Bury St Edmunds gets its very own local food festival!

Being a fan of the Aldeburgh Food & Drink Festival that takes place on the other side of the county, I've been lamenting that we are somewhat lacking in such events over here in West Suffolk  However today's great find has finally seen an end to all that navel gazing. For helping to launch the annual Bury St Edmunds festival this weekend was the Real Food & Beer Festival hosted by the Greene King brewery.

So armed with my trolley bag, two kids and a purse-full of cash, we hot-footed it along to suss out the food scene and catch up with some of our Suffolk....and er' um... Norfolk favourites too!

And we weren't disappointed.  The Greene King marquee was packed with a wide range of East Anglian suppliers selling soft drinks, salads, poultry, meat, condiments, pies, bread, cheeses.....and even crisps.

There was so much on offer and a whole range of tasting opportunities that we could have spent much longer at the food festival, but even with a short attention span courtesy of the kids, we still managed a couple of  hours. Here are just a few of the stands that we visited:

Our favourite local fudge supplier from Thurston, the very delicious Yum Yum Tree Fudge.

Munchy Seeds were on hand too and I managed to pick up a refill of my favourite granola - which is totally delicious topped with local honey, chopped fruit and Greek yoghurt....it really just has to be the best breakfast ever!

The chap from James White, producer of my favourite spicy Tomato Juice, BIG TOM, was very patient as we took the taste test on their latest juices. I was so impressed with their wide range of fruit and vegetable based juices, I took the opportunity to place an order for a home delivery of a mixed case of twelve bottles!

And talking of drinks, it will most definitely be Aspall's Cyder on the menu tonight, having picked up a bottle of the delicious Peronelle Blush.

And when it comes to sausages, well it can certainly be said that Suffolk isn't short of competition.  An early find was Jimmy's Farm, which you can see in the middle of the photo...

.....followed by the other well known Powters of Newmarket...

 ..... and a brand new discovery...The Sausage Tree, which is based in Earl Soham.

Some other new finds were the Suffolk Pasties, made by Fynn Valley Foods, who also happen to supply locally produced reduced fat sausage rolls to Suffolk's schools...

And the Suffolk Larder was there too, with its lovely jars of condiments!

There was also a range of stalls outside the marquee, including Paddy & Scott's coffee and Alder Tree ice-cream.  However we opted for one of the delicious looking tarts from The Suffolk Hamper...

....and some ice-cream from our local dairy in Thurston, called Criterion Ices....

Having had such a great time today...and eaten so well...I'm very tempted to return to the food festival tomorrow and explore all the other stalls that the children's impatience forced me to pass by.

I really hope that the organisers and stall-holders find the event to be a real success, as it would be great to see it return to Bury St Edmunds next year, and if they do, I hope there will be even more stalls selling their wares outside the marquee.

But why wait until next year Bury?   With so many local producers, it would be a wonderful opportunity to incorporate more produce in our town-centre shops or even in our bi-weekly market.  After all there seems to be such a great appetite for local food at the moment.

But for now, my hunger for a local food festival on my doorstep has most definitely been satisfied, and Greene King did such a tasty job of it, even playing host to a Cannon Brewery beer tent too!

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The Real Food and Beer Festival is being held at Greene King's Westgate Brewery Gardens and will also be open on Sunday 16th May, from 10am.  Tickets are £1 on the door.  More information can be found at the Bury St Edmunds Festival Website.

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A Suffolk Recipe

Hi, I'm Jaydubblah and I have been invited to post up this recipe for Suffolk Rusks. These are not something you give the baby mashed up with milk but a wonderful accompaniment to cheese and all manner of savoury delights. If you make plain ones they go well with a bit of jam and cream too!

Why they are Suffolk Rusks specifically I don't know, but I certainly hadn't come across them until I moved to Suffolk 28 years ago. The recipe was given to me by my secretary, who had it from her gran and like all the best recipes is still in my recipe folder on a scrap of paper in her best handwriting. Of course, it's in ounces but so long as you keep the proportion of fat to flour around 1:3 you should be OK

I have given you the plain recipe here but you can experiment with additions, like some dried herbs, or some paprika and chilli powder, or a little finely grated cheese (but only a little) I'm sure you can come up with lots of other ideas.

