Bring Appleton Rum to Valentine's Day

When I mentioned, in passing, to a friend that I had a bottle of Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum, he a became quite animated. He said: "Wow! Jamaican rum has the reputation of producing some of the best Caribbean rum available. And Appleton Estate's Rum is the best of the best!"

And, of course, he was absolutely right!

The Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum is a special rum carefully crafted for a very special occasion, the 250th anniversary of the founding of Appleton Estate in 1749, created by Master Rum Blender Joy Spence. Interestingly Joy was the first woman to hold the title of Master Blender. In recognition the government of Jamaica bestowed on Joy the Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer (OD) for her service to industry.

Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum is blended to include specially selected pot-still rum stocks from their inventory of aged rums.

This is not the strongest rum available, it's 43% alc/vol, but then this has been carefully crafted to provide a well-balanced and delicious rum, which is designed to provide a modicum of strength with a Zenith of taste.

The bouquet is inviting with a hint of cane sugar and the taste is deliciously warming and so very, very smooth.

By itself, or on the rocks, or with some high quality mixers. After all there's no point in skimping on mixers if you have a very high quality rum such as Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve, is there?

But what about cocktails? Here Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve really comes into its own. From simple cocktails using Cola, to more advanced cocktails, you will be in for a real treat.

My wife introduced me to a recipe that was a favourite of her brother. Rum and Cider.

The recipe calls for two thirds cider and one third rum, although, of course, you can adjust that to suit your own taste.

Obviously, only high quality cider should every be used and in this instance we used some Brothers Toffee Apple Cider which proved to be an admirable choice.

A 70cl bottle should cost about £25 to £30 or you can buy it in some restaurants, hotels and pubs. For example Wetherspoon pubs stock Appleton Estate's rum as part of their Rum Shack offering.

Or you can stay at home, create a Valentine's Day feast and finish the evening in style with Appleton Estate's 8 Year Reserve Rum!

Glebe Farm for truly oaty oat drinks

Rebecca & Phil Rayner

In the fields of rural Cambridgeshire brother and sister farming due Phil and Rebecca Rayner are not just championing good, high quality home grown British products, they are getting down to it in the fields of their family farm, Glebe Farm, and not only growing oat crops they are also milling the oats and also 'milking' them, too. 

And what's more, the oats they produce are gluten free, too. So they're ideal for people who are coeliacs.

Phil and Rebecca have turned their hands to producing a pair of utterly delicious and incredibly smooth oat drinks.

There's the Creamy and Enriched variety, which has added calcium and vitamins so is ideal for breakfast cereals, a nice cold drink, creating some awesome smoothies or replacing dairy milk in cooking and baking.

There's also the Barista blend which is carefully designed to be a super addition to your coffee (fresh or instant) for helping you produce top tasting cappuccinos and lattes. As a confirmed hot chocolate lover, I think that I'll be trying Glebe Farm Barista blend in my hot chocolate! Will it be good for tea? Let's find out together, OK?

They also sell oat granolas, too. Actually, Glebe Farm oat granola served with Glebe Farm Pure Oaty? That sounds like a real winner to me!

They also sell Soya, Almond and Coconut drinks, too.

Check out their website for some recipe ideas, too.

As an ageing hippy(!) I've long been interested in ecology and self-sufficiency since the early 1970s actually, so it was with considerable pleasure I found out that Phil and Rebecca are confirmed sustainable farmers and that Glebe Farm uses solar power and biomass boilers and only uses locally grown oats, thus helping keep food miles to a minimum.  

Where can you buy Glebe Farm products? On Amazon, from Central England Co-operative Stores, Booths Grocers and all Holland and Barret Stores.

And Glebe Farm’s gluten free bread and rolls can be found in all National Trust Cafes.

Or you can buy it directly from their online farm shop at https://www.glebefarmfoods.co.uk/shop/.

If you are interested in learning about stocking Glebe Farm Products, using them in your baked goods or in your café, restaurant or catering business you can visit them at https://www.glebefarmfoods.co.uk/trade/ or call them on +44 (0) 1487 773282 during office hours.

Bonne Maman ideal for your Valentine's Day repast

I absolutely love Bonne Maman jams and conserves. My all time favourite is their Strawberry & Wild Strawberry Conserve. And every year I would put together a hamper of Bonne Maman miniature jams and conserves for my late mother every Christmas, birthday and mother's day.

However, Bonne Maman are far more than jams and conserves. They also now produce a delectable hazelnut chocolate spread, too.

