BEST OF LOCAL FOODS FROM AROUND THE COUNTRY
If there’s one thing we’ve learned from lockdown, it’s to cultivate relationships with the people who produce our food. This has been a time when a lot of people have been cooking at home and honing their kitchen skills — it’s an important part of wellbeing to have a connection to your food, so let’s carry on supporting our locals. We have a great tradition of farming in this country, so take advantage of this time to celebrate real food, slow-grown, and have a new relationship with eating and home cooking. As we cook, prepare, smell our food we’re fostering a more intuitive relationship with it, which naturally extends to where it was grown and how it got to you. Suddenly we’re more interested in provenance than ever before. Here’s a list of some of the very best products you can get from British producers, but wherever you are in the world, I hope you can find some time to research small businesses local to you.
RAW HONEY
Local Honey Man is a Walthamstow-based producer with a real passion for saving the bees and eating better. The team, led by founder Curtis AKA The Local Honey Man, produce 100% pure, raw and natural local honey, which ships around the UK and is also available from select Morrisons.
Local honey is great (said to be excellent in the combatting of seasonal allergies) and in the UK, we’re lucky to have a wealth of it. Unfortunately, there isn’t a comprehensive directory that I can find (million-dollar idea???), but definitely look to see what’s available in your area at farmers’ markets, delis and garden centres or straight from the producer (look for signs on the road!).
UK GROWN QUINOA
Quinoa is native to South America, but Fairking have been able to grow it right here in the UK — I was lucky enough to visit their Colchester farm in Essex 5 years ago. Theirs is a non-bitter, white quinoa that you can enjoy without the cross-continental carbon emissions of transporting the South American stuff.
GHEE
A staple in my kitchen, and one that features in many of my recipes, Happy Butter Ghee is an organic, artisan, grass-fed ghee made in Devon. It is available in many organic shops and large supermarkets, or online from their website.
MEAT
Coombe Farm produce organic meats from the most common — beef, chicken and pork — to the most gourmet — duck, goose and venison. They are based in Somerset, where you can visit their farm and the farm shop, and they ship around mainland Britain, all British Channel Islands and the Highlands.
Based in Dartmoor, Devon, Wild Beef pride themselves on responsible, sustainable farming, with the environment and ethical practices at the forefront of their work. Their small herd grazes on the moors eating grass and living full, happy lives. You can find Wild Beef in Borough market or order directly from richard@wildbeef.co.uk or by calling 01647433433 or 07802758267.
MILK
A free range farm in Okehampton, West Devon, Taw River Dairy make luxury milk, butter, ice cream and sorbets. Their milk is A2 (containing the A2 type of beta-casein rather than the more common A1 protein) as well as unhomogenised (a process that alters the fat structure so that the cream is completely blended with the milk), which some people find easier to digest, and they treat their cows with care. You can buy everything directly from the farm shop and you will be able to order from their website in a few weeks (watch this space!). Alternatively, you can email them at info@tawriverdairy.co.uk
The Estate Dairy source high quality milk from the Chew Valley in Somerset, and deliver throughout London. Their milks and creams are unhomogenised to ensure a rich flavour and quality, and packed in glass bottles which both preserve the taste and help to cut down on single-use plastics.
Emma's Organic Dairy - Gazegill Organics
If you're looking for high quality unhomogenised raw organic milk, look no further. The cows at Emma’s Organic Dairy are free to roam as they please on the Gazegill farm in Lancashire and the calves are all reared with care, a wonderful feat for an industry that is thought to 100,000 calves yearly around the country. Gazegill is one of the rare producers in the UK who is licensed to sell raw milk — which should tell you everything you need to know. You can buy it online here.
It is worth having a look at the map of raw milk producers around the UK to see if there’s one in your area that you can buy from directly, or see if your local farmers’ market has some. Raw milk has a rich taste you just can’t find in the homogenised stuff, and it is thought to promote gut health, help with asthma and eczema, and generally support immune function. In Ayurveda dairy milk is recommended (for the most part — remember, no absolutes) to be served hot/warm and cooked through, often with spices to make it easier to digest (see page 20-21 in East by West) — this is different from pasteurising milk which involves heating the product and is said to denature it.
HOMEGROWN PULSES
Hodemedod’s work hard to make British-grown pulses available. They source their products from seven producers across the UK and offer all sorts of beans and peas — from red haricots to lentils and even chickpeas! (as of recently) — that you can order to addresses around the UK and beyond. Or you can collect them from the Hodmedod shop in Brampton, Suffolk.
EGGS
Orchard Eggs practise biodynamic agriculture in order to bring you the highest quality eggs. A family-run farm in Forest Row, East Sussex, they feed the chickens 100% organic grain and don’t use any antibiotics, and the animals spend their days throughout 60 acres of biodynamic orchard. Their eggs are available at certain markets in Southern England and you could also visit one of the many eateries that use Orchard Eggs in their cooking.
FRUIT AND VEGETABLES
During lockdown, I put together a selection of Britain’s best veg box services. These feature locally sourced high quality produce neatly packaged for delivery to your home — a great and easy way to eat fresh, ripe and seasonal. Honestly, the sun-ripened fruit just doesn’t compare to supermarket produce.
GROW works in schools and communities to promote mental and physical wellbeing and a hands-on relationship to nature. Since launching a trial programme at The Totteridge Academy in North London in 2019, the organisation has started a Forest School, built a community farm and teaches 250 students per week as part of the curriculum. If you’re local you can support this growing endeavour by visiting their weekly sale at the farm on Thursdays between 4 and 6pm.
Brambletye Fruit Farm, in Forest Row, Sussex, is a biodynamic grower and producer that brings farmers’ markets their freshest seasonal produce year-round — including the juiciest apples and pears. During lockdown, they have been delivering veggies, chutneys and juices to homes around London and beyond.
CHOCOLATE
The former pastry chef behind Chocolarder buys beans directly from farmers (not in the UK, obviously) and creates their chocolate in their workshop in Cornwall. They consistently pick the highest quality cocoa beans, which are organically grown, pesticide-free and shipped by sailboat (i.e. carbon-free transportation). They take it to a whole other level when it comes to the ethics of their chocolate, considering not only the ethics of the cocoa beans but also of the raw cane sugar, and taking their time to create a high-quality product that’s unlike any mainstream chocolate out there. Shop their bars and truffle boxes online or find it in the Hemsley+Hemsley café in Selfridges.