Suffolk Rusks

12 ozs Self Raising Flour
4 oz mixed lard and marg, bit heavier on the marg
2 eggs
Salt
Milk to mix

Rub the fat into the flour salt (and any other dry ingredients you have chosen to add) to the well known breadcrumb. Add the beaten eggs one at a time plus enough milk to make a dough similar to a scone mixture. Roll out to no less than 1 and a half inches thick and cut into rounds or squares as you prefer. Bake at 400 F, 200 C, Gas Mark 6 for about 12 to 15 minutes then remove from the oven, split in half and return to the oven for about another 5 minutes. You may need to keep an eye on them to catch them when they are golden and not burnt!
The oven temperature conversions are according to my old Good Housekeeping book, fan ovens may vary so you might need to experiment a bit

The Suffolk Diet - What's next?

Blimey - I can't believe we got through all this and more over the last week.  I'm beginning to think I should have called this the Suffolk Feast rather than the Suffolk Diet.

It just doesn't feel like it was only 10 days ago that all this food was delivered to my door.  It actually seems like weeks ago, not just because of all we've managed to eat, but thanks to everything I've learned in the process.

As well as enjoying some fine food this week, for me it's also been about getting back to basics and connecting with the people who make the produce and witnessing the passion that goes into their products too.  And that's something you don't experience when you pick up a jar of a well-known brand at your local supermarket.

When you buy freshly made local food, you get to find out that the producer was up at 4am making it, or has been in the bakery since 5am or that it's been made from foraged fruit that would have otherwise gone to waste.  When you hand over your money, you see that it's going back into the very thing that they are passionate about, their business and the production of fresh local food.

Even if you are one-step detached from the producer, you can still see the enthusiasm that is inherent in getting that food to your door.

Take Paul Campbell for instance, the person who challenged me to live off Suffolk food in the first place.

Paul runs the Local Food Direct delivery service, which makes the job of buying local food a heck of a lot easier, as it delivers on behalf of a whole range of local producers who would otherwise be more difficult to reach for an average consumer in Suffolk.

But it's not just any ordinary service, it's a lottery funded not-for-profit social enterprise that helps others into employment as well as promoting local food.  And while chatting to Paul that day, it became clear that this business was not about the money but about the passion for creating an infastructure that gave people acccess to a new sustainable way of shopping.

And it's also a way of giving local producers wider opportunities to sell their products.  Living in this side of Suffolk, I would never have had such easy access to a wide variety of produce, or even heard of the Queens Head, Brandeston or Highways products shown below.

And that's probably been the highlight of the experience for me, learning new things about what's available on my doorstep in Suffolk and finding out more about the people behind them.

For me it's about caring where our food comes from that gives the food on my plate that extra pizazz and in an unexpected way it connects you back into your local community too, whether it's hearing that the local dairy's cows who happen to be on maternity leave, or the couple who are investing some of the proceeds to help their son teach kids in Japan. 


But before I go, I think I should give a huge shout-out for the unsung hero of our own Suffolk Diet this week.  It's never something that I appreciated until recently but is absolutely fabulous in salads and in juices and even pickled in a jar with vinegar.

If you've not discovered it yet, keep your eyes peeled as you roam around the county.

The Suffolk vegetable of the moment has most definitely been....

......beetroot!

But if you become such a fan like me...just remember the protective clothing first, and be ready to rinse your hands straight afterwards.

Day 7: The day of reckoning

If you've never tried oysters before will you promise me that you'll give them a go, because no matter what you think of them I can guarantee it's a real experience that you'll never forget.

Well that's what happened to us today, the last day of my Suffolk Diet challenge, where our lunchtime dish was a plate of oysters that I'd ordered from the welovelocalfood website.  I've never eaten them before and I have to admit that despite my bravado, when it came to trying them, I suddenly got nervous...especially as the scene played out like a bush tucker trial!

There on one side of the table was my husband.  I was on the other.  In between us was the plate of oysters for us to share.

