What could be better on a cold January morning than a tasty breakfast? This year 19 local food outlets are joining to bring you the best in breakfast and the best in local food on Friday and Saturday 29th and 30th January. This event is run by Ledbury Food Group in conjunction with Breakfast Week 2016. Continue reading “Even more to savour at this year’s Ledbury Big Breakfast”
Ledbury Farmer’s Market – 18th December
Don’t forget to support our very special monthly Ledbury Farmers Market.
December’s visit of the Herefordshire Farmers Market to Ledbury will be on Friday 18th December, in and around the Market House.
The Ledbury Country Market will also have lots on offer at St Katherine’s Hall.
This is an excellent opportunity to visit Ledbury and stock up on super local food and drink for Christmas both at the Market and at our local shops.
Ledbury Big Breakfast 2016 – 29th and 30th January
Update your dairy with the dates for the fourth Ledbury Big Breakfast.
This year Ledbury will be celebrating breakfast on Friday 29th January and Saturday 30th January.
This event celebrates that most important of meals – breakfast, and what we at the Food Group consider important – good locally produced food and drink.
Food shops, butchers, cafes and hotels in and around Ledbury will be providing a wide range of local breakfasts, including specials for the day.
Last year 20 local businesses took part presenting all kinds of breakfast treats – this year we hope there will be even more variety for you to eat in or take home.
Those taking part in 2016 will include:
| The Talbot | Handley Organics |
| Delilah’s | Four Oaks Delicatessen |
| Nice Things | Gurneys |
| Market House Cafe | Llandinabo Farm Shop |
| Chez Pascal | Wallers |
| Muse Cafe | The Nest |
| Cameron & Swan | Trumpet Corner |
| Caffe 21 |
More information will be available on our website here in early January – when we will post up all the specials on offer, and details of opening times etc.
Stuck for a Christmas Present?
Lots of local food and drink producers offer “activities” of all kinds in addition to making super products.
You can adopt a vine or share an apple crop, go on a bread making course, learn about cheese making, tour a cider mill or a farm, take an Indian cookery course, find out more about orchards, tour a vineyard and so on.
We have a number of ideas in our Producers Index on our website which could provide you with the answer.
And if nothing satisfies, why not come into Ledbury and put together a gift of local food – there are even shops selling boxes for you to present it all in.
Best wishes for Christmas from Ledbury Food Group
The future for Food, and a really good Feast…
Two events for you at the Master’s House, St Katherine’s, Ledbury
Where do we go from here with food and farming?
Rob Elliott and Sally Dean ask this question in the third of their talk/discussion series on Monday 16th November at 7pm.
Don’t worry if you missed the others in this series as there will be plenty to interest in this session.
Rob says, “We will discuss the options we have today regarding our future health and food security, looking also at how those options might address the problems of environmental degradation, human misery and the general ecological health of our planet. Where do we go from here with regard to food and farming? Can we continue to feed a growing population? What about the obesity crisis? Or indeed poverty and hunger?
We will look at these issues through the eyes of some of today’s new pioneers, including one of our very own back-to-nature (and “back to the future”) farmers, Simon Cutter of Model Farm near Ross-on-Wye, who will give us a brief but inspiring overview of how and why he farms in a genuinely sustainable way.”
Not to be missed, tickets costing £6 can be purchased in advance at Ledbury Library, and will be available on the night. Your ticket includes light refreshments and a very local drink.
This event is organised by Ledbury Library Development Association in association with Ledbury Food Group.
Feast at the Master’s Table
Eat, drink, be merry and entertained at a splendid meal of local food in the glorious medieval setting of Ledbury’s Master’s House.
The Friends of the Master’s House invite you to join them, and the Master, on Saturday 21st November for an evening of food and entertainment starting from 7pm.
A three course meal of seasonal local specialities will be provided from the pop up kitchen manned by Belinda Sparey’s team from “The Best of Taste”.
Various musical and other divertissements will be provided to entertain you, and period costume is optional.
Tickets are now on sale at Ledbury Library for this special event at £30 – numbers are limited and tickets must be bought in advance. Drinks will be available at the event.
This event – which could become an annual occasion – is organised as part of an ongoing programme of events at the recently restored and revived Master’s House.
Say Cheese, curds and whey…
For a different day out, what about a day making cheese?
Monkland Cheese Dairy near Leominster offers a cheese making experience day, and I was lucky to be bought one as a birthday present.
The day starts with a full health and safety check when the budding cheese makers – we were five – are kitted out appropriately – huge rubber aprons, hairnets and wellies – and reminded of hygiene practices to follow through the day.