But Bonne Maman also have a range of products that are ideal for a desert for a Valentine's Day feast at home.

There's a stunning variety of chilled deserts, including Strawberry Mousse, Chocolate Mousse, Clementine Mousse, Black Currant Mousse, Rhubarb Mousse.

Also check out their Salted Caramel Crème, Coffee Crème, Dark Chocolate Crème with a touch of sea salt, Milk Chocolate Crème, Riz Au Lait, Baba an Rhum (with high quality, high strength rum. Delicious!) Crème Caramel, Crème Brûlée (which can be baked or eaten cold) Red fruit tarte and Tarte au Citron.

And take a look at their cakes, biscuits, yoghurts and compote deserts, too!

They even have some recipes to help you create some truly scrumptious Valentine's Day treats for your love. Just check them out here https://www.bonnemaman.co.uk/recipes

Incidentally, what does Bonne Maman mean in English? Online translation sites get it only partially correct. It doesn't mean Good Mum, no matter what Google Translate tries to tell you!

Bonne Maman actually means "Grandmother" or "Granny" because as they have always done, they strive to make the kind of products that grandmother used to make.

Available in all good shops and from online retailers.

https://www.bonnemaman.co.uk/.

The ideal gift for the one who has your heart. A Seggiano Olive Wood heart!

Imagine the look of love and admiration on the face of the one you love when on Valentine's Day,  you present them with a genuine Olive Wood heart-shaped board from leading Italian brand Seggiano?

My wife is absolutely enchanted and besotted with it and it now takes pride of place in our kitchen. She has stated "This is lovely! Thank you!"

She has also stated very firmly that I am not to ever place it in our dishwasher and that it is to be treated very well and only washed, very gently, by hand!

What is the size? The average width is 23cm. That's just over nine and a bit inches to those of us who still use the measurements of the olden days!

It should cost you £23.90 and you can buy it direct at https://seggiano.com/product/olive-wood-heart-board/ or you can find it in your favourite deli, some cookware shops and other major retailers up and down the country.

What can you use the board for? 

Seggiano have some really very helpful suggestions. Cheese, they imply (and I agree wholeheartedly!) is the way to your love's heart and what better way to serve up an array of quality matured cheeses than on this board?

The gorgeous board is beautifully crafted by the Marchini family and each one is carefully carved from wood that originates in the Tuscan hills, where the olive trees are pruned to keep them renewed and healthy. 

I did not realise that much of the wood is over 300 years old! Making it an ideal, temporary, resting place for your Pecorino, Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese or your cave matured cheddar!

You can also purchase a lovely Olive Wood handled cheese knife, Organic Spelt Digestive Biscuits, Parmesan Handmade Flatbreads and lots more besides.

Seggiano recommends equipping your board with your favourite cheeses, paired with one of their Baked Fig Balls, a handful of Puglian Rye Biscuits and a dollop of Calabrian Fig Jam, or better still a drizzle of Raw Chestnut Honey which goes particularly well with Pecorino.

I rather like the sound of the Raw Chestnut Honey.

And don't forget to buy yourself some good quality Italian wines to make for a very food Valentine's Day feast.

MIghty M.lkology brought you by the magic of peas

Mighty M.lks were designed to be a realistic alternative to dairy milk that's available today. And that is exactly what they are.

It is produced using special dedicated Plantech®.

It produces a milk alternative that is creamy and tasty in a range of different types.

They don't compromise on taste or mouthfeel and they guarantee they are 100% vegan. 

And people like my wife who has coeliac disease and an allergy to both dairy and soya can drink and cook with Mighty M.lks safe in the knowledge that there are no soya, dairy products or nuts.

Mighty M.lks comes in semi and full varieties and also protein oat and unsweetened varieties.

There's Mighty Barista M.lk, too. This is a special premium blend of pea, oat and coconut. It's been carefully and specially designed to be a replica of  the flavour and texture of dairy milk but without the involvement of any cows. If you like a perfect frothy latte, then this is the milk for you! 

It also tastes great on breakfast cereals or as a chilled drink. 

There's also Mighty M.LK Protein Oat, too.

Looking for a drink that's shaken, not stirred? Then the Mighty Milkshakes, available in chocolate and banana and oat flavour will be right up your street.

And they also have a range of Mighty Vegan Protein Powders, too.

My wife has declared the range of  Mighty M.lks as "very close to dairy milks in both look, feel and taste."

So not only are they safe for someone with dairy intolerances or full dairy allergies, they also taste good, too.

