Stream Farm Somerset

Of all my supplier visits over the last 5 years, Stream Farm was one of the most inspirational. When buying produce from Stream Farm, you’re buying more than fantastic food – you’re buying their vision of how our rural countryside should be. The idea is that a small farming community works together to create something special for you, the customer.

Stream Farm sells a variety of products, including spring water, Dexter beef, Old Spot pork, free-range Devonshire Gold chickens, Hampshire Down lambs, honey and apple juice, as well as rainbow trout (both fresh and smoked). All products are 100% organic and sourced or grown on the farm. But what struck me during my visit is that you can really see, feel and taste the passion that goes into what they create. It’s palpable!

Stream Farm

I love when farmers name their livestock. It shows that they care about what they’re doing. Their lambs run to the fence with a loveable ‘baa’. Many were hand feed during lambing season.

The Dexter herd is stunning to look at. They are a small breed in relation to cross breeds and continentals. Raising pure breeds ensures consistency. James Odgers swaps his cattle with a farmer from Donnegal, Ireland to ensure fresh bloodlines are being introduced.

The sheer care for his livestock is clearly visible. The farm is immaculate and the attention to the animals is the best I’ve seen.

James and his Bull

Rainbow Trout, Gluten Free, Me and John

With the horsemeat scandal, antibiotics in our meat supplies and the ever-mounting pressure on suppliers to trace the origins of their livestock – the Stream Farm concept is a breath of fresh air and something that’s needed in our markets.

Supermarkets care about one thing – their profits. And though we are all concerned with our profits as well as saving money, if you truly knew the origins of your food – what it was fed and how it lived, you’d think twice about buying that chicken on special offer for £1.50 with 2 days left on its bar code. Food is the cornerstone of a healthy lifestyle and, though it might sound cliché, you are what you eat.

I’ll leave you with a few more pics of the visit. If you have a moment, check out their website.

www.streamfarm.co.uk

 

Old Spot Pigs

 

Little Lamb

The Farm

 

The Herd

Little Chicks

 

The Herd by the Stream

 

Trouting around

 

Sam’s Lamb

 

Bees

Longmans Dairy and Montgomery Cheddar

Longmans Dairy and Montgomery Cheddar

Last Wednesday we headed to Cadbury to visit two suppliers, both of which are massively respected in the Dairy / Cheese industry – Sarai Longman and Jamie Montgomery. We met at Longmans farm and Sarai brought us to meet Jamie Montgomery- http://www.montgomerycheese.co.uk .

Jamie Montgomery explaining the maturing process

We were shown the many processes that contribute to undoubtedly the worlds finest Cheddar. Everything is controlled from the grazing pastures to the storing. It’s amazing to see and smell. One of my first experiences of eating Montgomery was the smell and taste, and the balance between the two. Once we stepped out of the car onto the farm, you were hit by the smell straight away – the closet way of describing it is like a cheese lovers heaven. The cheese is made daily to ensure the freshness of the milk and the tags are proof to this. Every batch of cheese made has a sample log so during the aging process they’re continuously monitored and tasted.

We tried a few samples from 12 months through to 24 months. We could really taste the difference in the maturing process both texturally and flavour.

We then headed for Longmans Dairy – http://www.longmancheese.co.uk/ . Sarai Longman told us about their family farm the history and pushing the business on. She has an amazing amount of knowledge and knows the ins and outs of every aspect of the business. She told us of her first job in packaging and has a huge care for all the employees. You get a real family feel around Longmans, one of great care and teamwork. Its great meeting with a passionate and knowledgeable supplier like this.

Longmans Unsalted Butter hand rolled.

Adrian and Nigel @ West Country Foods and Teign Valley Micro Herbs

Fruit and vegetables are the staple for any decent meal. If you source great meat and Fish your fruit and veg must follow the same ethos. I’ve always been an admirer of Charlie Hicks’ veg but he has firm competition in Somerset by none other than Adrian Ellis and Nigel Hooper of West Country Produce.

For weeks I’ve been asked by Nigel to visit their new premises and have a brew with himself and Adrian. He also lured us over by telling us about Teign Valley micro herbs – They’re a very small micro herb grower and don’t use any pesticides or herbicides. So we decided to take him up on the offer. John, Dan, Sam and Myself headed over (we thought we might as well take advantage of the free brew!) to the shop for a look.

