Having now mapped the tasting notes of its full range of clothbound cheeses, Quicke’s hopes to shine a spotlight on the big differences between artisan cheddar and mass-produced block cheddar. Going above and beyond the reductive 1-5 strength rating that is so often associated with Britain’s favourite cheese, the story of the pastures and the seasons at Home Farm is perfectly encapsulated within the Quicke’s Cheddar Tasting Box, with all wedges now coming with their own flavour map. 

Illustrating the breadth and complexity that can be achieved from working in harmony with the land, the flavour maps attest to the powerful influence of the aging process and the unique microflora within Quicke’s cheese stores. The 3-month matured Buttery Clothbound Cheddar begins with an initial taste of fresh milk, with buttery notes carrying through from mid taste to after taste, joined by peeled almond at the finish. At the other end of the scale, the 24-month matured Vintage Clothbound Cheddar has a caramel sweetness running through the full flavour journey, accompanied by umami halfway through the initial taste and featuring buttery, sharp and salty notes along the way. 

Mary Quicke MBE explains: “The Flavour Mapping Project has been a labour of love, originating from countless conversations on the farm, as we’ve graded our cheese. Just as the cheese tastes different as you make your way from the rind to the centre of a clothbound truckle, there’s a multi-layered story to tell on the palate too. Building upon the work of organisations such as the Academy of Cheese, which is achieving great things with its structured approach to tasting, we hope that our flavour maps can help illuminate a new dimension of cheese for all those curd nerds out there. Cheddar is a fantastic place to start with this project, as I think many will be surprised at the diversity that is being produced from our little corner of Devon, but we really hope other cheesemakers will use the framework too. There’s a whole world of taste, texture and terroir to explore and a map is an essential tool for any journey!” 

To watch Mary Quicke’s video introducing the Flavour Mapping Project, visit www.quickes.co.uk. 

Have you set up a not-for-profit group or project in Devon designed to benefit your community over the past twelve months?
Maybe you’ve set up a food bank and are distributing food to those who need it most.
Perhaps you run a choir group but have extended your reach to those who have thrived on the joy that comes from singing over the past year.
Are you a support group who has found ways to connect regularly online with those who are vulnerable such as first-time parents, who are really struggling with the isolation imposed by lockdown.
Are you finding ways to help people deal with mental health issues through gardening, crafting or other hobby related activities?

The Prince of Wales Award 2021 is open to any group/organisation that is making a genuine difference to the community especially during this challenging time. 

The winning entry will receive the first prize of a cheque for £1,000 which will need to be invested in furthering your project to the continued benefit of the community. 

To check whether your project/initiative is eligible for the award, download the entry form here. 

Entries need to be in by May 1.  The judges will be from the Duchy of Cornwall and the DCAA, and the shortlisted entries will be judged via Zoom in May.  The winner will be announced at the end of May and invited to the Devon County Show 2021 in July to formally accept the award.

Dart Fresh have created the Family Support Box, priced at £25, containing potatoes, swedes, onions, kale, jacket potatoes, carrots, savoy cabbage, greens, mushrooms, pepper, broccoli, parsnips, apples, satsumas, bananas, pears, plums, lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot.

They have also released The Dart Family Support Essential Box, priced at £29, containing minced beef, sausages, chicken breasts, diced beef, bacon, eggs, bread, baked beans, local cheese.  

Dart Fresh have been so impressed by the number of people willing to help others in supporting the campaign so far and are very happy to be able to help those in need at this difficult time through the generosity of regular customers and local businesses in donating the boxes.

Dart Fresh Produce will deliver the ‘Paid Forward’ Essential Fresh Produce box free of charge to the elderly and vulnerable families facing food poverty as directed by organisations such as The Estuary League of Friends community outreach teams across Devon.

Many vulnerable people continue to struggle to get delivery slots with supermarket home delivery services.  Dart Fresh’s supply chain remains unaffected, enabling swift doorstep delivery, getting vital supplies to those who need them most.

John Pritchard, Director at Dart Fresh Produce said: “Since we launched our purpose-built website to cope with the Covid-19 pandemic, we have seen an unprecedented number of customers requesting free home delivery due to being in isolation. We have decided to introduce this gifting scheme to help the elderly and vulnerable families in isolation, as well as those who are struggling to make ends meet or secure an online food delivery in this desperate situation. We have been overwhelmed with offers of support received so far and thank all of those who have donated vital supplies to those who need them most.”

Dart Fresh Produce are appealing to those who can comfortably afford it, to purchase ‘paid-forward’ Dart Essentials Fresh Produce Boxes online to be gifted and distributed by its fleet of refrigerated delivery vans through contactless delivery across Devon to those in vulnerable groups who need a helping hand at this difficult time.

To help Dart Fresh to help the elderly and vulnerable families in the community simply click on the link below:

https://dartfresh.delivery/local/groceries/boxes-extras

Michelin insisted on going ahead with the guide this year to help support the hospitality industry after it has faced difficulties during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chef-patron Paul Berry, who co-owns The Swan and Spelt with his wife and fellow award-winning chef Donna, said: “After what has been an incredibly difficult year for the hospitality industry, we’re staggered and delighted that both of our restaurants have been featured in the guide.

“We are among some great company in the guide. Spelt only opened in September 2019, so is still relatively new, and has been hugely affected by restrictions, so it is heartwarming for us and all the staff, and their hard work, to have been recognised.

“We’d like to say a huge ‘thank you’ to our teams at both restaurants and of course, our loyal customers, who have supported massively us throughout the lockdowns and restrictions.”

The Swan, which is an AA Four Star Inn and the oldest pub in Bampton, has scooped a plethora of awards for its food including being named as one of the top 50 gastropubs in the country for the fourth year running in 2020.