And if your concern with dairy is because of ethical considerations regarding the use of animals to produce milk for human consumption. the great thing is that you don't have to compromise your diet for your principles.

Where can you purchase Mighty M.lks from? The following shops and supermarkets stock them: Morrison's, Sainsbury's, Tesco, Ocado, WH Smith, Asda, Holland & Barrett and Co-Op stores.

Or you can buy direct at https://www.mightydrinks.com/our-range.list.

    

Gee Gee Gin from start to finish, it's a real winner!

What happens when you love gin and also love horses? You combine the two and you get Gee Gee Gin!

The gin is proper, real craft gin distilled in the traditional manner using small batch distillation, with each batch produced with love and attention to detail in a special nano distillery in Newbury, Berkshire, not far from the world renowned Newbury Racecourse.  

Unlike many craft ginmakers Gee Gee make everything from scratch. They even produce their own initial neutral alcohol base. Many other ginmakers buy in the alcohol, which is not the case with Gee Gee, so they know exactly what went into their base alcohol.

A spokesman for Geee Gee said: “We lovingly craft our gins from the very start to the finish. Yes, it is a long and complex process but the finished product is well worth the wait.it.  

“So our Master Distiller is a true distiller unlike other small batch gins that are on the market.”

He went on to explain “Our gin is only made using the finest quality natural ingredients. We can guarantee that our small batch gins contain absolutely nothing artificial. 

“I must emphasise that each part of the process of producing our gin is made entirely by hand and this includes drying the natural botanicals that we use, right through to hand dipping the gin bottles into wax.” 

How can you buy Gee Gee Gin? You can join the UK’s newest Craft Gin Club.

Select the monthly subscription for your favourite Gee Gee Gin and they'll ensure you never run out by delivering to your door a fresh bottle of craft Gee Gee Gin each month. 

But that’s not all you will receive. Because with your monthly gin subscription you’ll also receive a variety of especially chosen gifts that will include dried fruit garnishes, special mixers and a sample of another high quality gin for you to try.

The monthly cost is a modest £30, which you can pause or even cancel whenever you want. Makes an idea present for a loved one or as a reward to yourself!

Or why not browse the gins in their online shop to see what’s available for purchase now?

The people behind Gee Gee are gin lovers themselves, so they’re keen on trying out new varieties so do keep an eye open for new, experimental flavours.​

Flavours available include Classic Dry, Dark Berries, Elderflower and Lavender. There are currently two limited edition gins, Seville Orange and also Magic Blue Summer Berries.

500ml bottles of all gins, including the limited edition varieties cost £27.50 each.

To learn more and to make your first purchase visit them at https://www.geegeegin.co.uk/.

Brothers Cider

If you want to see Veganuary out in style, then you should do it with some Brothers Cider.

I was introduced to ciders when I was a student in the student union bar in the dim and distant 1980s. It was OK, but I can honestly say I was not overly impressed.

However, moving on to modern times when my wife and I discovered Brothers Cider my wife and I were both monumentally impressed. And as my wife is from Devon and grew up drinking West Country Cider, that is high praise indeed!

We have been drinking several bottles of Brothers Toffee Apple Cider and I have to say that it is a properly balanced cider which does have a lovely toffee flavour added to it. To me it reminded me of toffee apples consumed during village Halloween celebrations many years ago.

Although I prefer the 4.0% alcohol version of the Toffee Apple Cider my wife was more keen on the alcohol free version, which is also available.

Other flavours are available, including Strawberry and Lime, Rhubarb and Custard, Wild Fruit, Tutti Frutti, Pink Grapefruit Cider, Honeycomb, Red Apple, Parma Violet, Strawberries and Cream, Cloudy Lemon and also Marshmallow flavour. The latter I think I'll be trying next.  

The family know a great deal about making cider from their Somerset homeland, as there is documentary evidence that their Uncle 14 times removed, Gabriel Showering, was taking the family produced cider round the pubs in the area in 1658. That's nearly 365 years of the production of cidery goodness!

And now four brothers, Matthew, Jonathan, Francis and Daniel are continuing the fine family tradition by bringing good quality real ciders with a modern twist.

You can buy it from your local retailer or direct from Brothers https://brotherscider.co.uk/.

If you want retail their ciders please visit https://brotherscider.co.uk/pages/trade-customers

Lion Brewery. Beer brewed, naturally

The Lion Brewery company's proud claim is that it was born and raised on the banks of the River Thames, 186 years ago in 1836.