West Country Produce has really fresh produce and the guys work bloody hard through the night to get the best produce out to local establishments. They have an amazing selection of fresh vegetables and fruit – For a food lover it’s like Willie Wonka’s chocolate factory. A lot of the fruit and Vegetables come from the Bristol and London veg markets which are fantastic and the guys have a lot of contacts with farmers in the West Country, so they have access to loads of fresh, organic vegetables. I think we’ll be dealing a lot more with them in the future. We had our nice brew and set off for Teign Valley with Nigel. It’s set in 30 acres of what was once tomato growing glasshouses. The English tomato industry struggles massively due to weather and fierce competition from Holland, Spain and Italy. It’s an amazing setting: 30 acres of just empty glasshouses (we all agreed it would be a great place to throw a party) and the micro herbs take up just a tiny patch.

Micro herbs are a funny subject to touch on. In certain ways they are used as a little bit of a gimmick. Many people put them on a plate for colour or decoration – there’s nothing wrong with that but the flavour I find, is the most exciting thing. I was always told there should be a reason for ingredients on the plate other wise leave it off. Micro herbs have a use in flavour and balance there not just a trend.

The process is quite simple the seeds are germinated then set in an underlay they’re covered in polystyrene and left for a few days. Once they shoot the sheet is removed and voila they grow. They are very temperamental and the slightest change in temperature and moisture can have a disastrous effect. There are huge fans circulating and controlling air around the herbs – much like cannabis production which made us all laugh. The herbs are spayed by hand and also cut by hand. Truly fascinating to see and even better to taste with the right dish.

Below is a dish we’re working on at the minute using West Country’s parsnips and chard and the micro coriander and lemon balm from Teign Valley.

Pan Fried Fillet of Pollock with Tempura of Carlingford Lough Oyster, Chard, Ginger, Parsnip and Lemon Balm Veloute

 

The Castle Hotel Orchard

The Chapman Family Orchard @ Charlton Orchard

Living and working in an area that’s surrounded by great produce and passionate suppliers is the biggest support for any kitchen and its chefs. The last thing any restaurant wants to worry about is getting sub standard produce, it really is a massive disappointment. I compare it to unwrapping a Christmas present that you didn’t want from your dear old grandma. At the Castle we have extremely high standards set in place, to match your high expectations as a diner. We check and sign for each delivery and anything that looks below par is sent back. We have great relationships with all of our suppliers and visit them regularly. Most of our suppliers are local and know our standards.

I recently put a Pork dish on the menu from Pitney Farm using the beautiful Saddlebacks I wrote about a couple of blogs back. The dish consists of pork chop, slow cooked belly, potato puree, bramley apple, kale and roasting juices. Mr. Chapman asked to try it (as he does with all dishes new to the menu) to give his seal of approval or sometimes constructive criticism. After he ate it he asked me where I sourced the pork and apples from. He then asked why I didn’t use the Castle Orchard, initially I thought it was a joke, but realised by the stern face it wasn’t. So Sam and I headed off to have a look and learn a little from the friendly folk at Charlton Orchard.

The Castle Orchard was set up in 2010 by Mr. Chapman to celebrate the hotel being in the family for 60 years. There are 10 different apple varieties producing from August to November. The Orleans Reinette and Pippins were ready to pick so we took some back and served them in the hotel that day.

It’s only 10 mins outside of Taunton and when we walked into the shop we were greeted by the beautiful perfume of quince. I think the easiest way I can describe quince is that it is a cross between an apple and a pear. When it’s ripe it has the most amazing perfume; it’s truly fantastic, sweet and floral. We’re using quince with partridge and kohlrabi on the menu at the minute. We then introduced ourselves and met Sally who gave us a tour of the shop and then got Barry to show us the orchard and the Castle orchard, set in over 30 acres of land.

Barry was very informative told us everything about the trees, the history of the place and types of apples grown there. Any apples that fall on the ground at Charlton are left to decompose and fertilise the ground surrounding the trees. They would cloud the apple juice if they were used for pressing, so all around the orchard there are apples scattered on the ground. Most apple trees are grown on root stumps to stunt their growth as apple trees can grow to over 40-50 feet- these heights would make life that little bit more difficult for the pickers. The main threats to the trees and their fruit are wind and hail stones. If there is a strong hail storm it can pierce the apples and the wind can blow them off. The other threats are rabbits and deer. The rabbits and deer, even though being surrounded by apples and green grass, prefer the bark of the trees and particularly love saplings so most of the trees are covered with mesh in the early stages and for the deer there’s a hut for stalkers to keep the numbers down.