The pub has recently retained its four AA Gold Stars as well as two AA Rosettes for Culinary Excellence for five years running and was named by the AA as the nation’s ‘Inn of the Year’ 2019.

The Swan was named Gold Tourism Pub of the Year 2018 at the South West Tourism Excellence Awards and was voted Best Dining Pub for 2018 in the Trencherman Awards.

Donna was also one of three finalists in the Devon Life and Trencherman Awards in 2018.

After the success of The Swan, Donna and Paul and their team had a vision to create a new concept style restaurant and launched Spelt at an old bakery shop in Bampton in September, 2019.

They started from scratch with a blank canvas and put in all the kitchen equipment, furnishings and fittings to create the restaurant. The bakery began life in the 1700s, so they came up with the name of Spelt, which is an old-fashioned grain.

Designed to appeal to all Bampton’s eclectic residents and the many tourists and visitors that visit, the restaurant has three open-plan areas each decorated slightly differently, one with a fireplace and chandelier in a reds and purples colour palette. Another is funky with retro pictures and then the middle area is clean, bright and modern.

The inspiration for Spelt came from the couple’s love of Barcelona, which they’ve visited for a number of years now.

To find out more about The Swan, please call 01398 332248 or visit www.theswan.co or to find out more about Spelt, please call 01398 331044 or visit www.speltbampton.co.uk.

In recent years, allotments have seen a very real and significant revival, driven by people wanting to know where their food has come from and gaining the benefits of growing your own.  

In 2012, we recognised this resurgence here at RHS Rosemoor and noticed that people were taking on plots armed with little knowledge, but loads of enthusiasm. In response to this, we created Rosemoor’s Community allotment course. With 10 small newly created allotment plots and a shed full of tools, we set about recruiting 10 novice veg growers to join us on a 10-month adventure of learning, using our expert knowledge here at Rosemoor to guide them along the way. 

Little did we know that back then that 7 allotment groups later, our course would grow into such a success. We have seen over 70 individuals go away with new found knowledge, confidence and passion for growing their own food.  

Just like every other vegetable patch at this time of year, our allotment keepers find themselves inundated with gluts of produce; classics include runner beans, broad beans and courgettes. Whenever there is an abundance of produce, the hot topic of conversation among the allotment keepers is what to do with it all, while making the most of it. Very quickly someone will share a new recipe they have found to help ease the glut and they soon become surrounded by fellow allotment keepers all frantically scribbling down this new-found recipe: favourite discoveries have been courgette cake and broad bean fritters. 

Summer seems a strange time to be thinking about winter down on the allotment plot where everything is in full growth and cropping hard, but now is the time to get out there to sow and plant for winter cropping. Brussels sprouts, winter cabbages, purple sprouting broccoli and kale all make really good crops for harvesting during the winter months for a taste of your own, homegrown produce during the long months of Winter. 

www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/rosemoor

With the South West having a plethora of craft brewers, we asked Devon-based brewer, John Magill, from Powderkeg Brewery about this recent drink trend… 

“The South West has become a hotbed of brewing talent over recent years. From Bristol through to Devon and down into the depths of Cornwall, you can now find world-class, locally brewed, contemporary beer almost anywhere. 

This explosion in modern local brewing is the best thing that could have happened to us as a nation of beer lovers. We are no longer limited to boring bitters and bland imported lager. We have collectively broken free from a Beer Groundhog Day where we were stuck in the 1970s for 40 years. People have woken up to the fact that locally made produce is not only better for the environment and the economy, but is also more likely to be interesting, due to the unique approach of each artisan. It tells a real story, rather than one invented by marketing teams. 

The influx of young talent and fresh ideas means that our national drink has changed. There has never been a better time to get interested in beer. There really is something for everyone: light, sour, dark, strong, bitter, fruity…beer has changed for the better and for good.   

Some people would call this movement ‘Craft Beer’, but it’s a vague term at best, jealously guarded by some, callously abused by others. Really, this much-improved standard of beer is just the foundation of the new norm; one day soon we will be able to just call it ‘beer’ again. But while it still needs an identity separate from the ubiquitous outpourings of the old guard, perhaps ‘modern English beer’ works better. 

The focus there is on ‘English’ not for any reasons of Brexity jingoism, but because it’s easy to be blinded by the glamour of foreign imports. For the ones worth drinking, one might argue a case for their authenticity of style, but as long as they are willing to sell us the hops, for example, there is no reason why a local brewer in the South West of England can’t make a US Pale Ale every bit as good as the US brewers and, quite possibly, better than a lot of them.  

Similarly, we can make lagers as well as the Germans, or indeed any other style beer from anywhere in the world, given due care and attention in the brewing process, and an open-mind from the drinkers. Actually, I would argue that the point of modern beer is not to narrowly follow traditions at all, even new ones, but to always progress the idea of what beer can be. We can stand on the shoulders of giants and look outwards, not downwards.  

Beers recent successes are a result of two co-dependent factors: a talented industry and an enthusiastic audience. But, don’t be fooled into a false sense of security. Bland mediocrity still reigns supreme, and our small but thriving beer community needs more support if it is to ever break the stranglehold of the big international brewers. 

So, this summer, trust me, with well over 200 breweries in South West England (and more opening every week) there’s a damn good chance that you can fulfil all of your beery dreams, whatever they are, with beer brewed within 50 miles of your own home. So, think before you drink – seek out local brews and support the businesses that champion them. It has been a long, long road to get to where we are now, so jump on board and raise a glass to the new beer pioneers. The more love you give, the better this will get.”  

www.powderkegbeer.co.uk