The history of the Lion Brewery was a long and distinguished one, it developed ales and beers that it shipped all over the world.

Absent from the brewing world for several decades, two Brits decided to re-licence the Lion Brewery on the UK and Singapore, under the original trademark in 2017.

The Lion Brewery brews its beers using the small batch system and strives to only use the highest quality ingredients which it uses to brew its beers totally naturally.

My wife and I have been able to sample two of their beers; Pale Ale and Island Lager.

The Pale Ale has an ABV of 4.5% and the Island Lager has a slightly higher ABV of 4.7%.

The Pale Ale is actually a highly enjoyable and well-hopped IPA which would certainly hold its own against any other IPAs that are on the market.

It's a Single Malt and Single Hop beer. This type of pale ale is known as a SMaSH, and believe me, the Lion Brewery really does smash it with this pale ale! The malt used is Maris Otter barley, the sole hop used is Citra.

The Island Lager is a stunning lager. I have to say that it is like no other lager that I have ever tried. It's designed for the warmer temperatures of the tropics and is certainly very drinkable, to me it seems, to capture the best of lager beers and the best of traditional IPAs. There is definitely more than a hint of pine resin aroma and a floral finish to it. 

To learn more or to place orders please visit https://lionbreweryco.com/en/lion-brewery-co-shop/

Just look out for the embossed lion on the cans.

Also, Lion strives to be a genuinely sustainable and green company in every aspect of its operations, including using lightweight, recyclable cans rather than heavy glass bottles. 

Creative Nature helps you bake at home

You like the idea of baking a cake at home but you perhaps don't have the necessary self-confidence? Aren't sure your meagre baking skills are up to the task of baking a cake as good as your mother, your father or perhaps your grandmother used to make?

And you are worried about creating a vegan, gluten, dairy and gluten free masterpiece?

Fret no longer because you've got this! With the help of Creative Nature, of course. 

Creative Nature create gold award winning bake at home cake mixes so that your home baked cakes will always rise to the occasion!

There's their absolutely chocolatey cacao rich chocolate cake baking mix. 

All you do is add 250ml of your favourite non-dairy milk (they recommend rice milk as their favourite type of milk, but I made mine with some Lilk) add 110ml of vegetable oil, or 100g of melted coconut oil if you have any of that.

Place all the ingredients into a mixing bowl, give it a good mixing and then put it into an oven pre-heated to 180C/350F or Gas Mark 4 for 25 minutes.

They suggest icing the cake if you can avoid eating it right away.

Although not included with the packet they recommend using 130g of icing sugar or powdered coconut sugar, three heaped tbsp of Creative Nature Cacao Powder, 80g dairy free spread and milk, if you want.

Smoothly mix the ingredients together and when ready, use it to ice the cake.

Also available is the Banana Bread Mix, the Simply Spiced Carrot Cake Loaf Mix, Chocolate Chip Muffin Baking Mix and Corn Bread Baking Mix.

If you feel like being a little more adventurous in your kitchen why not try their Gluten Free All Purpose Flour?

You can order directly from Creative Nature at their website https://www.creativenaturesuperfoods.co.uk/

They have a massive range of other goodies that are available, so why not check those out when you visit them?

Why we lost our local bakeries

The received wisdom, or what everyone knows, is that small, local bakeries all closed down because giant evil corporate supermarket chains opened up branches in small towns and out-priced the small, family-owned local bakers which, as a result, had to close down. victims of corporate greed.

Whilst this might have happened in some cases, the story I can relate, based on my own local experience does not bear this out.

I am thinking of a moderately sized market town. It had three traditional family owned bakers who all did a very good business supplying fresh bread to the people of the town.

However, the young generations of the family bakers did not want to follow on in the footsteps of their parents. 

Their parents had to get up at three o'clock in the morning to mix the dough and to fire up the ovens to bake the bread. 

Their children did not want to get up in the middle of the night to bake bread so they decided to go off to do other things and follow other career paths. One went to work for the Inland Revenue, some joined the armed forces and so on. 

Eventually when the older generations of bakers came to retirement age they had nobody to pass their businesses on to and one-by-one, they closed down.

Eventually the Morrison's supermarket chain came to town and opened up a bakery department which made fresh bread and fresh cakes. Items we hadn't seen in town for several years.

When someone was chuntering on about how the supermarkets had killed off small, family bakers I pointed out that all of the family bakers in town had closed before Morrison's came to town. He said: "Oh! That's right, isn't it? I hadn't realised that!"

(Image curtesy summa/Pixabay.)