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Full details of the Ledbury Big Breakfast now available

Market House Breakfast Hash 2018

Join us for Ledbury’s “midwinter food festival” over the weekend of Friday 1st, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd February – the 7th Ledbury Big Breakfast.

19 local venues in and around Ledbury will be taking part on one or more days in this event organised by Ledbury Food Group to celebrate our local food and drink producers and retailers and breakfast.

Specials this year include breakfast pancakes or muffins, hummous on toasted sourdough with tomatoes and spinach, almond croissants, Vegan tofu scramble, Shakshouka eggs, Beef Hash cakes, a Bloody Mary breakfast, Hereford Hop rarebit, Crispy fish and duck egg, Croque Monsieur, Bara Brith (vegan) with Perl Wen and toast with Chuckleberry Jam. Continue reading “Full details of the Ledbury Big Breakfast now available”

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January Recipe: Vegetable Stew with Herby Dumplings

January’s recipe is very versatile as you can, of course, vary the vegetables. Make sure you use plenty of seasoning as vegetarian dishes can sometimes be bland. If you are not that keen on pearl barley you could use half pearl barley and some tinned beans and as the recipe feeds 6 you can halve the quantities. I would not personally recommend freezing it. Shallots are much easier to peel if you put them in boiling water first, but you can use red onions or ordinary onions come to that. You can add more vegetables than the recipe states if desired and I would add a couple of cloves of garlic personally and perhaps a tin of tomatoes and some tomato puree. Continue reading “January Recipe: Vegetable Stew with Herby Dumplings”

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December Recipe: Olde English Trifle

I hope you will enjoy this trifle. You could, of course, cheat and not make your own sponge and if you do not want to use double cream I find natural yogurt (the Greek style) a really good replacement.

Making your own custard is a bit of a chore but it really is much nicer than custard powder, although you can get the real custard from the chiller section. Just be careful, do not have the heat too high as you do not want to end up with scrambled eggs. I also like proper custard made with Jersey milk, readily available in Handley Organics, it tastes so much nicer and this is Christmas after all!

Have a happy and healthy festive season. Continue reading “December Recipe: Olde English Trifle”

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“Food” – A Book Group

Food is something we are all interested in. But how does it get to our table? Ledbury Food Group introduces its new Book Group on Thursday 17th January at 7pm. It’s an opportunity for us to “chew the cud” over some of the themes of current books relating to our food, finding out about the joys and challenges farmers face and the history of production. Books such as “The Secret Life of Cows”, forwarded by Alan Bennett, which appeared last year are full of discussion topics. The author Rosamund Young came to Ledbury in March to talk about it. Her introduction explores traditional and commercial farming and the book features hilarious anecdotes about her experiences rearing cows.

“Pig” is the new book on the block. Written by Helen Browning, pig farmer and chief executive of the Soil Association, “Pig” is the first book I would like to introduce the Food-Book Group to. Helen has been invited to Ledbury in April to talk about her farming experiences, and undoubtedly sustainable farming and food production as well. Continue reading ““Food” – A Book Group”

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A date for your 2019 Diary – the 7th Ledbury Big Breakfast

Full English breakfast , by permission of Juliette Ainsworth

For 2019 the Big Breakfast creeps into February running between Friday 1st February and Sunday 3rd February.

Again food shops, butchers, cafes, and hotels in and around Ledbury will be offering all kinds of treats to celebrate that most important of meals – breakfast featuring good locally produced food and drink.

Ledbury Food Group has asked those taking part to put on something different featuring local produce as well as their normal offerings, and we are expecting a wide range of breakfasts from the lightest breakfast to the heartiest, catering for all tastes. Look out for vegetarian, and vegan offerings too. Continue reading “A date for your 2019 Diary – the 7th Ledbury Big Breakfast”

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Non-Plastic Food Bags come to Ledbury

John Davenport, organic vegetable grower at Flights Orchard Farm, Little Marcle has finally acquired a prototype non-plastic food bag. Made in India from corn starch and hemp it will decompose fully in the compost bin. These are the first food-grade fully compostable bags John has sourced. They are suitable for keeping salad and other veg fresh and can also be heat-sealed.

John announced last week that “stronger, clear bags which fit on the packing ‘wicket’ have now arrived. They replace our plastic bags. They are considerably more expensive than plastic ones, but as more growers and retailers commit to such ecological packaging the price will come down.”

John believes he is the first local grower to source these bags and is delighted to be using them in his Vegetable Boxes.

© Ledbury Food Group 2014-24