The Belper Food Festival 2014
Published On Sunday 13 Jul 2014 by Sticky Beak
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Last year I missed the Belper Food Festival due to unforeseen circumstances, so this year I was determined to go come what may. As you know readers, I am a total food-a-holic so the idea of a vast array of produce all within easy reach is my idea of Heaven!
If it was up to me I would just buy everything in sight and stuff myself silly, but luckily the Boy Wonder was on hand to curb my excess. Having said that we agreed to go early and start the day with breakfast from one of the stalls. I didn’t fancy a sausage or a bacon cob, I was in the mood to have something a little different; so when we found ourselves in front of The Exotic Meats stand that was offering Zebra Burgers we decided to partake of their offerings to start us off. The Burger itself was a proper meaty affair, no faffing around here, and you could have Monterey Jack Cheese and Caramelised Onions too if you wanted. What I really liked though was the bun that the burger was placed in - it was topped with sesame seeds, was fresh and had a lovely buttery taste of its own. When I mentioned this to the owner he said that they came from The Fabulous Baking Boys, and he had chosen them for their quality. It was nice to hear that he thought his meat was of such a high standard that he felt the accompaniments should be just as good. I have to say that his philosophy pays off, as you really do get a gourmet experience from the burgers.
www.exoticmeats.co.uk
Just a couple of stalls down from Exotic Meats was Amber Valley Wines, and as you know readers when you’ve had something to eat you want something to drink, right? I don’t normally drink in the day much but the Pink Sparkling Wine was ready chilled and sold by the glass (as well as the bottle), and it was just calling to us. The Amber Valley Wine team are hoping to harvest their first crop of grapes this year with the first bottles of truly Amber Valley Wine hopefully being available next year. In the meantime, they are promoting English Wines and we purchased a bottle of Medium Dry White wine (3 Choirs vineyard in Gloucestershire) and a bottle of Red Wine (Bolney Estate in Sussex). Our thought on these will be revealed later in the blog....
www.ambervalleywines.co.uk
So with our crops suitably filled we began our journey through the streets of Belper to see where our little legs would take us. We saw all manner of goods from amazingly colourful Cupcakes, Homemade Jams and Pickles, Cakes, Tarts, Pastries, Pies and Sausages. Even a Black Cheese made with Charcoal! You name it, it was there. Unfortunately we don’t have limitless supplies of money so we had to choose a cross-section of sweet and savoury offerings to try back at the Nest with the Tribal Elders.
I can never resist fresh Olives so we bought a little tub of Mixed Olives with Sundried Tomatoes to place on the table just to nibble at between the various items we were about to sample.
We kicked off our Mini Banquet with a Vegetable Samosa and Indian Spring Roll from “Apna Spice “. Everyone agreed that both items were very well filled and nicely spiced too. Even my Daddy Bird enjoyed them, and he isn’t a huge fan of spicier food.
www.apnaspice.co.uk
Next up was a Sage and Brie Scone and a Goats Cheese, Mushroom and Caramelised Onion Focaccia Bread from the local Talented Bakers at “ The Loaf “. The scone was an absolute winner, the balance of the Sage and Brie was just spot on, so there were many chirrups of delight at this item. The Focaccia was much appreciated too, although we did have to pick the mushrooms off for The Boy Wonder; the texture was beautiful on this bread.
www.theloaf.co.uk
We also bought some Derbyshire Oatcakes from “ R.P Davidson - Cheese Factor “ , which were lovely on their own but were even better when enjoyed in conjunction with the Homemade Chicken Liver Pate with Wild Berry Coulis Layer top from “ The Chef’s Table “ team. The depth of flavour on the pate was brilliant and the coulis just added a little bit of tartness to cut through its richness. Cracking Idea guys, really good thinking!
www.cheese-factor.co.uk
www.the-chefs-table.co.uk
Whilst we ‘d got the Oatcakes out we thought we would bring out the next item to try which was a very cheeky Jalapeno and Lime Hummus from “ Whistling Walnut Foods “. Again, my Daddy Bird enjoyed this as you got the heat from the Jalapeno but it wasn’t overwhelming. The rest of the flock (who like a spicier taste) also really, really enjoyed this. It’s just a little bit different from the usual lemon / pepper / sundried tomato varieties of hummus that are fairly easy to source in supermarkets. We had also purchased a Greek Spinach and Feta pie from this team, and again it was voted a winner - the freshness of the spinach was beautifully balanced with the Feta so that you got a good taste of both in each bite.
