Food Centre’s, Earl of Plymouth Estate. 

John says, “We use Oak chippings and meat from the Estate whenever possible but it’s the attention to detail that makes the difference.  We smoke chicken differently to pork and have tailored the process to get the right length of time and heat for each product.  This means that we keep the moisture in the meat whilst still achieving a rich smokey flavour….Everyday is different, we are always having to make allowances for the change in weather such as heat or humidity to get the best product.”

John admits that smoking has been a passion of his for a long time and that only recently has he had time to embrace his passion at work. 

He says, “Even my wife likes me to smoke because the smell is nicer than raw meat!”

www.ludlowfoodcentre.co.uk

Shrosphire herdsman Darrel Bray with a Gloucester Old Spot

The Gloucester Old Spot Pig has recently been singled out to gain TSG (Traditional Speciality Guaranteed) accreditation.  The breed which is recognisable for its white skin and black spots is among 42 types of British food and drink to be awarded this privileged status by European authorities.  The breed standard for the Gloucesters declares that meat sold as ‘Old Spot’ must come from a pedigree animal reared using traditional methods.  However, the largest herd of Gloucester Old Spots does not reside in Gloucester, they live in Ludlow. 

The Ludlow Food Centre, part of the Earl Of Plymouth’s Oakly Park Estate are proud owners of the largest herd of Gloucester Old Spots in the UK with over 500 pigs.  The Centre has been breeding the pigs for 4 years and have been trying to increase demand and interest in the breed.  The meat from these pigs has a little more fat than commercial varieties which is why it has a greater depth of flavour.  

Tom Hunt, Marketing Manager at the Food Centre says, “‘We have worked really hard to increase the popularity of Gloucesters … To have the breed recognised throughout Europe as a pedigree is fantastic and will definitely help protect the breed standard” 

Other British foods that have been included on the accreditation list include Melton Mowbray pork pies and clotted cream.  This type of accreditation is the same as that granted to Champagne and will prevent businesses selling products that do not meet the requirements.  Pork from Gloucesters will have to be from a pedigree herd which will prevent supermarkets selling meat from cross bred pigs at ‘Gloucester Old Spot’ meat.  

Mr Hunt says, “In marketing it is easy to pass something off as a genuine product but this accreditation means that only the real thing can be sold as such…The Food Centre is proud to have bred the largest herd in the country and we hope that people we come and try it to see how much better it is than commercial varieties.”

Enjoy an authentic seven course Roman Banquet set within the ramparts of  the ruined sity of Viroconium, just south of Shrewsbury. Created using authentic roman dishes and techniques and accompanied by wine from the Wroxeter Roman Vineyard priced at £37.50 per person or £350.00 for 10 people

Set in an area where the locals admire their Roman architecture and traditions the Wroxeter Hotel is the perfect venue for such an occasion with a few “surprises“ in store.

 www.thewroxeterhotel.co.uk

Work up an appetite with a glorious summer evening tour around the caslte gardens with head gardener of Welshpool’s Powis Castle..  Then relax with a savoury supper, served in the restaurant, followed by three desert courses, a total of six mouth watering puddings all sourced locally from Welshpool!

For more information please visit www.nationaltrust.org.uk/main/w-powiscastle_garden

This popular event takes place in Shrewsbury Square on every first Friday of the month.

A mouth watering day out for the whole family. It’s a 9 mile walk through forest and unspoiled countryside stopping along the way for a taste of the best of the Marches-cheese, wine, beer, breads. EARLY BOOKING ESSENTIAL!

 The walk will start and finish at the Dinham Bridge in Ludlow and will take place around the outskirts of the town and the surrounding countryside.

 www.foodfestival.co.uk