Although I'd prepared and washed them in the kitchen, I left them in the shells for serving and we opened them individually, taking it in turns.  My husband went first, surprised at the speed in which the seafood left its shell, missing its destination and landing on his plate with a slippery splat.

Then it was my turn. But for some reason, I just couldn't do it.  My throat tightened and I stared at the shell for so long, my husband took another, this time hitting the spot.  And yes, it's his first time too and the conversation oriented around whether it was better to swallow or chew.

After he'd eaten his third, I finally gave it a go, but as soon as I opened the shell, the oyster also fell straight onto my plate below.  I'm afraid that I was a bit of a wuss and cut it in half, before dangling each piece above my head aiming straight for my tonsils.

The chorus of "do it, do it, do it" from my children will no doubt ring in my head forever, as I shook my head and quivered as each half of the oyster hit the back of my throat.

Although the taste was good, for some reason the texture brought about my gag reflex.

"For goodness sake," I kept telling myself.  These were simply innocent oysters, not something unpalatable like kangaroo's wotsits!

But it was no good, I was obviously a culinary wimp and the only thing for it was to try cooking them.  So we tried again, this time wrapped up in Suffolk bacon and served with cream and worcestershire sauce.

Well, I managed one and a half, before the same thing happened again.  I just couldn't cope with the texture, even when disguised in the bacon.

And I really felt gutted, especially as I had been so looking forward to enjoying them and it being a real highlight of the week's experience. I'd also been amazed that it was possible to source such a delicacy from Suffolk and that they were so cheap too.  At less than £6 for a dozen, I had hoped I'd be soon impressing my friends with a fabulous platter.  Instead I feel a real wuss and that I'd let myself down.

But having had such a false start at home today, I really hope l can get over myself and give them a go another time.  However next time, I think I'll visit the Butley Oford Oysterage restaurant or take one of the tours run by Food Safari and let them be served by the hands of the professionals. Then, I might have the confidence to try them again at home.  I've heard a great account of the day from blogger Grethic, who sent me a message about the tour she went on yesterday.

Anyhooooo, moving on from my oyster challenge, the finale of this week's Suffolk Diet was far more successful, with a tasty pot roast of beef brisket, served with onions and potatoes that were delivered by Paul last Friday, as well as the extra carrots that I'd bought at the Farmers' Market yesterday.

We even finished the last of the kale, which you can see tucked behind the bottle of Ickworth's Lady Geraldine's Blush.

So, as the day ends and the Suffolk Diet challenge is brought to a close, I'm wondering how I can best summarise the week that's just passed.

Perhaps I should start with the challenge itself, which was to see how easy it would be to live of just Suffolk produce.  Was it easy?  The answer to that is most definitely yes, well that is if you know where to buy such products. Admittedly, the delivery service  Local Food Direct at www.welovelocalfood.co.uk did offer a huge helping hand, by allowing me to select produce from its website, which could be delivered to my door, so I didn't have to spend lots of time hunting out Suffolk food from around the county.

However, being a long-term supporter of local food, I also found my knowledge of my locality helped too, knowing which independent shops and market stalls would most likely stock Suffolk produce.

And I've been amazed at the variety of food that is produced locally, from oils to dairy products, a whole range of meats, the oysters, ready-meals, granola and sauces, as well as local cider, beer and wine.  Of course there were a few things I struggled with in the beginning such as sourcing Suffolk butter, but I was pleased to have finally found some during yesterday's visit to Wyken Farmers' Market.  So, with the exception of butter at the beginning of the week and the lemon that I used for the Ipswich Lemon Pie, everything else that I've eaten at home has been Suffolk made.

But what about eating out? As expected this was where I struggled most and the week kicked off with a shaky start, with a visit to a local garden centre and a training course, where the origins of the food were uncertain.  However, by the end of the week it was great to see businesses such as the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich stocking Suffolk juices and the Greenest County awards on Thursday proved that even large events can be catered for with local food.  When I started the challenge I felt too shy to ask cafes and retailers if their food was sourced from Suffolk, but by this weekend I found the question rolled more easily off my tongue and I believe that one cafe in particular - my favourite haunt in Bury St Edmunds - is now considering incorporating more Suffolk produce into their menu.