www.whistlingwalnutfoods.co.uk
Continuing with our savoury items, we just couldn’t resist purchasing some of the Black Cheese made with Charcoal from “Michael Lee, Purveyor of Fine Cheese“. The Elders looked at it with a “ I know what I like, and I like what I know - and it ain’t Black blooming Cheese “ stare. However, our flocks motto is try everything once, so they gamely stepped up to the plate so to speak. And what a shock they got! Like me, Daddy Bird loves his cheese, and he was speechless for a few seconds before remarking a simple but accurate “WOW “. Which just goes to prove you should never judge a cheese by its colour? It is a very smooth texture almost like a cheese spread, with a clean taste that rolls around your tongue and delights your taste buds. It isn’t mild by any stretch, more of a mature rating and can hold its own next to a robust chutney – which is exactly what it did as we had also bought a homemade Apple, Date and Ginger Chutney to sample from another stall.
www.finecheesesltd.co.uk
The Apple, Date and Ginger Chutney from “Julies Pickles and Preserves - Handmade in Derbyshire” deserves a little mention of its own too. Its texture was spot-on, neither too chunky nor too smooth, and the balance of flavours had been skilfully achieved too with the sweetness of the fruits marrying the warmth of the Ginger perfectly. The Boy Wonder reckons it’d be cracking with cheese on toast.... best he goes and does himself some then, instead of fluttering his handsome wings at me!
www.facebook.com/juliesonionsandchutneys
Our last, and by no means least, savoury item was (and no pun intended) a Savoury Egg with Caramelised Onion from “Staffordshire Savoury Eggs “. Now I call them Scotch Eggs, rightly or wrongly, so the idea of Caramelised onion on them was something I would never have thought of. However, I’m glad those clever guys at Staffordshire Savoury Eggs did, because they were extremely tasty let me tell you. They had used a good quality Sausage meat to form the base with which to add the Caramelised Onion and you just got a hint of the lovely oniony sweetness coming through without overpowering the egg!
www.facebook.com/SavouryEggs
There was even a little treat for our Dog. “Mrs Bishops Doggy Deli“ were selling a multitude of treats for our Canine Companions, so we treated our pooch to a couple of Cheesy Grins ( love that name !). He was totally impressed given the speed he devoured them in, and the fact that he was sniffing around for crumbs for ages after he’d finished them.
www.mrsbishops-doggydeli.co.uk
Before I dive into the sweet section of the Blog, I’m just going to mention the Wines we bought from “The English Wine Shop / Amber Valley Wines “. As I previously mentioned The Red we purchased came from the Bolney Estate in Sussex and is a blend of several red grape varieties, which gives this wine a great depth of flavour without being too robust as to put non-red drinkers off sampling this. It is very smooth on the palate and went very well with many of the savoury items we had sampled in our Mini Banquet. The White Wine was by The Three Choirs estate in Gloucestershire, and was a lovely zingy little number. It’s a Medium Dry wine, so will appeal to the vast majority of wine drinkers, and is very crisp and fruity in character, excellent for drinking on a sunny afternoon - which is exactly what we were doing J
www.englishwineshop.co.uk
Our first offering of sweet treats was a slice of Pimms Cake that we bought from “Patisserie Lola“. As well as having Pimms in the cake mixture itself, when the cake has cooled the talented ladies skewer the sponge and drizzle even more Pimms into it resulting in a deliciously moist cake that has a lovely hint of Pimms to it. Everybody remarked how nice it was, and just a little bit different too.
www.patisserielola.com
Next on the sweet trolley was a very exotic Sweet Coconut Pandon Pancake with Fresh Lime Sauce from “The Coconut Tree“. The mini pancake was filled with a mixture of fresh Coconut and Cane Sugar, and had been rolled up into a sausage shape. We opted to have some fresh Lime Sauce put on top of ours, although you didn’t have to have it if you didn’t want. It wasn’t overly sweet which I thought was surprising given that Coconut and sugar were the main ingredients, and the Lime sauce gave it some extra zing which made the whole thing lovely and light and refreshing.
www.coconut-tree.co.uk
The Finale to the sweet section was a selection of Cupcakes from “Bedazzled Cupcakes“; After Eight Delight, Choc Orange, Daddy Oreo and Dime Bar were the four that we sampled. All of them had a chocolate base cupcake mix which was lovely and moist, but firm in texture just as a good cupcake should be. The Minty Icing on the After Eight cupcake was perfect - not too minty, not insipid, exactly like eating an After Eight Mint actually, and the balance of flavours was again superb on The Choc Orange Cupcake. Daddy Oreo was another winner with our flock as not only was there a whole Oreo Cookie on top for my Little Chick to devour but the icing was exactly like the middle of an Oreo – nom nom! Last up was the Dime Bar Cupcake and it was, not surprisingly, just as lovely as the others.
www.bedazzledcupcakes.co.uk
So with our little Crops full to bursting ,we all sat down with some Fresh Coffee, and reflected on what a great day we had had at The Belper Food Festival and how fantastic it was to see that so many people had turned out to support the event. There really was something there for every palate, and all the traders were happy and engaging with customers, taking obvious pride in their produce.
Looking forward to doing it all again next year guys and sampling a different variety of offerings! I know, it’s a tough job eating and drinking all these delights ....... ;)
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