Into the dairy, we find that the main vat is already full with over 500 litres of freshly delivered milk quietly warming up. Another vat with nearly 200 litres of milk is warming nearby. To both a bacterial starter culture has been added to create lactic acid which helps to build the cheese. When the milk reaches a temperature of about 30ºC the magic begins. A small quantity of rennet – an enzyme – is stirred in to the milk. The warm bacterial soup now divides with the help of stirring into curds, which will be used to make the cheese, and into whey, a sweet tasting transparent liquid.
At this stage we found that the process varies depending on what kind of cheese the maker wants e.g. hard or soft. For soft cheeses, the curds are separated from the whey once a suitable cure has been obtained, and packed into moulds (full of holes) in which the curd cheese solidifies and whey drains off. For hard cheeses, the apprentice cheese makers were found all kinds of manual tasks to help make the cheese – stirring the curds and whey, cutting up the curds into squares after the whey had been run off (called cheddaring), testing the acidity of the lactic acid, and milling down the curd before adding salt. Through these processes we noticed how the curd changed in terms of solidity, structure and taste.
Finally it was time to form the hard cheeses, filling plastic moulds with the curds, and allowing them to firm up, before placing them in presses.
This is just day 1 of the life of a cheese. It now has to mature during which the various components of the cheese including fat, protein, bacteria (yeasts) and salt conspire together to develop its taste. In the gaps in the making process, we were encouraged to help with turning cheeses in the cheese store, and putting holes into cheeses to encourage the growth of blue cheese. It’s fascinating to think that in most food production areas presence of bacteria would be a disaster – not so in a cheese dairy.
We experienced a few things that you don’t appreciate when you eat a craft cheese – the amount of work in the cheese dairy that is manual and arduous, the care taken with each step of the process, the amount of washing up and washing down, and some cheesy jokes.
The softer cheese we made (or helped make) will be ready in about 6 weeks, the harder cheese in about 3 months. The whey will go to feed some very happy pigs.
If you fancy a day cheese making in very pleasant surroundings, find out more at www.monklandcheesedairy.co.uk. Look out for the cheeses we made in coming months!
Thanks for helping us celebrate our local food, drink, music and poetry
After threatening rain, the sun came out and shone on this year’s Ledbury Celebration on Sunday 12th July featuring over 30 food and drink stalls selling all kinds of local food and drink.
Did you try the good traditional local food that was on offer?
What did you think of the new twists this year with Polish style pierogi (pasties) and Columbian style empanadas, made using local ingredients?
Did you discover scotch eggs (all kinds of flavours), jams, preserves, chutneys, freshly baked bread, delicious cakes, granny Tigg’s dressing, cherries, granola and, of course, very local ice cream?
Did you sample the medieval cake samples that the Ledbury Library Development Group were offering linking today’s event with the restoration of our 15th century Master’s House? Did you pick up a recipe card?
Did you have a “street food” lunch – once the rain had stopped?
What did you think about the fine range of local ciders and perrys, wines, beers, fruit drinks and even local gin on offer? Did you stay to enjoy these while listening to the fabulous range of local musical acts and poets joining in this event?
Did you explore the puppetry of the Fetch theatre – a lot of people really enjoyed this – and the mystery of the CowGirl Parlour?
Did you meet the Mayor of Ledbury, Councillor Annette Crowe when she visited the celebration?
Did you buy a ticket for the Food Group’s local food raffle? Gareth Morgan did and won with ticket 26!
Catherine Every, organiser of the event for the Ledbury Food Group, said, “We are very pleased that again the Ledbury Celebration with its blend of food, drink, music and poetry has brought pleasure to so many people. We thank everyone who helped make the event such a success.”
Phillippa Slinger for Ledbury Poetry Festival said, “The Festival is thrilled that we put on a stunning array of poets and musicians, from the irreverent and hilarious Johnny Fluffypunk, to the Baltic melodies of Flatworld, as well as local poets and musicians showing off their home grown talent. The variety and quality of the performers capped off a wonderful collaboration with the Ledbury Food Group”
This marvellous free event would not be possible without support from its sponsors who this year included Ledbury Town Council, Crowthers, Orme and Slade, Wilce’s, A.B.E., Pughs, Authentic Bread Company, Greendawn Accounting, Herefordshire Community Foundation, New Grove Trust, Tilley Printing, Rotary International, and the many volunteers who helped before, during and after the event.
Many thanks to all who helped and to all who attended this event this year. If you missed it, join us next year.
Please send us your comments on the event so that we can do even better next time to ask@ledburyfoodgroup.org
Cake heaven at Three Talents Cakery
Flatworld entertains
Iryna's bread and pastries
Jo Brandt serving up
The view from Peter Cook's stall
Vincenza Alvear Villaruel with her empanadas
Visitors enjoy an alfresco lunch
Vivien brandt with her preserves
The Fetch Theatre Co puppetry