It's also been a great week for trying new things, including some old Suffolk recipes, choosing granola for breakfast and trying out new vegetables such as the kale.   Even my husband commented today that he'd actually liked the kale - and that's incredible coming from a man who has an unnatural allergy to a veg box.

I've wrestled with making fresh pasta out of local flour as well as turning my hand to incorporating mashed potato into pastry.  I've even tried kippers for breakfast, which is one of those things that has not ever entered my consideration before.

So, I guess the big question is, could I keep this up for longer?

Hmmm...actually, I think I could, but I'd have to make some changes as I've also missed a few things this week too, such as the tomatoes that form a regular part of my diet, as well as fresh peppers.  One thing this challenge has most definitely brought out is the issue of seasonality and how we take the supply of such produce for granted, no matter what time of the year.  And although I now only buy strawberries in the summer when they are in season in England, I'm not sure I could do the same with tomatoes.  So it's good news then that the welovelocalfood website has just started supplying Norfolk grown tomatoes, which are just from over the border.

I've also missed rice and couscous as well as quick cook pasta and I'll be glad to incorporate those back into my diet again.  However for everything else, I now feel much more committed to buying good quality produce that is local to Suffolk or at least the East of England.  As well as investing in our local economy, I also support the idea of reducing food miles as an important factor in minimising our dependency on transport as well as the oil needed to ferry goods around.

This challenge has been great.  It has most definitely raised my interest in local food and has even done a great job of getting me back into the kitchen, despite it being a very intense week. I also think my diet has been healthier too.

At the beginning of the challenge I read that The Telegraph's Rose Prince had described Suffolk as the "Best Region" in her Good Food Producers Guide 2010.   I know I am now biased, but as my Suffolk Diet draws to a close, based on my experience this week and having seen what's available, I can't help but agree.

And who knows I might even give the oysters a try again, not yet, but one day perhaps, when I am next visiting the coast.

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If you want to hear more about the challenge, I'll be chatting to Lesley Dolphin in her afternoon show at BBC Radio Suffolk, Monday 2:20pm.  Listeners from outside the region can listen online at http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/suffolk/hi/tv_and_radio/

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Day 6: Hoorah for Suffolk Butter and Pasta too

After 5 days of living off potatoes, today I finally cracked!  

Delicious as the potatoes were, I needed pasta, especially as I was planning a variation on Spaghetti Bolognese. So out came the pasta roller, along with 120g of the Maple Farm Kelsale flour and a couple of fresh eggs from our hens.

Making pasta is pretty straightforward as far as ingredients are concerned.  It's just a case of  gradually blending the eggs into the flour to create a dough, stretching and kneading it well and then leaving the dough to rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes.  It's the rolling and cutting process afterwards that's the fiddly bit, requiring some extra time and patience.  But it was worth it and if you are interested in giving it a ago, there are some hints and tips about making pasta in Chapter 14 of my online guide to reducing waste, which you can find at The Rubbish Diet Challenge. 

When I've previously made pasta, I've always used Italian grade 00 flour as recommended by the various recipes, so I was interested to see whether I could get away with using Suffolk flour instead.  And I was chuffed to bits that it worked.  It didn't look as pretty as shop-bought pasta, but it tasted good and was very cheap to make.

I made the "Bolognese" sauce using  minced beef, red onions and chopped carrots, gently fried in the rapeseed oil from Hillfarm and stirred in some ready-made tomato and basil soup, which had been supplied by Purely Pesto.  So topped off with some local salad leaves, it was a complete meal totally sourced from Suffolk producers.

That's another Suffolk Diet success I reckon!

It's also been a successful day elsewhere too, kicking off the morning with a freshly-pressed juice made from Suffolk's apples and beetroot.

The rest of the morning was spent browsing around Wyken Vineyard Farmers Market with a friend, to top up with a few essentials for the weekend.  The Farmers' Market is held regularly, every Saturday in fact, and what I love about it is not just the range of produce you can buy, but that the stalls are all sheltered, which makes it practical for shopping no matter what the weather.

It's just a shame that I don't get there that often on account of it being a significant drive out of town.  Hopping on the bus to the Bury St Edmunds market always seems easier.

But it was great to see some of my usual favourite stalls, as well as a few new faces, and no farmers' market worth its salt would be without fresh apple juice.  The apple juice shown in the photo below is from Suffolk Heritage Orchards.  This particular variety is the Sturmer Pippin, a traditional Suffolk late season apple, which has a sharper taste that I like. So as well as the juice, I picked up some apples too.

Next up was the preserves stall, where I discovered a range of products from Bury St Edmunds based Well Preserved that were not only made in Suffolk, but used locally grown and foraged produce.  Having never tried Quince Jelly or Crab Apple Jelly before, I couldn't resist bringing a couple of jars home.

It was great to see that the fruit and veg stall, which hails from Norfolk, also had Suffolk grown carrots, sprouting broccoli and old potatoes, which I need for tomorrow as I've already made good use of the vegetables that I'd received last week from www.welovelocalfood.com, which have now run out.

However, the find of the day just had to be the dairy products stall, which as well as milk, cream and yoghurt, also produces a rare find in Suffolk.

If you look carefully on the top shelf of the photo below, you'll see it in its full glory.  Would you believe, it's actually Suffolk butter. Yes, Suffolk butter, the one thing I've been struggling to find!

The dairy products are made by Domini Dairy, which is based in Market Weston, near Diss.  Despite the Norfolk link, their address is actually Suffolk, adding the icing on the cake for this particular challenge.

So what a great day as far as Suffolk produce is concerned.  But it's not over quite yet.  As it's Saturday and we've got a few things to celebrate, including attending the Greenest County awards last week AND the birth of a new nephew, it's time to crack open the Ickworth Bubbly! 

So "Bottoms Up".

Here's to Day 6 and if you've also been enjoying some Suffolk produce today I would love to know.

See you tomorrow for the final day of the Suffolk Diet Challenge.

Day 5: The Ipswich Tart!. I finally made it!

I've been promising it since Wednesday, but life's been so hectic I didn't get around to making it until this evening.  Yes ladies and gentlemen, I have made what is officially known as an Ipswich Lemon Pie, in honour of my visit to the county town today.

For the pastry I used the Maple Farm Kelsale flour that I mentioned  in Wednesday's post - which comes from Saxmundham -  and for the curd, I used eggs from our very own chickens, one of whom is doing a great balancing trick in the photo below.

So some of these ingredients were guaranteed Suffolk produce, but the rest I am afraid, are of possible dubious origin.

The sugar could possibly come from Suffolk as it's made by British Sugar, which has a factory in Bury St Edmunds.  But in all honesty, it could be made from sugar beet from outside the county, or indeed manufactured elsewhere, so it really is impossible to tell whether it's Suffolk or not.  There is a faint hope I suppose!

And as for the half-a-lemon that was used for the curd...I'm afraid that's not quite Suffolk is it?  But it has been sitting in my fridge for the last couple of weeks, so I could claim that its length of residency now makes it local produce

The question is ... can I get get away with?

In my defence, the tart is called Ipswich Lemon Pie and I produced it with my own fair hand in Suffolk.

So while you ponder whether it passes as part of the Suffolk Diet, I can hopefully reveal that the rest of the day was another success.

The morning kicked off with a very early interview with BBC Radio Suffolk's Rob Dunger.  I'm talking 6am, so it took a while for my appetite to kick in and once it did it, I grabbed a bowl of my new "favourite" granola, with yoghurt and chopped apple -  today using the remainder of Marybelle's Greek Yoghurt.

After breakfast I headed off to Ipswich to join in the Girls Talk session with James Hazell at Radio Suffolk's studio, before dropping into the New Wolsey Theatre Cafe for a quick drink after the show.

And look, between lattes I happened to spot this:

It's Manic Organic, a new range of fruit juices from James White Drinks which is based in Ashbocking. It's always great to see eateries stocking local brands like this and I just wish more outlets would do the same.  This particular bottle was apple and beetroot, which didn't half tickle the tastebuds and I can certainly recommend it if you want to liven up your palette.

The rest of the day went pretty smoothly too, with some home-made oven chips and the leftovers from Wednesday's savoury pie to use up.

I'm still amazed I made that pie.

And with new tricks like this,  I wonder what might be on the cards tomorrow.

Ah yes tomorrow....I'd almost forgotten....

....it'll be time to serve those oysters.

Day 4: A relaxed and hurried day with exciting news thrown in

It's been one of those funny old days today, not least because I'm off to a special event tonight and feel that I should be relaxing and getting ready for it.

It's Suffolk's Creating the Greenest County awards and I've been shortlisted in the "Community\Communications and Events" category for my work in promoting waste reduction. As you can guess, I am very excited indeed and because I'm off to the gala celebration tonight, I thought I'd post early with an update of the Suffolk food I've managed to munch my way through today.

Hmmm, when I put it like that, I sound like the Very Hungry Caterpillar, chomping my way through the Suffolk countryside until I'm fit to burst....

Today's diary is more of a simple tale than yesterday's, which started in a very relaxing manner with coffee at home with friends.

"Coffee!" I hear you exclaim.  "That's not from Suffolk!"

True, the county's not known for having fields of coffee berries, and could not be considered to be local produce, but there is a local company that imports fairtrade coffee beans for roasting at its site in Woodbridge.  And that's what I've been enjoying all week, slow roasted filter coffee from Paddy & Scott's, a couple of guys who have received plenty of accolades from the food industry and hospitality trade.

The problem was I was so relaxed the morning, I realised that I'd forgotten to have breakfast.  This is very unusual for me, which shows how I'm out of my routine, so by 11.30am I'd become exceedingly hungry and quickly grabbed a bowl of Munchy Seeds Granola, topped with Marybelle strawberry yoghurt and chopped apple, all produced and grown in Suffolk.

No sooner had I finished my brunch,  I received some wonderful news, the kind that makes you pause and smile. It was a message from my sister-in-law announcing the arrival of her first baby and our latest nephew, who as I type is just 7 hours old...well that's a good excuse to crack open the Ickworth Bubbly as soon as we get an opportunity.

But for now, the day called for a modest lunch, with some James White apple juice and a salad courtesy of www.welovelocalfood.co.uk, including potatoes, ham and beetroot, as well as Purely Pesto's guacamole and hummus.

So that's it from me.  I've now got a "posh do" to go to and I've got to be ready within an hour.  If you're interested in keeping up to date with the results of the awards, they will be tweeted live by @GreenSuffolk on Twitter.

Hope you have a great evening and I'll be back for a catchup tomorrow.

UPDATE: 19th March

Well the bad news is I didn't win, but the good news is I got to eat even more Suffolk food.  Well, you wouldn't expect to go to The Greenest County awards and not have local food on the menu would you.  And here it is with Althorne Farm Chicken served with seasonal vegetables from Home Farm, Nacton.

I forgot to take a photo of dessert, but for the record it was Hasketon Apple and Almond Tart served with cream from Rendham Hall in Saxmundham.

It just goes to show that sourcing local food for large events such as weddings, conferences or meetings isn't actually rocket science.  It's simply about knowing where to go for the right produce.

Now I might not have won an award, but I am pleased to say, my good friend Alison Plumridge did, so here's a plug for her work at the Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, in reducing its carbon footprint so much, she won the Green Community Building award as well as the Green Business Hero Award.  Here we are celebrating her double whammy. 

And here are the winners of the award for which I was shortlisted.  Greener Fram, a fabulous community group promoting sustainability in Framlingham, East Suffolk, who also won two awards for their great work in inspiring people in their local area.

But the best news is that The Suffolk Diet is still intact.  Thanks to the menu that evening, I managed to get through the day eating nothing but Suffolk produce, which is big win for this latest challenge.  I was as nervous about that as I was waiting for the awards announcement and can definitely say the meal was a winner!